ON THE HOLY SYRIAN MARTYRS,
ZOELUS, SATURUS, TIMINUS, SATURNINA,
SERVILIUS, FELIX, SILVANUS, FORTUNUS,
LIKEWISE ZOELUS, STRIA, DIOCLUS, MAXIMINUS.
From the Martyrology of St. Jerome.
CommentaryZoëlus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Saturus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Timinus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Saturnina, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Servilius, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Felix, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Silvanus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Fortunus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Zoëlus II, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Stria, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Dioclus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
Maximinus, Martyr in Syria (S.)
G. H.
We proceed with the four copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, in which in the fourth place is set forth this class of Martyrs in these words: In Syria of Zoëlus, Saturus, Timinus, Saturnina, Servilius, Memory in the Calendars of St. Jerome, Felix, Silvanus, Fortunus, likewise of Zoëlus, Stria, Dioclus, Maximinus. But the last is in the Corbey one alone printed at Paris, to fill out the number of twelve: which an ancient manuscript of the Queen of Sweden, esteemed by Holstenius, favors, in which these things are handed down: On the IX Kalends of June. At the Roman Port of St. Vincentius the Martyr with twelve others. We have already treated of St. Vincentius, to whom no Companions are joined, but these closely follow in the said copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology; so that the codex of the Queen of Sweden seems to be corrected, and one should read: And elsewhere, namely in Syria, of twelve Martyrs. In the names of the Martyrs themselves some difference intervenes: for Zoëlus in the Epternach one is written the first time, afterward Zoylus, in the others always Zoëlus; then in place of Timinus is in the Lucca one Timissus: and for Servilius in the Epternach one Servulus: as for Saturnina in the Lucca and Blumian ones Saturninus: so in place of Stria is read in the Epternach one Siria, in the Blumian Stita; and in place of Dioclus in the same Epternach one Dioclia.
[2] Some of these names are referred in other Martyrologies. In the Vatican manuscript of St. Peter these: In Syria of Zoilus, Saturus: there is added in the Florarium manuscript of Timinus, and various others, in place of which in the Roman manuscript of Cardinal Baronius is written, of Timius and Saturninus. The Rheinau manuscript has thus: In Syria of Satura, Timina; or (as the Reichenau) of Timinus; and adds, likewise of Saturninus, Felix. The Aachen manuscript: In Syria of Zoilus, Servolus, Saturninus. The Ado of St. Lawrence manuscript among the people of Liège: In Syria of Soërus, Saturus, Timinus. We gave above in the first place SS. Zebellus, Servulus, and Secundinus who suffered in Istria: on occasion of whom some of these Martyrs, in Usuard, Ado, Notker and others more recent, are attributed to Istria in almost these words: some attributed to Istria. In Histria of SS. Zoëllus, Servilius, Felix, Silvanus and Dioclus. Where rather "in Syria" seems to be read, if its place be given to antiquity.
ON SS. ELPIDIUS THE BISHOP, CYON THE PRESBYTER HIS BROTHER, AND ELPICIUS THE LEVITE HIS NEPHEW.
AT ATELLA IN CAMPANIA FELIX.
5TH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY,
The cult is explained: the ancient Life is sought: certain doubts are touched upon.
Elpidius the Bishop, at Atella in Campania Felix (S.)
Cyon the Presbyter, at Atella in Campania Felix (S.)
Elpicius the Levite, at Atella in Campania Felix (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. H.
[1] Atella, an ancient city of Campania Felix, was between Capua and Naples, mentioned by Cicero, Livy, Strabo, Silius, Ptolemy, and others in Cluverius book 4 of ancient Italy chapter 5. Afterward under the Christians it was Episcopal, they flourished in the Episcopal city Atella: and of its Bishops there subscribed to the Roman Council under Pope Hilary Primus, and to the third Roman Synod under Symmachus Felix. St. Gregory the Great, in book 7 of the Register, Indiction 2, wrote epistle 52 concerning Importunus the Bishop of the city of Atella, and a testament made by him when dying. Now this city was illustrated by their sanctity by the Bishop Elpidius, and his brother St. Cyon the Presbyter, and his nephew St. Elpicius the Deacon.
[2] From the ruins of Atella the city of Aversa is believed to have been founded, and from this, at three or four miles' distance, is the little town of St. Elpidius, which by a corrupted word is called Santo Arpino: concerning which the Illustrious man Hyacinth Augerius once wrote to us thus: I wrote to the Curate of St. Arpinus, D. Sebastian Maglione, who answered, that in the time of Pope Siricius and of Caesar Arcadius, there is a village and church of St. Elpidius, the Relics of the people of Atella being gathered after the burning of their city, Elpidius the Bishop of the aforesaid city founded a pagan village, having the name of St. Elpidius, which name also the parish Church of the same village has: and that after his death he was buried in the old temple together with two nephews of his, namely Elpicius and Cyon: and that, in the time of the Gallic war, to avoid the incursions of the Franks, it is established by an ancient tradition of this, that certain citizens, the bodies of the Saints being carried away thence, fled to the city of Salerno; and the same bodies of the Saints were stored away under a certain altar (at which the Parish priest himself once said Mass). Besides, that he had received a transcript from the Chapter of Salerno of the Office of St. Elpidius, and also a liquor flowing forth. which both at Salerno and in the church of the little town of St. Elpidius is recited on the XXIV of May: on which day the festivity of this holy Bishop is celebrated: and that in that time, in which the body buried in the aforesaid old church was venerated, eight days before the day of the solemnity, and other eight days after it was accomplished, a sacred liquor, commonly called manna, flowed forth from his tomb. Thus far that rescript. We in the year MDCLXI at Naples among the Clerks Regular found a manuscript on parchment in royal folio, and from it we copied the beginning of the Legend of St. Elpidius, which is such.
[3] The beginning of the ancient Life. The Scripture teaches us, dearly beloved, in many places, that the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of malice shall not touch them, even as stands the wisdom of Solomon confirming and saying: As a holocaust victim the Lord received them, and he shall reign with them forever: who also shall render to them the reward of their labors. Wisdom 3, 1 & 6; Wisdom 10, 17; 11, 4. Water was given them out of the steepest rock, and rest to them from the hard stone, because all who love the Lord, in the generation of their mind,
obtained glory, the Apostle Paul testifying and saying, The saints through faith conquered kingdoms, obtained the promises. Heb. 11, 39 Again the same Apostle says: We know that to those who love God all things work together unto good, to those who according to the purpose are called Saints. Rom. 8, 28 Whence to the memory and solemnity of this present day we bring with pious devotion those whose triumph is of peace and conduct, and there remains everlasting glory. Therefore in the time when the Emperor Arcadius tarried at Constantinople, and Honorius with Theodosius the Prefect reigned, then the most blessed Elpidius, Bishop of this city of Atella, conspicuous in virtue, fervored in the Holy Spirit, that according to that testimony of the Gospel, where the Lord says to his disciples, That the Spirits are subjected… Luke 10, 20.
[4] The rest is wanting, to be supplied in some manner from the proper Offices of the Church of Salerno, printed by the authority of Archbishop Marius Bologninus in the year MDXCIV: Lessons on the Life. in which these things, divided into three Lessons to be recited at Matins, are handed down. In the year from Salvation three hundred and ninety-five, under the Pontiff Siricius and the Emperor Arcadius, the most blessed Elpidius, Bishop of the city of Atella, was renowned for many miracles: to the sick he restored their former health by sight alone, the sick and energumens healed. and freed very many possessed by demons: and to these he was so formidable, that scarcely having heard the name of Elpidius they fled. Often was heard the voice of the same saying: Let us never pass before the cell of Elpidius, lest perhaps we be tortured by his virtue. After the burning of the city he consoled the few surviving citizens with his holy admonitions and gentle words, and kept them strong and constant in the faith, and by the fame of his sanctity increased the number of the inhabitants in a short time. Whom when he saw enjoying peace, a church being constructed, he took care to build to his own name a place of the victory had against the demons, where, his hour of death coming, he might be stored away. The work of the holy edifice was most quickly accomplished and an altar erected, where the divine help might be invoked, and daily the victims of praise be immolated to the Most High. And there a few days after he stored away Elpicius his nephew the Levite, in the twenty-second year of his age (whom he had reared from the cradle with heavenly food rather than temporal), renowned for sanctity of life, and soon Cyon the Presbyter his brother german, conspicuous for equal sanctity: to whom the most blessed Elpidius, resting in the Lord, was joined: by whose prayers are helped as many as flee to them in faith hesitating in nothing. Their bodies, stored away at the altar of the Buried of the lower basilica of the Church of Salerno, rest.
[5] Thus far the said Lessons. There are extant Constitutions published by M. Antonio Marsilio Colonna Archbishop of Salerno in the diocesan Synod in the year MDLXXIX. The bodies at Salerno in the altar. To these are joined on page 383: The bodies and Relics of the Saints, which are found stored up in the Metropolitan Church of Salerno, and first those which are in the lower crypt, where in the altar, which is constructed in honor of the Confessors, on the south part rest the Bodies of the Confessors; and among these of the blessed Confessors Elpidius, Cion and Elpicius. And these are in the same manner printed in Ughelli volume 7 of Italia sacra on the Archbishops of Salerno, column 483. Now of the said Saints in the aforesaid proper Offices of the Church of Salerno this Prayer is prescribed. O God, who surroundest and protectest us by the confessions of the Saints Elpidius, Prayer. Cyon and Elpicius, grant us both to profit by their imitation and to rejoice in their intercession. These Saints Ferrarius ascribed to the general Catalogue and to the other Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, memory in the Calendars. where he has an abridgment of the Life from the said Lessons, judging that these, although they departed on different days, are celebrated together on this day, on which the bodies are thought to have been translated.
[6] This Elpidius seems to be called Elvidius, Elpidius, and Helfidius in various Acts of St. Canio Bishop of Atri, to be referred on the next day XXV of May. Now the said Canio the Bishop is everywhere held a Martyr, because of the horrible torments inflicted on him at Carthage in the persecution of Diocletian: after which, when he was now to be beheaded, amid thunders, earthquakes, and other storms suddenly arisen, he was carried by an Angel to the already mentioned city of Atella, and near it died and was buried: then truly (as in his Acts number 21 it is read) Blessed Elpidius after some time, Whether he saw the soul of St. Canio, the persecution which had raged against the Christian peoples being now lulled, about the sixth hour of the night saw in a vision an Angel of God, bearing a soul like a dove, who said to him: This soul, which you see, is of our fellow-servant Canio the Martyr: for he has found with the omnipotent God a place of perpetual refreshment. But when the holy Elvidius learned the death of the most blessed Martyr and Confessor, he came to the place where he was buried by the faithful: and together with the people of God urging on, and bringing it to perfection, he built a church, and erected a church to him. and a chamber over his head, decorated with all the splendor of various kinds, as the testimony, written on the front of that very chamber as a title, declares. Thus there, which things designate some Episcopal work, and could be fitted to this our Elpidius, unless the Diocletianic persecution, which St. Canio could not much survive, and the time of Arcadius and Honorius, ascribed to the memory of St. Elpidius, were too far distant from one another. Because however to the names of Arcadius and Honorius is added the name of Theodosius the Prefect (more rightly perhaps to be read Prince, that for Theodosius the Younger the son of Arcadius it may be taken) the sense could be, that Elpidius flourished in the times of Arcadius and Honorius and of the Younger Theodosius, that is between the years CCCXCV and CCCCL; and in his extreme age, say about the year CCCCXL, buried the dead Canio another, a Bishop cast out from Africa by the Vandals, and driven into Campania: which was rashly transferred to the Acts of the elder Canio. And let this be said by hypothesis, that there were truly two Canios, of whom one flourished under Diocletian, and is venerated on the following day; the other confessed the faith under the Vandals, to be commemorated on 1 September with his companions, which on the following day will have to be discussed more maturely, and the credit of the aforesaid Acts more carefully explored.