Vincentius

ON ST. VINCENTIUS,

MARTYR AT THE ROMAN PORT.

From the Martyrologies.

Vincentius, Martyr at the Roman Port (S.)

G. H.

In the third place this holy Martyr the aforesaid ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology set forth, and with them Usuard, Ado, Notker, and others more recent, as also the present Roman Martyrology, everywhere in these words: At the Roman Port the birthday of St. Vincentius the Martyr. Pietro de' Natali, book II chapter 130, number 149, calls him Innocentius. Of the Roman Port, on occasion of various Saints who there suffered, we have often treated and shall treat. Now may be consulted what we have said of it on February XXIV, March II, and other days. Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy asserts that no one explains at what time or in what persecution he underwent martyrdom. Baronius at the year 270 number 15 treats of the ruins of the Church of Porto, and among other Martyrs who there suffered mentions St. Vincentius. Hence Tamayo Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology wrongly inferred that he was crowned in that year, on occasion of some body of a Vincentius, in the time of Urban VIII translated from Rome to Madrid to the church of the Discalced Fathers of the Most Holy Trinity. Also in the year MDCLXV there was some body of St. Vincentius the Martyr translated from Rome to Lisbon to the Royal Oratory, under Pope Innocent X, which Cardoso in the Lusitanian Hagiology believed to be reckoned of this Martyr, and to be venerated on this day. In this manner also Masinus relates that some relics of his are at Bologna in two churches. But that they are of this Martyr is not proved.

ON ST. VINCENTIUS,

BISHOP OF FOLIGNO IN UMBRIA.

ABOUT DLIII.

The Acts of his Life from Ughelli and Jacobilli.

Vincentius Bishop of Foligno in Umbria (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Two Saints on this day, by name Vincentius, are celebrated in the Roman Martyrology; of these one is a Martyr crowned at the Roman Port, the other a monk of Lérins in Gaul, illustrious for the booklet written against heresies. To these is joined a third Vincentius, Bishop of Foligno in Umbria: of whom Ferdinand Ughelli in volume I of Italia Sacra among the Bishops of Foligno published this eulogy.

[2] The Bishop [x] St. Vincentius was, as they relate, one of those three hundred companions from Laodicea of Syria, Setting out from Syria into Italy whom the ardor of martyrdom, and a holy desire of visiting the places of Rome, burning, drew into Italy in the year DXVI: who, by the sending of Hormisdas the Supreme Pontiff, then bore the greatest torch of the Gospel of Christ to the Umbrians, Sabines, and Etruscans; and the great fruit of souls being reported, part of them thenceforth gave themselves to the contemplative life in monasteries built by themselves, many sons being begotten; part in those places, which by preaching they had traversed, was ennobled with an Episcopal throne … From whose School and society this Vincentius of Laodicea, of whom we speak, made uniquely for all piety, is narrated to have come forth. Who when he had come to Foligno in the same year, that is DXVI, touched by love of solitude, he lived at Foligno in a hut. near the walls of Foligno he built himself a hut, with a little chapel sacred to the Holy Triad, which scarcely seemed able to ward off the injuries of the sky. There when he had instituted his life, that he might attain a concurrence of all virtues, and offered himself to those coming to him as a most certain guide of the right way to life; not long could a lamp burning and shining lie hidden under a bushel. For he was raised to the vacant See of Foligno by the Clergy, John afterward the First Supreme Pontiff suffraging in the year DXXIII… And so when holy Vincentius had ruled the Church of Foligno twenty-eight years with the highest praise, Created Bishop he dies on 24 May in the year 553 he died on the day XXIV of May in the year DLIII, and was brought into the Cathedral temple, for veneration to Foligno, so for joy to the future Heavenly ones.

[3] These things Ughelli, in whom certain things are interposed concerning St. Florentius the monk; whom some affirm to have come from Syria with St. Vincentius. he helps St. Florentius the monk: He is said to have come from Nursia to Foligno, and to have lived holily in the hut of St. Vincentius, and at length in the year DXLVIII to have ended his life most holily, and by the command of the same St. Vincentius to have been buried in the Cathedral Church. As we have on the preceding day or the XXIII of May, on which his memory is also inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, more fully deduced. Certain things also are inserted in Ughelli concerning various Companions, among whom the chief is reckoned St. Laurentius the Illuminator, afterward created Bishop of Spoleto; on whose birthday III of February very many things are examined concerning their journey from Syria into Italy and to the Apostolic See, he is praised by Jacobilli: and his Life is given translated from the Italian of Ludovico Jacobilli: who in the same manner published the Life of St. Vincentius, first printed in the book On the Lives of the Saints and Blessed of Foligno in the year MDCXXVII, and afterward elaborated with new study he reprinted in the first volume On the Lives of the Saints and Blessed of Umbria published in the year MDCXLVII, and finally in the Appendix to the third volume, in the Catalogue of the illustrious Relics of Umbria, asserts, that at Foligno in the Cathedral Church is preserved the body of St. Vincentius Bishop of the people of Foligno. The body still in the Cathedral Church. Here among other things he mentions that in the Episcopal hall of Foligno are depicted the images of the Bishops of Foligno, and under the feet of this one are inscribed these words: St. Vincentius, born at Laodicea of Syria, Bishop of the people of Foligno in the year DXXIII. But in this year Jacobilli with Ughelli writes him created Bishop, and dead on XXIV of May in the year DLI.

[4] For the rest, besides those things, which we have deduced from Ughelli, St. Vincentius is praised by Jacobilli for the virtues proper to a holy Bishop; that he preferred to persist in holy solitude, Virtues worthy of a Bishop

and set himself against so great a dignity and burden as not sufficiently capable of it; but through constant and persevering supplication he recognized the express will of God, in whose grace trusting, he acquiesced to the public desire. Therefore consecrated Bishop he excelled in prayer, penitence, charity, vigilance, and every virtue of the best Pastor, who with most tender affection loved and visited his sheep, and helped them in every spiritual and corporal necessity: presented consolation to the sick, and to those afflicted with any tribulation: led back sinners with great sweetness to a better life, and the just to greater perfection. Finally Jacobilli observes from the Annals of Umbria, at the year DXLVI and the following, that Foligno was besieged by Totila, intercepted, and laid waste; and that then the citizens were animated by their Pastor Vincentius, to restore their city. He indicates also that proper Lessons of him were recited, which we have not seen: but if these had nothing other, than what we have just related from Jacobilli (but perhaps they had even much fewer things) we fear lest all be digested, from a congruous presumption rather than from the foreshining authority of the ancients. But as regards Totila, since his incursion into Italy and passage through Umbria pertains to the year DXXXV, if at that time Vincentius presided at Foligno, it is consequent that he contributed help and counsel to the city overthrown by him to be restored.