ON ST. MARK, BISHOP AT AECAE IN APULIA,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
CommentaryMark, bishop at Aecae in Apulia. (S.)
BY H. D.
[1] The reading of the Hieronymian martyrology certain. Among the outlandish names occurring on this day in the Hieronymian codices together with Mark the bishop, such as Coras, Euras, Eurasius, even the most sagacious would scarcely find the right reading, had not the Echternach codex alone preserved it almost uncorrupted, which writes: At Ecae, of Mark the bishop. And this reading is beyond doubt; for both the place is very well known, and the memory of a bishop by the name of Mark having his see there has been preserved, clouded indeed with fables, but certain.
[2] Of the city of Aecae in Apulia For Aecae is mentioned more than once in the ancient writers; and it has been noted by learned men that it can be shown from the itineraries that this city was in that part of Apulia where Troia now is [C.I.L., IX, p. 85; Huelsen, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft, vol. I, p. 443.]. The religious history of this city, whether ancient or renewed under another name, our predecessors have touched in passing more than once, as when it fell to them to treat of SS. Secundinus Acta Sanctorum, February vol. II, pp. 529–535., Eleutherius Ibid., April vol. II, pp. 528–39., Mark of Bovino Ibid., June vol. II, pp. 800–807., the Twelve Brothers Ibid., September vol. I, pp. 141, 142., Jerome Ibid., September vol. VIII, pp. 657–60. and the other Mark Ibid., October vol. III, p. 787.. Ughelli too in two places attempted to compose the series of the bishops of Troia and Aecae Italia sacra, vol. I, cols. 1334–48; vol. X, col. 6.. Nonetheless, about the first bishops of the church of Aecae we have nothing sufficiently certain, and before Marcian, who in the year 501 was present at the Roman council held by Symmachus Thiel, Epistolae rom. pontif., p. 668., none are found to whom determinate dates can be assigned.
[3] the bishop was both Marcian That that Marcian is not different from our Mark is a mere conjecture, which it is enough to have announced in passing [Marcian is one of the three bishops of Aecae whom Ughelli has, Italia sacra, vol. X, col. 6; of Mark not even a word.]. For the rest, it will easily be shown that under the proper name of Mark a certain bishop is designated in various hagiographical documents who either presided over the church of Aecae, or was brought up there, or obtained solemn cult there.
[4] and Mark, Michael the Monk in his martyrology, as he affirms, read this on the nones of October: In the city of Ecana, of St. Mark, bishop and confessor Sanctuarium Capuanum, p. 70.; and he who put together the Acts of the Holy Twelve Brothers narrates that Donatus and Felix, beheaded in the place Sentianum, were given burial by Mark of Aecae: And so Mark, bishop of the city of Ecana, came by night with his clerics and carried off the bodies of the saints and buried them in his city with all joy Acta Sanctorum, September vol. I, p. 141.. These are the only things, besides the Hieronymian entry, which openly designate Mark, bishop of Aecae.
[5] who from that of Lucera At first sight another Mark is praised by the one who wrote the Life of St. Mark, bishop of Lucera in Apulia, patron of Bovino. From his prolix discourse, which we have given elsewhere Ibid., June vol. II, pp. 801–806., I would have the following noted. First, that this Mark is said to have been born at Aecae: There was in the city of Aecae, which was in the territory of Apulia, a man by the name of Constantine, very wealthy, most Christian and fearing God; who daily persisted in almsgiving, prayers and fasts, and had an only son by the name of Mark. Next, that he was ordained priest by John, bishop of Lucera, whom he succeeded in the see; moreover, that he commanded by his testament that he be buried in the city of Bovino; that hence a church of his name was raised over his body; finally, that the day of his deposition is celebrated on the nones of October. Vipera contends that his sacred body was translated to Benevento and is preserved with great veneration in a church dedicated to him M. Vipera, Catalogus sanctorum ecclesiae Beneventanae (Naples, 1635), p. 66..
[6] or Bovino It is established that Aecae is little distant from Bovino and from Lucera. Now I notice that in each of these cities a church dedicated to some St. Mark existed. The people of Lucera Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. VIII, col. 316. and of Bovino Life of St. Mark, n. 13, l. c., p. 804. venerated the same patron, from what has been said; and the people of Aecae a saint who is called now simply Mark [The Finding of St. Secundinus by an anonymous author, n. 1, Acta Sanctorum, February vol. II, p. 531.], and now Mark the evangelist The Finding of St. Secundinus by Guaiferius, n. 5, ibid., p. 532.. Other churches dedicated to St. Mark in the same region can besides be pointed out, and there are two towns distinguished by his name. But, I ask, of which Mark? Different ones according to the diversity of places, or not rather one and the same bishop once celebrated in these parts of Apulia, who was distinguished by the grace of preaching or by benefits? Just so, and it is very likely that the common patron of so many churches and towns is no other than St. Mark, bishop of Aecae, whose festival is announced today in the Hieronymian codices.
[7] seems not at all different For I think that a certain Mark, of Aecae by birth, of Lucera by episcopate, of Bovino by burial, never really existed, but was devised by a hagiographer who presumed to assert by deeds the close bond of one patron with three churches, which is a very frequent way of proceeding in this kind of literature. Add that a certain bishop of Lucera by the name of Mark, who in the year 740 was present at the synod assembled at Rome by Pope Zachary Mansi, vol. XII, p. 367., not improbably gave the compiler of the Acts the handle for assigning the episcopate of Lucera to Mark of Aecae. Certainly at the time when he wrote, namely in the 11th or 12th century Acta Sanctorum, June vol. II, p. 801, n. 4., no memory any longer existed of the natal day of this St. Mark. For on the nones of October, the day which he assigns to his Mark of Lucera and Bovino, the deposition of a Roman Mark, but of no Apulian, is recalled [Acta Sanctorum, October vol. III, p. 787; November vol. II, 1, p. [130].].
[8] of whom no history Of the deeds of St. Mark of Aecae nothing at all worthy of credit has been handed down to posterity. That what is narrated about him by that most inept history, which goes by the name of the Passion of the Twelve Brothers, is plainly fictitious, scarcely needs to be stated. I do not dare to assert that Mark was the first prelate of the church of Aecae; certainly, we have that is worthy of credit. he is the first in the series of bishops that can be put together from authentic documents.