CONCERNING S. PHILIP THE APOSTLE
MARTYR AT HIERAPOLIS IN PHRYGIA
UNDER THE EMPEROR DOMITIAN.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Philip the Apostle, Martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
§ I. Various Acts, and the sacred worship among the Latins, Greeks, and other Orientals.
[1] Celebrated is on the Kalends of May the memory of S. Philip the Apostle in the most ancient Latin Fasti. The very old copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology, written almost a thousand years ago, which from the beginning of the work we have used as our own, The worship of S. Philip among the Latins on May 1 and which we have rendered to the people of Echternach as theirs demanding it, has prefixed an Index of the festal days of the Apostles, and suggests these things to be referred to the Kalends of May: The birthday of S. Philip the Apostle, in the city of Hierapolis of the province of Asia. But in the context of the Martyrology on the Kalends of May only these things are read: in the Fasti of S. Jerome, The birthday of the holy Apostles Philip and James. In the Corbie copy printed at Paris of the same Hieronymian Martyrology it is thus had: In Asia at Hierapolis SS. Philip the Apostle and James. Of S. James, who does not pertain to Hierapolis, we shall soon treat separately. Similar things of both are had in the older MSS. Fasti, which it is not worth the trouble to indicate. of Bede, Venerable Bede in his genuine Martyrology, which before the second volume of the Acts of March we published from eight ancient codices, writes these things: At Hierapolis of Philip the Apostle, and James the Apostle the Brother of the Lord. of Florus, Florus adds: Of whom the first suffered in Asia in the city of Hierapolis of the province of Phrygia, and there rests with his daughters. of Rabanus, Rabanus, nearest in age, thus writes: At Hierapolis of Philip the Apostle, who extinguished the heresy of the Ebionites, and rested in peace. Usuard committed to writing these words: of Usuard, The birthday of the Apostles Philip and James, of whom Philip after he had converted Scythia to the faith of Christ, at Hierapolis, a city of Asia, rested with a glorious end.
[2] of Ado, Ado Archbishop of Vienne, in the little book on the festivities of the holy Apostles, published this eulogy: The birthday of the blessed Apostles Philip and James: of whom Philip, when he had almost converted Scythia, Deacons, Presbyters and Bishops being there constituted, returned to Asia, where insisting with continual preaching for some years, he gained to Christ a multitude of peoples, always serving pious labors: and who at Hierapolis a city of Asia slept with his fathers, buried with a blessed end. These things Ado: to which Notker adds, of Notker, The heresy of the Ebionites being extinguished, who denied that Jesus Christ had been before the time of the Incarnation. In today's Roman Martyrology some things about his martyrdom are added in these words: The birthday of the blessed Apostles Philip and James, in the Roman Martyrology, of whom Philip, after he had converted almost all Scythia to the faith of Christ, at Hierapolis a city of Asia, affixed to a cross and overwhelmed with stones, rested with a glorious end. These things there, to which similar things in his Martyrology Galesinius hands down. of Galesinius, of Maurolycus But Maurolycus inserting somewhat more, The birthday, says he, of the blessed Apostles Philip and James, of whom Philip, after he converted Scythia to the faith of Christ, where the image of Mars being cast down he had erected the Cross, and had exterminated a venomous dragon; at Hierapolis a city of Asia rested with a glorious end: or by the Ebionites affixed to a cross and stoned fell: near whom his two daughters Virgins were entombed: a third lies at Ephesus. These things Maurolycus: besides which Constantine Felicius mingles some things from the Greek Acts, of which we shall soon treat. of Felicius.
[3] The vocation of Philip to the Apostolate is also ascribed in some Fasti to the XXVIII of February: but these things from the I day of May had to be deduced more broadly, that the way might be paved to the Latin Acts, The Acts are given from old Latin MSS., to be given in the first place, in which all things are contained, which in the cited Martyrologies are touched. The same Acts we have in three illustrious codices of ours, of which one seems to have been written eight hundred years ago. Besides we have received the same described from the old codices of Trier of S. Martin, the double of Saint-Omer of the Cathedral Church, of Utrecht of the Church of S. Salvator, the Roman of Cardinal Baronius. We find them also in three of the Queen of Sweden marked with the number 81, 482 and 1604, the Parisian of Cardinal Mazarin, the Douai of the monastery of Anchin, the Bödeken in Westphalia, and in the MS. Codex of the Hospital of S. Nicholas near Cusa: nor different from these are the things which the Author of the history of the Translation of the arm of S. Philip to Florence, to be given below, had. If it had pleased to examine the Legendaries, we could indicate several examples. But especially memorable to us is the very old Codex containing the same Acts, written with square ductus of the letters and the distinction of diphthongs and vowels accurately preserved, which formerly pertained to the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul in Wissembourg of the diocese of Speyer, now is of the most Ample Baron Blum, more often mentioned by us, on account of the old copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology, which he himself received from the same monastery for his humanity communicated. From this old codex the Acts of the virtues and passions of the holy Apostles of Christ, Reinold Dehnius, of our Society an erudite man, described and transmitted to us.
[4] There is prefixed to this Codex the epistle of Melito, by others Mellitus, Bishop of Laodicea, and from a MS. book on the Lives of the Apostles, perhaps of Melito the Bishop, to all the Bishops and Churches of the Catholics, concerning a certain Leucius, who had written certain Acts of the Apostles. This Melito notes with the title of falsity, especially because he said, that they taught two principles of good and evil, and that goods subsisted from the good and evils from the evil Principle. The same epistle is prefixed before the Acts of S. John the Evangelist in Florentinius on the Hieronymian Martyrology. Mention of the aforesaid Leucius, by others Leontius, seems to be made in the Tract on Faith or on the Unity of the Trinity against the Manichees, which in volume 6 of the Works of S. Augustine is contained: but it is not had in his Retractations, nor in the Index of Possidius; and Philip Labbe on the Ecclesiastical Writers asserts, that Sirmond evinced in the Predestinatian History from the faith of MS. codices, especially the Corbie, that it is of Euodius Bishop of Uzala, in the Proconsular province of Africa, to whom there are extant various epistles of S. Augustine: so that even then before the indicated Melito or Mellitus the Bishop may seem to have lived.
[5] These Acts of the Apostles were afterwards variously augmented, and under the name of Abdias, Bishop of Babylon ordained by the Apostles, more often reprinted; as though they had been translated from the Hebrew into the Greek tongue by the disciple of Abdias Eutropius, and published under the name of Abdias and hence into the Latin Julius Africanus says that he turned them, who flourished in the third century under the Emperors Heliogabalus and Alexander son of Mammaea. Baronius in the Notes to this day, Although, says he, these things under the name of Abdias are reckoned apocryphal, yet true
some things there to be I easily persuade myself: the same published by Nausea, and Mombritius especially when from elsewhere those Acts (as here concerning S. Philip) are sufficiently proved. The same are extant printed in the year MDXXXI, among the Rhapsodies of the Anonymous Philalethus Eusebianus, on the Lives, miracles, and passions of the Apostles, collected by Frederick Nausea: and in most of these it is not read that Philip was affixed to a cross and overwhelmed with stones. But those words are inserted in John Mombritius, in the Legendary printed two hundred years ago; likewise in the Roman Breviary of the year 1522 and in that which by the command of Pope Paul III was ordered by Cardinal Quignon and by the command of Pius V afterwards published is hitherto preserved, in the Roman Breviaries, &c. although in these the Acts are not given entire, as in the older Breviary. The former part of the Acts is had entire in the Breviary of the year 1479, 1490 and the following, and in that part are contained those things, which thence Maurolycus above handed down concerning the venomous dragon exterminated, or perhaps the devil under the figure of a foul monster. Similar things have Peter de Natalibus book 4 of the Catalogue chapter 107, Philip Ferrari on the Saints of Italy, and several others.
[6] To the Latin Acts we subjoin Acts translated from the Greek: which seem to us very ancient, other Acts from old Greek MSS., and by Symeon Metaphrastes among the Lives of the Saints rather transcribed than newly composed: to whom they are even for this reason more ascribed, because the first and ancient author is not known by his own name. They are extant, the interpreter Gentian Hervet, in the fifth volume of the Lives of the Holy Fathers published by Aloysius Lipomanus: and on these Kalends of May they were translated by Laurence Surius, whence collated with the Greek and illustrated with our notes we give them; but the Greek itself we found in the Vatican and Venetian MSS. There lived in the same century with Metaphrastes Nicetas Paphlago, deduced encomiastically by Nicetas Paphlago: who was also David, a most eloquent Rhetorician and a most wise man: of whose orations several Francis Combefis translated, and published in his Library of Concionatory Fathers. Two of them are referred to these Kalends of May, the one concerning S. James of Alphaeus of the number of the twelve Apostles, which is published below; the other concerning S. Philip the Apostle, which we omit for this reason, because it is only a metaphrasis of the already said Acts, and we have enough to observe some things thence in the Annotations.
[7] But the Greek Acts say, that the sacred body of S. Philip was deposited on the XIV day of November, Worship among the Greeks on November 14 on which his feast among the Greeks and other Orientals is performed with solemn veneration. In the Menologion, published by the authority of Basil Porphyrogenitus seven centuries ago, on the said XIV of November this eulogy is had: Philip, one of the twelve Apostles; born at Bethsaida of Galilee, in the Menologion of the Emperor Basil after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, signal for the frequency of miracles, under the Emperor Trajan set out to Hierapolis, with seven daughters and Mariamne his Sister, and Bartholomew the Apostle; where, the word of Jesus Christ nowhere not disseminating, he led away from the vanity of idols a multitude of the Gentiles, who in that same place, together with Nicanora the wife of the Proconsul, a man among his own a chief one, deemed a serpent worthy of divine worship and honor. Wherefore when by the Proconsul's command Bartholomew and Philip hung by lofty feet from the wall; Philip praying, all the Gentiles with the Proconsul, with the viper, with its priests, by a sudden gaping of the earth were swallowed. But all by a singular benefit of God, except the Proconsul the author of the slaying of the Saints and the viper, emerged into the open air: and Bartholomew being loosed, Philip was consumed by that torment. These things there.
[8] In the very old Greek Synaxarion of the Church of Constantinople, which belongs to the Claromontane college of the Society of Jesus at Paris, an epitome of the life is extant on the said XIV of November. The memory of the holy and renowned and glorious Apostle Philip, of the choir of the twelve Apostles. He was from the city of Bethsaida, a fellow-citizen of Andrew and Peter: MS. Synaxarion of Constantinople who was much engaged in unrolling the books of the Prophets, and is handed down to have remained a Virgin all his life. Him Christ after his baptism found in Galilee, exhorted him to follow him. He afterwards when he had fallen in with Nathanael, We have found, he said, Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth; and many other things to those wishing to know about him are handed down in the divine Scriptures. He after the Ascension of the Lord having obtained the Asiatic land by lot, under the Emperor Trajan came to Hierapolis (which then was called Ophioryme, as it were Serpentine onset) with Mariamne his sister, and Bartholomew the Apostle. But he taught the Gospel of Christ, persuading the infidels to depart from the error of idols: for they had a viper instead of God. But many received the faith of Christ, among whom was Nicanora the wife of the Proconsul, who attended them with great ignominy, wishing greatly to avenge himself. Wherefore him being captured, the heels of his feet perforated, he ordered him to be hung from wood with head inverted, together with the Apostle Bartholomew, on whom the same punishment was inflicted. When Philip thus hung poured forth prayers, suddenly the earth opened and swallowed all the infidels existing at Hierapolis, together with the Proconsul and the viper, and its Priests. But Christ having mercy all, except the Proconsul and the viper, were freed, and soon they loosed Bartholomew. But Philip repressed their effort, and thus ended his life on the wood. His body when Bartholomew and Mariamne had handed over to burial, they departed into Lycaonia. The festive solemnity of S. Philip is celebrated in the sacred temple of the Apostles, in the region of Miltiades. These things there. Perhaps that temple of the Apostles was that one, which at Constantinople by S. Helena and her son Constantine the Great was built, of oblong form and covered with a wooden roof, as George Codinus on the Origins of Constantinople page 38 hands down. Of the time of the martyrdom we shall treat below.
[9] In the printed and manuscript Menaea there is an illustrious eulogy of S. Philip, in which his perpetual virginity is praised, in the Greek Menaea and other similar ones. and it is said, that with the Apostle Bartholomew and his Sister Mariamne, he went about the cities of Mysia and Lydia preaching the Gospel, and bore many perils and afflictions from the infidels; beaten with scourges and rods, shut up in prisons, assailed with stones, even with S. John the Evangelist, who at that time was preaching Christ in Asia, he acted. There the Proconsul himself is called Nicanor, whose wife had embraced the faith of Christ, and there is added mention of Stachys, whose house was burned by the Proconsul and the people: and the same Stachys is said to have been created Bishop of Byzantium. He is worshipped here on the XXXI of October, when those things can be discussed: meanwhile I note, the same things are had in the Lives of the Saints collected by Maximus Bishop of Cythera, and in the Greek Anthology ordered by the authority of Pope Clement VIII through Arcudius. The memory of S. Philip the Apostle is also noted on the said XIV of November in the Greek Menologion, in the Calendar of the Greeks in Genebrard, in the figured Calendar of the Muscovites in the very Renowned Laurence Vander Hem at Amsterdam, likewise among the Arabs, Egyptians, Ruthenians. in the Ruthenian Calendar in Possevin; in the MS. Arabo-Egyptian Martyrology translated into Latin for us by Gratia Simonius, and another MS. of the Copts transmitted to us by Athanasius Kircher; likewise in the second Arabic Calendar in John Selden published with the book on the Sanhedrins of the ancient Hebrews: in whose former Calendar it is referred, but perhaps by the error of the copyists, on the day before or the XIV of November. Besides in the Arabo-Egyptian of Simonius another feast day of his is assigned to the XXVI of May, and is called the Contest of S. Philip the Apostle.
[10] Other Greek Acts we copied at Rome from the Vatican codex, marked 808, but imperfect; which it is not worth the trouble to publish: only I note that here it is said among the miracles, that the aforesaid Stachys was freed from blindness, which he had borne for forty years: a leopard also and a kid of the goats spoke with human voice. Less to be published in this place seem the miracles, which under the name of Philip the Apostle are had in the Greek Menaea, and thence in Maximus of Cythera. For the name of Apostle deceives, common even to the disciples of the Apostles, and (if thou except the end, in which are contained some things done at Hierapolis) all pertain to Philip, one of the seven first Deacons, of whom below, as on the VI of June will appear. The same I understand of the Acts of Philip the Apostle to be found in a MS. Greek Vatican, as containing deeds at Athens in Greece, since they rather agree with Adena in Arabia.
§ II. The three daughters of S. Philip. The time of his life and martyrdom.
[11] Some things in the various already indicated occur obscure concerning S. Philip, Whether S. Philip lived celibate? and somehow opposed to one another and contradictory. And first concerning the life instituted before the Apostolate there occurs a doubt, whether he lived celibate, or rather bound by matrimony begot daughters. His celibacy is indicated in the MS. Greek Synaxarion of Claromont and in the Greek Menaea, in which these same words are read: He was known to have been a Virgin through all his life. But on the contrary in the Menologion of the Emperor Basil it is said that he had seven daughters, which to others are three: and so have the Latin Acts from so many very old MS. codices and the Roman Breviaries number 4. But there were there, at Hierapolis, two most holy daughters of his Virgins, Or rather did he beget daughters? through whom God gained a multitude of Virgins. And the burial of S. Philip being related, there is added: And after some years his two consecrated daughters were buried on the right and the left. Florus also above says that he rests at Hierapolis with his daughters. With these plainly consonant wrote Polycrates, the ancient Bishop of the Church of Ephesus, who in the epistle related by Eusebius book 3 of the Eccl. History chapter 31, to Victor Bishop of the city of Rome (he presided from the year CLXXXVI up to the year CXCVIII) makes mention of John and at once of Philip the Apostle and of the same's daughters in these words: Of the daughters treat Polycrates in Eusebius, For also in Asia, says he, certain great lights have been extinguished, which shall be raised in the last day of the coming of the Lord, then when he shall come from heaven with glory, and shall seek all the Saints: I mean Philip, who was one of the twelve Apostles, and died at Hierapolis with two daughters, who grew old in virginity. Another daughter also of his, who led a certain spiritual life, was buried at Ephesus. But also John … lies buried in the city of Ephesus. And these things indeed concerning their death.
[12] Thus in the said place Eusebius, who again book 5 chapter 24 makes mention of the said epistle of Polycrates to Victor, in which it is said: Philip one of the twelve Apostles died at Hierapolis and his two daughters, who grew old as Virgins, also another of the same, who lived inspired by the Holy Spirit and rests at Ephesus, where the Greek in all the codices printed and manuscript has, Philip one of the twelve Apostles, but Christophorson did not discharge the office of a good interpreter, while for Philip the Apostle of the number of the twelve, he substituted Philip one of the seven Deacons, and led into some error Baronius,
as is plain from the Annals at the year 58 number 114. But Rufinus book 3 of the Eccl. History chapter 31 confirms the reading of Eusebius, Rufinus, where he sets forth the words of Polycrates in this phrase: But I speak of Philip, says he, who was one of the Apostles, who slept at Hierapolis. But also his two daughters there grew old as Virgins: and another daughter of his, filled with the Holy Spirit, remained at Ephesus. Thus there from the edition adorned by John Schall in the year MCCCCLXXIX, but in the later editions the same things are read. Nicephorus, Besides Nicephorus Callistus book 4 of the Eccl. History chapter 36 transcribes the same epistle of Polycrates, in which these things are read: Philip one of the twelve Apostles, who fell asleep at Hierapolis, and his two daughters Virgins up to a decrepit age: and besides another daughter of his, the course of life being absolved in the Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus. and S. Jerome. S. Jerome on the Ecclesiastical Writers chapter 45 treating of Polycrates, and bringing forth part of his epistle, thus interpreted these things: I speak of Philip of the twelve Apostles, who slept at Hierapolis; and his two daughters, who grew old as Virgins; and another daughter of his, who full of the Holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus. And let these things said suffice concerning the true sense of Polycrates, Bishop in the second century of Ephesus, in the epistle to S. Victor the Pontiff; to whom what he writes concerning the Pasch observed in Asia he could not have proved, if what he says concerning the daughters of Philip had been established to be alien from the truth, and are moreover confirmed by others.
[13] After Hierapolis had been instructed in the beginnings of the Christian faith by S. Philip the Apostle, S. Papias knew the daughters, cited by Eusebius, it was also illumined by S. Papias its Bishop, whose Acts we gave on the XXII of February. Commemorating his writings Eusebius book 3 chapter 39, among other things thus writes: That Philip indeed the Apostle together with his daughters was wont to dwell at Hierapolis, has already above been demonstrated: which sentence of Eusebius himself is thus set forth in Greek: That indeed Philip the Apostle dwelt at Hierapolis together with his daughters has been shown through the foregoing. This sentence being confirmed, these things Eusebius adds: But now, just as Papias (who in the same times, that is with the disciples of the Apostles, or perhaps with S. John the Evangelist, lived) reports that he received a certain wonderful narration from the daughters of Philip, let us set forth. He writes that a dead man under him was recalled to life. This raised one at Hierapolis by S. Philip, seems to be Theophilus, of whom among the miracles from the Menaea below it is treated. But hither pertains, what according to Eusebius S. Papias did with these daughters, and he perhaps buried them on the right and left of S. Philip, so that it seems impossible that he could have been deceived concerning their father. Nicephorus also book 3 chapter 20 thus sets forth the things already related: Since Papias relates certain wonderful things in his books, handed down to him by hand from his predecessors; come let us say a few things about them. For straightway he records that Philip (he who was at Hierapolis, and had daughters Prophetesses, as before was said) was one of the twelve Apostles, not of those seven Deacons, whom in the Acts Luke recounts: and he says that he conversed with his daughters, from whom he understood that in that age a certain dead man rose again. These things there Nicephorus, who above had not called the daughters Prophetesses, and Nicephorus: so that that word here either by him less considerately added, or by others intruded can seem.
[14] The testimonies of two such ancient Bishops, of Papias of Hierapolis who is said to have known the very daughters of Philip, and of Polycrates of Ephesus, altogether persuade that the virginity, ascribed to the Apostle himself in the Menaea and the Greek Synaxarion, was wrongly transferred to him from his daughters, who grew old as Virgins. There could also be added Clement, the Alexandrian Presbyter, of whose testimony Eusebius also uses book 3 chapter 30, from book 3 of the Stromata. That S. Philip was married also assert Clement of Alexandria Clement, says he, enumerates the Apostles, who had had wives, on account of certain who condemned marriages. Will they perhaps, says he, disapprove the Apostles? For Peter and Philip procreated children from legitimate marriages. Philip also placed his daughters in marriages. But because Clement is not esteemed so accurate a writer, and therefore his works by Pope Gelasius were noted with some censure, concerning the marriages of the daughters, which others did not mention, in him alone we do not acquiesce. The same Eusebius book 3 chapter 31 has a fourth testimony of Proculus in Caius, whom book 2 chapter 25 he calls a Catholic man, and Proculus in the Dialogue of Caius. who flourished in the times of Zephyrinus Bishop of the city of Rome (therefore about the year two hundred), and wrote a Dialogue against Proculus the patron of the sect of the Cataphrygians: in which Dialogue Proculus said these things: After this the four daughters of Philip were Prophetesses at Hierapolis, a city of Asia, where also their and their father Philip's tomb is beheld. But that only two daughters grew old at Hierapolis, and were buried with their father, and a third rested at Ephesus, has been said above.
[15] It seems therefore that Proculus did not sufficiently distinguish the daughters of Philip the Apostle from the daughters of Philip the Deacon: concerning whom Luke in the Acts of the Apostles chapter XXI reports these things: We, says he, the 4 daughters of Philip the Deacon, the voyage being completed, came down from Tyre to Ptolemais, and the brethren being saluted we remained one day with them. But the next day having set out we came to Caesarea. And entering the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, we remained with him. But to this one were four Virgin daughters prophesying. These things there. But to prophesy in that primitive Church was, not to foretell future things, but to teach others revealed doctrine, and in the presence of the hearers to speak of divine mysteries: and so it can be understood that the grace of prophecy was common to the daughters of both Philips: because through the daughters of S. Philip the Apostle God is said to have gained a multitude of Virgins in the ancient Acts. having obtained a domicile at Caesarea in Palestine: S. Jerome in the Life of S. Paula the widow, illustrated by us on the day XXVI of January, number 8 describing the maritime places of Palestine visited by her, says that she wondered at the ruins of Dor, a city once most powerful; and conversely the tower of Strato, by Herod King of Judea in honor of Caesar Augustus called Caesarea: in which she saw the house of Cornelius a church of Christ, and the little chapels of Philip, and the chambers of the four Virgin Prophets.
[16] As therefore Philip the Apostle is diverse from Philip the Deacon, different from the three daughters of the Apostle. so the three daughters of the former Philip seem to be distinguished from the four daughters of Philip the Deacon; since these rested at Caesarea in Palestine, of those two at Hierapolis in Phrygia, and a third in the city of Asia Ephesus. In the Menologion of the Greeks of the Emperor Basil there is referred Hermione, daughter of Philip the Apostle, under the Emperor Hadrian her head being cut off slain a Martyr, on the IV day of September; and her Sister is called Eutyche: which in its time will be more broadly examined, and, if here there be an error, it will be amended. Francis Laherius in the Menologion of Virgins calls the two daughters of Philip the Apostle, who died at Hierapolis, Mariamna and Philippa, and refers their memory on this day. But these names seem to have been devised in the silence of the ancients on the occasion of Philip the father and Mariamne the aunt, whose Acts we gave on the XVII of February. Further, concerning Philip the Deacon it is treated. He is with S. Stephen taken among the Deacons, and baptized Simon Magus instructed in the precepts of the Christian faith, nay also gave to the Ethiopian Eunuch of Queen Candace the gift of baptism: as excellently explains S. Isidore of Pelusium book 1 epistle 447 and the three following. But Philip the Deacon is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on the day VI of June, and in the Fasti of the Greeks on the XI of October.
[17] As to what concerns the Apostolate of Philip, the Latin Acts attribute to him the Province of Scythia; Philip preaches the faith in Scythia the Greek, Asia: thou wilt reconcile both, if thou understand Scythia Asiatic, into which beyond Cilicia and Cappadocia he penetrated; so that beginning his preaching from Colchis, he traversed the nations adjacent to the Maeotic marsh and the Tanais river, then this being crossed went to the European Scythians: but when he had thus labored about twenty years, as the Latin have; through the Thracian Bosphorus he returned into Asia properly so called or Minor, and in it preached to the Mysians and Lydians, as certain Greek say; and at last came to Hierapolis in Phrygia, at the Maeander river, and Asia Minor having near it other cities famous in the same tract Laodicea and Antioch, where he could have done those things, which from the Menaea below we shall relate; and when he had ordained the church of Hierapolis, also there received Mariamne his sister, together with three nieces the daughters of Philip having followed John the Evangelist, and drawn away by desire of her brother preaching through those regions, that she might come to Hierapolis to him; then carried about the torch of the Gospel even into Lycaonia; and at last returned to Hierapolis to repress the heresy of the Ebionites, which had begun there to grow strong, there at length attained the glorious palm of martyrdom, and was entombed: when also thither came from Ephesus two of his aforesaid daughters, afterwards entombed with their father.
[18] Concerning the time of his death or martyrdom the authors vary. Baronius at the year of Christ LIV, He suffered not under the Emperor Claudius, and of the Emperor Claudius XII these things number 3 writes: In this same year, Olympiad CCVII, the fourth year, says Eusebius in the Chronicle: Philip the Apostle of Christ, at Hierapolis a city of Asia, while he announced the Gospel to the people, affixed to a cross, is overwhelmed with stones. These things there. We have two Chronicles of Eusebius of great antiquity in parchment, of which one is established to have been written a thousand years ago; a third likewise diligently written on paper, without any mention of S. Philip. The same are lacking in Scaliger in the Chronicle both Greek and Latin, and in Miraeus in the same Chronicle collated with various ancient codices. Arnald Pontac Bishop of Bazas also published a Chronicle collated with eight and twenty MS. codices, and inserting the cited words in another character adds, in the Notes, that they are lacking in eighteen MSS, which he expresses: whence, says he, it is very probable that they were added, since in Hippolytus on the seventy it is said that he suffered under Domitian, and in Metaphrastes in the year of his age LXXXVII.
[19] The other opinion therefore is that of S. Hippolytus the Martyr concerning the XII Apostles and other disciples: where he thus writes: Philip who preached in Phrygia, but under Domitian. and at Hierapolis was crucified head downward under Domitian, and is buried there. Domitian reigned from the year LXXXI up to XCVI. But S. Hippolytus flourished under the Emperor Alexander about the year CCXX and the following, inscribed in the sacred tables on the day XXII of August. Let him therefore be said born
Philip the Apostle about the beginning of the vulgar Era, and crowned with martyrdom about the year of the same Era and of his age LXXXVII, thus all things will remain safe, and only the MS. Greek Synaxarion will have to be corrected, in which place of Domitian seems wrongly written under Trajan, to whose times or even longer his daughters lived.
[20] We know not whether it be worth the trouble to indicate some figments of the modern Spaniards, fabling that the Churches of Spain celebrate a famous feast of S. Philip, on account of the favor, Did Philip show Jesus to the Spaniards? which through his mediation the Spaniards experienced at Jerusalem: because they wish it believed that the Spaniards were those Gentiles, who are mentioned in the Gospel of S. John chapter XII, where these things are read: But there were certain Gentiles, of those who had gone up to adore on the feast day. These therefore approached Philip, and asked him saying: Lord, we wish to see Jesus. Philip came and tells Andrew. Andrew again and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered saying: The hour is come that the son of man should be glorified &c. But that these Gentiles were Spaniards, they think can be certainly proved from the Pseudo-Dexter Chronicle lately devised: for whose useless defense Francis Bivarius, Roderick Caro, Tamajus Salazar and the like consumed much good time, study, and oil in vain, nor yet cease to consume the same their followers, after so many and so evident convictions brought forth by us and others wiser in Spain itself, not yet persuaded of the futility of these trifles.
§ III. The sacred Relics of S. Philip preserved in various Churches.
[21] That the holy body of Philip was placed at Hierapolis, where he suffered; and to it afterwards joined the bodies of two daughters, the Latin Acts have. Nay that his body was handed over to burial there by S. Bartholomew the Apostle and his sister Mariamne, The body long preserved at Hierapolis, the Greek Acts have, and other eulogies in the MS. Synaxarion and Menaea. But his Sepulchre seems to have been there in honor, not only when Polycrates or S. Hippolytus lived, but even in the time of S. John Chrysostom, under whose Patriarchate Hierapolis was. For he, alluding to his tomb in the Homily on the twelve Apostles, then translated to Rome, says: Philip preserves Hierapolis with miracles. Afterwards his body seems to have been taken thence, and some relics being detained at Constantinople, as will soon be established, transmitted to Rome, and that perhaps with the body of S. James of Alphaeus, of the number of the twelve Apostles. For these bodies of two Apostles were deposited together in the Church of the Apostles, now of the Conventual Fathers of S. Francis; where even now they are preserved enclosed in the major altar; and in a little chest or tabernacle, as they call it, are set apart some bones of S. Philip, especially the one with flesh, which Christ in the last supper before his passion washed, wiped, and kissed. The rest the Reader will find below related at the Acts of S. James §5, there necessarily to be said, nor here to be repeated. But of the arm translated from Constantinople into Palestine, and hence to Florence in the year MCCIV, the history we give below, described by an author, who lived in those times.
[22] There was present at the same time at Constantinople Garner Bishop of Troyes, when Baldwin Count of Flanders was assumed as Emperor of the East, the crown of the head at Troyes in Gaul. there dead in the year MCCV. By his benefit there is handed down by Camuzat, in the Tricassine Promptuary fol. 116, to have been brought to the Church of Troyes the crown or top of the head of S. Philip the Apostle, enclosed in a silver case, on the outside overlaid with leaves of gold, marked with little seal-images elaborated with subtler artifice. There is present in the same Case a tooth of S. Peter the Apostle, a gift of Henry Count of Champagne, and verses cut around the case testify this very thing.
If for me gold reddens for price, the gem shines like day; What I hold within knows no commerce of price. To thy tooth, Peter, and to thy head, Philip, dedicated Am I, the Vessel; the tooth placed in the upper, the head in the lower part. This captured at Rome, Count Henry, thou broughtest hither; This snatched from the Greeks, Bishop Garner, thou gavest.
[23] Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology on these Kalends of May writes these things: Relics at Toulouse, and at Paris, At Toulouse the veneration of the bodies of the most blessed Apostles Philip and James, resting in the basilica of S. Saturninus. The head of Philip torn from the body, was hence translated to Paris to the high temple of the most blessed Virgin, where it is religiously preserved, and is today exhibited in procession in a silver reliquary overlaid with gold. But in a golden one formerly John Duke of Berry, Viceroy of the Volcae or Languedoc, offered it as a votive gift. These things there. Vasconcellos in the description of Lusitania fol. 555, hands down these things: at Montemor in Lusitania, The town called Montemor has the skull of S. Philip the Apostle, which D. Fernand Martin Mascareñas, when he was sent by Sebastian King of Lusitania as legate to the Synod of Trent, the good leave of the Supreme Pontiff being had, brought with him, and placed in the temple of S. Francis. These things there. But whether the sacred relics of a certain S. Philip could forthwith be esteemed to be of S. Philip the Apostle, we rightly doubt: for we know several holy Philips in the East, especially the Deacon.
[24] Charles IV, August Emperor of the Romans and King of Bohemia, in diverse parts of the world obtained various Relics of the Saints with great prayers, and adorned them illustriously and gave them to the Church of Prague, at Prague in Bohemia and at the instance of the said Emperor Pope Innocent VI established the feast of the Bringing of the Relics in the diocese of Prague to be solemnly celebrated on the second day of January, as we said in the Addenda to the first volume of January page 1084. Among these Relics is said to be the arm of S. Philip the Apostle, adorned with gold and silver, as is mentioned in the MS. Martyrology of Prague on these Kalends of May. In the Diary of the Relics it is said, that the head and arm were brought from Italy in the year MCCCLV: and then little fragments of bones brought from Trier in the preceding year. But the head in gilded silver was found in the year MDXV by John Stradomirius, Dean of Karlstein, weaving an Inventory of the Karlstein relics by the command of King Wenceslas: which into the Phosphorus of Prague page 411 inserted the Dean of the Metropolitan church John Pessina, the same who is the author of the Diary: and again of this Head he makes mention page 462.
[25] Meanwhile Bucelinus, in the Benedictine Sanctuary after the Menologion, on the Kalends of May says that the head of S. Philip the Apostle is most religiously preserved in the monastery of Andechs, at Andechs in Bavaria with the arm of the same, and two great parts of another arm; with the fingers likewise, and also four other notable portions of the rest of the body. The monastery of Andechs is one of the more celebrated of Bavaria, from the huge abundance of sacred Relics having obtained the name of the Holy-mount, concerning which and its foundation a singular book has come forth in print, as the same Bucelinus writes in part 2 of Sacred Germany: which book we should wish to obtain. But of the already said relics of S. Philip both there and elsewhere, whether they are of the Apostle one of the twelve, or of another, we do not define; only for further inquiry, or for the notice of a right ambiguous among several, we indicate these things. For the same end we wish it added, that in the year MCXLVIII the temple of Trier of the monastery of S. Matthias the Apostle was dedicated by Pope Eugene III there present on the Ides of January, at Trier in Germany. and the major altar was consecrated in honor of S. John the Evangelist and S. Eucharius, of the Apostles Philip and James and Stephen the Protomartyr, whose relics also are there contained: as is read on the XXIV of February in the tract on the Relics of S. Matthias the Apostle chapter IV. In Scheckmann page 56 it is said that of the treasure of Philip the Apostle more than half is preserved. Gelenius in the Agrippine Fasti celebrates the feast of S. Philip on account of various particles of Relics, at Cologne and elsewhere. which in ten or more Churches are noted to be preserved, which same we observe to be said elsewhere of various Churches.
LIFE
From several old Latin MSS., and the Roman Breviaries.
Philip the Apostle, Martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia (S.)
BHL Number: 6817
FROM THE MSS.
[1] When a in the very beginnings without any obstacle the word of the Gospel was running everywhere, it came about that suddenly, as a light shown from heaven, a certain ray of the sun bursting forth illumined the whole world with the brightness of the supernal light, The Prologue. that there might be fulfilled that prophecy which had said: Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, of the Evangelists and Apostles namely, and their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 18, 5. From then through all cities and villages immense multitudes, as in the time of harvest the grain to the threshing-floors, so to the Churches the peoples were gathered; and whoever there, handed down by their parents condemned by the eating of food, were held by the bonds of a morbid superstition; through the doctrine of Christ and at the same time through the miracles of virtues which they saw done, the knowledge of the true God being received, as though freed from tyrannical dominions, to the one true God and Lord the Creator, repenting of their old errors, faithfully with confession came.
[2] b When therefore the holy Apostles of our Lord and Savior and the other Disciples were divided to preach the word of God through each of the several provinces c of the world; Philip the Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, S. Philip preaches in Scythia, after the Ascension of the Savior, for twenty years instantly preached the Gospel to the Gentiles through d Scythia. Where when he was held by the Gentiles, and led to the statue of Mars compelled to sacrifice; there came out e from under the base, in which the statue of Mars stood, a huge dragon, and struck the son of the Pontiff, who was ministering the fire of the sacrifice. It also struck two Tribunes, who presided over the province: whose officials held in bonds S. Philip the Apostle. But from the breath of the dragon all rendered morbid, began vehemently to be sick. Then S. Philip said to all: Hear my counsel, and you will recover health; but also those who are dead will be raised: the dragon too, which is noxious to you, in the name of my God will be put to flight. They all say to him: Tell us, what we shall do. Philip the Apostle said to them: Cast down this Mars, and break it, and in its place, in which fixed it stands, set the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and adore this. Then those who were tormented, began to cry out: Let virtue be recovered in us, and we will cast down Mars. Silence therefore being made the Apostle said: he exterminates the venomous dragon. I command thee dragon, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, go out from this place, and going dwell in a deserted place, where there is no access of men, and no utility is ministered to human uses, he raises 3 dead: so that going thou harm no one. Then that most savage dragon going out, began to go hastily, and beyond nowhere appeared. But Philip raised the son of the Pontiff, who was ministering the fire of the sacrifice, and the two Tribunes who had been dead: and the whole crowd, which had been made morbid by the breath of the dragon, he restored to health. f
[3] Whence it came about that all, doing penance, adored Philip the Apostle, whom they were persecuting, esteeming him this God. But he for
one year continuously taught them, g how to the perishing world the coming of the Lord had brought succor, how born of a Virgin, he sets forth the mysteries of the faith: how having suffered, how buried on the third day he had risen: how after the resurrection the same things which before his passion he had taught, he had repeated: how with the Apostles beholding he had ascended into the heavens: how he had sent the Holy Spirit, whom he promised, who coming upon the twelve Apostles, inserted the tongues and speeches of all into the minds of his Apostles: Of whose, said he, number I myself sent hither, have made you to know, that these idols are vain, and baptizes many thousands: and hostile to their worshippers. These and similar things Philip the Apostle teaching, many thousands of men believed him, and were baptized.
[4] But Clerics being ordained, h Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons, and many Churches being instructed, S. Philip by revelation returned to Asia, he assails the Ebionites: in the city of Hierapolis, there extinguished the malignant heresy i of the Ebionites, k who taught, that the Son of God not truly born of Mary the Virgin had assumed flesh. But there were there l two most holy daughters of his Virgins, through whom God gained a multitude of Virgins. But the most blessed Philip, seven days before his migration, called to him all the Presbyters and Deacons, but also the Bishops of the neighboring cities, and said to them: These seven days the Lord has granted me in this life. Be mindful of our Lord Jesus Christ, and stand manfully: but the Lord will fulfill his promise, and will strengthen his Church. These and similar things preaching the Apostle of the Lord, of eighty-seven years, m held by the infidels, crucified he dies crucified, and stoned went to the Lord: and in the same city was placed his holy body. And after some years his two consecrated Virgins his daughters were buried on the right and left. Where the benefits of God are afforded, Philip the Apostle praying, n to all who believe the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
OTHER ACTS
From Greek MSS. taken from Metaphrastes.
The Interpreter D. P.
Philip the Apostle, Martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia (S.)
FROM A GREEK MS.
[1] God the Word of God, always coexisting with the Father and at no time circumscribed, When the incarnate Word of God on account of the fall of our nature willed to be assimilated to us and to be subjected to time: and so he was both enclosed in the womb of a Virgin, and by the communion of himself deified what he had assumed. But since this his coming in the flesh was to work salvation for all, it was fitting also that he should have spectators of that divine and ineffable dispensation and participants of the mysteries, through whom he might copiously minister the supernal vocation to our race. After therefore the preaching of John had pervaded all the region bordering on the Jordan, had come into Galilee, and by the grace of the spirit working many were baptized through him (when also my Christ received baptism) the very incomprehensible Word of God dismissing the urban frequency (for thus far he seemed to have dwelt at Jerusalem) came into Galilee, in which then also the admirable Philip was staying.
[2] He was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, but then present in Galilee: who at once from his early age handed by his parents to the liberal disciplines, where Philip was instructed in sacred letters, since he was of good disposition, and apt for any laudable science, at once ran through the Mosaic books, and imbibed whatever had been foretold concerning Christ, namely how he would come in the last days, and would impart salvation to all: for it was not lawful for those who taught youth, to hand down to the disciples any other doctrine, unless they had first learned Moses.
[3] Coming therefore into Galilee Jesus, and finding this great Philip, bids him follow. He, as he heard him calling, calls him to himself: at once came into the memory of those things which from a boy he had perceived and collected concerning Christ; and knew him to be the one, whom the Mosaic books showed would come. Thenceforth he adhered to the master calling him, and little by little advancing in virtue, was numbered among the chief of the disciples. But the good which he had obtained he wished also to communicate to others; and not hiding it, first to Nathanael whom he met (he was his friend and familiar from a long time) he announced the presence of the coming one, He indicates to Nathanael the Messiah found; not as future, but as already existing, saying, No longer in hope consists the salvation of Israel: but he whom the prophetic tongues in spirit foretold as the Savior, to be raised up in the last time, he is now present. Him therefore since we have found, Jesus from Nazareth, nor can be incredulous of the excellence of his miracles, all other things being bidden a long farewell, let us take up his conversation.
[4] These things said drawing Nathanael after him, though scarcely persuaded, and inquiring whether from Nazareth any good could be, and leads him to Christ: he leads him away from the care of Israel, and presented him as about to follow Christ, and gave this first argument of his sincere mind. But Nathanael with entire faith assisting, most freely exclaimed, Rabbi, thou art the King of Israel. Whom when Christ perceived from the immutable sentence of his mind thus to speak, he manifests to him that he would be conscious of great secrets and a beholder of the kingdom of God. For what does he say? Amen, says he, I say to you, you shall see heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. From that time therefore the most holy Philip, to whom especially dear accommodating his ear to the sacred mysteries, was with his whole mind in them; and adverting to no other care, was purged in mind by the light of a more divine knowledge; and putting off the first ignorance, was renewed as to the interior man. But age progressing, taking up a more perfect charity toward Christ, he received in turn an equal love of him toward himself, so that he was reputed as a son, and was in the place of an heir, and at the coming of the Holy Spirit was constituted Prince over all the earth.
[5] But when the time of the saving passion drew near, by which to the passible nature impassibility was to be procured, he himself was continually present with Christ. But it happened then that some legates of the Gentiles were sent to Jerusalem to the spectacle of the feast day: The Gentiles desiring to see Christ, who, stupefied in mind, on account of the wonderful things announced to them about Christ (for great things were then said of him and exceeding all faith, because he had raised Lazarus from the dead, and the whole crowd extolled him with praises, and he worked a thousand other miracles) desired to come into his speech. Obeying therefore so honest a desire, they follow my Jesus; and approaching Philip, they set forth the cause of their coming: he signifies that he is present. but Philip announced first to Andrew called, and together both indicated to Jesus: who explained to them his passion and the glory to follow saying, Unless the grain of wheat falling into the earth shall have died, it remains alone; but if it shall have died, it brings much fruit.
[6] And these things indeed Christ then said to them: when having suffered and risen from death, but after his death, he manifested himself several times to the disciples, and made them spectators of things exceeding human comprehension; here also the great Philip, as a companion and participant of the ineffable mysteries, was present at the things which were done, and was reckoned one of them. But when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had fulfilled the whole order of the dispensation undertaken for us in the flesh, and had wonderfully united earthly things with heavenly, and taken up into heaven with glory had sat at the right hand of the Father, and had sent also the Comforter Spirit, and his ascension, the Holy Spirit being received, as he had promised, in the form of fiery tongues to those whom he had had as companions of mortal life and conscious of secrets; filled with the same Spirit also Philip girt himself for the Evangelical course.
[7] Then indeed, some of them attacking the Eastern parts, others the Western, having obtained Asia by lot, some also pervading the Northern and Southern climates, and fulfilling the preaching committed to them, this admirable Apostle, having obtained a Asia by lot and going about it, b and pervading all the cities and towns in it, led an innumerable multitude to piety; all of whom signing with the light of regeneration, he led to the heavenly Father. Nay also those afflicted with infirmities and diseases, and badly possessed by the demon, he cured by the sole word and the imposition of his holy hand; the very adversaries indeed invisibly driving away, many being led to the faith but visibly saving those who were vexed, while by the magnificence of his preaching and the stupendous operation of miracles, as by certain nets, he led them in a short time to the recognition of the truth. But Priests c and altars through all places there ordaining and constructing, instead of bloody victims he taught them to offer the unbloody host, and to observe the norm of the Gospel also in these; and so he led to Christ the greatest number of believers through himself. When at last the matter was in such a state, that all indeed ought to pass over to the faith, but he himself to pass over to the Lord, such a thing happened to him toward the end d.
[8] A certain illustrious city of Phrygia, which is called holy e, he came to Hierapolis, and excels the rest in the frequency of inhabitants, and is called the mother of the others, received the most holy Philip, after innumerable labors for the faith. But when the Apostle had come hither that he might preach the Gospel also in it, and had seen it
and among pestiferous venomous things to bear worship to a certain monstrous viper f; he was kindled with divine zeal: and incumbing more earnestly on assiduous prayers, and invoking the name of Christ, that deadly beast, which had been the cause of death to many, he put to death.
[9] But after the appellation of the Lord had so well succeeded for him against that cruel beast, he began thenceforth to persuade all, and there he preaches the faith: that they should believe God to live in the heavens, and not adhere to serpents creeping through the earth: since truly there is a God, who always existing a perfect and incomprehensible God, after he had produced this visible world and the invisible, also formed man to the image of his magnificence; and adorning him with the free will of his choice, willed him to enjoy the goods of paradise, only commanding that he abstain from the tree of knowledge. But having transgressed the commands and deprived of his grace, since he would not despise him, first indeed through the Law and the Prophets he instructed him, then willed also the Word consubstantial with himself to be born of an undefiled Virgin, and so appearing in human likeness, and communicating in our passions impassible himself, and on the third day rising from the dead, lovingly manifested himself to us, and went to the heavens whence he had descended: but we believe that he will come again, to raise his figment, and render to each according to his works: this same thing also you too will know, deemed worthy of the divine light of regeneration; for your mind will be purged from every base passion, and you will be filled with his gifts to satiety, if yet there can be satiety of them, and you will obtain the inheritance of the good things promised.
[10] These and more of these things the divine Apostle deferred publicly and privately. But if he saw any before the rest receive the word of the faith, he applied them to the light of regeneration g, and received them into the Sacerdotal order, and made them living temples of Christ. The enemy of Christ seeing the truth so happily advancing, could not restrain himself from laying snares for it and casting an offense. Insinuating himself therefore to those who then in the city held the first places, and kindling their indignation as a fire, for which he is captured and hung up thus, first he caused Philip to be apprehended by them, suddenly moving the multitude against him, then inflicted on him whatever he could of trouble and destruction. For those who had apprehended him shut him in a hard prison, and more harshly beat and scourged him; then ropes being passed through his ankles h they hung him up on high.
[11] Bartholomew also is crucified: And this indeed could signify the state of a mind, holding the right way to the supernal: yet not so did the Lord dismiss him; but since at that time the divine Apostle Bartholomew also was at Hierapolis, together with him announcing the Gospel, he willed him to be the consort of the passion as he had been of the preaching. He therefore, as we said, being hung up by the ankles, i Bartholomew was sentenced to the cross. The sister also k Mariamne, a virgin in body and mind, nor more joined to her brother by nature than by mind, was present to the suffering Philip, and with him shared and sustained the torment. But while these things were being done there happened a thing altogether new: for the earth being shaken and suffering an unwonted tremor, fear lay upon the minds of all, who for the sake of delight had come together to the spectacle. an earthquake then occurring The whole place is overturned utterly, and gapes into an unseen depth: but at the same time the people were swallowed, and were in danger of a most miserable perdition.
[12] When therefore all were stupefied, nor expedited any useful counsel; at length, though late, they recognized that they were sustaining the vengeance of the punishment and injury inflicted on Philip, and surrounding him called him their savior, they beg pardon for the deed and are converted, and asked that he would extend his right hand to them, and not despise the souls perishing for his sake alone. But it is narrated that when they thus insisted on prayers, and said many things apt to move compassion, nor ceased from praying; Jesus, having mercy on the things which were being done, lent them a benign ear, and suddenly appeared: and that by that apparition immediately the danger ceased, and the ground hitherto tremulous stood firm, and to those who awaited death a more divine virtue appeared, serving in the stead of stairs, and affording an easy ascent upward. And that thing being made for the infidels a way of faith to salvation, showed indeed Philip to be great, but greater him whom he himself had preached the Lord.
[13] But those who had been saved hastened indeed to take the Disciples out of bonds, and to take them down from the wood as quickly as possible; amid exhortations and prayers his dead body, but when they had loosed Bartholomew, Philip forbade them to do the same for him, for he knew that he was now about to migrate to him whom he desired: and therefore hanging from the wood, all day he spoke with the citizens about their salvation, and confirming their minds by exhorting and pouring forth prayers for them, holily amid holy eloquence he passed away; and to the Lord whom he had loved he passed over, commending his soul into his hands.
[14] But his venerable body by Bartholomew and Mariamne, is buried on November 14. when they had splendidly performed those things which are wont to be done in burials, was deposited with hymns and sacred obsequies in a holy and decent place, on the fourteenth day of November. But Bartholomew and Mariamne, having stayed there a little time, when they had again more splendidly performed for that venerable body the rites of hymns and exequies, and had further confirmed those present in the faith, returned to their own places, preaching everywhere the Gospel of Christ: because to him belongs all glory, honor and adoration, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
THE MIRACLES OF S. PHILIP.
From the Great Menaea of the Greeks.
Philip the Apostle, Martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia (S.)
FROM THE GREEK MENAEA
[1] Although that prolix narration of the miracles of S. Philip, which in the Menaea of the Greeks on the XIV of November is subjoined to his eulogy, almost wholly, in our judgment, pertains to Philip the Deacon, as we insinuated above: yet those things which are said properly to have happened at Hierapolis, seem to pertain to this one of the twelve Apostles: of no maximal faith indeed, as received from those who conflated two Philips into one; yet not altogether to be rejected, since they could be had from the ancient tradition of the Church of Hierapolis or even from older writings: nay what is here especially contained, the miracle of the dead raised, seems to be the very one which we said above was related from Eusebius to Papias the Bishop by the daughters of Philip. But these are the things.
[2] When the Apostle Philip had come to Hierapolis, he warned those who followed him, not to succumb to temptations. The people of Hierapolis conspiring to slay the saint, Then the inhabitants decreed to take him away by guile, as a juggler, under the pretext, lest he should also bewitch their wives, just as he had deceived many of others. Yet a certain one of the citizens, Heros by name, more honored in condition than the rest, wished to exempt the Apostle from stoning. And so having a speech apt for persuasion to his people, he thus discoursed: Receive a counsel, said he, my citizens, which may harm neither us nor our guest. If it seem good to you let us prove his doctrine, whether it will be profitable to the salvation of the soul. Heros persuades them to hear him and receives him in his house. And since to Heros an illustrious man no one dared to gainsay, he himself first of all having embraced the feet of the Apostle, invited the Saint to his house. Which when both had entered; Marcella the wife of Heros, angry with her husband, sought an occasion of ejecting the guest from the house, and denied her dowry, unless he should eliminate Philip.
[3] and his wife being placated, Philip, after he noticed Heros wavering in doubt, exhorted him, that he should remain in the faith. But he, his knees being placed, began to deprecate God: and her who a little before was fierce, he showed tractable and gentle to her husband. Who having addressed her husband, O sweetest husband, said she, Whence is this admirable man? how sweet is his speech, and how grateful the conversation of his manners? he is baptized with his family. And Heros: He is, said he, the herald of the great God, my wife, and the procurator of the everlasting kingdom: wherefore if it please, without any doubt let us approach to worship the God of this man. And at the same time both falling at the feet of the Apostle, with the whole household, were from water and the Holy Spirit regenerated.
[4] From that time many of the neighborhood were led over to the Lord. But the finder of malice, when he saw himself conquered and his own, Wherefore the Apostle being called into judgment, and captured by the Apostle; stirred up some who should lay waste the house of Heros by fire. Which when the Apostle had known in spirit, he intrepidly went out from it. Whom inhumanly apprehended they drag to the tribunal of the Senate. To whom threateningly Aristarchus, the same Exarch President of the council, I know, said he, that thou art imbued with magic arts; wherefore unless thou abjure them, I will give thee to death by a bitter stoning: but the things which pertain to thy crucified God, Aristarchus the President, acting injuriously, at an opportune time we will inquire. Then the hair of the Apostle being seized he pushed him through the mud. But blessed Philip, wishing the importunate deed of Aristarchus to
amend, perhaps on account of the others who were present, that they might understand him to be the servant of a powerful God; all hearing exclaimed in this manner: Lord, who hast formed our hearts one by one, and whither thou wilt impellest their affections; the words of my heart, free of all anger, he obtains that he be punished as an example to others. fulfill by the deed itself, that all thence may be amended; and let the hand stretched over the hair of the head, which thou hast preserved, be weakened. He had spoken, when there followed for that importunate man a distortion of the limbs; but the hand suddenly withered, the eye moreover was blinded, and both ears grew deaf. By this miracle the Senate gathered was stupefied, and they asked Philip, that he would forgive the sinner. To whom the Apostle, The depravations of the limbs cannot be cured by human help: for he who should correct these, is one, who from the dust in the beginning formed man; to whom unless you also yourselves approach, that distorted Aristarchus will not recover health.
[5] Amid these things a funeral was being carried to the sepulchre; and the Senators who were with Aristarchus, [and in the name of Christ he raises a young man who was being carried out to be buried.] the bier being retained, by mockery said to the Apostle: If thou call this one back to life, we will all with Aristarchus adore thy God. Then the Saint, his eyes lifted up to heaven, for some time prays together: then him lying in the bier addressing with a placid voice, Theophilus, said he. And immediately the dead man sat up, and opened his eyes. To whom the Apostle again; Christ, said he, commands: rise, and go free. He, when he had descended from the funeral litter, at once fell at the feet of the Apostle: and, Thanks, said he, to thee Holy one of God, that thou hast snatched me from the sad jaws of the lower world at this hour: for by two black and monstrous and cruel cyclopes I was being violently dragged: but if having delayed a little thou hadst not been present to me in time, into foul and deadly tartarus I would have been carried away.
[6] Then this unexpected prodigy put all into amazement, and How, said they, has he, he bids Aristarchus himself also be healed by Heros, whom he never knew, by calling him by name raised up? Truly he whom this man calls strong, and proclaims, and announces God, is powerful and truthful: and we without any doubt run to him and believe. Then the Apostle by his hand enjoining silence, the tumult being suppressed; commands Heros, Over Aristarchus, said he, with thy hand express the sign of the Cross, and in the name of the most holy Trinity correct his limbs, hurt from his own simplicity. Which when Heros had done, he made Aristarchus whole, his joints being restored. Over which miracle all fell at the feet of the Apostle, and converts all, among whom was also the Prefect, the father of the one raised from the dead, who was Prince of the Senate, together with his wife: who approached the Apostle, and avidly received the instruction of the catechesis, and in argument of a constant faith, the twelve golden Gods which he worshipped, he commanded to be handed to the Apostle, that he might distribute them for the use of the poor. Nay also all the rest of his goods he so well dispensed, that he seemed never able to be torn from the right faith received.
[7] and a church being ordered But the Apostle, when he had reduced all there joined to the orthodox faith into a convenient order; set Heros over them as Bishop; but from themselves added Presbyters and Deacons: he took care also that temples be raised, and the same founded. Then all being rightly instituted in the faith, imparting peace to them, he ordains Heros Bishop, and having deprecated God for them, he set out into Phrygia, Lycaonia and Asia, there preached, and announced Christ, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
THE TRANSLATION OF THE ARM
From Jerusalem to Florence.
From a MS. of the Cathedral Church of Florence.
Philip the Apostle, Martyr at Hierapolis in Phrygia (S.)
BHL Number: 6818
FROM THE FLORENCE MS.
[1] After the mediator of God and men put on the mortality of our flesh, and humanized his Deity for the redemption of the human race; Among the 12 Apostles chosen by Christ, truth has arisen from the earth, and justice has looked down from heaven. Whence they who desire to be the sons of truth and justice, find the gates of Paradise open, which before grace remained closed even to those working well. For the sons of truth and the principal coheirs were the Apostles: who on account of the infusion of the Holy Spirit traversing the world on every side, announced the mystery of the Incarnation, the passion and resurrection of the Son of the most high God to the infidel peoples and those worshipping idols, converting the hearts of the incredulous with words, works and miracles: and so the citizens of the supernal city Jerusalem, and the domestics of God, bore peace, illumined their fatherlands, and the darkness of incredulity being repelled conferred the lights of the true faith on believers. These are the twelve Apostles, who are called the sent ones, whose sound has gone forth into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world, and to whom from the mouth of the Most High was conferred the power of binding and loosing: these are the twelve candelabra, radiant with the fire of the Holy Spirit; the twelve columns of the heavenly hall, by which the Catholic faith is sustained; and the twelve gates, through which we enter to the kingdoms of the heavens. Of whose number was B. Philip the Apostle: of whose arm's translation I undertake to write, was S. Philip, the history of whose arm translated to Florence is indicated by the leave and mandate of John a Bishop of Florence, who on account of his wisdom and all-manner discretion shines like a golden candelabrum in the house of the Lord, as I heard from the Venerable Lord Rainer, Prior of the Church of the holy Resurrection of Jerusalem, who had been born of the Florentine diocese, and had already stood Chaplain in the Church of b Puluentum, to whose assertion the truth bears testimony: since he himself translated the most holy arm of the Apostle just as in the following I shall narrate.
[2] At that time, when c Emmanuel, the most glorious of all Emperors whom the earth has sustained since the coming of Christ, To a Florentine Monk, in the city of Constantinople by the Lord's permission was reigning, a certain Clergyman, by name Monachus, sprung from the city of Florence, visited the most sacred Sepulchre of the Lord: who although he was called vocally Monachus (Monk), on account of the honesty of his manners and laudable conversation was really discerned a monk. He indeed from the first flower of youth was erudite in the liberal arts, Chancellor of Jerusalem. and afterwards in the mystery of sacred Scripture, Canon Law and Physical science excelled. Wherefore the Patriarch d of Jerusalem chose him for his Chancellor, that by his providence the Patriarchal See might be more honestly ruled. But time proceeding the Church of Caesarea, which is the second from that of Jerusalem, bereaved of a Pastor was vacant. Then all the Suffragans and the Chapter, the grace of the Holy Spirit being invoked, elected the aforesaid Chancellor as Archbishop: who afterwards both the Archbishopric and the office of Chancellor governed happily. Archbishop of Caesarea,
[3] But not after much time there came e Saladin, as another Nebuchadnezzar, from Babylonia: to whom the Lord delivered the land of promise on account of the sins of the inhabitants. Who the kingdom being taken put his hand to all the desirable things of the Christians, and put again the land of Jerusalem into a custody of apples, slew infinite men, and cast the bodies of the slain into food for the birds of heaven, and the flesh of the peoples for the beasts of the earth; caused their blood to be poured out as water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury. But those who did not perish by the sword, were led into captivity: and upon the rivers of Babylon they sit and lament, holding in their hands the song of the condemned: since those who led them captive, burst forth over them into words of songs, nor dare they sing the canticle of the Lord among the barbarous nations. The whole kingdom of Jerusalem being subjugated except Tyre, the aforenamed Archbishop, as an exile and despoiled of the ecclesiastical patrimony returned to his own, and at Florence stayed about two years. But after he heard that the Christians had recovered the city of f Acre, he had the purpose of returning. He crossed the sea home, and returned to Acre: then to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, where after a small space of his stay by the Archbishops, Bishops and Chapter, by the permission of the King, he was g elected Patriarch.
[4] He indeed knew that the aforenamed Emperor Emmanuel had bestowed the arm of the holy Apostle Philip on his niece the Lady h Maria, at the time [re] when he gave her to King i Amalric in marriage. Whence both her and the daughter of the same Lady Maria Queen Isabella, wife of King Henry k, who from Cyprus had come to Acre to reign, the niece of the Emperor Emmanuel he thus addressed: Daughters of Jerusalem, crowned with the royal diadem, to you the earthly Emperor, out of chief love and spiritual grace, conferred spiritual dowries, namely the arm of the Apostle Philip: which although it be lawful for you, yet it is not expedient to keep: the arm of S. Philip received from him he gave: because the heaven of heaven is the Lord's, but the earth he gave to the sons of men. For it is read that Josiah, because he presumed to handle divine things, was struck with an incurable plague: therefore if to men and earthly Princes it is forbidden to handle sacred things, much more strongly is it inhibited to women on account of the fragile sex: whence delay not to render the things of God to God, by resigning in whatever ministry of his the arm of the Apostle Philip, which from the Imperial largess in the royal Palace you retained. Then they imploring pardon for the excess, conferred on him the holy Arm: which he with the highest reverence placed in a Holy place.
[5] Afterwards Peter l of pious memory Bishop of Florence, understanding this from certain persons, it being asked by Peter Bishop of Florence, directed letters to the same Patriarch, suppliantly supplicating, that he would deign to endow the Church of Florence with the arm of the Apostle Philip. But he wished at once to assent to the petitions of the Bishop, except that at the dissuasion of certain persons he deferred to do this. At length when he saw the day of his death imminent with funeral coming on, to Rainer, whom I named in the Prologue, who then was Dean of Joppa, in the virtue of the Holy Spirit and true obedience he commanded, it is by the dying Patriarch committed to Rainer, that he should destine the arm of the blessed Apostle Philip, according to his vow, to Florence, and in the famous temple of John the Baptist cause it to be magnificently placed. But afterwards the Patriarch of reverend memory, the Lord calling, m paid the debt of humanity; and from this flowing and fugitive life passed over to the fatherland of immortality, to receive the crown of unfading glory. The mouth of so great a Father being entombed, the Venerable Cardinal n Soffred, who then in the parts beyond the sea was discharging the office of legation, was elected Patriarch: but he afterwards renounced the election. But all to whom the election pertained, by the consent of the King elected the Bishop o of Vercelli, for whose bringing back the already said Prior was principally constituted Legate.
[6] He indeed, desiring to satisfy the last will of the testator, in vain the King and Chapter for a while resisting, wished to carry with him the arm of the holy Apostle Philip. Then the King and Chapter began wholly to contravene his purpose, saying, that they would not permit the limbs of so great an Apostle to be transported into an alien region. But Master Gualterottus [p], formerly Canon of Florence and in the Florentine Bishopric sprung from a noble lineage, a man of the highest probity and discretion, who at that time had gone with the Cardinal and had been elected Bishop of Acre, where today he shines with Pontifical honor, to the already said Prior of the holy Sepulchre help in all things
he contributed a fellow companion: whence both together so mitigated both the King's mind and the fervent purpose of the Chapter, that they granted to the same Prior full power of translating the arm of St. Philip. Indeed the same Bishop, before his promotion and afterward, labored much, that the Florentine church might be endowed with the merits of so great an Apostle.
[7] But the Prior, having received the arm of St. Philip, placed it with the greatest reverence in a ship, and began to sail with the sailors. It is translated by ship, Moreover, how many perils he sustained in sailing, it would be long to relate one by one: but from all perils he deserved to be freed through the merits of the blessed Apostle Philip. What more? He came at length to Florence, bearing with him the reverend arm; and at the entrance of the city there met him John, formerly Prior of the Church of St. Fridianus of Lucca, then Florentine Bishop-Elect with all the Clergy, and the illustrious Count [q] Rodulfus, at that time Podestà of the Florentines, with a multitude of men and women crying out and saying, Blessed be the Lord our God, who willed to adorn our city with the merits of the Apostle Philip. There came also young men and maidens, old men with the younger, rendering votive and famous praises to the Most High, [and received at Florence with solemn array and laid in the church of St. John the Baptist] who made the city of Florence flourish again by the merits of so great a Patron. For the Bishop-Elect, receiving the venerable Arm into his arms, brought it back with the highest devotion from the entrance of the city even to the temple of John the Baptist and Forerunner of the Lord, and there placed it with great solemnity: whence the Church rejoices, the Clergy exults, the order of monks is glad, the Virgins dedicated to God give thanks before the presence of the heavenly Spouse, the soldiery dances, the whole people is delighted, and out of the mouth of infants and sucklings praise is perfected, that the Apostle Philip has come, by whose presence and patronage the city is rendered glorious.
[8] Indeed a fourfold heavenly gift, election, confirmation, came likewise to John then of Florence. and it is shown to Blessed Albert the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Whence, like another Simeon, he can rejoice together in the Lord; because, as that one bore Christ in the temple, so this one deserved to bear in his arms a part of the body of him to whom the Lord himself revealed the mystery of the Trinity, and to place it in the temple of John the Baptist, of whose name not the equivocation but the parity denotes an increase of grace. Moreover, for the favor of greatest authority, while the oft-mentioned Prior of the holy Sepulchre was returning from Vercelli with the Patriarch-Elect, he entered the Florentine city, where the Elect himself asked that the arm of the Blessed Apostle Philip be shown to him: who at once, with bent knees, kissing it, adored it: for this is a miraculous succession; which while it proceeds through the inherited paths of spiritual right, induces a marvelous advent, and makes the new Successor confirm the vows of the Predecessor.
[9] The felicity of the Florentines is proclaimed But O Florence, with what praises I should extol the gifts of thy fortune, or with what heraldings I should exalt thee, I know not: because the singular matter takes away the faculty of speech. Behold the arm of a heavenly citizen, from the Empire to the Kingdom, and from the Kingdom has come down to thee: whence deservedly thou art called Florence, because like the lily thou bloomest again, and from this thou art made flowering, and adorned with the members of the Apostle as with pearls. For first thou didst deserve to build of precious stones a famous and renowned temple of the Forerunner of the Lord: to whose honor a thing done so gloriously is not found in the world, whence thou hadst that spiritual Patron, of whom the Lord says, Among those born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: but now one of the twelve, namely the Apostle Philip, has chosen to remain in the same tabernacle, that thou mayest be sustained by a double Patron and patronage. Matth. 11, 11 This is Philip the Apostle, who as a disposer of present things and a foreteller of things to come, to confute the depravity of all heretics interrogated Christ, The faith of St. Philip, lest in the minds of any a doubt concerning the unity of the Trinity should remain; for he said, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us: and lest it should be believed that he himself doubted in anything, he said, Show us, not, Me; because he knew that some doubted in the articles of the Trinity. John 14, 8 For it is wont to happen, that he who has sat satisfied at the table of a rich man, asks bread sometimes to be bestowed not for himself, but for the hungry who stand around, that all and each may be satisfied. Filial was the interrogation and confident, when he said: Show us the Father and it sufficeth us; that is, we have sufficiency concerning the Trinity, nor do we doubt any further in anything. And the Lord benignly responds to him and satisfies the question, numbering for him as he asked those whom according to his interrogation he knew to doubt, when he said, So long a time I am with you and you have not known me. And turning to the questioner, he resolves the question saying; Philip, he who sees me, sees also my Father. But how he was called by the Lord into an Apostle, John the Evangelist relates, and how afterward he led Nathanael to Jesus: it is told also in the same Gospel how Jesus tempted him, when a very great crowd had come to him, nor had they what they might eat: but the temptation of divine majesty is an increase of virtue and the bestowal of fuller grace, and his preaching in Scythia and miracles. as in Abraham we can more evidently behold. This is Philip the Apostle, who received Scythia as the lot of his preaching, and in the name of the Lord commanded a dragon to flee to solitary places, lest by its deadly breath it should further destroy men: for he is read also to have raised three dead men, and to have done other miracles, which in his passion, but with too great brevity, are written.
[10] But now I bring forth into the midst the first miracle, which through the merits of the blessed Apostle Philip was wrought at the very entrance of the city; that the followers of the orthodox faith may rejoice together in the Lord, A long-lasting disease afflicting the heart is driven off and the damnable bands of heretics may tremble. Bellundus a goldsmith, a Florentine citizen, from a certain feverish distemper for no short space of time was suffering syncope, that is a failing of the heart, from which infirmity he could not be freed by the aid of physicians: for a long-lasting disease propagates roots, and sickness defends itself by the long prescription of years. For he was afflicted whenever he lay more inclined, as if he labored with the falling sickness. But he, seeing the arm of the Apostle resting in the arms of the Elect, tearfully implored his clemency, that he would remove the old disease with a spiritual antidote. From that very hour indeed, as I heard from his own report, he suffered no harm from the aforesaid sickness.
[11] When the river which is called the Arno, by an inundation of waters had swollen beyond custom, a certain girl, by name Rosa, daughter of a certain Florentine citizen a girl fallen into the river, who is called Deodatus, by some chance fell into it. And while without hope of deliverance, with very many looking on, she was drawn turning amid the horrible courses of the waters; the mother, groaning from the depths of her marrow for the unutterable grief of her daughter, most devoutly besought the nourishing Apostle Philip, that he would deign to restore to her the imperiled daughter. and carried far off is delivered. Then the girl miraculously appeared upon the water, and from the city even to the place which the common folk call Fontanellas, which can be about the space of three stadia, she came: where to father and mother, through the merits of the Apostle Philip, she was restored unharmed. There was moreover there no small concourse of men and women, who, the miracle being seen, glorified the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who works such miracles through the merits of the most blessed Apostle Philip.
[12] Lost sight is restored. A certain man, by name Pichius, already burdened with senile age, while he was splitting wood with an axe, a certain little particle of wood struck back his eye; whence for a year and a half he remained destitute of the light of that eye: nor had it profited him to have tried any medicines: wherefore he begged the patronage of the Blessed Apostle Philip, and at once received the desired sight. Let Florence therefore see, how through the merits of the Apostle Philip it flourishes again: let it venerate above all that Patron, through whom it is assiduously venerated by the faithful of Christ, by whose patronage and presence it stands adorned, and has received a crown from a precious stone.
[13] The arm of the Blessed Apostle Philip was translated in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1204, on the VI of the Nones of March, in the year VIII of the Pontificate of Pope Innocent, [s] there being no Emperor, The arm was translated in the year 1204. because for obtaining the Empire a contention of dignity had earlier [t] arisen between Philip and Otho. At the same time also [u] the Lord delivered the most excellent City of Constantinople into the hands of the Latins.
Annotata
p. Ughellus simply calls Gualterus Bishop of Accon, in the Epp. Vercell. col. 1099, where he says the seal of him and of the aforesaid Albert is in his keeping, subjoined to an instrument of the year 1212: perhaps on account of the height of his stature he is called commonly by the augmentative name Gualterottus.
q. John Villanus, Chron. Florent. book 5 chapter 31 narrates, how the Florentine city, which before was ruled in the Roman manner by native Consuls chosen by the people, preferred to a domestic government, liable to many inconveniences, an external one, and began yearly from some neighboring city
to summon some nobleman, with the title of Podestà, whom in Latin we should call Praetor or Prefect of the City, who with his assessors should adjudge capital and civil causes; and that thence the times of Florence began to be marked not by Consuls, but by Podestàs: but that the first then chosen was in the year 1207, Gualterotus of Milan. But from this writing it appears that the first in truth was Rudolf in the year 1204, but that the last Consuls were those whom Villanus names for the year 1203 in the preceding Chapter.
r. You may doubt whether it ought not to be read "twofold." But neither thus is the sense whole: perhaps it should be read thus, Indeed a heavenly gift, with which a twofold good, election and confirmation.
s. Innocent III was elected Pope in the year 1198 in the month of January, so that his eighth year began with the year 1205: because nevertheless the Florentines began their civil years with the following Easter, hence the year 1204 is still noted.
t. In the year 1198 in the month of March there were elected through Schism Philip Duke of Swabia, brother of the deceased Henry VI, and Otho son of Henry Duke of Saxony.
u. Namely at Easter, beginning the year 1204, as here the years are numbered. Villanus, cited before, book 5 chapter 27, writes the deed done in the year 1200, from which it appears that he is not very accurate concerning these times, so that it is no wonder if he erred in noting the beginning of the Podestàs.