ON S. MAXIMA THE VIRGIN
OF CALLIDIANUM IN THE DIOCESE OF FRÉJUS IN PROVENCE.
PrefaceMaxima, Virgin, of Callidianum in the diocese of Fréjus in Provence (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
Usuard in his Martyrology about this holy Virgin thus speaks: In the country of Fréjus of S. Maxima the Virgin, Name in the sacred fasts, who illustrious for many virtues, in peace rested. Ado the place thus expresses & in the country of Fréjus, in the village which is called Calidianus, of S. Maxima the Virgin, who illustrious for many virtues, in peace rested. The same has Notker, & with Ado cited Petrus de Natalibus amplifies these things in book 5 chap. 7 with these words: Maxima Virgin in the country of Forli (rather Fréjus), in the village Callidianus, flowering in the lily of virginity, & with many & noteworthy virtues illustrious, in peace rested on the seventeenth Kalends of June. Public veneration in the diocese of Fréjus, The genuine Martyrology of Bede is empty, but that which is supposed to him, with places omitted, brings forth the rest from Ado. Finally Usuard & Ado are everywhere followed by others in Martyrologies handwritten & printed with today's Roman Martyrology. Furthermore moved by the faith of those ancient Martyrologies, & the very celebrity of the Relics preserved at Callidianum, the Church of Fréjus, from all retro memory holds the feast of S. Maxima on this day through the entire diocese, which the most ancient MS. Litanies prove, in the number of Virgins invoking S. Maxima: & the old Breviary of Fréjus, printed in the year 1529, where in the Calendar, is added to the name a red Cross, in sign that the feast ought to be celebrated in double rite with three Lessons, which in the greatest also feasts to that Church is the highest number: but all things are done from the Common. But what a few years from now were printed of the same diocese's proper Offices, contain this Prayer about her: The intercession we ask, Lord, of S. Maxima the Virgin from all sins may cleanse us; & because her feasts with worthy obeisances we celebrate, by her intercessions may we be helped. Nicolaus Brautius Bishop of Sarsina & Count of Bobbio, in the Poetic Martyrology adorns her with this distich: With exceptional love of the Spouse, & of pure modesty, Above the rest, the Virgin Maxima pleases the Spouse.
[2] Ferrarius in the Catalogue of Saints of Italy adds that she obtains great veneration with the Fréjusois & Aquileians and the whole diocese, but laments that he the proper Acts of this Virgin, if any exist, through the negligence of those, from whom he had expected them, has not yet seen. Nothing wonderful: for while to the Fréjusois he joins the Aquileians, not Italian, to whom by mere & vain conjecture the cult of S. Maxima he extends; he sufficiently shows that he labors in equivocation, & for the Fréjus diocese in the Province of Gaul, at the Grimaldic gulf under the Archbishopric of Aix, understands the Friulian tract of Northern Italy, between Istria & the Treviso territory, at the Adriatic gulf, commonly Friuli; where, after diligent inquiry through himself & through friends, neither Callidianum village nor S. Maxima is asserted to be known, replying to me a man most studious of paternal antiquities, of Lower Carniola the Archdeacon, D. Ioannes Ludovicus Schonleben. Gallic Forum-Julium, commonly Fréjus, gets its name from its capital, of which thus speaks Tacitus book 3 History. Forum-Julium, between Olbia & Antipolis founded, but Gallic, whose region is irrigated by the Argentius river, in the most fecund plain of the Maritime Salii. Hence going four or five leagues to the North, across the Bencon stream, near Faventia, Callidianus is a village, commonly Callian: from the other side however across the Argentius river two villages are found, with title and patronage of S. Maxima known; of which the one which is closer, toward the South-West situated is at the Grimaldic gulf, on the promontory of S. Vincentius, & opposite faces the village of S. Torpes commonly called S. Tropez, where today still on the very shore is a certain turreted bulwark, & beneath it traces of cells drawn into squares, & caves & tombs as of some monastery: but the one further toward the West, inland is and has a church to the same Saint dedicated for six hundred or seven hundred years, as much as from the antiquity of the structure is gathered; about which church D. Henricus de Suarez, from his MS. observations on universal ecclesiastical history, suggests, that it is situated near the castle of Cannet, & is a Priory, subject to the Abbey of S. Andrew near Avignon; of which same church Pope Gelasius II makes mention in a Bull given to Petrus the Abbot of the said monastery, confirming all its benefices & possessions, at Orange. Ides of December in the first year of the Pontificate (this was 1099 begun from XXI January, as elsewhere we shall demonstrate) but for about four hundred years was united to the Prebend of the Archdeacon of Fréjus, with opulent tithes in the Cassinensian district.
[3] where the body is held From those places therefore or from the very Village Callidianum should one have sought the Life of S. Maxima, which I understand many have already done, but in vain; so that, if any ever was, it must be judged altogether to have perished. Meanwhile is established the most ancient cult & possession of the sacred body, all whose bones in the year 1643, on her very feast day, by command of Petrus Camelinus the Diocesan, from the old into a new and most splendid chest were translated, together with equally preserved instruments of female work, needles, scissors, and others as pure from rust & shining, as if first from the smith's hands they had come. To these is added an old parchment, containing to the church of S. Mary of Callian, with notable memory of the Relics of S. Maxima. Of this bull a transcript on paper, marked with the seal of the Aix Curia, signed authentically by the hand of the public Notary Bellissen, in the year 1675 on day XXVII November to be made asked D. Franciscus de Vitalis, Prior of Callian; perhaps at the persuasion of D. Iosephus Antelmius, Canon & Official of Fréjus, by whose benefit we received it together with the aforesaid old breviary, through the hands of our P. Carolus Faber staying at Avignon & busying himself for our cause with all whom he knew to be able to confer something to illustrate the glory of the Saints in this work. But the Bull is itself of this kind.
[4] Nicolaus of Albano & Franciscus of Praeneste, Bishops; Antonius of the title of S. Praxedis, Petrus of the title of S. Eusebius, Adrianus of the title of S. Sabina, to the Callian church Scaramutia of the title of S. Cyriacus in the Baths, & Aloisius of the title of S. Clement Presbyters; Ludovicus of S. Maria in Cosmedin, Marcus of S. Maria in Vialata, & Amaneus of S. Nicolas in Tullian Prison Deacons, by the divine mercy of the most holy Roman Church Cardinals, to all & each of Christ's faithful, who shall inspect the present letters, eternal salvation in the Lord. The more frequently we induce the minds of the faithful to works of charity, the more salubriously do we consult the salvation of their souls. Desiring therefore that the parochial church, perhaps Priory, called of B. Mary of Callian, of the diocese of Fréjus, to which (as we received) our beloved in Christ Venerable man Bartholomaeus Delphinus, Precentor of the church of Aix, & of the said parochial church Prior or Rector, or perpetual administrator of its fruits & revenues, bears singular devotion, be frequented with congruous honors, & by Christ's faithful continually venerated, & in its structures & buildings duly repaired, conserved & maintained, also with books, chalices, lights, ornaments ecclesiastical, & other things necessary there for divine cult, decently fortified; & that Christ's faithful there the more willingly for the cause of devotion may flow to the same, & to the repair, conservation, maintenance, & fortification of this kind their hands more promptly extend as helpers, that thence there with the gift of heavenly grace more abundantly they may feel themselves refreshed; we Cardinals aforesaid, namely each of us through himself, to the supplications of the said Bartholomew, to us about this humbly extended, inclined, of almighty God's mercy & of the blessed Peter & Paul His Apostles' authority confiding, to all & each of Christ's faithful of either sex, truly penitent & confessed, on the feast of S. Maxima and others, who shall the said church on each, namely of S. Maxima (with whose Relics this very church, as is asserted, is decorated) of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, & of the Assumption of B. Mary the Virgin, & of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, also of S. Honoratus's festivities & days, from first Vespers to second Vespers inclusive, devoutly shall have visited yearly, & to the aforesaid their hands shall have extended as helpers, for each festivity & aforesaid days on which they shall have done it, a hundred days from the penances enjoined on them now in the Lord we relax, the present perpetual to last in future times: in faith of which we have ordered our letters of this kind to be made, giving Indulgences in the year 1519. & with the appending of our seals to be fortified. Given at Rome in our houses, in the year from the nativity of the Lord one thousand five hundred nineteenth, on the seventh day indeed of the month of January, of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father & Lord our, Lord Leo by Divine providence Pope the tenth, in the sixth year.
Io. Balteri
[5] Who first here is named Nicolaus of Albano, of the family of the Genoese Fieschi by Alexander VI first created Cardinal Presbyter of the title of S. Prisca, then made Archbishop of Ravenna in the year 1516; Who are these? by the Sammartani in Christian Gaul among the Bishops of Fréjus fifty-eighth is reckoned, & is called perpetual Administrator of the Churches of Fréjus & Toulon in the year 1510 named, & also of the Provostship of Pinerolo. To him therefore, as to his Ordinary he had recourse Bartholomaeus Prior of Callian, & by his favor obtained, that the others in their own name should also augment the desired Indulgences: therefore first here he signs before Franciscus Soderinus, made Cardinal in the same creation with him, from the Albano church the lowest among the Cardinalitial churches in rank, to the more sublime Praeneste elevated in the year 1516, afterwards also Bishop of Ostia. Antonius de Monte S. Sabini, from the creation of Iulius II Cardinal Presbyter of the title of S. Vitalis, to the title of S. Praxedis by Leo X was translated, then Archbishop of Siponto, afterwards by five titles of Cardinalitial Episcopates, that is all except Ostia, was successively augmented. Petrus de Accoltis, from the same creation of Iulius II, having obtained the title of S. Eusebius, although shunning dignities the Bishopric of Ancona he had resigned; nevertheless titles of many churches in Spain, Gaul, Belgium, Italy, & finally the Archbishopric of Ravenna he was forced to accept, thence in the Order of Cardinal Bishops to the Albanan, Praenestine & Sabine throne elevated. Hadrianus Gouffier the Gaul, four years before by Leo X named
Cardinal of the title of SS. Peter & Marcellinus, recently to the title of S. Sabina had transferred. Scaramuccia Trivultius of Milan, gifted with Purple in the same creation, remained always in that S. Cyriacus title which he first received. The same did Aloysius de Rubeis the Florentine, from the same creation of Leo X. Indeed also Ludovicus of Aragon, son of Ferdinand I King of Aragon, although already from the year 1497 under Alexander VI having obtained the Diaconate of S. Maria in Cosmedin, never took care to ascend higher: but his colleague Marcus Cornelius the Venetian, since up to here he had persisted in the Diaconal order, with the title of S. Mary in Via-lata, to the Presbyteral afterwards transgressing, obtained the title of S. Mark, & finally Bishop of Albano & Praeneste was called. The aforesaid two's colleague also was this last named Amaneus de Alebreto, of John King of Navarre brother, & in the first title of S. Nicolas in Carcere also persisted himself.
[6] Furthermore among the Days, on which the Indulgence is given, in the first place is expressed S. Maxima's festivity, as of the place's Patron primary, last of S. Honoratus, Saint Maxima herself, namely Bishop of Arles who is venerated XVI January, as Patron secondary, & before the patronage of S. Maxima was assumed perhaps once primary, namely before with miracles increasing at the body & cult of S. Maxima, under the appellation of this name to be celebrated the church had begun (as we note has more frequently happened) or even larger had been built & consecrated anew. Uncertain furthermore the conjecture remains, whether in the village Callidianum she lived & died the Saint; or indeed in the coastal one, which we said above, of her name in the place she conversed & deceased her body translated there is; with the monastery, which there had existed, destroyed & desolated, at the first perhaps incursions of the Saracens made on those shores in the VII century of Christ. Ludovicus du Four of our Society notable in this age in the College of Avignon Theologian (whom you would marvel in the Bibliotheca of our writers, commonly believed sister of S. Torpes; even after the most recent revision of Sotuel, omitted) in the Life of S. Leontius Bishop of Fréjus and Martyr, treating of his Episcopal See chap. 5 toward the end thus speaks: Almost S. Maxima the Virgin had escaped me… unless to me the title of the Supreme Pontiff had recalled her to memory. That she was born and educated among the Fréjusois to me would persuade to doubt the modesty of virgins, who content with native soil seek the solitude of home or chamber, & shun wandering peregrinations, as full of dangers & insidious snarers of modesty; unless of S. Torpes the sister tradition, fixed in the minds of all, & from ancient age to us transmitted, made her; which to reject does not please. There is venerated S. Torpes, notable Martyr under Nero, on the following day; & his body placed in a little ship is said by Angelic guidance to have landed at the Port of the Gulf, & by Celerina the Senatress received & buried, to have shone with notable miracles. Where Sinus is taken antonomastically for the Sinus of Provence, just as the very region by the name of Provence as if proper is called, contend the Gauls, against the Spaniards, this praise to themselves from S. Torpes's reception arrogating. In which contention truth to stand with the Gauls although it is verisimilar; not for that reason however verisimilar becomes such kindred, supported by no authority, but deserves to be despised as a fiction of the light crowd, always prone to combine the most disparate things, on the occasion of nearby or joined cult.
[7] With similar levity certain Hermits Augustinian of the same parts, having recently received power of venerating among the Saints of their Order Maxima the Virgin, by some wrongly confused with Maxima the African, the maidservant of a certain Vandal in Africa, illustrious for the glory of confession under King Geinseric, about whom Victor in book 1 says, that by the tyrant dismissed, mother of many Virgins of God, to him also in no way unknown was: recently, I say, Augustinian Hermits some have presumed on the sole similarity of name to found a conjecture, that because Hunericus, Geiseric's son, all monasteries of men & holy maidens to the Gentiles, that is the Moors, with their inhabitants ordered to be given (as in book 5 of the same Victor is said) fled this Maxima into Gaul with the Virgins subject to her, & there the day XVI May by her death consecrated. But I know not whether it deserves to be numbered among conjectures somehow tolerable. Not because another day is assigned to her, namely XVI October, by Usuard & Ado & others following them (for this was done by mere chance, on the occasion of the Martyrs CCLXX in Africa long before having suffered on such a day, according to the most ancient tables of all Martyrologies, which are ascribed to S. Jerome) but because there is no appearance, that Victor heard anything about Maxima's flight into Gaul, than which by far it is more verisimilar that she never set foot out of Africa; but with Hunneric dying at the end of the year 484 & the persecution ceasing, the dispersion of the holy Virgins she gathered into one of the desolate monasteries of Africa itself, & this was made known to Victor, in the third year after Hunneric's death & peace given back to the Catholics, writing his history at Constantinople, as his illustrator Chiffletius wishes, & whatever in Africa was being done studiously inquiring from those coming back and forth.
[8] & worse it is said she was sister of S. Augustine. Furthermore if by little tolerable conjecture is said, that in Gaul this Maxima died & merited cult; much less tolerable will be the more inept other one, by which some of the same Hermits (as is written to me) assert, that she who at Callian is venerated, was the sister of S. Augustine. Because this not even of that one can be presumed, whom Victor so praises, that he seems to say, that since with the Italian booty after Rome was captured in the year 455, she came into the hands of a certain Vandal, & that at quite tender age inasmuch as she was still a maiden & beautiful in body when with the youth Martinianus betrothed to her & his two brothers she fled from him, of whose entire house she ruled as if economist: for this supposes a faithful servitude of many years, within which she had entered such favor of her masters. So that of her not yet thirty years' flight to a monastery & the illustrious confession that followed this, does not seem to have happened before the year 470; when S. Augustine in the year 430, when he died, had reached the 76th year of his age, with mother Monica, in the year 389 having died, surviving for full forty years. And here I had set the end of doing, when behold from Fréjus is brought the letter of the above-praised D. Iosephus Antelmius, there in the Cathedral church Canon, explaining many things, which I had into fewer contracted; adding many things also, on the family of S. Maxima & the place of her dwelling making, which I had not yet known, which the already refuted most empty conjectures more overturn: wherefore the same word for word and almost integral to be added here I judged: with the addition of the Act or verbal Process of the most recent Translation of Relics, which the same from the French to be made into Latin he ordered, & with his subscription & seal as Official general fortified as authentic, III Nones of January of this year 1680.
LETTER OF D. I. ANTELMIUS
On the cult & country of S. Maxima.
Maxima, Virgin, of Callidianum in the diocese of Fréjus in Provence (S.)
FROM MSS.
[9] As I was meditating to write to your Paternity, most Reverend Father, Equivocation from the name of Forum-Julii, there came to me a letter of R. P. Faber, by which to me the same counsel had been given, on the occasion of those which from your part I received recently, by which the deeds and acts of S. Maxima the Virgin, all which in this province are found, to be communicated was demanded; since those at present you prepare for the press. Late indeed I received the aforesaid R. Father's letter: for which about the middle of April given at Avignon, on the Nones of June only to me were rendered; whence also my delay to be excused I trust, that perhaps not so hastily, as the matter demanded, my answer to this you have had. But lest greater procrastination be made, I gather now, & here insert in cluster, those which in my notes about holy Maxima as annotations I had set aside. Meanwhile of your part shall it be these all to weigh according to the balance of the exquisite judgment in which you abound; to which truly both to subject what I think, & to hold what it shall define I shall always glory. Therefore about S. Maxima of Fréjus difficulty alone is moved from the similar patronymic of the cities. For because there is among the Carni a city decorated with this name, & the Martyrologies all relate that S. Maxima at Forum-Julii is venerated without other more express designation; rightly it seems to be doubted, whether this city is Forum-Julii in our Phocensian Province, or Forum-Julii in Italy. And given that in both places S. Maxima obtains veneration; considering only the present state of things, nothing certain in one more, than the other part to gather perhaps will be allowed: but if further inquiry of the part be made, & deeper investigation of antiquity, for us all things to militate so far will be seen.
[10] it is removed by the addition of the Village Calidianus, For, that I may first stand on the words of Ado, which other Martyrologies use; when he besides Forum-Julii, the nearest village, which is called Calidianus, designates, where S. Maxima rests & is venerated; should be demonstrated, in Italy & in the vicinity of the Fréjus city a village of this name, called Calidianus; for as long as among them it shall be desired, this above her in moment shall prevail with us, that we point him out in the Fréjus diocese, & not far from the city. Indeed not yet in the Italian tract of Fréjus have I observed Calidianus, & unless my eyes deceive me, in the most exact geographical map of Antonio Magino I did not see Calidianus in the diocese of Aquileia or Udine: which however is principal in the matter about which is treated. But even if there were a Village Calidianus there, its antiquity and fame however will not show those, such as we from nearly seven hundred years shall confirm. Namely Calidianum, or Calidianus village was at the beginning of the XI century, of great name, decorated with the title of Principate: for 700 years having its own Princes, & the Princes of Calidianum among the Nobles & Magnates of the Province eminent were. For Guillelmus I Count of Provence sought their affinity, & his daughter Emmagarda to Hugo the Prince in matrimony joined, & lands many in dowry assigned, of which the same spouses by pious donation, some portion conceded to the Lerins monastery about the thirtieth year of the running XI century, of which donation a fragment is had in the Lerins Chronology p. 2 page 152, more fully expressed with the Historians of Provence. To him succeeded Fulco Dodo, of whom frequent memory exists under the name of supreme Lord & Prince of Callian, toward the end of the same century. Of the same Principate the name through subsequent centuries was most flourishing, & today is: for that Calidianum tract is heard with us & is called le Callianez, under which many & notable towns are inscribed.
[11] Hence is given enough to gather, that, if the Calidianum Principate was of such celebrity about the tenth century; besides which, no other knew Ado, Ado, who flourished toward the end of the ninth & these times touched, in which in the mouth of fame were the Princes of Calidianum, no other place & village could understand,
than that which was in Provence, when he wrote first that Maxima in the Calidianus village had died. Which if he had learned that the holy Virgin in Italy had completed mortality, in a town of the same name (since he could not have escaped that in the Phocensian Province, nearest Vienne in which Ado lived, another notable castle of this name to be reckoned), with another designation he would have expressed the matter, nor would have arisen henceforth the equivocation, & it would have been plainer to say: At Forum-Julii in Italy of S. Maxima &c. Again Petrus de Natalibus, country a Venetian, Bishop of Equilo, who the matters of his country could not be ignorant, Ado to the word followed: whence, if then, that is about the year 1470 in which he flourished, two towns of this name he had known, doubtless he would have spoken otherwise. Which indeed he must necessarily have known, if (which to me from V. Cl. Henricus de Suares noble citizen of Avignon, most knowledgeable of paternal antiquity, asserted R. P. Faber) that Petrus the Venetian, his book on the Lives of Saints at Avignon elaborated. For thus neither those things which his country, in which the Episcopate of Esculo, or Equilo, subject to the Venetian Metropolis, & Petrus de Natal. he obtained; nor those which were singular of the Province in which he was writing, could be unknown to him: that therefore he indistinctly designated the Calidianum village, is argument, that no other from that one which is in our Province he understood.
[12] But on these things a little more I delay, Reverend Father, because also among ours is the tradition, that S. Maxima died in a Castle or village by the sea of the Sambracitan gulf, from her name still called; & which now possesses the family de Grasse, thence however on account of fear of pirate incursions, by the Princes of Calidianum dominating that tract were extracted, & to Calidianum castle translated. Hence Calidianum's Toparchs the same S. Maxima from their lineage born wish. For those who today from this stock origin to lead glory, & those who in truth in the past century this Dynasty obtained (these moreover whom from Grassa we name, in French de la maison de Grasse, illustrious indeed & of proven antiquity from the year 1100, as is to be seen with the historians of Provence) as if by continued tradition of elders to posterity, that S. Maxima from a common stock origin led constantly hold. And so high in the minds of his people that sat, that, when on the occasion of incoming wars the dead remains of the blessed Virgin had been translated to the city; Ludovicus de Grassa, great Senechal of Provence & Vice-governor, about the year 1517 to Fréjus with military hand, with six thousand foot or horse (which were the troops of Provence over which he presided) entered, & by force extracted the holy Body to the Village Calidianum carried back; from this single cause so inflamed, that she from his own lineage sprung, & of the same was Tutelary. In whose opinion's support, S. Maxima as his own Family member he venerates. I saw in the chest of relics of the holy Virgin, which by command of the Most Illustrious Antistes Antonius Benedictus de Clermont was opened in the year elapsed, a certain little chest, in which was placed a certain part of her furniture: which chest is outwardly marked with the shield of the family of Grassa, which consists of two crimson chevrons in golden field, & with the insignia of the city of Fréjus, which are a silver cross in red field, with sewn the head of the shield decorated with three lilies of France. I observed besides, recently turning aside into the castle of Cabris of the Diocese of Grasse or Antibes, whose dominion possesses Lord J. de Grassa, a most ancient painted image of S. Maxima, with one hand a palm, with the other a seal with the insignia of the family of Grassa exhibiting. And this image is preserved in the hall of the same Toparch's house. Which even if the faith of this Family they do not everywhere prove; that at least they evince, that S. Maxima, not as foreign, but as a popular figure & fellow-countryman from many centuries back was known to have been; & that for certain ought to be held, that the Princes of Calidianum or their posterity, or who from them right in this village obtained, S. Maxima who there was reported to have died, as Patroness & Tutelary took up.
[13] But how in the city & diocese the cult of the holy Virgin is most ancient, in few words now it pleases to weigh. And first I note that her memory is had in the chartularies of the Chapter, her ancient memory in the chartularies, in a certain instrument of permutation between the Provost of Fréjus & the Abbot of Lerins held, by which the aforesaid Abbot in the year 1232, with the consent of the Monks, cedes to the Chapter of Fréjus whatever has the Lerins monastery in the holding of Fréjus, of Pojetum, of Roccabruna & of S. Maxima, & of the castle of Miramarsi, which individual territories around the gulf of Fréjus or Sambracitan lie between; so that no suspicion can be, that the holding of S. Maxima here expressed, is other than this parish on the seashore, which from her is called commonly S. Maxime. While Reverend Yours hears that territory of S. Maxima then was occupied by the Lerinois, perhaps by this thought it will be struck with me, that this was from those lands, which Hugo Prince of Calidianum to the Lerins monastery had given before nearly two hundred years. Truly, as I said, constant is the tradition that tract to the Princes of Calidianum once belonged, and thence strongly would be confirmed, that the sacred body of S. Maxima there resting was rightly by the same Lords to another place, secure from maritime infestations, carried back. But whatever about that conjecture be, that is established, that the holy Virgin's name & memory in the XIII century in our diocese flourished from our & Lerins chartularies. most ancient ruins, And to these even older monuments are at hand. For toward the West, twenty miles from the city, exists a most ancient Basilica, with great ruins of buildings, where a monastery was constantly reported to have been, under S. Maxima's invocation, with broad lands of greatest revenue endowed around it; whence the appendage of the Priesthood or Priory of the parochial Church of Cannet is formed, from which, in any case very fat, a certain canon of grain yearly to the Archdeacon of Fréjus is bound to pay the Rector of the parish. Furthermore that little chapel, nearly fallen by extreme antiquity, before seven hundred years constructed easily will judge, whoever shall see: which all things in these times also more ancient cult of the holy Virgin in our region sufficiently betray.
[14] What remains, in the Church of Fréjus the same veneration is not more recent. Reverend Y. has already seen in our Breviary, of which an exemplar to R. P. Faber the same to be sent I had handed over, that S. Maxima's festivity is assigned on XVII Kalends of June under semi-double rite, which day from the indicated in the Roman Martyrology & others does not differ. He shall have observed also her invocation in the Litanies inserted in the aforesaid Breviary; & Litanies. but most ancient I have come upon recently in the Archive of the Chapter, in MS. parchment codex of best note, which is inscribed (but by a more recent hand) directorium of the Church of Fréjus, that in it are arranged the Offices of greater solemnity. Although however that codex of hoary antiquity seems, & before five hundred years written; the Litanies however to those in another parchment sewn show greater antiquity: for in majuscule character, & this in many on account of antiquity obliterated, are written. In these the venerable memory of S. Maxima in this order is read. S. Maria Magdalene, S. Perpetua, S. Felicitas, S. Agatha, S. Agnes, S. Lucia, S. Cecilia, S. Scholastica, S. Maxima, S. Tecla, S. Christina, S. Margarita, S. Catharina, S. Fides, all SS. Virgins, all SS. Widows & Continent. Thus the aforesaid Litanies: which from another chapter to me also seem most ancient, that neither in the holy Martyrs or Confessors there invoked are enunciated any, who after the X century have flourished, as also of the holy Virgins can be observed. For S. Francis's name was subjected, & thus also to the margin by another hand written most recently. S. Maxima's therefore memory flourishing voluntarily is reported in the Church of Fréjus about the tenth century: & even from this alone, unless it were established from Usuard & Ado, sufficiently could it be gathered, that she died long before the invasion of the Saracens into Provence, that is before the year 890, in which at the gulf Sambracitan that citadel, most notorious for robberies, called Fraxinetum, they built: indeed even before that time, if she died here, that elsewhere has been translated her body.
[15] Furthermore since in those unfortunate times the Church of Fréjus lost all its documents in the conflagration of the city, which by the Saracens with iron & fire was so devastated, no Acts of the Life are now found: that to nothing it is said to have been reduced, with only the name of the Bishopric in it remaining (which are the words of an authentic red document preserved in the Episcopal archive, & with Antonius de Ruffy & Sammartani, if I am not mistaken, inserted) it is no wonder if the Acts of the blessed Virgin in its chartularies are desired. I have inquired diligently at Calidianum in the course of the visitation of D. Bishop; in whose retinue, as Official of Fréjus the parts sustaining, I was present. But neither in the chest, in which are preserved her Relics, which with greatest sedulity for an entire hour I rolled; nor among the documents of the prior parochial Church, which to me readily were communicated, have I obtained anything about her deeds, beyond the autograph of the Bull, of which to Reverend Yours already copy I had made. I hear with you a transcript of that diploma to be of great authority, & rightly indeed: for (which also to observe is fitting) who first among ten Cardinals, granting indulgence, is named Nicolaus of Albano, that was Nicolaus de Flisco Bishop of Fréjus, who that Church, of which he had been Provost & Vicar General under Urban brother or paternal uncle, ruled from the year 1495, & the parts of most vigilant Pastor executed; & who therefore matters of his diocese, which he had often visited, thoroughly knew. Whence when created Cardinal, with other Colleagues, Indulgences he grants in the year 1519, for the parochial Church of Callian, which is said to be decorated with the relics of S. Maxima, the matter he expounds, which through himself he knew: & if then about it had been doubted, in no wise that grace would the most religious man have imparted, by doctrine, piety, & expertise of things commended by all historians.
[16] that she was Abbess is not established: There are who assert that S. Maxima, in the Sambracitan gulf, where exists the village & church under her invocation, ruled for many years a society of Virgins, shown for this reason the ruins of a larger monastery, in the villa of a certain rustic, where have been observed recently of a certain dormitory and cells the traces, which only of those leading common life could be habitations: in which opinion the parish-priest of the church, quite a diligent investigator of these things so concedes, that for it as for altar & hearths he militates, & me to it confirming by some monuments of writing often invites. But even if about a monastery, there once founded, with him & with others I agree: not however to me hitherto has it been proved, that there the blessed Virgin
presided, & that this rather of Virgins than of Men's Asceterium existed. today's cult of her in the Cathedral of Fréjus, Wherefore in the edition of the Codex proper of the Saints of the Church of Fréjus, to whose elaboration by Bishop & Clergy I had been Set Over, I preferred to leave the Acts of S. Maxima's life intact, & to the common of Virgins, her Office to assign, than these and other entirely uncertain things to publish. I obtained however, that under double rite she be celebrated, when to the Antistes, opening the chest of her relics, I was the author, that from it a certain notable part of them in the Cathedral to be deposited he should pluck out; which he also did. We have therefore now one of her ribs, with other particles of her sacred bones. Beyond the aforesaid parochial Church of Callidianum; & another parochial of S. Maxima, in the village from her name, on the seashore; & the basilica & priesthood of S. Maxima of Cannet, commonly le Canet; I do not find in the Province villages or churches from her named. For the village which on the chorographical map of Provence, near the town of Forcalquier, is inscribed S. Maxime, ought of S. Maximus the Bishop to be understood, & is so understood. In the diocesan Churches' chartularies however, which in the course of the Visitation sedulously I examined, S. Maxima's memory I noted in a very ancient Calendar of the Collegiate Church of Barjols, commonly Barjols (where the body of S. Marcellus Bishop of Die rested) founded by Rayambaldus Bishop of Arles in the year 1061, & the Collegiate of Barjols, where her festivity is assigned also on XVII Kalends of June.
[17] These are altogether, the things which hitherto in reading have come to mind, most learned Father: & by these whether of letters, or of buildings monuments S. Maxima ours we recognize; & as a kinswoman the noble stock of Grassa, we as a popular figure invoke, from most constant & above all memory tradition. I do not know whether more proven things have the Italians, who her likewise make their own. Truly into none have I fallen, against these things nothing the Italians produce. who with any authority would prove the deed: & the same Ferdinandus Ughellus, who in this century described sacred Italy, & whose work as old monuments of Churches, whatever exist, he should investigate, sufficiently demanded, while about the Fréjus city & College of Canons there constituted he speaks quite at length, says indeed, that it was illustrated by the death of S. Maxima, but only with the Roman Martyrology's words confirms his opinion: which truly argues that that Church no better title for this has. But it has perhaps happened, that R. Y. who from all peoples old documents conducting to her purpose inquires, of S. Maxima certain things communicated by the Fréjus Italians (if any however they have) shall have obtained, which truly I would much desire; that with both parties heard, she might judge between us & them, & by contradiction, as they say, define, lest afterwards into this opinion which she shall give anyone dare to rise up, & move the limits, which she shall have set: which truly that I have in no way attempted to go, on account of that science, perspicacity, & other notable gifts of mind, treating sacred history becoming, by which to her & the Venerable Master, of study, of labor & of glory leader, eminent I know, & at the beginning attested & making the end again attest. We do not wish, as piously in his manner said Augustine in book on true religion chap. 55, that there be religion to us in our phantasms: for better is whatever true, than every whatever can be feigned at will: better is true straw, than light formed by empty thought, according to the will of one suspecting. May God O. M. supply, that an immense work, arduous & untried, to the greater glory of His name with such your praise, with such utility of the Christian Republic undertaken, & to the half-completed center, absolve be able: may He renew like an eagle his youth, & make him with those a part, whose glory with such care & felicity he promotes. I in the meantime, small imitator of huge examples, the Sparta which I have obtained shall busy myself to adorn; this is, the recension of the Saints of the Church & diocese of Fréjus, for your sake begun, according to my measure shall I hasten to perfect; whereby I might be known to you always more to all obeisances toward your Paternity, whom I deeply venerate, most prepared. Forum-Julii V Id. June A. D. 1679.
TRANSLATION
Made in the year 1643, & signed by an authentic instrument.
Maxima, Virgin, of Callidianum in the diocese of Fréjus in Provence (S.)
FROM MSS.
[18] Vicar of Fréjus We Andreas Leget, Presbyter, in sacred Theology Licentiate, perpetual Vicar of the Cathedral Church of the city of Fréjus, Commissary delegated by the Reverend in Christ Father D. D. Petrus de Camellin, Bishop & Lord of Fréjus, make known by the power to us made through the decree given this present year 1643 & on XIX February, by this subscription confirmed Petrus Bishop of Fréjus, & below Benoist Graphiarius; at the instance & requisition of the Consuls or Syndics of the town of Calidianum, from the city of Fréjus to the aforesaid town to have proceeded, on the day XV May of the same year; 16 May & on the next day, that is XVI of the same month, on which recurs the feast day of Holy Maxima, with the same Syndics requiring, to the parochial church we to have betaken; where after the most sacred sacrifice of Mass, there celebrated by us, in the presence of D. D. Antonius Tardieu Presbyter Parish-priest or Prior, of Joannes Guerin, of Petrus Digne of Barjamonensis Presbyters, serving the parochial church, of Henricus Aubanellus Presbyter of Calidianum, of Fredericus de Villanova Presbyter & Prior of the town of Cipieres; with also there standing were Alexander & Claudius de Villanova brothers Knights of the Order of holy John of Jerusalem, Demoiselle Francisca de Villanova, Lady de Turretis near Vence of the Nerusii, & also of the castle of Calidianum; Demoiselle Francisca de Villanova, Lady of Broves & Calidianum. before many witnesses, Demoiselle Claudia de Grassa, Lady of Clumans & Calidianum; Petrus Castillon, I. V. D. Judge of the present town; Joannes Bellissen, Royal Notary, son of the late Antonius, Lieutenant or Pro-judge; Petrus Bouge, Syndic; Paulus Castillon & Antonius Issaurat, Assessors; Antonius Baudoüin, formerly receiver Royal; Jacobus Leget, Petrus Felix, & Andreas Senequier, Estimators of estates, & ordinary Counsel Assessors; Joannes Canety, Royal Notary; Joannes Bellissen, Surgeon; also Joannes Bellissen, Royal Notary son of the aforesaid Joannes; Henricus Bellissen, carder; Andreas & Antonius Spitalier, Brothers; Antonius Merle, Joannes Baudoüin, Joannes Bouge, locksmith; Petrus & Henricus Bellissen brothers, & others from the chief townsmen; we opened the cabinet, fortified with iron bars, in the chapel of Holy Maxima.
[19] In which when we had found a sealed casket, & had brought to the major altar, the chest of S. Maxima opened with the accustomed ceremonies duly observed; the aforesaid casket we unsealed, in which the bones & sacred relics of Holy Maxima soon to be remembered we found. And first a little box of round figure, in which we found a certain white linen quite ample, on which little box's border are painted as if insignia, an Eagle, wooden box, in which was a white shroud, with a little rib, or some bony particle: another small linen with little ribbons, of red, green, saffron colors: a certain small textile, of cotton-silk neatly worked with needle: also a little chest, in which was found a certain written paper, which to read we could not, with a certain bone particle, recognizes & enumerates each item placed within wrapped in many silk cloths: which little chest is fortified with its lid, on whose middle is painted a lily flower, & above the insignia of the city of Fréjus, which exhibit two Chevrons, & the insignia of the town of Calidianum. Which linens, shrouds, ribbons, bones or relics in the said boxes detected we enclosed in the same, as before to be preserved. And continually in the same casket the rest of Holy Maxima's bones, or sacred relics, conspicuous to us were: namely bones of two tibias, as many hips, also the spine of the back entire, two scapulas, a single rib, the calvaria, & many particles of the head, of which some in part bruised, others to certain teeth adhering, of all of which the enumeration made by us, proceeded to 250 bones, in no way in that count are comprehended the bones above expressed.
[20] & he transfers them into a new casket And those sacred Relics, exposed to the sight of the standing people, were soon enclosed with the two designated boxes in a new casket, elaborated at the expenses of the University; & this recent casket, by us closed & with crystalline glass on the front part adorned, in the same cabinet of the chapel of the same holy Virgin reverently we deposited. Furthermore the key by which the casket itself is closed to the aforesaid Petrus Bouge Syndic we entrusted: of the two however, attached to the cabinet covered with iron bars, one to the aforesaid D. Tardieu Parish-priest, the other to the same Petrus Bouge was committed, that they should duly preserve them. And a little after in the general procession, accustomed to be made on account of the festivity of Holy Maxima celebrity, the same casket with solemn pomp & due honor & reverence was carried, & after this in the accustomed cabinet placed, & the keys by the Parish-priest & Syndic afore-named were received. In whose all things' fuller faith, with an instrument made on the whole matter. we Vicar & Commissary with D. D. Parish-priest, Presbyters, Lords, Ladies, Judge, Syndic, & others above expressed of the chiefs of Calidianum, these acts or verbal process subscribed, & with Balthazar Baudoüin Royal Notary of Calidianum's subscription we caused to be fortified. There follow then the subscriptions of each, for which is the attestation of the interpreter conceived in these words: I Josephus Vairas Presbyter, in the Episcopal Seminary of Fréjus under the title of S. Leontius Reader of sacred Theology, testify, that I from the commission & mandate of R. D. Official General of Fréjus the Acts of the Translation of S. Maxima the Virgin, in the Archive of Ecclesiastical insinuations preserved, from the French to the Latin word for word sincerely have rendered: at Fréjus on the tenth day of December in the year 1679.