ON SAINT CYRIL,
BISHOP OF TREVES.
Memorials of his Episcopate and cult, from various sources.
ABOUT THE YEAR CCCCLVIII.
CommentaryCyril, Bishop of Treves (S.)
An ancient parchment codex of a Martyrology, written under the name of Usuard in Alsace, Anciently venerated: has on this XIX of May these things toward the end: At Treves, of Cyril Bishop and Confessor. Which plainly the same are read in a manuscript Martyrology and Kalendar of Treves, likewise in a manuscript of Prague, and in the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck printed in the year MCCCCXC, as in Greven and Molanus in the Additions to Usuard, and in Canisius, Galesinius, and Ferrarius. His Elogium in a manuscript Florarium of the Saints is held thus. At Treves the deposition of S. Cyril, Bishop of that same city. He repaired the cell of S. Eucharius, burnt and deserted, and constituted a monastery not far from the former place, and translated thither the bodies of SS. Eucharius and his successors, beside which he himself also rests, in the year of salvation CCCCLVIII. These things there.
[2] The predecessor of S. Cyril in the Episcopate was S. Severus, to whom the sacred day is held to be the XV of October. Browerus in book 5 of the Annals of Treves at the year CCCCLV, the death of S. Severus being related, adds these things: In his place Cyril entered the magistracy, a Pontiff of esteemed innocence of morals, who likewise after the destruction of the city, the remnants of the Belgic people, and also the new plantings of the Frankish nation, He devoted himself to the restoration of the churches: we have learned, even from this, to have cultivated with Christian rites, that it is guarded and propagated by public monuments, that he, after the destruction of the city, undertook the damages of the sacred buildings to be repaired, and to the loss of roofs in whatever
manner to be repaired he conferred all his zeal: wherefore, the oratory of S. Eucharius being restored, he not only restored to it its pristine adornment, but also took care that a monastery be made and placed not far thence. To which the Pontiff added also that dignity and veneration, he is buried with other Saints that, the sacred pledges of his predecessors, Eucharius, Valerius, and Maternus, being there brought in, the place might thereafter be august and more celebrated by the religion of those visiting and worshiping; and thence he himself too, that which while surviving he had had in his vows, when on the nineteenth of May he had rendered his most pure and holy soul to his Maker, obtained burial. John Scheckmann in the Epitome or Marrow of the Deeds of Treves, from the German of John Enen rendered into Latin and printed in the year MDXVII, in book 2 chapter 7 has these things concerning Cyril: He repaired the cell of S. Eucharius, which now is called the basilica of S. Matthias, burnt and desolate, the bodies of SS. Eucharius, Valerius, and Maternus, Bishops, being translated into the same, beside whom he himself too is buried and rests. The same in book 3 treating of the monastery of S. Matthias. By the burning of fire, he says, after the church was destroyed and fallen, in the church of S. Matthias the blessed Archprelate Cyril, not far from the former, erected and consecrated another. The Life of S. Matthias we gave on the XXIV of February, and together the history of the Body translated to Treves, and there in chapter IV we enumerated the Relics in the said church from a manuscript of Treves. But in the major altar are said to be the Relics of the Bishop Confessors Eucharius, Valerius, Maternus, Agricius, Cyril… of the holy Bishops of Treves. The natal of S. Eucharius is celebrated on the VIII of December, of S. Maternus on the XIV of September, and of S. Valerius on the XXIX of January; on which day we illustrated the Acts of these Bishops, as also of S. Agricius on the XIII day of the same month of January.
[3] Browerus praised above brings forward most ancient verses, by which he interprets the monuments of the old basilica and that repaired by S. Cyril to have been illustrated, which here to subjoin be worth the labor.
How well does the Divine power join those in concord! The members of the priests, which it adorns, this place, of two; It tells of Eucharius, and of Valerius likewise. Rejoicing to compose a seat for members about to live, Placing this altar for the holy Brothers, Cyril, The holy marker-out adorns the lodging of the body.
Browerus judges that S. Maternus was omitted, perhaps because buried separately. Some have formed elogia of him: Ghinius in the Natalia of the Holy Canons and Saussajus in the Gallican Martyrology: but such as seem capable of being attributed to all and each of the holy Bishops. A notable part of the Relics of S. Cyril the Bishop, Relics at Prague. he writes, was brought from Treves to Prague by the Emperor Charles IV in the year MCCCLXXII. So writes in the Prague Diary Thomas John Pessina.