Severinus

ON ST. SEVERINUS, MONK AND CONFESSOR, AT TIVOLI,

IN THE 6TH CENTURY.

Severinus, monk at Tivoli. (S.)

BY G. V. H.

In the Roman Martyrology at the Kalends of November and in most martyrologies today the name of St. Severinus the monk occurs. St. Severinus the monk, perhaps in a wide sense a disciple of St. Benedict, Thus the Roman Martyrology: At Tivoli, of St. Severinus the monk. Usuard: Of St. Severinus the monk, of the city of Tivoli. Ado: The deposition of Severinus the monk, of the city of Tivoli. The Little Roman: Of Severinus the monk, of the city of Tivoli. Bede and the Ottobonian Martyrology make memorial of the holy man in the same way. It is evident therefore that the veneration and name of St. Severinus have been most widely spread through the Church, and began to be celebrated many centuries back, perhaps immediately after his death. For since in no copy of the Hieronymians, except in one or another Abridged, is mention made of St. Severinus, that also their age neither preceded nor reached

it must be said: but since he occurs in the other very ancient martyrologies, he must surely have lived between the fifth and the seventh century. In the first part of the seventh century the name of St. Severinus was so celebrated, and so great the fame of his holiness, that Honorius I, Roman pontiff, on the testimony of the author of the Lives of the Pontiffs in the life of Honorius I, built a temple in his honor about the year 634, at the twentieth mile from the city, the ruins of which temple are still seen near Tivoli; where I saw them on 22 June of the year 1880. So he will not stray far from the truth who places the holy man's death about the middle of the 6th century, as did Stanislao Melchiorri, annalist of the Minors, in the Italian book entitled: Historical Memoirs of the Veneration and Honoring of the Image of Most Holy Mary, which is Venerated at Tivoli in the Church of St. Mary Major of the Observant Franciscans, p. 31. Hence it is natural to suppose with the same author that St. Severinus was a disciple of St. Benedict, in the sense that he practiced the monastic life in some monastery built by St. Benedict near Tivoli. Jean Mabillon Acta SS. O.S.B., century II, p. LXII. gave Severinus the monk a place among the omitted saints of the second century: Severinus, monk of Tivoli, is celebrated on the Kalends of November in the Benedictine martyrology. Bucelin in his Menology at the Kalends of November mentions Severinus: On the same day, of St. Severinus the monk. Severinus, of Tivoli by homeland, a monk by profession, by the distinguished holiness of his life held a torch before his homeland and added an eternal ornament to it. He, when he had passed from life on the very Kalends of November, was buried there, and afterward raised with fitting honor, and translated under the high altar of the cathedral church, is religiously venerated up to these times. It is not lightly to be regretted that his Acts have perished. He flourished before the year of Christ 700.

[2] He rests at Tivoli; but no Acts of his survive. That he was a monk is established with certainty: but I am compelled to confess that apart from his being a monk and the holiness of his life I know nothing of the life and deeds of St. Severinus. To me, searching at Tivoli and at Rome, through archives ecclesiastical and profane, through very many libraries, for anything handed down to memory of Severinus, not one jot presented itself. The monks of Subiaco too and of Monte Cassino taught me nothing about Severinus. Learned men of those parts, anxiously questioned by me, the bishop too and some canons and religious of Tivoli, knew nothing of the holy man's deeds. That Severinus was born at Tivoli and there in his native city, or in the country near the city, ran the course of a holy life and ended it by a blessed death, seems from the notices of the martyrologies to be established for me and for many others who have written on the affairs of Tivoli. Francesco Marzi Enlarged History of Tivoli, p. 65., Michele Giustiniani On the Bishops and Governors of Tivoli, p. 83., Crocchiante The History of the Churches of the City of Tivoli, p. 36., Stefano Cabral and Fausto del Re On the Villas of Tivoli, p. 120., Francesco Bulgarini Historical Notes on the Most Ancient City of Tivoli, p. 103., all these call Severinus a man of Tivoli. The chief monument of this fact after the martyrologies is the title inscribed on the urn of the sacred relics of Severinus, which I read at Tivoli in the month of June of the year 1880 in the chapel of the cathedral church sacred to the Sorrowful Virgin. On a wooden tablet under the marble altar before the urn of the relics, which is laid up under the table of the altar, the title is read in this form:

THE BODY OF ST. SEVERINUS OF TIVOLI, CONFESSOR.

After that tablet, on the inner railing through which the urn is seen, there is read as follows:

OF ST. SEVERINUS, MONK OF TIVOLI.

We think therefore that St. Severinus, born and dead at Tivoli, whose people after his death have the presence of his sacred body for guardianship and protection, profited their fathers in life by the example of his virtues and the holiness of his morals. Since therefore we have nothing to say in particular of his life and holy conduct, it remains only that we treat of the invention and translation of his sacred relics. The instruments of these, transcribed from the original documents preserved in the archive of the church of Tivoli, not without the care and expense of the Reverend Canons of Tivoli Gioacchino Rosati and Stanislao Potini, the Reverend Father Al. Carboni, S.J., had transmitted to us. To these men, whose sweetest memory abides with me, I give thanks from my heart.

[3] Cardinal Roma identified the relics of St. Severinus. Baronius in his notes on the Roman Martyrology, edition of 1589, thus annotates at the Kalends of November on the notice of St. Severinus: His venerable body is held to be laid up at Tivoli at St. Lawrence's, as the old records of that church signify, which we have received in manuscript. Those old records, though anxiously sought, have escaped our diligence. But what is stated in them the history and documents of the invention splendidly confirm. In the year of the Lord 1635 Giulio Cardinal Roma, bishop of Tivoli, being about to demolish the cathedral church sacred to St. Lawrence, proceeded to the identification of the sacred relics laid up under the high altar, and found with others the relics of St. Severinus, as is evident from an authentic instrument from the episcopal archive of Tivoli, transmitted to us, which is as follows.

In the name of the Lord. Amen.

On Wednesday, 16 May 1635, in the 3rd indiction, and in the 12th year of the pontificate of the Father in Christ, our lord Urban VIII, by divine providence pope, in the presence of me, Septimius Salvatus, public notary of Tivoli, and at present notary of the chancery of the most illustrious city of Tivoli, requested to report, there being present the Most Eminent and Most Illustrious Lord Giulio, Cardinal Roma of the Holy Roman Church, bishop of Tivoli, in the cathedral church of St. Lawrence, and the witnesses written below being present, the high altar having been viewed with the great sacred stone placed upon it, with a marble shell below, and the said stone having been removed by the masons written below, so that it could be seen into the said shell, there were also found within various holy relics in vessels as below. — First, an alabaster vessel with a lead lid on which there are engraved: In this place rests the body of Blessed Severinus; and within was found a small parchment sheet, with the inscription: The body of St. Severinus of Tivoli, whose commemoration is on the feast of All Saints. Likewise in another wooden box about two palms long, on whose lid there is an inscription in large red letters: Relics of St. Severinus, and within was found a parchment inscribed: Dust from the body of St. Severinus. Likewise one round turned wooden box, in which there was found within a silver vessel. This being opened by the aforesaid Most Eminent and Most Illustrious Lord Cardinal Bishop of Tivoli, there was found there a parchment sheet with the inscription: Precious liquid of the body of St. Lawrence the martyr. Likewise another box about two palms long, on whose lid there were found letters engraved, in two parts, in one of which was read: Relics of Sts. Romulus and Redempta; and on the other part of the said lid was read: John, bishop of the Holy Church of Tivoli. This box being opened, there were found within several little vessels, in one of which was found a sheet of parchment with the inscription: Relics of the Holy 40 Martyrs. Likewise in another wooden box about three palms long, with iron nails, on whose lid there was an inscription in large letters: In this place rests the body of blessed Generosus the martyr. And also two parchments on which different names were written. Likewise in the said marble shell was found a lead sheet incised with various characters, which, because they could not be read at the moment, the said Most Eminent Lord ordered to be kept under key together with the said relics, to the effect of reading and transporting it in its due place and time. These relics, found as above, for every good end and effect the said Most Eminent and Most Illustrious Lord Cardinal Bishop for the present ordered to be sealed in his presence, as they were sealed, namely in part in the said high altar, and the rest in the sacristy of the said church, with the seal of the said Most Eminent one with Spanish wax, and by order of the same Most Eminent one they were translated from the said high altar as above, and shut in a cabinet standing in the aforesaid sacristy, in which they are contained; and there are other holy relics in the lower part of the said cabinet, shut under key, which was consigned to me, the aforesaid notary, and also sealed on two sides with the same seal of the said Most Eminent and Most Illustrious Lord Cardinal Bishop with similar Spanish wax, there being present in the said sacristy and cathedral church of St. Lawrence the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Aloysius Cittadinus of Milan, formerly canon of the Basilica of St. Peter in the City, the Most Illustrious Lord Pietro Antonio Gabriele and the Most Illustrious Lord Scipione Palomara, Romans, and the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lords Giovanni Carlo Nardini, archdeacon of the said church, Pietro Roacetto, archpriest, Pietro Paolo Ceccosano, Antonio de Neris, Girolamo Maesario, penitentiary, Agostino Eugenio de Sebastianis, Vincenzo Crucio, Nemesio Cincio, and Marco Oliverio, of Tivoli and canons of the said church, the Reverend Lords Maurizio Serafino, sacristan of the said cathedral, and Giovanni Pietro Bosio, curate of the church of the Holy Cross, of Tivoli; the very illustrious Lords Gaspare Sabuccio, head of the militia of the city of Tivoli, and Pietro Launa, one of the priors of the said city; the illustrious Lords Francesco Marzi, doctor of both laws, of Tivoli, Girolamo Cocanario, doctor of both laws, advocate of the community of Tivoli and of the poor, Giovanni Battista Roncetto, doctor of both laws, Ignazio Sigismondo, doctor of both laws, Francesco Teobaldo, canon of St. Peter of Tivoli, doctor of both laws, of Tivoli; Giovanni Pastica, Giovanni Domenico Petrarca, syndic of the said city and of the poor, Giovanni Battista Cocanario, prior of the confraternity of the Most Holy Savior, Pietro Paolo de Angelis, doctor of both laws, of Tivoli; Marco Quagliolino of Tivoli, public notary, Mattia Borleottono, public notary, a Roman and citizen of Tivoli, Andrea Picco, a Neapolitan and citizen of Tivoli, merchant and druggist, Francesco de Gralia of Tivoli, Nemesio Lentulo and Marzio, full brothers of Tivoli, Francesco, son of the late Pietro Crucio of Tivoli, Giuseppe Rocca of Cotignola, of the diocese of Imola, keeper of the palace of the Most Eminent Cardinal Pio, Giovanni Battista Lilio of Tivoli, Master Giovanni Gavona, a Lombard mason, resident and citizen of Tivoli, Master Antonio Interbeni, a Lombard mason, fellow-resident and citizen of Tivoli, Master Girolamo Angresta, a mason of Tivoli, Girolamo, son of the late Angelo Cordario, laborer of Tivoli. Septimius Salvatus of Tivoli, the aforesaid Notary, requested to report. It agrees with the original preserved in the Acts of this curia. Tivoli, 22 July 1880. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi, chancellor of the bishopric.

[5] These were then carried into the sacristy of the church of the Annunciation. They were carried then into the sacristy and shut in the cabinet of relics: which cabinet was afterward in the year 1638 carried, together with the relics contained in it, to the sacristy of the church of the Most Holy Annunciation, on 27 April, as is established from a public instrument, which, since transmitted to me from Tivoli it

had not been, I am compelled to transcribe from the book of Michele Giustiniani praised above On the Bishops of Tivoli, p. 25.. On the 25th of the month of January 1641. In the presence of me … and of witnesses …, there being present and principally constituted the very illustrious and most Reverend Lords Giovanni Carlo Nardini, archdeacon, Pietro Paolo Ceccosavo, dean, Marco Oliverio, provost, Tiberio Crucio, doctor of sacred theology, Fortunio de Sebastianis, Vincenzo Crucio, Nemesio Cincio, Agostino Recchia and Francesco Marzi, canons of the cathedral church of St. Lawrence of Tivoli, by order, as they said, received orally from the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal Roma, bishop of Tivoli, through the person of the said Lord Canon Cincio, vested in surplice and stole, a prior identification of the seal written below having been made by the witnesses written below, they unsealed the cabinet of relics of the saints of the said cathedral standing in the sacristy of the church of the Most Holy Annunciation; which cabinet under the date of 27 April 1638, or … as is established from an instrument, as it is said, requested of me …, had been sealed with the seal of the said Most Eminent Lord Cardinal Bishop, and the unsealing having been done, the same cabinet, closed with two keys, was opened with them, and from the body of Blessed Severinus, which was in an alabaster vessel sealed with the same seal, an identification and opening having likewise first been made, they took a piece * of the leg about one palm long, and part of the chin, with three teeth fixed in it, and another piece of bone of the said length; and all these were placed with an inscription within the tabernacle of relics of St. Jerome standing in the same cabinet, and afterward the said alabaster vessel was sealed with Spanish wax with the said seal of the Most Eminent one; on one side and the other with a white wafer. Likewise, a wooden box of three palms being opened, which was closed with nails, from the body of Blessed Generosus the martyr there were taken the head with part of the chin divided from the said head, and also another piece of bone, and the box was afterward marked with the seal of the same Most Eminent one, and the said relics of Blessed Generosus, taken as above, were placed within a linen corporal with an inscription. This alabaster vessel, marked as above, and the box of three palms, and also the box of two palms with other relics of St. Severinus, and another box of two palms with the relics of Sts. Romulus and Redempta, were carried from the said sacristy of the Most Holy Annunciation to the cathedral church of Tivoli, the cabinet standing in the said sacristy having first been marked with the seal of the same Most Eminent one. On which matters.. Done at Tivoli as above, there being present there …, the aforesaid seals of half … being identified by the illustrious Lords Giovanni Battista Roncetto, doctor of both laws, Giovanni Andrea Crucio and Francesco Cincio, of Tivoli, as witnesses… So it is. I, Francesco Marzi, notary of the episcopal curia of Tivoli…

[6] [Thence into the cathedral church under the high altar and then to the altar of St. Lawrence. From the altar of St. Lawrence] From that place the sacred relics were translated on the 25th of the month of January 1641 to the cathedral church, as is established from the same instrument. On the first day of February of the same year, the new church having been dedicated by Giulio Cardinal Roma himself and given over to divine worship on the following day, the relics of St. Severinus with others were placed in a marble shell under the high altar, as Francesco Marzi reports Enlarged History of Tivoli, p. 65.. There in the high altar the sacred relics of Severinus rested together with others until the year 1704. For then the high altar was demolished and a new one erected. The relics, taken from there and translated to the altar of St. Lawrence, were shut in that same altar. As is established from the authentic instrument that follows: On Saturday, the 1st of the month of November of the year 1704. All the stones having already been carried from the City to the distinguished cathedral church of St. Lawrence of Tivoli for building a new high altar of the said cathedral, to the effect of replacing and preserving in it for public veneration and viewing the sacred body of the divine Generosus, martyr of Tivoli, from which it was once taken, as appears from the instruments requested of me as above under the days 18 May, 5 and 7 June, and respectively 2 July last past and following days, there appeared before the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Antonio Fonseca, bishop of Tivoli, standing in his episcopal palace, the very illustrious and Most Reverend Lords canons Gaspare Petruccio, chamberlain and theologian, and Giovanni Battista Asserra, major sacristan of the aforesaid cathedral, and those deputed as assistants for the construction of the said new altar by the other Most Reverend Lord canons, and they set forth to the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop that it was necessary to demolish the old high altar of the aforesaid cathedral; and therefore they begged his Most Illustrious Lordship that he would deign to take from the same altar the sacred relics preserved in it, and to have them placed and laid in the altar of St. Lawrence of the same cathedral, fittingly and decently prepared for this purpose. Wherefore the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop, at the hour of Vespers of the aforesaid day, vested in a great cope and accompanied by the Most Reverend Lords dignitaries, canons and beneficiaries of the aforesaid cathedral, the clerics of the venerable seminary, the Most Illustrious Lords of the magistracy, and other leading men of the aforesaid city, went personally from the said episcopal palace to the aforesaid distinguished cathedral church, and Vespers and other ecclesiastical functions having been completed in it, with a concourse of a numerous people, laying aside the great cope and vested in the mozzetta, he went to the aforesaid high altar, and the witnesses written below having been brought in, and all the Most Reverend Lords dignitaries, canons and beneficiaries written below, the clerics of the seminary, the Most Illustrious Lords of the magistracy, and many leading men being in attendance, the aforesaid altar was stripped by order of his Most Illustrious Lordship, and then well viewed and identified, and found in the manner and form in which it was left, according to the instrument requested of me under the aforesaid day of 18 May last past, and in no part of it damaged or laid waste, and then, the necessary instruments having been prepared there by the masters Paolo Petruccio and Felice Del Toso, masons, the great stone standing in the upper part of the same altar was removed, and under it was found a great marble shell, in which were found the sacred relics written below, in the manners and forms following, namely: A round alabaster vessel, one palm and one quarter high, covered with a lead sheet, on which is incised the inscription written below, namely: In this place rests the body of Blessed Severinus. And the said vessel having been opened by his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship with the reverence that is fitting, it was found full of fragments of bones, dust, and little pieces of bones, as could be discerned; which were in no way removed from it; together with a parchment sheet under the lid of the same vessel with the inscription: The body of St. Severinus of Tivoli, whose commemoration is on the feast day of All Saints; and the said vessel was afterward covered with its same lead lid, and by order of the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop well bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in four places with the seal of the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Antonio Fonseca, bishop of Tivoli, impressed in Spanish wax. Likewise a wooden box two palms long less one inch, according to the measurement made, as it is said, con il Bassetto with the Bassetto, made, as it is said, ad uso di sepoltura in the fashion of a burial, covered, and on its lid there appear the inscriptions to be stated below in incised letters, namely on one part: Relics of Sts. Romulus and Redempta, and on the other part of the same lid: John, bishop of the holy church of Tivoli. And the said box being opened, there were found within it several and various little wooden vessels, in one of which was found a sheet in parchment with the inscription: Relics of the Holy 40 Martyrs. This box likewise was covered again, and, the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop so ordering, well bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in two places with the same seal of the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop of Tivoli impressed in Spanish wax. And finally another wooden box of the same length, likewise covered, with an inscription on its lid in large red letters: Relics of St. Severinus. And that being opened, there was found in it dust with a parchment written on one side, which, because of its age, and considering that the letters appear wholly consumed, could not be read. This box was then covered again, and by order of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship well bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in two places with the same seal of his Most Illustrious Lordship impressed on Spanish wax. These things done, and the customary antiphons and prayers having been recited by the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop, vested in a stole, the aforesaid vessel and the respective aforesaid boxes, with many lighted torches going before, were taken from the said high altar, and by the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop, the dignitaries and canons, the Lords of the magistracy, and other leading persons, with the due reverence that is fitting, carried to the altar of St. Lawrence, titular of the same cathedral, and in it, inside a box made for this purpose, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop himself decently placed and laid them, namely within the same altar, a parchment having first been laid within the said box near the said sacred relics with the following inscription, namely: “The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop Antonio Fonseca, bishop of Tivoli and assistant at the pontifical throne, translated from the high altar of this distinguished cathedral church of St. Lawrence of Tivoli the alabaster vessel stated below, covered with a lead sheet with the inscription: In this place rests the body of blessed Severinus. And a wooden box two palms long less one inch with the inscription on one side: Relics of Sts. Romulus and Redempta, and on the other: John, bishop of the holy church of Tivoli; and also another box of the same length with the inscription on the lid in red letters: Relics of St. Severinus — in which high altar they were formerly preserved — and sealed them with the seal of his Most Illustrious Lordship impressed in Spanish wax on a red silk cord, and for a perpetual memorial of the matter laid them in this altar of St. Lawrence, as by the request of me, Domenico Deodati, notary and episcopal chancellor, under today's date, the first of the month of November in the year 1704, of the pontificate of our Most Holy Lord Pope Clement XI.” And then there was placed [in] the said altar, in its front part, namely in the same place in which the said sacred relics were laid, a round stone having a cross drawn on it, a mosaico, as it is said, in mosaic and well fixed and fortified with solid lime and other cements by the masons stated below; and the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop granted and conceded to the Most Reverend Lords dignitaries and canons of the aforesaid cathedral license to demolish the aforesaid high altar for the effect cited above, there

being present in the same cathedral the Most Reverend Lords Archdeacon Francesco Cocannaro, Archpriest Giuseppe Getulio Nardini, Dean Faustino Rotella, Provost Andrea de Plota, Giovanni Giacomo Bellonio, Vincenzo Ambrosio, Agostino Mascio, Giovanni Sancti Rubei, Antonio de Philippis, Giuseppe Forvia, Simplicio Mattia, Gaspare Petruccio, chamberlain, Giovanni Battista Asserra, theologian and major sacristan, Pietro de Laudis, Generoso Meliorio, Giovanni Carlo Maremano, Domenico Getti, penitentiary, Luca Liberatore, curate, Filippo Bassi, curate, and Giovanni Francesco Laudi, canons; the Reverend Lords Antonio de Florentinis, minor sacristan, Placido Giunta, beneficiary; Giuseppe Maria Borgesio, Francesco Antonio de Philippis, Lorenzo Galluccio, Giovanni Carlo Crocchiante, Bartolomeo de Florentinis, Pietro Paolo de Sanctis, Antonio Ciantella, beneficiaries of the same cathedral; the Reverend Father Marco Antonio Mamaccia, prefect, with all the clerics of the seminary of Tivoli; the Most Illustrious Lords Domenico Gentile, head of the militia, Antonio de Bernardellis and Carlo Lellio, priors of the magistracy of the same city of Tivoli, and many other persons both ecclesiastical and secular, and leading men of the aforesaid city, and also the very illustrious and most excellent Lords Giovanni Giuseppe Meliorio, son of the late Sebastiano, doctor of both laws, and Captain Bernardino Roncetto, son of the late Giovanni Battista, likewise doctor of both laws, of Tivoli, as witnesses of all the aforesaid. So it is. I, Domenico Deodati, notary and episcopal chancellor, requested. — It agrees, etc. (22 July 1880, as above).

[7] into the sacristy of the cathedral. Again in the year 1733, on the third day of March, a new translation of the relics of St. Severinus with the others was made. Taken from the altar of St. Lawrence and carried to the sacristy of the cathedral, then identified and sealed, they were left in the cabinet of relics, to be afterward solemnly placed elsewhere. This is established from the subjoined instrument. Identification and removal of the sacred relics in the cathedral church of Tivoli. — On the twenty-third day of the month of March of the year 1733, in the 11th indiction, in the third year of the pontificate of our Most Holy Lord Clement, by divine providence Pope XIII. The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Placido Pezzancheri, bishop of Tivoli, on the aforesaid day after Vespers, requested by the very illustrious and most reverend Lord Canon Virgilio Petrorsi, secretary of the Most Reverend chapter of the distinguished cathedral church of St. Lawrence of this city, came down to the said cathedral church, and there, with the intervention and assistance of the very illustrious and most Reverend Lord canons, namely the said secretary, Domenico Centella, major sacristan of the same cathedral, Antonio Gallucci, and Tommaso Longhi, Master Giuseppe Belli, mason, having been brought in, by order of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship at the aforesaid request, there was opened by the said mason with the necessary instruments, in the front part, the altar under the title of St. Lawrence, found damaged or laid waste in no part, but well closed on every side by a wall; and the said opening having first been made in the said front part of the same altar, under which formerly, on the first of November of the year 1704, it is established by the request of the late Domenico Deodati, former chancellor of the episcopal curia, the sacred relics written below had been laid, carried from the high altar of the same church to this altar, namely in a round alabaster vessel one palm and one quarter high, covered with a lead sheet with the incised inscription: In this place rests the body of blessed Severinus. In the act of the said translation, identified by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Antonio Fonseca of blessed memory, then bishop of Tivoli, and found full of fragments of bones and dust, together with a parchment with the inscription: The body of St. Severinus of Tivoli, whose commemoration is on the feast day of All Saints, and left in the same manner in which it was found, and bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in four places with the seal of the said Most Reverend Bishop impressed in Spanish wax. Likewise in a wooden box two palms long less an inch, with the inscription on the lid in incised letters on one part of it: Relics of Sts. Romulus and Redempta, and on the other part of the same lid: John, bishop of the holy church of Tivoli, opened in the same act aforesaid and identified, and in which box were found several and various little wooden vessels, one of which had a sheet with the inscription: Relics of the Holy 40 Martyrs; and left in the same manner, and bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in two places with the same seal of the said Most Reverend Bishop impressed in Spanish wax. Likewise in another wooden box of the same length, covered, and with the inscription on its lid in large red letters: Relics of St. Severinus, opened in the same act aforesaid and identified, in which was found dust with a parchment written on one part, which because of its age could not be read until then, and left in the same manner and bound with a red silk cord, and sealed in two places with the said seal of the said Most Reverend Bishop in Spanish wax. And in the act of the said removal and replacing, all placed within a decent wooden box made for the aforesaid purpose, with the inscription joined to it of which there is mention in the aforesaid request of the said chancellor Deodati, under the said date of 1 November of the year 1704, to which as far as… Now there have been found the things that follow. A certain wooden casket, soaked with moisture on every side and in the greater part rotted, and within it a round alabaster vessel one palm and one quarter high, covered with a lead sheet, and with the same inscription of which there is mention in the aforesaid instrument requested of the said Deodati, but the wood and seals, as is discerned, likewise in the greater part rotted by reason of the moisture. Likewise the said box, with the said inscription: Relics of Sts. Romanus and Redempta, with its wood and seals likewise rotted, and another box in which the inscription was reported: Relics of St. Severinus, wholly rotted, there being shavings and wet fragments mixed together on the floor of the said opening. And his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship having first taken out the said alabaster vessel, and the said box, not laid waste, and having placed them decently on the table of the said altar, and then the said shavings and wet fragments found on the said floor of the opening having been gathered up, and placed in a round wooden box, and the burning of the fragments of wood of the aforesaid casket having been ordered, all the said sacred relics, by the said Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop vested in a stole, the customary prayers having first been recited, and lighted torches going before, were carried to the sacristy of the said cathedral, where the said Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop took from the said alabaster vessel all the bones and fragments preserved in it as above, likewise found wet on every side, and placed them for now in an oblong wooden box of oval form, and likewise diligently sought among the said shavings placed in the said round box fragments of bones and relics, and placed them in the same oblong box of oval form, in which he also placed, yet on one side, separately, the other sacred relics taken from the said box with the inscription: Relics of Sts. Romanus and Redempta. And that same oblong wooden box of oval form, well closed, he secured on both sides with ribbons of paper with his small seal in red Spanish wax in four places, so that it could by no means be opened or damaged without breaking, and he left it in the cabinet where the relics of the said cathedral are preserved, with the intention of placing and laying them elsewhere more decently than before. On which matters, done at Tivoli as above, there being present the Most Reverend Lords Angelo Vittorio Beceari, secretary to his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship, Giacomo Cerreti, minor sacristan of the said cathedral, and Francesco Barberi and Giacomo Lepri, servants of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship, and very many others standing by as witnesses. So it is. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi, notary and episcopal chancellor of Tivoli, requested. — It agrees (22 July 1880, as above.)

[8] [Thence into the church, and laid up under the altar in the chapel of the Holy Crucifix, where they still rest,] At length in the year 1740, on the 22nd of the month of May, the sacred relics of St. Severinus were translated from the sacristy into the church, where they remained exposed to the veneration of the people until the 24th day of the same month, on which day they were carried with solemn pomp to the altar of the chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix and laid up under the altar, as is established from the subjoined instrument. Replacing of the sacred body of St. Severinus and of other relics under the altar of the chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix of the cathedral of Tivoli. On Sunday, the 22nd of the month of May of the year 1740, in the Roman indiction III, the holy apostolic see being vacant through the death of Pope Clement XII of holy memory.

Whereas formerly, and under the date of 1 November of the year 1704, from the high altar of the distinguished cathedral church of St. Lawrence of this city of Tivoli there was translated and laid under the altar of St. Lawrence the sacred body of St. Severinus, monk and confessor of Tivoli, together with other sacred relics, of which more fully in the instrument requested of the late Domenico Deodati, former episcopal chancellor, preserved in the archive of the episcopal curia in the protocol of instruments of the said year, to which as far as. And whereas moreover under the date of 23 March of the year 1733, by my own request, the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Placido Pezzancheri, today bishop of Tivoli, placed the said sacred body, removed from the said altar of St. Lawrence, together with the said sacred relics, by way of provision, in a wooden casket well closed and secured with seals, and ordered it to be preserved to the effect of solemnly translating it in its due place and time and laying it under the altar of the chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix of the same cathedral; and for the execution of such translation and replacing, a marble altar having now been built in the same chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix, a solemn festival was proclaimed for the said translation and replacing on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th days of the present month of May, with noble furnishing of the aforesaid cathedral church: hence it is that on the said day, 22 May, the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Bishop, vested in the mozzetta, in the morning, after celebrating Mass in the chapel of his episcopal residence, came down to the said cathedral, and went to the sacristy, and there, the Lord canons and others of the clergy assisting, and very many others standing by, upon a decent table prepared in the same sacristy, with candlesticks and lighted candles, there was shown the said casket, in which earlier, as has been said, the said sacred body had been laid, and the sacred relics of which there is mention in the instruments requested above, and it being viewed and identified, and found well closed and secured with the said seals of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship, and in no part damaged, and there being shown and prepared at the same time the alabaster vessel in which the said sacred body had been preserved in the first place, now brought to a more decent form and adorned on either side with handles of brass, and a blessing of the same vessel having been made by the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop, there was then opened the said

casket, and from it was taken the said sacred body with the said other sacred relics; and he placed all together and decently laid them in the said alabaster vessel, some particles of the sacred bones being however separated, and notably from the ribs of the said St. Severinus, and for identification he shut within a paper well wrapped, and sealed in two places with the small seal of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship. And the said alabaster vessel, covered with the same lead sheet by which it was covered before, and encircled on the rim with a wire of brass, the lid too being bound round with the same wire, was sealed on either side with the same small seal of his Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lordship in Spanish wax. And he left the said vessel in the said sacristy, to be exposed today to the public veneration of the faithful in the presbytery of the said cathedral, upon a structure likewise prepared there on the occasion of the proclaimed festival, and then on the 24th, after it has been carried in procession through the city, with what is to be observed being observed, to be laid under the said altar of the chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix. All which things done above, in the place as above, were requested of me, there being brought in as witnesses the Most Illustrious Lords Captain Girolamo Palutio Glaria, son of Michelangelo of good memory, Girolamo Cocanario, son of Ignazio of good memory, Filippo Pusterla, son of the said Giovanni Antonio, Pietro Paolo de Sanctis, son of the late Giuseppe, Generoso Pacifici, secretary of the most illustrious community, and very many others. So it is. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi, notary and episcopal chancellor of Tivoli, requested. — On the 24th of the said month of May of the year 1740. The said festival having been celebrated as has been said, on the days prescribed, with joyful music and copious musical instruments, and also today, that of Generosus, martyr of Tivoli, recurring, then after Vespers a solemn procession was begun, with the intervention of the aforesaid Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop of Tivoli vested in pontifical vestments, and the said sacred body was accompanied also by the Most Illustrious Lords [ ] and the magistracy of the city; and about the twenty-fourth hour, the procession being finished, the same Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Bishop placed and laid the aforesaid alabaster vessel, containing the said sacred body and relics, under the said altar of the aforesaid chapel of the Most Holy Crucifix, closed on every side, and having only in the front part an opening of oval form, in which there was then set and fixed an elegantly worked iron grille. On which matters I, the notary, have made this public instrument, there being present and standing by there, among other leading and nobler men of the city, the Most Illustrious Lords Francesco Antonio Lolli, son of Bernardino of good memory, Settimio Bulgarini, son of Lord Felice of good memory, and Federico Coccanari, son of Lord Pietro of good memory, as witnesses. So it is. Giovanni Battista Petrocchi, notary and episcopal chancellor of Tivoli, requested. — It agrees (as above). And there Severinus rests in the same urn of which mention has often been made in the instruments: an honor and protection to the people of Tivoli.

[9] Ruins of the temple founded by Pope Honorius in honor of St. Severinus survive. We have made mention above of the temple built by Honorius, Roman pontiff, in honor of St. Severinus. It is pleasing to bring here the very words of the historians, that everyone may see with how great honor the Roman Church then attended St. Severinus. The author of the Lives of the Pontiffs in Honorius I writes thus: He built a church to blessed Severinus from the ground up near the city of Tivoli, at the twentieth mile from the city of Rome: which he himself dedicated, and he offered many gifts. With how great a magnificence, worthy of a Roman pontiff, Honorius proved his piety toward the most holy man we learn from Platina On the Lives of the Pontiffs, On Honorius I.: He built a temple of Severinus near the city of Tivoli, of most magnificent work, and adorned it with silver, gold, porphyry and marble stones, with incrustation of the walls, stucco work, and mosaic work. Crocchiante, from both historians, with whom he joins Nicodemo, book V, chapter VII, makes mention of this temple Work cited, book IV, no. 35.: and he judges that this church stood near the Via Valeria, a mile and a half from the city of Tivoli. Cabral and del Re Work cited, p. 121., having made mention of this temple, remove doubt about the place: If in the time of Honorius the method of numbering the miles had already been changed, the place, they say, assigned by Crocchiante must be said to fit, where on the left of the Via Valeria are seen the foundations of a church, underground vaults, and through the field neighboring them pieces of precious marbles. Now, as they themselves add, since the change of the mile was made shortly after Italy was occupied by the barbarians, that change long preceded the times of Honorius, and eighteen miles were counted from Rome to Tivoli, to which if you add one and a half from Tivoli to the ruins of the aforesaid church, you will have twenty miles nearly complete, and thus the church of St. Severinus near Tivoli at the twentieth mile, as the cited authors of the Lives of the Pontiffs had said. On the geographical map of Tivoli and the country of Tivoli which Francesco Bulgarini set before his often-cited Notes, he assigns this same place to the ruins of this church. This is the constant opinion of the people of Tivoli, and, as I was curious to see, the learned men of Tivoli led me there, and I saw in that place the ruins and foundations of a most august temple, over which there are now gardens and a vineyard, on the right of the Via Valeria for one setting out from Tivoli, on the left for one going to Tivoli.

* edition peticem, and soon again once.