ON BL. SIMON OF SANT'ARCANGELO, OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS,
IN THE YEAR 1329
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Simon of Sant'Arcangelo, O. S. D., in the territory of Rimini. (B.)
BY J. D. B.
§ Sole. On the Acts of Bl. Simon, and on his stock and the chronology of his life.
[1] The Acts of Bl. Simon In the town whose name is Sant'Arcangelo, situated not far from the city of Rimini, memorial is made of Bl. Simon, called de Ballanchis, and enrolled among the lay brothers of the family of St. Dominic, who from the year 1820, by concession of Pius VII, supreme pontiff, is honoured with Mass and the divine office both in the diocese of Rimini and among the Friars Preachers [Summarium probationum ad cultus confirmationem obtinendam. Rome, 1820, at the end.]. I know not whether any document survives on the blessed man superior in age to that biographical notice which is both attached at the end of the Annals of the Masters General of the Order of Preachers, by Jerome of Borselli Compare Acta Sanctorum, vol. I of November, p. 402, no. 2., and read inserted in book III, distinction seven, De Insigniis Ordinis Praedicatorum, by Ambrose Taegio Ibid.. Of this notice we have a double transcript in hand: one copied for us from a Bologna codex by Rev. Fr. Thomas Bonara, the other, sent to our predecessors, preserved in the royal Brussels codex 8931. With this biographical notice agrees well the little summary of the Life which Leander Alberti published in his book on the illustrious men of the Order of Preachers, fol. 260. And so we shall edit below this Life of Bl. Simon from the Brussels transcript, collated with that of Bologna, adding also the differences that occur in Alberti.
[2] seem to be a death-notice eulogy. But who wrote these very meagre deeds of Bl. Simon, or at what time, is entirely uncertain. Perhaps we should more rightly call these deeds a certain death-notice eulogy, which members of religious families are accustomed to inscribe in their menologies, lest the memory of brethren who were an example to others by the holiness of their life should be wholly lost. Indeed one may suppose that the eulogy was composed not many years after the death of Bl. Simon, while some brethren, witnesses of such virtues, still survived. This I conjecture for the reason that at least some things are recorded more precisely determined than usual. And the occasion of composing the eulogy was that veneration which the citizens of Rimini showed to the blessed man. The eulogy, copied from a charter that was laid up in an archive and perhaps somewhat emended, Borselli and Taegio took care to add to the other monuments which they diligently collected. Whether the miracles which God deigned to work through Bl. Simon were ever committed to writing I cannot decide, since we have received nothing handed down about them.
[3] [A parchment found in the funeral urn relates that he was of the noble stock of the Ballanchi;] There is no reason for the preliminary commentary to run on at length, since, except for two doubts, the rest is clear. For the birth of Bl. Simon is somewhat obscure, and his year of death is called into controversy. And first as regards the origin of Bl. Simon, from the seventeenth century M. Pio, Delle vite degli uomini illustri di S. Domenico. he is declared to have sprung from the renowned stock of the Ballanchi, once lords of the very wealthy town of Sant'Arcangelo, and they say he was the nephew of Lawrence de Ballanchis, who, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, governed the church of Rimini [Tonini, Storia civile e sacra Riminese. Rimini, 1862, vol. III, p. 302; compare Tonini, Rimini nella signoria de' Malatesti, part I, p. 401.]. The assertors of this opinion bring forward an important document. Namely in the year 1763 Summarium, no. 10.,
on the nineteenth of December, the postulators of the cause went to the church of the Friars Preachers of the city of Rimini dedicated to St. Cataldus, to inspect the urn containing the remains of the blessed man. And so, the stone table of the altar of St. Peter Martyr being removed, under which he lay buried, there appeared a wooden casket fastened with nails, in which were found bones and ashes of a human body with a parchment signifying that the body of Bl. Simon had been laid up in this casket on the 5th of November of the year 1602. The tenor of the parchment is as follows:
On the outside. — The translation of blessed Simon de Ballachis, lay brother of Sant'Arcangelo, was made on the 23rd of November 1602 under the pontificate of Clement the Eighth.
Within. — In the name of God. Amen. — In the year from human redemption 1489, in the seventh indiction, in the pontificate of our Lord Innocent, by divine providence Pope the Eighth, by leave of the lord Maurus of Ferrara, vicar of the lord James, bishop of Rimini, governor of all the Romagna, on the twenty-seventh of December, namely the day of St. John the evangelist, the venerable body of blessed Simon de Ballachis, of the counts of the castle of Sant'Arcangelo, of the habit of the lay brothers of the Order of Preachers, of the convent of St. Cataldus of Rimini, was translated and venerably placed in this chest.
[4] which opinion is by no means probable. And certainly, if in the year 1763, when this elevation of the sacred relics was made, skilled men called for this purpose, an examination being made, had said under oath that that parchment, at least on its inner side, presented a script of the fifteenth century, no one would doubt that in that age the tradition flourished that Bl. Simon was begotten of this race which they assign him as stock. But nothing could be found from which it may rightly be established that this care was taken; nor has the modern assertor of this nobility, Marino Marini [Memorie istorico-critiche della citta di Santo Archangelo. Rome, 1844, pp. 89 ff.], who indeed commented learnedly on the affairs of his homeland, fortified his opinion with any documents; perhaps for this reason, that none survive. We think that this is truly so, having inspected the booklet of the most distinguished man Louis Tonini Tonini, Rimini nella signoria de' Malatesti, part I, pp. 469, 470.. He with the greatest care collected all the Ballanchi of whom mention recurs in the charters of Rimini of this age. He grants that that race had its seats at Sant'Arcangelo, but denies that it ever held the county of Rimini, or that any memory survives of that Rodulf who is called the father of Bl. Simon. From an emphyteusis confirmed in the year 1250 these subscriptions can be adduced: Rainerius son of Ridulfinus of Sant'Arcangelo and Oddo son of Balaccus of the same place. But he who, owing to some corruption of words, should recognize that Ridulfinus as the father of Bl. Simon, would remove him, as the very opposition of the names demands, from the Balanchi. Moreover the author of the Life soon to be edited, namely Leander Alberti, knew nothing of this nobility, which, in calling the father of Simon a man of the people, he seems to have denied; nor in the year 1585 does Antoninus of Siena Chronica fratrum Praedicatorum, p. 174. bring in mention of that nobility. But in the year 1607 Michael Pio Op. cit., with no hesitation, restored the name of Ballanchi to Bl. Simon. Who then will wonder if to one weighing with how great a difference writers before and after the translation made in the year 1602 have recorded the blessed man, there should steal in a doubt about the certainty of the tradition spread abroad in the seventeenth century? Indeed, if the parchment found in the year 1763 was written by one hand, he would act as a severe perhaps, but not unjust, critic who should suspect that the original title was corrupted in the year 1602. For at that time it happened more than once that what had before signified the place of birth, being afterwards used after the manner of a family name, ascribed to a nobler race those to whom they did not belong.
[5] Bl. Simon seems to have died in the year 1329. It is uncertain in the second place whether the blessed man left this life in the year 1319. For he was still alive when Brother Jerome, a pupil of St. Dominic, was in charge of the church of Rimini; and he took up the episcopate on the ides of March of the year 1323 Tonini, Rimini nella signoria de' Malatesti, part I, p. 406.. That the year 1319 was uncertain Antoninus of Siena had already noted Book and page cited, note 6. in these words: others write that he died in the year 1329. And you will call this year the more probable if you think certain what passed between Bl. Simon and Bishop Jerome. Since he died at that age at which one is judged decrepit, he was at least in his sixtieth year. Whence, if he died in the year 1329, the blessed man was born before the sixty-ninth year of the thirteenth century.
[6] [What is reported of the testament of the prince of Rimini in favour of the church of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not proved.] It remains that we should also adduce those things of which we have found nothing handed down in the deeds of blessed Simon, but which have been related by Giani. They are as follows. In the year of the Lord 1312 Lord Malatesta de Malatestis, prince of Rimini, near to death, when he had learned from Bl. Simon of Rimini, from the town of Sant'Arcangelo, of the Order of Preachers, what blessed Catherine, virgin and martyr, to whom Simon had always been most devoted, had revealed to him, namely that it would come about in a short time that in that city a shrine would be raised in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the instigation of the divine spirit, decreed to contribute something to this most religious work, whenever it should be done; and accordingly he left by testament 700 pounds of money, as is gathered from the acts of Ravaldinus, notary of Rimini. The prince soon being dead, a little after F. Guido Cizanus was present at Rimini Annales S. Ord. fratrum Servorum B. M. V. Lucca, 1719, vol. I, part I, p. 223.. But Giani erred in that, content with this assertion, namely: the several things contained in this chapter are gathered from the monuments of those same convents Ibid., p. 225., he omitted to publish the documents themselves, so that he cannot make us certain faith about them. For the testament of that magnificent man lord Malatesta of Verrucchio, who died in the year 1312 Tonini, Rimini, part I, p. 25., made on 18 February 1311, has been put in print by Louis Tonini Ibid., part I, append., p. 21.. But in it there is nothing about so much money to be paid to the Servants of Bl. Mary. Perhaps that notable benefactor of the Servants should be said to be Malatestino dall' Occhio, who died in the year 1317 Ibid., part I, p. 35; compare p. 307, table IV.. This conjecture would be strengthened from the fact that in the month of March of the year 1317 the Servants of Bl. Mary asked Ferrantino, the son of the aforementioned, and the council of Rimini that they might not pay the rent of thirty-six pounds of Ravenna for certain houses bought in the district of St. Mary in Curte, in which houses the church of the said Brothers is to be built in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ibid., p. 431; compare append., p. 37.. Again the chroniclers of Rimini seem to contradict such an assertion, relating that the church of the Servants was dedicated on the 9th of November of the year 1315 Ibid., part one, p. 431.. Whatever it is, it is to be regretted indeed that the learned man Louis Tonini, in treating of the monastery of the Servants begun in the city of Rimini, paid less regard to Giani, and did not determine for certain whether he spoke the truth or not.
LIFE OF BL. SIMON OF SANT'ARCANGELO
Simon of Sant'Arcangelo, O. S. D., in the territory of Rimini. (B.)
BHL Number: 7761
Edited according to the transcript preserved in codex no. 8931 of the royal library of Brussels, collated with the Bologna transcript, which we mark no. 2 in the review of the variant readings, and Leander's book on the illustrious men of the O. P., which we mark no. 3. Compare what is said in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 1.
[1] The religious life of Bl. Simon; Blessed Simon of Rimini, lay brother omits 2., had as father Rodulf of the fortress of Sant'Arcangelo Ei pater fuit Radulphus vir popularis 3., five miles distant from Rimini. In the twenty-seventh Cernens autem Simon iam annos septem et viginti natus mundi gloriam inanem 3. year of his age beatus Simon adds 2., therefore, leaving worldly things (m. r.) mundum relinquit et 2., he entered (i. e.) intravit 2. the Order of Preachers under the habit of the lay brothers [sed minime per omnem suam aetatem sacris initiatus est, eo quod litterarum prorsus exstiterat expers adds 3.]. He had a brother according to the flesh Habuerat etiam fratrem nostro in ordine sacris initiatum 3., who likewise, serving for thirty-eight years in the order (in. o. m.) m. in O. Praedicatorum 2., ended his life praiseworthily. Blessed Simon therefore omits 2., when he was a novice, fleeing idleness, the root of every evil thought, was zealous to weary his body with various labours. For when he had been appointed by the prior to the office of gardener, most faithfully, continually continue 2. and solicitously solliciteque 2., as a good husbandman, he laboured on the aforesaid garden h. p. 2.. He was also of great humility [(Fuit-humil.) Tanta proinde inerat ei humilitas, prout referunt annales, ut latrinas ex sese omni hebdomada semel detergeret atque mundaret, ut eo fratres mundius decentiusque considere possent 3.], because continually continue 2. once a week he cleaned the brethren's privies, and, to speak briefly omits 2., his eius 2. life was so exemplarily sit adds 2. manifest omits 2. to all. He never fled the labours of the order l. o. 2., but always in all offices he humbly bore deportavit 2. the yoke of the Lord. When the time of Lent drew near, in which fasting is kept by the faithful, he, as one truly faithful, fasted five Lents on bread and water ieiun. in p. et a. 2.. When autem adds 2. he was reproved by the brethren, because from excessive abstinence he was hindered from fulfilling the office of sacristan s. o. 2., he moderated his abstinence. But he was intent on prayer and (v. et) autem 2. contemplation, even et 2. while working laborando 2.. He was seen also pluries 2. to stay two days without food stetisse duob. d. s. c. 2.. When blessed Simon sometimes omits 2. thought that he had been a sinner f. p. 2. in the world, he flogged his body positus in ordine corpus suum 2. with daily disciplines, for during a space of twenty years he wore down his body with an iron chain. For unbelievers, that God might enlighten them, he received harsh disciplines d. r. 2.; and that his prayers s. o. 2. might be heard the more quickly and acceptably, he made many genuflections in praying, adding strikings of the breast and prostrations prostr. cum lacrimis addebat 2..
[2] spiritual graces granted him, The devil, envying him inv. ei 2., while he prayed beatus Simon adds 2., often troubled him, either by striking, or by pushing, or by throwing dust pulveres 2. into his mouth, or
dung. Yet he did not cease from persistence in prayer [Here in 2 there is written what is read a little below, anno aetatis contemplationi vacabat…]. And as he prayed oranti b. Simoni 2. there stood by a certain person who, sprinkling his face with holy water (aqua-asp.) eius ap. a. b. 2., said: Since you are troubled by demons, do not fear before their face, because I am with you. And since omits 2. he had devotion h. d. 2. to St. John the evangelist, he often visited his figure painted in a corner of the church; whence it came about, and was turned as it were into a custom, that always after a prayer made there such an odour breathed forth, that it filled the blessed man (b. v.) v. devotum 2.; and if he had been weak before he was made fiebat 2. stronger by the fragrance vigore 2. of so great an odour. In the fifty-seventh year of his age, because of tears and other penances, he lost quasi adds 2. entirely the light of his eyes; at ex 2. which, made factus 2. more devout, he gave himself the more to prayer and contemplation. On a certain occasion (q. v.) omits 2., lying accumbens 2. on a wooden little bed because of old age, he saw at one time so great a light that his cell seemed to be burning. And as he marvelled, raising his eyes he heard a voice saying to him: Do not fear, for you have found grace with me Deum 2.. On another occasion (a. v.) omits 2., weighed down with an infirmity of fevers, he saw Bl. Dominic and Bl. Peter Martyr standing by him, who said to him: Be of constant mind, for we are your guardians and procurators with God. On a certain occasion, when he was burdened with certain pains q. d. 2., blessed Catherine, martyr and virgin (et v.) omits 2., appeared to him sibi 2.; taking the sufferer's hand manus dolenti 2. and placing it on her breast she said: I am your devoted Catherine. And then suddenly seized by sleep, his mind e. m. 2. began to converse with blessed Catherine, and at last waking he felt himself at once freed.
[3] Miracles performed. When the Friars Preachers of Rimini [F. P. de A. c. 2; Cum monasterium exstrui pro sanctimonialibus Arimini deberet sub nomine beatissimae Mariae semper Virginis, asseruit Simon se per quietem Catharinam martyrem dicentem vidisse hanc omnipotentis Dei et beatae Virginis voluntatem esse ut sibi monasterium dicaret ita totum locum contraxit 3.] wished to build a monastery of nuns to the Lord, with Brother Jerome, bishop of Rimini a, of the same order, next to the hospital of the late Rodulf son of Gregolinus of Sogliano, founder of the said hospital of Sts. Mary the Virgin and John the evangelist, and wished the aforesaid quod dictum 2. monastery to be called the monastery of St. Mary the Virgin, blessed Catherine appeared in sleep to blessed fratri 2. Simon, saying: It is the will of God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary that that monastery illud vocetur et 2. be entitled of St. Catherine, martyr. Master Offredus of Rimini, a doctor of medicine b, lying down with a grave infirmity, when he had not eaten for three days, was visited by blessed Simon, and touched by him with his hand t. s. m. 2. began to eat and recovered his health.
[4] Death and solemn funeral. When blessed Simon had now omits 2. become decrepit f. e. d. 2, iam gravis annis et aetate confectus 3. and full of days and atque 2. good virtutum 2. works, he passed from this world m. ex (ita quod) h. s. 2.. After whose death there was such a throng of people visiting him that he could not be buried for two days. His garments were carried off piecemeal, so that quare 2. it was necessary to clothe him anew. And he was buried a. est 2. in the church of St. Cataldus [c], of the brethren of the Order of Preachers (O. P.) omits 2. of Rimini, on the 3rd day of the month of November, in the year of the Lord 1319; where he shone with miracles (ubi m. c.) omits 2..
ANNOTATIONS.
On the fortunes of this church, see Tonini, Storia civile e sacra Riminese, vol. III, p. 328 ff. The Friars Preachers remained there until the year 1796, when they moved to the church sacred to St. Francis Xavier, which had belonged to the Society of Jesus, carrying with them the relics of blessed Simon. And in the year 1798, in the month of August, they passed from there with their treasure to the church which had belonged to the Servants of Bl. Mary. The sacred relics were laid under the high altar with this inscription on the side of the choir:
The body of Bl. Simon de Ballachis, lay brother of the order of Fr. Dominic, once offered to the devotion of the faithful under the altar of St. Peter Martyr in the church of St. Cataldus, then, the brethren's seat having changed, translated by the bishop's authority to the church of St. Francis Xavier in the year 1796, and at last, with the same bishop's consent, laid up beside the high altar of this new house of the Friars Preachers in the year 1798.
Finally on the 3rd of July of the year 1817 the translation of Bl. Simon to Sant'Arcangelo was celebrated. Compare Summ. from no. 7 on; and Tonini, Rimini…, part I, p. 473.
In praise of the holy man it is helpful to add what Raphael Adimari has, Sito Ariminense, Brescia 1616, bk. I, p. 79, whom we can cite only from no. 16 of the Summary, namely that the blessed man lies buried at the altar of St. Raymund (which is also called that of St. Peter Martyr). And that above the altar of the holy cross hangs a panel showing St. John exhorting Simon to fight strenuously with the devil, and that in the sacristy are kept the more notable relics of this blessed man, which were carried in the solemn procession of the most holy Rosary. Let these words too be attached, taken from the testament of the noble man of Rimini Vincent Sacramori, written on the second of July in the year 1532, which you will read in Summ., no. 3. Namely that he chose the burial of his body at St. Cataldus, in the vacant place of the said church between the altar of St. Catherine, virgin and martyr, or of Bl. Simon, and the wall of the front or fore part of the aforesaid church.