ON THE HOLY BROTHER MARTYRS
DONATIANUS AND ROGATIANUS,
AT NANTES IN ARMORICAN BRITANNY.
UNDER DIOCLETIAN
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On their Acts, cult, relics, and churches.
Donatianus, Brother Mart. at Nantes in Gaul (S.)
Rogatianus, Brother Mart. at Nantes in Gaul (S.)
G. H.
The Nantes, an ancient people and city of Gaul, and even now a celebrated and ample emporium on the river Loire, which discharges itself into the Ocean fifteen leagues from it; the city of the Nantes in the Notitia of the Empire, and the city of Nantes called by Gregory of Tours, is situated in the part of Southern Armorica, or lesser Britanny, Episcopal under the metropolis of Tours. At what times the first eight Bishops of the said Church presided is not sufficiently established: Time of the martyrdom. SS. Clarus and Ennius are thought to have flourished in the first century of Christ, and the third, St. Similianus, under Diocletian. That the Christian faith was certainly there planted, under the heathen Emperors, we are taught from the martyrdom of SS. Donatianus and Rogatianus the brothers; of whom the former had been baptized, which did not befall the other because of the absence of a Priest, perhaps Similianus a fugitive in the persecution. Acts of the passion: We give the Acts of their martyrdom from manuscript codices, the Trier one of the Imperial monastery of St. Maximinus, and our other illustrious Legendary, of which we have already very often made mention: but we have compared them with those published by Laurentius Surius, who acknowledges them to have been gravely composed. Some abridgments of the same are read in Bonino Mombrizio and others more recent, then also in the Utrecht manuscript of the Church of St. Salvator, and chiefly in the proper Offices of the city and diocese of Nantes printed in the year MDCXXIII: in which is prescribed the solemn celebration of these brothers, under a double rite of the first class to be continued through the Octave, and both the Hymns and the Responsories and Antiphons are taken from the history of the passion: solemn cult, but this day the XXIV of May is celebrated through the whole diocese with so great devotion to the honor of these Martyrs, that it is lawful for no one to exercise any servile work on it. Some abridgment of the Life also is read in the proper Offices of the diocese of Meaux and Rennes, where the same feast is celebrated under a Semi-double rite, which Albert le Grand affirms the same of the rest of the dioceses of Britanny, which in all are nine, in his history of the Saints of Armorican Britanny, after the Acts rendered into French and explained.
[6] burial, The same subjoins, that the bodies of the Saints themselves Donatianus and Rogatianus were left by the heathen, and exposed as prey to birds and wild beasts, but gathered by pious Christians and committed to the earth not far from the place in which they had completed their martyrdom: where, after liberty granted to the Christian religion, an illustrious mausoleum was constructed, and their Relics placed in it; and at the feet of the buried lay Nunechius the tenth Bishop, who in the year CCCCLXV had been present at the Council of Vannes; and Karmundus his successor, church, who died about the year CCCCXCII: but the parents of the latter, rich and opulent men, erected there an illustrious church to the veneration of the said Martyrs, the Jews also contributing the expense, many of whom Karmundus had converted. This church belonged for some time to the monks of Bourg-Dieu in Berry: but by them about the end of the eleventh century it was restored to the Canons of Nantes, and now has the title of a parish church. But the sacred Relics of the holy ones themselves were brought to the Cathedral Church, where separately the skull of St. Donatianus, and separately the bone of his shin are preserved, Relics in the Cathedral. enclosed
in a silver head, and a silver shin: but the rest of his bones, decently wrapped in a red veil, are covered by a wooden chest gilded on the outside: in which manner also the sacred bones of Rogatianus, likewise wrapped in a similar red veil, are preserved in a similar wooden gilded chest.
[3] Gregory of Tours, in On the Glory of the Martyrs chapter 60, sets forth a title concerning the Martyrs Rogatianus and Domitianus, and then narrates these things: the city of Nantes freed from siege. At the city of Nantes there are two Martyrs, slain for the name of Christ: of whom one was called Rogatianus, the other Donatianus. There is held there also Similinus a great Confessor. Therefore when the aforesaid city was beleaguered by a barbarian siege in the time of King Clovis, and now sixty days had passed in this distress, about the middle of the night there appeared to the people men with white garments, with radiating candles, going forth from the basilica of the blessed Martyrs: and behold another choir like to this proceeding from the basilica of the Bishop Similinus. And when, joining themselves together, having given a greeting, they had applied themselves to prayer; each one withdrew to the place whence he had come forth: and forthwith all the hostile array, terrified with immense fear, departed from the place by so sudden an impulse, that, when day was made, none of them could be found. The aforesaid vision appeared to a certain Chillo, who then was over this army, who had not yet been born again of water and the Holy Spirit: who, at once compunct in heart, turned to the Lord, begotten by a renewed nativity, testified with a clear voice that Christ is the Son of the living God. Thus Gregory of Tours in the sixth century of Christ. St. Similinus or Similianus is venerated on the XVI of June.
[4] The aforesaid Albert adds, that John Duke of Britanny, called the Conqueror, another church of theirs in the suburb. having experienced the frequent help of the same Saints against Charles of Blois and the Franks (this was before the end of the fourteenth century), founded for them another church in the suburb called of St. Clement, with six Canons for the daily cult of the divine Office, for whom Duke Francis the first of that name substituted as many Carthusians, an illustrious monastery being added for their habitation about the year MCCCCXXXXV. Beside this monastery there are seen even today two wooden crosses, on the other side of the road paved with flints, where the Saints are said to have bent their knees, standing under the stroke of the sword. Their memory is inscribed in four ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology in these words at this XXIV of May: In Gaul, in the city of Nantes, of SS. Rogatianus, Donatianus, brothers german. Memory in the sacred calendars. Almost the same things are read in Rabanus, Ado, and in various manuscripts. Usuard, adding several things from the Acts of the martyrdom, says, In Gaul, in the city of Nantes, of the blessed Martyrs Donatianus and Rogatianus brothers, who for the constancy of the faith were sent into prison, and suspended and torn on the scaffold of the rack, then pierced through with a military lance, lastly their heads were cut off. The like or even more Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Saussay, and others more recent have together with the present Roman Martyrology. Wandelbert once honored them with this distich.
Donatianus of Nantes with his brother Rogatianus, piously adorns the Ninth (Kalend) with the contest of faith.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM
From ancient manuscripts and Surius,
Donatianus, Brother Mart. at Nantes in Gaul (S.)
Rogatianus, Brother Mart. at Nantes in Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 2275
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
[1] It is wholesome for Catholics a to relate the glorious deeds of the triumphal contest of the Martyrs, and to proffer to the thirsting people certain cups of life from blood so piously shed; while some, the matters being known, more faithfully embrace the venerable solemnities, others are incited by desires b, perceiving what gain it is to die for Christ. The persecution of Diocletian and Maximian being stirred up in the Gauls, Therefore when Diocletian and Maximian governed the height of the Roman city, and by their precepts a bestial fierceness raged against the Christian name, that they might trample under the heathen law the grace of the Catholic religion; letters being sent to the President of the Gauls, they sanctioned by decree, that the images of Jupiter or Apollo, not gods, but demons, should as it were with divine cult be venerated by the whole population; promising, on that fixed condition, that he who should cultivate their ceremonies, or devoutly offer sacrifices, should know himself to be rewarded with a public stipend; that the snare of cupidity might more easily draw the human mind into error, that he who could not be conquered by reason might be deceived by a gift: but those who should persevere in the confession of the Christian name, after torments inflicted they command to undergo capital sentence, that, the more compelled by that terror, they might deviate c from the path of right belief. Now there was in the city of Nantes a certain youth, by name Donatianus, illustrious in birth, yet much more illustrious in faith; St. Donatianus who tempered the bitterness of restless adolescence with the bridle of a maturer mind, because in the very time of his youth there had passed into him, as into an old man, the fear of the Lord; and amid the storms of spiritual wickedness, lest he should incur a fall, it always prosperously governed him. Who, having despised the idols, when he had flown to the grace of the Catholic faith, he promulgates the faith of Christ. purged by the wave of baptism, imbued with the mystery of religion, armed with the doctrine of divinity, without any fear a most brave soldier sang aloud the triumphs of Christ among the people with the trumpet of his mouth, unwilling by neglect to bury the talents entrusted to him, lest he should not lack the fault of hidden money: but as a good husbandman he sowed in the breasts of the heathen the fruits of the blessed faith.
[2] When the reputation of the holy man was flourishing, the bland fragrant odor of his most sweet mouth filled abundantly his brother german Rogatianus, he leads his brother Rogatianus to Christ: still standing in the cult of idolatry. Who to his brother, though younger in age, yet elder in the order of belief, ran festively; entreating that, before the struggle of persecution should draw near, he might be endowed with the gift of Christian baptism: lest so happy a contest should still find him a Pagan or a Catechumen, so that he should obtain nothing less in the fight, nothing less in the palm, than his brother. That he should not for the present receive baptism, the persecution being heard, was caused by the fugitive absence of the Priest: but what was lacking from the font, the shed gore of martyrdom supplied.
[3] Meanwhile the persecutor, entering the city of Nantes, the crowd of the Gentiles favoring, with the instrument of iniquity, is incited by one of the bystanding citizens with these goads of words: accused by a citizen, Most moderate of Judges, you come opportunely, leading back to the religion of the gods those who, after the Crucified, have been seen to go astray with the Jews. Know therefore that Donatianus is a follower of that doctrine, in whom first you ought to promulgate the sentence of your severity: who not only suspended himself from the cult of the gods, but also pertinaciously changed his brother german with the same idle babblings, that they so despise Jupiter or Apollo, whom the most invincible Emperors venerate, and whom they providently judged to be adored by the whole world, d that our gods, a new religion succeeding, are cast down. By the interrogation of these the very truth of the matter, when you shall have commanded it, will be more certainly disclosed e. Then the President, moved with grief, he is set before the President: commanded the most blessed man to be presented to his sight. At whose inquisition he began with such words: Concerning f your name, Donatianus, by current report we have learned, that Jupiter or Apollo, who conferred life on us at birth, and guard us growing up until now, you not only contumaciously refuse to adore, but also with blasphemies, and revilings g, and vain preaching defame them as provoked; and you commemorate that the people are saved, while you compel divers persons to believe in the destruction of the Crucified.
[4] Donatianus answered: Unwilling you have spoken the truth, that I wish to lead back all persuaded from error, to the cult of Him whom alone all things are known to serve. The President said: Either put a moderate end to your superfluous preaching, or if you will not desist, I order your life to be concluded with a swift end. Donatianus answered: The threats which you hold out to me, into them shall you fall: and the snare which you promise me, you shall incur. Who, while occupied by false persuasion h, you prefer darkness to light, justly, darkened, you do not behold the light of Christ. he is thrust into prison. Hence the Prefect, kindled with fury, orders the Saint, bound with fetters, to be thrust back into prison custody, that the violent deadliness of torments might either break the faith of the one professing, or hinder the spectators lest they should believe in Christ.
[5] Then his brother german being set in the sight of the people, the President began under the sweetness of blandishment to mingle the venoms of unjust persuasion, St. Rogatianus repelling the blandishments of the President, that he who would not yield by virtue, might loosen his neck by the art of allurement. Whom softly assailing, he burst forth into these words: I hear, Rogatianus, that you wish inconsiderately to recede from the cult of the gods, who deigned to bestow on you the gifts of living, and to confer the manifold gifts of fertile wisdom: whence not without our shame it comes to pass, if, after the causes of this understanding, bringing forth new things, you begin to be mad. That therefore is most to be guarded against by you, lest by the confession of one God, you compel many gods to go to your destruction i. But because as yet, I know not by what, you are not held infected with baptism, if an obstinate will deceive you not, the indulgence of the gods being granted you shall receive, that in the palace of the Emperors and the court of the gods you may, with the commerce of life, obtain an increase of dignity. Rogatianus answered: Excellently you promise perverse things, since you yourself are perverse: who first promise the grace of the Emperors, then of the gods. But by what reason are those to be worshipped in the citadel of divinity, who seem to be later in order than men themselves, although you have among yourselves a participation of misery; since they are deaf, of metal, you not hearkening to better states? they lack spirit, you sense? Since indeed he who establishes his religion in stones, becomes himself nothing other than that which he worships.
[6] Then the Judge, commanding his attendants, said: Let this senseless one also, with the teacher of folly, be thrust down into prison, that on the following day the injury inflicted on the gods and princes may be avenged by the avenging sword of public censure. So in one place of darkness two luminaries of faith are stored up: that the prison was more illumined with glory than the Martyrs were burdened by penalty. he is led into custody to his brother: But blessed Rogatianus is saddened that he was forestalled without the grace of baptism: but he believed from faith that this was to him for a laver, if he should deserve the kiss of his Catholic brother. Which being learned, blessed Donatianus poured forth prayers to the Lord for his brother german in these words, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, with whom prompt vows obtain this, which deeds: because where the not having been able hinders, the having willed is believed to suffice: since you have granted us to choose, to you alone you have reserved the power: be to your servant Rogatianus a pure faith the gift of baptism; and if it shall befall us tomorrow to die by the smiting sword, let the effusion of blood be to him the sacrament of chrism. This prayer being completed in heart and voice, the vigils, the night being passed, the light being brought back with the day, they awaited both the executioner's wounds, and the rewards of their Lord.
[7] But on the following day the President, sitting for the tribunal, commanded the Confessors of Christ to stand by in the sight of the people. Both led to the tribunal, Meanwhile there is led forth from prison the joy of heaven, from the barren seat the fruit of the Church, from the germ of thorns the flower of the crown. Bound with chains, they were free in their vows, whom in Christ the very torments had rendered the stronger.
When these had been set before him, the Judge addressed them: With indignation, he said, l I begin, lest, while I softly address you, the force of public severity be broken: you who either do not cultivate the religion of the gods through ignorance, or (which is graver) trample it underfoot not unknowingly. they are not terrified by the threats of the Judge: Then the Martyrs with one voice answered the President: May your knowledge, which is worse than the folly of all ignorance, be like to your gods, whom you adore in metals lacking sense. But we for the name of Christ are ready to receive whatever the wrath of the torturer shall devise: because here our life suffers no loss, if it be rendered to him from whom it took its beginning, and in the future be rewarded with the multiplied interest of light.
[8] Then the President, driven by grief, ordered the most blessed to be suspended on the scaffold of the rack: that, even if their mind should not change its purpose, yet the lineaments of their members might be loosened in penalty: believing that he would consult his fury, if the executioner, although he reached not the soul, should at least slay the body through torments. To these things he commanded the attendants, that after the punishments were expended their heads should be cut off by the lictor. Then the madness of the lictor, their necks pierced with a lance, the head is cut off. that he might please the Judge by his cruelty, or rather that the ornaments of martyrdom might increase, the necks of the most blessed being pierced through with a military lance, with brandished sword cut them off. Thus coming to the glory of Christ, while blessed Donatianus gains his brother german, and the brother german deserved martyrdom, this one becomes to that the cause of salvation, that one becomes to this the palm of reward: and the pledge of manifold grace overflowing, with a happy consummation, sustained by remunerating hope, they deserved to come to the eternal rewards, laureled through their wounds: by the granting of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns for ages of ages, Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
k. Surius, "bed."
ON SS. SATURNINUS AND SIX OTHERS,
MARTYRS IN AFRICA.
From the Martyrologies.
CommentarySaturninus, Martyr in Africa (S.)
Six other Martyrs in Africa (SS.)
G. H.
This holy Martyr Saturninus the Augsburg manuscript of St. Ulrich and the Paris one of Labbe celebrate in the second place; and the Reichenau manuscript, or of Augia Dives near Constance in Swabia, and the Rheinau one in Helvetia, ascribe him to Africa. Companions, but anonymous, the ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, the Epternach, Corbey, and Blumian, add in this manner: In Africa the birthday of St. Saturninus and six others. But the Lucca codex indicates only three Companions. The same number also the Ado manuscript of the monastery of St. Lawrence among the people of Liège and the Florarium manuscript refer, but they name Fortunatus: as also a certain Calendar before a manuscript of the works of St. Isidore of Seville, preserved at Rome in the Vallicellan library of the Congregation of the Oratory, where four Companions are noted. We with the more ancient codices keep Saturninus and six companions.