ON SS. CHRYSANTHUS AND FORTUNATUS
PRESBYTERS OF PAVIA IN ITALY.
CENT. I
CommentaryChrysanthus, Presbyter of Pavia in Italy (S.)
Fortunatus, Presbyter of Pavia in Italy (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] The first Bishop of the city of Pavia or Ticinum
was S. Syrus, and its principal Patron,
whose illustrious Acts we have from various
codices to be given on the day IX of December, and the same
are found in tome 2 of Mombritius, Presbyters ordained by S. Syrus, and on XII September
edited by Surius. There the following are read: The grace
of God was diffused in the city of Pavia, and the fame of the holy
man being divulged, from various parts the frequency of many
peoples came to him: in which most happy city
he established Ecclesiastical orders, and made his disciples
Juventius and Pompeius Deacons,
and ordained Chrysanthus an illustrious man and Fortunatus
a most distinguished man as Presbyters. Almost the same has
Peter de Natalibus bk. 1 ch. 50. Of these Juventius,
then third Bishop of Pavia, is venerated VIII February,
when we gave his Acts; and S. Pompeius the second
Bishop, on XIV December: but SS. Chrysanthus and Fortunatus
the Presbyters, on this XV May; when also they are referred
by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of Saints, referred 15 May, likewise
in the Catalogue of Saints of Italy, both in the Topographical Index
of places of Italy, and in the Alphabetical Index of Saints.
Tablets of the Church of S. Gervase of Pavia are cited by Ferrarius, buried in the church of S. Gervase,
in which their bodies are kept. That their bodies
are preserved there, in a marble ark, together with
the bodies of SS. Boninus, Soterius and Paulinus the Martyrs,
a stone placed opposite affirms, on which below at the names of those three
likewise to be venerated on this day: and at the same time it signifies
the most recent and common translation of all five to have been made
on the Kal. of November 1626. Stephen
Breventanus of Pavia bk. 2 of the Pavian History
ch. 2, Innocentius ab Ecclesia, bk. 1 of the Life of S. Syrus written
in Italian, ch. 6; and John Baptist in the Breviary of the Lives
of the Holy Bishops of Pavia, where on S. Syrus, moreover
think, that he, having received from Hermagoras Bishop
of Aquileia disciples and companions, Juventius,
Pompeius, Chrysanthus and Fortunatus, came to Verona
and thence to Ticinum. But, why may we not rather believe SS.
Chrysanthus and Fortunatus to have been Ticinensians,
and converted to Christ in their own homeland?