ON SS. ZEBELLUS, SERVULUS, AND SECUNDINUS,
MARTYRS IN ISTRIA.
YEAR CCCXXXIV.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the ancient cult and the more recent Acts.
Zebellus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
Servulus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
Secundinus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
G. H.
Four ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology begin this day with these Saints, and the Corbey one printed at Paris in these words: In Istria the birthday of Saints Zebellus, Servulus, Secundinus. The last is wanting in three other copies, Memory in the ancient Calendars, and in place of Zebellus in the Epternach one is Zoilus: which name among the Syrian Saints to be reviewed below is found twice: and several of those Syrians are attributed to Istria by Ado, Notker, and others more recent together with the present Roman Martyrology: concerning whom the Reader will be able to judge more conveniently, when we shall have separated the individual Saints from the more ancient monuments. An ancient Corbey manuscript not yet printed, by the testimony of Luc d'Achery who sent it to us, written eight hundred years ago, has these things: In Istria the birthday of SS. Zebellus, Servulus. The Cassino and Altempsian manuscripts: In Asia (rather Istria) of SS. Zebellus, Servullus. The Trier manuscript of St. Maximinus, small but ancient, the place of struggle omitted, has these things: The birthday of SS. Zebellus, Servulus and Vincentius. But this last completed his martyrdom at the Roman Port.
[2] Now Istria or Histria is sufficiently known to Latin and Greek writers, St. Servulus born and slain at Trieste. and still keeps its name, the last region of Italy, neighboring Illyricum and Germany; where among the maritime cities Trieste sufficiently stands out with an Episcopal title, under the dominion of the Austrians; and on this day it venerates St. Servulus the Martyr, its own citizen, whose sacred body is still there preserved. The Acts of his life and martyrdom are extant there written in Italian, His Acts translated from the Italian, which Andreas Lazarus, a Priest of our Society, drew out from the monuments of Trieste, whose courtesy we experienced at Ferrara in the year MDCLX. He transmitted to us the said Italian Acts and them rendered into Latin by himself: which we here give, compared with those and abridged by Pietro de' Natali. which Pietro de' Natali, Bishop of Equilio, in the March of Treviso sufficiently near to Istria, published somewhat more briefly, in book 5 of the Catalogue chapter 36.
[3] Him alone the Reichenau and Rheinau manuscripts celebrate in these words: In Istria of Servulus. The same, but the place of struggle omitted, his own particular veneration. the Augsburg manuscript of St. Ulrich and the Paris one of Labbe refer in the first place. In the Patriarchal Church and diocese of Venice he is venerated with an Ecclesiastical office under a semi-double rite. Galesinius from the Tables of the Church of Trieste and a manuscript codex composed this eulogy for him: At Trieste St. Servulus the Martyr. He, born of noble stock, from his first years given to the discipline of Christ, in his twelfth year, having embraced the eremitical kind of life, flourished in holiness and miracles. His fame having spread abroad, by the command of Junilius the President, while Numerianus was Emperor, cast into chains, he is driven to the superstition of the idols: from which utterly estranged, first beaten with sinews, after tortured on the rack, then mangled with claws, then anointed with boiling oil, at last slain, in every torture and in death he declared by divine and heavenly virtue the genuine proof of his perpetual piety toward God. Thus there. Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, from the monuments of the Church of Trieste and Pietro de' Natali, formed a somewhat greater encomium. Canisius also has some in the German Martyrology. Numerianus reigned with his brother Carinus, from the death of his father Carus, slain in the year CCLXXXIII; and he himself slain the following year had as successor Diocletian. Therefore the year of human Salvation CCLXXXVIII, ascribed at the end of the acts, was to be expunged.
[4] Now the aforesaid Father Andreas Lazarus testifies that the body of the same holy Martyr is still in veneration, the body and the cave. as also the cave called by his name and seen by himself. From a letter besides of the Most Illustrious Bishop of Pedena, D. Daniel Raunach, directed to the Archdeacon of Carniola John Ludovic Schonleben in the year MDCLXXV, we understand; that in the borders of Istria, where they touch Carniola and the Karst, not far from Trieste, there is a Jurisdiction called of St. Servulus, doubtless in that place where the Topographic maps show us a castle called in Italian San Servo, in German Sint-Serf; abbreviated, namely, for Servulus, to whom probably the church of the place is dedicated, as to its Patron. And here perhaps is his aforesaid cave, in which he is said to have led an eremitical life.
ACTS OF THE LIFE AND MARTYRDOM.
From a manuscript of Trieste in Italian.
Rendered into Latin by Andreas Lazarus S. J.
Zebellus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
Servulus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
Secundinus, Martyr in Istria (S.)
FROM THE ITALIAN.
Servulus, a boy of the city of Trieste of most elegant form, was the only son of his parents: by whom, since he had most excellently imbibed the doctrines of the Christian faith already from his first years, The boy withdraws into a cave, he frequented the divine offices with great piety in the church of the Christians. He was scarcely in his twelfth year, when on a certain day while praying he heard a certain voice from heaven thus addressing him: O Servulus, servant of Christ, now your prayer has been heard; and if you shall ask any grace from the Lord, you shall obtain it. Having heard these things, Servulus, recalling to his memory those words of Christ the Lord, He who has not left father and mother cannot be my disciple; at once leaving his parents went out of the city, and in a certain cave, not much distant from Trieste, which to this day is called the Crypt of St. Servulus, lay hidden for some time. But when he had been diligently sought by his parents and kinsmen in vain, a great weeping was made by them for the loss of so great a boy. And already for nine months over one year Servulus had lain hidden there, when again he heard from heaven a voice which exhorted him to return to his parents. To whom the boy answered: O Lord Jesus Christ, who dwellest in heaven, behold I am ready to obey: but I beseech you as much as I can, that your grace never desert me, because you alone are my hope and help and refuge.
[2] When therefore, about to return home, he had scarcely ascended into the field neighboring the cave, returning to his paternal home he slays a serpent by his breath. there met him a dragon of huge size: at the sight of which Servulus at the first glance was utterly terrified, but having taken courage and being strengthened by the Lord, fortifying himself first with the sign of the holy Cross, then breathing upon the face of the serpent, he saw it suddenly dead, and split into two parts not without the greatest amazement: for which notable miracle, thanks being rendered to the Lord, he pursued his journey to see again his home and parents. It is not easy to explain with how great gladness of mind the boy was received, who when he had narrated to them, in holy simplicity and ingenuous candor of mind, those wonderful things which had befallen him, of the slain dragon, of the divine voice that had spoken with him, stirred up a great expectation of himself among all, who therefore were often wont to repeat that: What think you this boy shall be, for the hand of the Lord is with him? After some days Eulogius the father of Servulus died, wherefore the boy remained for the consolation of his widowed mother and the rest of the
family.
[3] There was in the city at that time a certain energumen, diversely tormented by a demon, who often with strained voice begged his father, he frees an energumen, that he should not delay to lead him to the servant of Christ, by name Servulus: for as soon as I shall have seen him (he was wont to say) I shall be saved. The father of this energumen had plainly no knowledge of Servulus: but when both he and the kinsmen, a diligent search having been made beforehand, had at length found the servant of God; the afflicted father, prostrate at his feet, earnestly begged that he would not refuse to free his son sharply vexed by the devil. To whom Servulus: If you shall believe with all your heart in our Lord Christ Jesus, you shall see your son sound and free, for to one believing thus all things are possible. I believe, this man answered, if I shall see my son sound. When therefore they had entered the house of the possessed one, the devil immediately saw the servant of God Servulus, was greatly troubled; and began diversely to torment the unhappy energumen, casting him to the ground, and with a great gnashing of teeth vomiting forth foam. Then Servulus, fortifying himself with the sign of the Cross on his forehead, and placing his hands upon the head of the languishing boy, with rebukes commanded the demon, that in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit it should depart from that body, without any hope of returning to the same. No sooner said than done. The malign spirit departed, but the sick boy at once raised himself standing, and praising the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose virtue he confessed himself freed from so great a trouble: and many others, having seen so great a miracle, believed in the Lord, and embraced the Christian faith.
[4] A certain most noble matron, by name Fulgentia, had an only son, he heals one in fever, who, seized by a long-lasting fever, could never be cured by any physician. Wherefore when fame had brought the grace of St. Servulus' cures to the ears of the same matron, she came to the servant of God, who wrought so many wonderful effects, begging him earnestly and with tears, that he would grant her son health. Having heard this petition Servulus said: Not I, O Lady, not I, but the virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ has wrought these wonderful things which you have heard. And when a little after he had betaken himself to the house of the sick one, he begged the Lord God saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who didst free the mother-in-law of Simon who was held by great fevers, delay not, I beseech you, Lord, to free also this innocent boy, that hence it may be evident, that you make safe whosoever flee to your mercy and goodness. And saying these things he took the hand of the boy: and when he had lifted him from the ground, he restored him sound to his mother, with the highest admiration of all the bystanders. From which miracle it came to pass, that both Fulgentia herself the mother of the boy, and all her family believed in the one true God, and thenceforth professed his faith and religion.
[5] A certain mason, by name Didymus, while on some occasion he was attentively bestowing his labor on a certain building, fell from its summit, and from a very high place, to the ground. he saves from a fall one at the point of death, His wife and sons run up, who, half-dead, wrapped in linen, offered him to Servulus, that he might heal him. The servant of God, having pitied the misfortune, prayed from his heart to the Lord saying: Permit not, Lord Jesus, the most hostile enemy of the human race to prevail against this wretched man, whom he cast headlong, that he might hinder the work of your hands. And when he had said these things, he took the sick man by the hand, who was well-nigh giving up the ghost: and in the virtue of the Lord Jesus, commanded him at once to rise up, and be sound: and so immediately the former vigor was rendered to the sick man; and his entire strength, with the great amazement of all, was restored. It would be long to recount the admirable effects of this kind, which the holy servant of God daily wrought, from which many were converted to the faith of Christ, which we pass over in silence, that we may come to greater things.
[6] The office of President in the city of Trieste was at that time exercised by a certain Junilius, Having professed the faith before the President, who in the name of the Emperor Numerianus had promulgated an edict, that whatever Christian who had refused to offer sacrifice to the divers Idols should pay the penalty with various torments. When therefore the same President had heard of these wonderful things which Servulus wrought, what a concourse of people he had, how the superstitions of the Pagans were brought to ruin with the highest disgrace of the Gods; he gave this charge to Ataulf the Vicar, that he should take care to have Servulus, when seized, brought to him at once: which, no delay being interposed, was performed. And so the most haughty President received the Innocent accused: Are you then that most wicked of men, who imposing on the people by magical arts work wonders, and so study to turn the ruder and credulous multitude away from the cult of the immortal Gods? And when the President had for some time awaited a response, at length Servulus thus spoke back unjust things against the mouth of the speaker: It shames me indeed to speak with you, O most foolish of men, who ascribe to magical arts the things wonderfully done by me in the name and virtue of Jesus Christ the true God, than which what, I ask, can be said or devised more foolish?
[7] At these things the President, boiling with anger, commanded the holy youth to be sharply beaten with sinews, saying, and tortured in various ways, Your magical arts have overcome others, but they shall by no means overcome me. And when the holy Martyr was in torments, he cried with a great voice to the Lord saying: O Lord Jesus Christ, I give you thanks, who hast deigned to bestow on me the grace, that for your holy name I should suffer something. And if this unjust judge, son of perdition, shall attempt to torture me with other kinds of torments, I will most willingly bear them; nor will I fear evils, for you are with me. And when he had spoken at length, with the greatest constancy and greatness of mind, on this same matter; the Judge ordered him to be tortured on the rack, and torn with iron claws. In which torments, the unconquered Martyr of Christ said to the Tyrant, that not only did he not dread his torments, but rather was exceedingly delighted by them, and was in joy through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hearing which, Junilius ordered him, first strongly stretched apart from the rack, to be drenched with boiling oil. While this was being done, Now indeed, said the holy Martyr, you have given me the highest refreshment: nay, not you, but the Lord my God, who rescues me from all my tribulations.
[8] When all the Counselors of the President had seen so great constancy in enduring torments, This wicked sorcerer (they say), and full of diabolical incantations, will laugh at any torments, and will count them for a straw; and in vain drenched with urine, therefore command him to be well drenched all over with urine; then indeed you shall see the magical arts forthwith give way, otherwise time is wasted in vain. When this counsel of the impious had been given to the executioner, all the bystanders were so drenched with a certain sudden most sweet odor, as of precious balsam or perfumer's powder, that, snatched into the greatest admiration, very many of them began with strained and repeated voices to say: Truly great is the God of the Christians. The most unjust President saw himself taken, and, equally suffused with shame and seized with rage, commanded Servulus to be slain, as was done according to custom outside the walls of the city. When Clementia, he is slain under Numerianus. the mother of the holy Martyr, had learned this, with a great company of all those who had believed in Christ because of the miracles seen, she came by night to that place: who, suffused with heavenly gladness, with most abundant tears having kissed again and again the body of her beloved son, committed it to burial. And so the most blessed Martyr of Christ Servulus was crowned with martyrdom, under the Emperor Numerianus, on the XXIV of May.