Pardus

ON ST. PARDUS, VENERATED AS A MARTYR AT BENEVENTO,

AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.

Pardus, venerated as a martyr at Benevento. (S.)

BY H. D.

[1] Who St. Pardus was, In the martyrologies and calendars of the church of Benevento there is announced on the nones of November: At Benevento, the natal day of St. Pardus, martyr, at Santa Sofia. So in the martyrology, now Vatican codex 5949, of which Du Sollier Martyrologium Usuardi, p. 653. and Montfaucon [Bibliotheca bibliothecarum, vol. I, p. 132. Cf. also H. Ehrensberger, Libri liturgici bibliothecae apostolicae Vaticanae (Freiburg, 1897), p. 172.] speak, the latter of whom, however, thinks it older than it really is, namely of the 9th century, whereas it certainly does not exceed the twelfth in age. Exactly the same is read in the martyrology of the chapter library of Benevento I, 1, also written in the 12th century. Vatican codex 4928, likewise of the 12th century, which is the Psalter of the monastery of Santa Sofia, or of John the dean, who was living in the year 1120 Ehrensberger, vol. cited, p. 206., has in its calendar (fols. 9–14) at the same day: Of St. Pardus, martyr, at Santa Sofia. The same saint is invoked in several litanies of the same codex, as on fol. 195. Another Beneventan calendar, in a codex of the national library of Naples marked VI. E. 43, likewise of the 12th century, fols. 5–11v, agrees at this day with the preceding [On the testimony of Michael the Monk, Sanctuarium Capuanum (Naples, 1630), p. 142, the martyrology of St. Peter near Benevento also mentions St. Pardus on this day, "and the calendar of a torn codex in Chioccarelli at Naples".].

[2] whom the people of Benevento once venerated, There is no doubt, then, that about the 12th century in the Beneventan monastery of Santa Sofia some martyr by the name of Pardus was venerated, whom they certainly held to be different from St. Pardus, bishop and confessor, whom I find inscribed in their calendars at the 16th day before the kalends of November. That a Passion of St. Pardus the martyr was read at that time I do not think likely. In the lectionary of the church of Benevento written in the 14th century, which is now codex 457 of the Biblioteca Casanatense Cf. Catalogus codicum Latinorum Romanorum, p. 223., on the 5th of November (fol. 138) St. Pardus, bishop and confessor, is treated; but the lesson is plainly the one that had already been recited (fol. 107v) on the 17th of October, on the feast of St. Pardus, confessor and bishop BHL. 6465..

[3] Moreover, since we had found absolutely nothing about St. Pardus the martyr in written monuments, if you except the calendars, we did not neglect to question the Beneventans themselves about the traditions of their church. By some it was answered that St. Pardus was not different

from St. Paldo, whose Acts have been published at the 11th of October Acta Sanctorum, October vol. V, pp. 653–61.. But almost everything suggests that Paldo has no kinship with Pardus beyond the letters of the name. For Paldo was a fairly conspicuous man, abbot of San Vincenzo al Volturno, who rested in peace on the 5th day before the ides of October; whereas Pardus was a martyr, whose natal day is celebrated on the nones of November. I do not deny that utterly astonishing mixtures of men and names are often brought into the fasti of the saints by martyrologists. I would gladly admit that something similar happened here, if someone showed by what process it was done. Meanwhile I prefer to keep silent, imitating the prudence of the church of Benevento, which in the Proper of its saints is silent about St. Pardus.

[4] is not at all clear. In the codex of Ado brought forward by Giorgi, St. Pardus is added at this day to the martyrs of Capua: In the city of Capua, of Saints Euras and Quartus and Pardus, martyrs Martyrologium Adonis (Rome, 1745), p. 644.. That this announcement is corrupt is sufficiently established from what we have said about the word Euras Above, p. 2.. Moreover, the memory of SS. Eurus, Pardus and companions, martyrs, is noted also in the calendar of the monastery of St. Benedict of Monte Cassino at Capua [Peregrinus-Pratillus, Historia principum Langobardorum (Naples, 1754), vol. V, p. 80.]; and the same Euras and Pardus, martyrs, recur in the same calendar on the kalends of March, and Pardus the martyr alone on the day before the ides of April Ibid., pp. 64, 66.. Hence if anyone, by comparing the double conjunction of names, the one in the Hieronymian copies at the 5th of November, CAPVA CIVITATE EVRAS ET QVARTI in the city of Capua, Euras and Quartus, the other in calendars or codices of a later age, CAPVA CIVITATE EVRAS ET PARDI in the city of Capua, Euras and Pardus, should judge that the latter arose from the former, and accordingly that St. Pardus is not different from St. Quartus of Capua, I shall not contradict him.