Petronius of Bologna

ON ST. PETRONIUS OF BOLOGNA, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, IN ITALY,

AT BOLOGNA IN ITALY.

ABOUT THE YEAR 450.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Petronius, bishop and confessor, at Bologna in Italy. (S.)

BY J. B.

§ I. Mention of St. Petronius among the martyrologists and ancient writers, and his birth.

The illustrious prelate and likewise patron of the people of Bologna, St. Petronius, who deserved excellently of his city if ever anyone did, Of the Saint, both the martyrologists and other writers have greatly praised for his illustrious birth, his learning, his virtue, his miracles, and his excellent deeds. I begin from the former. The Florentine Martyrology of Usuard at the 4th day of October has thus: Likewise of St. Petronius, bishop and confessor. The Usuardine of Grevenus: Likewise, of Petronius, bishop of Bologna and confessor, who is said to have written the Lives of the Fathers. The same of Molanus, published in print in the year 1583: At Bologna, of St. Petronius, bishop and confessor. The German one, commonly ascribed to Canisius: Likewise of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna and confessor, who, a Greek by nation, sprung of imperial stock, excellently steeped in Greek and Latin letters, and most distinguished in the court of Theodosius II, whose son-in-law he was, gave himself to prayer and almsgiving; afterwards he came to Rome on account of the Arian heresy, and, having been consecrated bishop by the Pontiff, was sent to Bologna; where he faithfully fed the people by word and example, and after a praiseworthy life fell asleep in peace. Constantius Felicius: Petronius, bishop of Bologna, whose feast is solemn and tutelary. He flourished in the time of Theodosius II. Galesinius: At Bologna, of St. Petronius, bishop and confessor, from his youth most illustrious in the institutes of the monastic life, in learning, in sanctity, and in miracles. The Roman Martyrology: At Bologna, of St. Petronius, bishop and confessor, who was renowned for learning, miracles, and sanctity.

[2] Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: Petronius, born at Constantinople, his father Petronius being praetorian prefect, and likewise among some excellently cultivated in character and letters, is sent by the emperor Theodosius the younger as legate to Pope Celestine against Nestorius, the heretical patriarch of Constantinople. At which time, when the people of Bologna had come to Rome to demand a bishop, the Pontiff is admonished in sleep by the Blessed Apostle Peter that, Felix being dead, he should consecrate as bishop of Bologna the man who would shortly be sent to him as legate by the emperor. Wherefore Petronius, though unwilling, being ordained bishop by the Pontiff, comes to Bologna; where, the remnants of the Arians being scattered, he instituted many parishes throughout the city; he built several churches, among them that of St. Stephen the protomartyr, with a monastery. He led his life for the most part with monks, imitating SS. Martin of Tours and Eusebius of Vercelli. Having set out to Constantinople to the emperor, he brought back thence to Bologna many relics of Saints, among them those of St. Florian and his companion martyrs, and of St. Hadrian and his wife Natalia. At last, having discharged many labors for his church, and being renowned for many miracles (among which, a dead man,

who, while the church of St. Stephen was being built, had perished crushed by the fall of a marble column, he recalled to life), he departed this life on the fourth before the Nones of October in the year of salvation 450, while Theodosius and Valentinian reigned. Whose body was laid in the church of St. Stephen.

[3] Constantine Ghini writes more even than these things in the Birthdays of the Holy Canons: the martyrologists, At Bologna, he says, of St. Petronius, bishop and confessor, who was renowned for learning, miracles, and sanctity. He, born at Constantinople of an illustrious father Petronius (who held the praetorian prefecture), learned in human and divine doctrines, in Greek and Latin, distinguished for piety and devotion, visited the monks of Egypt and the sacred places of redemption at Jerusalem. Sent by Theodosius to Rome to Pope Celestine against Nestorius, he was by that same supreme Pontiff, at a divine prompting, given as bishop to Bologna after St. Felix; he extinguished the dregs of the Arian heresy in that city; he restored the churches devastated by the barbarians and built new ones, and enriched them with sacred relics brought from Constantinople and other places, and fortified the city. In the church of St. Stephen he set forth memorials and the names of the places of the Holy Land; he enlarged the clergy and taught them to live according to rule. A workman killed (by a column falling upon him) he raised from the dead by prayer, and did many other things wonderfully. At last, seized by sickness and knowing that his death was at hand, calling his clerics to him and commending to them the Church and the Orthodox faith, having prayed devoutly to God, he passed to heaven, perhaps in the year 441. His body, buried in the same church of St. Stephen, flashed with miracles even after his death; and a most august church and a college of canons have been dedicated to his name, and he is most devoutly honored as advocate and patron of the city and people of Bologna. But let it suffice to have brought forward these from the martyrologists.

[4] But of the ancient writers who have made mention of St. Petronius not without praise, let St. Eucherius, bishop of Lyon, lead the column. and likewise the writers He, in that excellent Epistle which he sent to Valerian on the contempt of the world, sets before his nephew for imitation the examples of the greatest men who, spurning the dignities and wealth of the world, betook themselves to the warfare of the heavenly kingdom; and among these he praises SS. Hilary and Petronius in this manner: Hilary lately, and now in Italy the prelate Petronius, both from that most full seat, as they say, of worldly power, the one ascended into the name of religion, the other into that of priesthood. St. Prosper of Aquitaine in the Chronicle at the consulship of Merobaudes and Saturninus: Petronius, bishop of Bologna, a man illustrious for his studies and his sanctity, dies. If, however, this passage is truly Prosper's; for these words are not read in Prosper in Pithou and others; nor did St. Petronius depart this life under these consuls, as will be said in its place; nor finally is it credible that St. Prosper, nearly contemporary with our Saint, fell into this error.

[5] of an older date make mention, Gennadius in the Catalogue of Illustrious Men: Petronius, bishop of the church of Bologna in Italy: a man exercised from his youth in sanctity of life and in the pursuits of monks. He is thought to have written the Lives of the fathers, the monks of Egypt, which the monks embrace as a mirror and rule of their profession. I have read under his name a treatise On the Ordination of a bishop, full of reason and humility; which a more elegant style shows not to be his own, but, as some say, his father's, a man most eloquent and most learned in secular letters — and it is to be believed: for in the very treatise he indicates that he was praetorian prefect. He dies while Theodosius, son of Arcadius, and Valentinian reign. Gennadius flourished toward the end of the fifth century, while Gelasius I governed the Church. Gennadius was followed in the ninth century by Ado, archbishop of Vienne, in his Chronicle, Sixth Age, writing thus at the year 425: Petronius, bishop of Bologna in Italy, a man exercised from his youth in sanctity of life and in the pursuits of monks, whose father Petronius, praetorian prefect, was a man learned in secular letters, dies — namely between the year 425 and 452, as Ado defines it. Similarly also in the twelfth century Honorius, presbyter of the church of Autun, in his book On the Lights of the Church, or on ecclesiastical writers: Petronius, bishop of the church of Bologna, a man of holy life and exercised from his youth in the pursuits of monks, wrote the Lives of the Fathers, the monks of Egypt; he flourished under Theodoric. Vincent of Beauvais, a writer of the thirteenth century, in book 20, chapter 25, makes mention of another book, partly in prose, partly in bound style, as composed by St. Petronius; but of this elsewhere.

[6] and there are Acts And these indeed are the testimonies of the older writers concerning St. Petronius. But there exists a Life of him in Sigonio, book 1 On the Bishops of Bologna, which, on Argelati's testimony in his Warning to the life of St. Petronius, he (Sigonio) professed that he had excerpted from approved authors and ancient monuments; and it was first published in the Office restored by Gabriel Paleotti, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church (who came to the see of Bologna in the year 1566); then Laurence Surius reprinted it in the Lives of the Saints at the 4th day of October. But that this Life, though published under Sigonio's name, was written by Galesinius, not only Surius asserts, but Galesinius himself too in the Annotations at the 4th day of October: We, he says, wrote his (St. Petronius's) Life, which exists in Surius under Sigonio's name. Besides, another commentary on the life of St. Petronius was preserved at Bologna among the monks of St. Stephen, which Sigonio in book 1 On the Bishops of Bologna at the year 429 calls most ancient. Antonio Casali designates it by the name of Chronicle in his Italian Work which is entitled The New Jerusalem; and it begins with these words: In the beginning, as he says there in chapter 2. And toward the end of chapter 4 he sets forth two texts copied from it, of which the one sounds thus: And as he was going out of the ship, behold, there are present the legates whom the Pope had sent to him, that they might reverently and honorably conduct him to the Lateran palace. For he was confidently awaiting his arrival. The other thus: And when Petronius, the servant of God, entered the palace, straightway Pope Celestine was filled with very great joy, and receiving him gladly, ordered him to be lodged near himself in the palace, and commanded that all necessaries be abundantly bestowed upon him.

[7] A third text, derived from the same source, he sets forth at the end of chapter 5: of two kinds. And when he drew near to his diocese, the whole city is crowned with joy. And a crowd of both sexes break forth into praises and spiritual hymns, and cease not to praise the Lord, who has bestowed on them so great and such a Shepherd and Father. Other texts too occur here and there in Casali, which the same author, having copied them from the same Chronicle, as he calls it, inserted into his Work. There is preserved also in our Museum a Life of St. Petronius, which not only has the same beginning, but in which also the same texts are read expressed in the same words, so that I do not at all doubt that this is a transcript of it, although copied out faultily enough. Further, he who wrote it betrays his own age in the Epilogue in these words: Let us therefore, brethren, strive most devoutly to celebrate the solemnity of the present day, on which our excellent father Petronius happily rendered his soul to heaven, and let us yearly come to his venerable and most precious body. Whence it is clear that that Life was not written before the body of St. Petronius was found; that is, not before the year 1141. Pullieni, in On the Life of St. Petronius, p. 9, writes that the Chronicle of Bologna, into which the Life of our Saint is inserted, was finished by a certain Benedictine father in the year 1180, on the 15th day of November — which he most probably found written in the codex itself. And so it follows, even though I say nothing, that these Acts are of no great authority, especially since older monuments which would give certain credit to the things it narrates are not to be had. So much concerning the Acts; I turn to the Saint's birth.

[8] That St. Petronius was born of a father Petronius, both Galesinius He was most probably born of a father Petronius, and all other authors everywhere say. Thus Baronius writes concerning his birth in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology: Gennadius indicates Petronius's stock, when he says that his parent, also called Petronius, administered the praetorian prefecture. Does Baronius contend that it follows from Gennadius's words that both father and Son bore the same name of Petronius? But I do not see how this can be deduced with certainty from Gennadius's words. I have read, he says, under his (Petronius, bishop of Bologna's) name a treatise On the Ordination of a bishop, full of reason and humility; which a more elegant style shows not to be his own, but, as some say, his father's, a man most eloquent and most learned in secular letters — and it is to be believed: for in the very treatise he indicates that he was praetorian prefect. That work, therefore, bore the name of Petronius; but whether this name was common to father and Son or not, Gennadius did not declare. But, you will say, if the name was not the same for both, why did some ascribe the lucubration to the Son, others to the father? I answer that for the former the name of Petronius prefixed to the Work could have sufficed; but for the latter, the more elegant style in which the father surpassed the Son. So Tillemont judges that Rufinus wrote the Lives of the Fathers under the name of bishop Petronius — on which matter discourse will recur below. Yet I would not deny that the name was the same for both, which was not so very unusual, and that perhaps on that account some ascribed to the Son the Work which Gennadius and others judged to be the father's. Certainly Ado believed already from the ninth century that St. Petronius's father bore the same name as his Son, as is clear from his words adduced at n. 5; but that this ought to be maintained without hesitation and as altogether certain I do not suppose — especially since it seems able to be proved with certainty neither from Gennadius's words nor from other testimonies of antiquity worthy of sure credit; nor is the antiquity or authority of Ado — who probably drew what he wrote of St. Petronius and his father from Gennadius — such that certain and undoubted credit cannot here be denied him without injury.

[9] but among various It is less clear who that Petronius was who everywhere, as I said, is called our Saint's father. That he was one of those who held the praetorian prefecture either toward the end of the fourth century or at the beginning of the fifth, the reckoning of time demands, and is most likely from Gennadius. And so we shall first distinguish various praetorian prefects of this name before we report the opinions of authors on that matter. Let the first be he of whom Ammianus makes mention in book 27, chapter 11, at the year 368, in these words: At these times, Vulcacius Rufinus having been released from life while he was administering it, Probus was summoned from the city to govern the praetorian prefecture — a man known to the Roman world for the illustriousness of his birth, his power, and the greatness of his wealth, through which he possessed patrimonies scattered through almost the whole of it. Which passage of Ammianus Valesius comments on thus: He (this Probus) was first proconsul of Africa, under the consuls Datianus and Cerealis, as we learn from law 3 (nay 13) of the Theodosian Code, Quorum appellat., and then four times praetorian prefect, and last of all consul with Gratian

in the year 371, as the ancient inscriptions in Gruter, p. 401, teach. The first praetorian prefecture indeed, which Marcellinus here records, he held under the consuls Valentinianus Nob. P. and Victor, as is elicited from the Theodosian Code — that is, in the year 369. And he was the son of Caelius Probinus and the grandson of Petronius Probianus, both of whom had been consuls, as James Sirmond taught me from an ancient inscription. And so from his grandfather's name he was called Sextus Petronius Probus.

[10] of this name Gruter at p. 450 sets forth two inscriptions dedicated to this Petronius, praetorian prefect, of which the one runs thus: To Sextus Petronius Probus, summit of the Anician house, proconsul of Africa, four times praetorian prefect of Italy, Illyricum, Africa, and the Gauls, ordinary consul, father of consuls: Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius, most distinguished man, ordinary consul, and Anicia Juliana, most illustrious woman, his most devoted children, dedicated this. But the other: To Sextus Petronius Probus, most distinguished man, proconsul of Africa, four times praetorian prefect of Italy, Illyricum, Africa, and the Gauls, ordinary consul, father of consuls, Anicius Probinus, most distinguished man, ordinary consul, and Anicius Probus, most distinguished man, quaestor candidate, his sons, dedicated a gift owed to a singular reverence. Whence you will gather that Sextus Petronius Probus, consul in the year 371, had three sons: Olybrius, Probinus, and Probus; which St. Augustine too has, to be cited below. Of these, Olybrius and Probinus were inscribed in the Relandine Fasti of the Consuls at the year 395. But Probus held the consulship in the year 406 together with Arcadius, and in the consular Fasti in Panvinio he is called Sextus Anicius, son of Sextus (Anicius Petronius Probus), Petronius Probus. Here is a second, if not a praetorian prefect, at least a Petronius.

[11] A third Tillemont brings forward in vol. X of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 682, illustrious men, namely Petronius, vicar of the Spains in the year 395 and the two next following, to whom are inscribed l. unic. Quorum bonorum; l. 151 de Decurionibus; l. 5. Unde vi. And Tillemont asserts, from Papire Masson, On the Calamities of Gaul, in Du Chesne, vol. 1 of the Writers of Gaul, p. 83, that he was at the beginning of the fifth century praetorian prefect of the Gauls. Papire Masson there narrates that Honorius and Theodosius had determined that an assembly of the seven provinces of Gaul should be held yearly at Arles. Masson brings forward for that matter a law of the same Emperors to the illustrious man Agricola, praetorian prefect of the Gauls, in which this mention is made of Petronius, one, as it appears, of Agricola's predecessors: Since indeed this (that an assembly of the seven provinces of Gaul should yearly be celebrated at Arles) the illustrious man Petronius had already, by a plainly reasonable and approved counsel, ordered to be observed. Given under the consuls Honorius for the 12th time and Theodosius for the 8th. Inserted into the Justinian Code, book XI, tit. 73, On the Collation of Fiscal Estates, is a law inscribed to Petronius, praetorian prefect, and given by Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius between the year 402 and 408, in the former of which Theodosius was created Augustus, and in the latter Arcadius died. Some confound this man with Petronius of the Spains. I pass over other men of this name whom you may see in Gothofredus's Prosopography of the Theodosian Code, either because they are too far removed from St. Petronius's age, or because their prefecture is not established, or finally because they were perhaps not different from those just reviewed.

[12] Among authors there is controversy chiefly about two: which of them about Sextus Petronius Probus, consul in the year 406 together with Arcadius, mentioned at the end of n. 10, and about Petronius, vicar of the Spains. The first Baronius makes St. Petronius's father in his Annotations at the 4th day of October: Gennadius, he says, indicates Petronius's stock, when he says that his parent, also called Petronius, administered the praetorian prefecture, whom I suppose to be the man who, called Sextus Petronius, held the consulship with Arcadius; for that he also discharged the office of prefect, the rescripts of the emperor given to him testify. To Baronius Benedict XIV lately adhered, vol. 10, chapter 22, on St. Petronius: To begin from the first (question, whether St. Petronius had as father Sextus Petronius Probus, praetorian prefect), although Tillemont in Annotation I on the Life of St. Petronius seems to doubt whether Sextus Petronius, praetorian prefect, was St. Petronius's father, yet it seems that there can deservedly be no doubt on that matter; for from Gennadius's testimony adduced above it is established that Petronius, St. Petronius's father, held the prefecture. To whom he attributes this honor, Reinesius hangs in doubt, class I of the Syntagmata of Ancient Inscriptions, n. 38. Was Petronius, he says, who was afterwards made bishop of Bologna in the year of Christ 430, the son rather of this man (Petronius, vicar of the Spains) than of Probus the consul of the year 406? But Tillemont in vol. 15 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 30, inclines rather to that opinion by which Petronius, vicar of the Spains and afterwards praetorian prefect of the Gauls, is held to be St. Petronius's father. I render his words into Latin: St. Petronius, whom the church of Bologna now has as patron and protector, was the son of another Petronius, a praetorian prefect, a most eloquent man and most skilled in the human sciences … Baronius judged this man to be Anicius Probus, consul of the year 406, who might also have had the name Petronius — which seems to lack foundation. But it can more probably be believed that this was the Petronius who is found to have been vicar of the Spains in the years 395, 396, 397, and prefect of the Gauls before the tyrants, that is, before the year 408.

[13] was his father, Neither Baronius's nor Tillemont's opinion supplies anything certain for St. Petronius's birth. Not Baronius's: for first, although it is likely that Probus, consul of the year 406 together with Arcadius, was also called Petronius, no otherwise than his father in the ancient inscriptions adduced above, yet this cannot be proved with certainty; then, as many of the ancients as have mentioned him by name have named him not Petronius but only Probus. Besides, Tillemont denies that the emperors' rescripts testify that Probus, consul with Arcadius in the year 406, was praetorian prefect, and contends that they can be ascribed to Probus, consul in the year 371 together with Gratian — and, as it seems, not undeservedly. For Probus, consul of the year 371, as long as he lived spaced out his powers, as Ammianus says in the passage cited at n. 9 — which is also clear from the inscriptions adduced at n. 10. Again, Ammianus in book 30, chapter 5, writes that the same Probus first obtained the praetorian prefecture — namely of Illyricum — under the consuls Gratian for the third time and Aequitius, that is, in the year 374. Nay, that he was praetorian prefect even in the year 383, in which the emperor Gratian was killed by the treachery of the tyrant Maximus, is gathered from Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 11, where he writes thus of him: But in Italy, since Valentinian was still quite a boy, the care of affairs lay with Probus, a man of consular rank, who then administered the praetorian prefecture. And a little below: Probus, however, dreading Maximus's power, strove to withdraw to the parts nearer the East.

[14] it is uncertain; Now the rescripts of the emperors which in the Theodosian Code in Gothofredus are inscribed to Probus, praetorian prefect, were given within that interval of time which ran from the year 366, or a few years later, down to the year 384; so that nothing seems to prevent their being referred to Probus, consul with Gratian in the year 371. Nor in the Rescript of Honorius and Theodosius given to Agricola, of which at n. 11, does mention seem to be made of Probus, consul with Arcadius in the year 406; for otherwise he would have been called Probus rather than Petronius. The same seems to be said of the other rescript of the emperors mentioned in the same number. Add that some read not Petronio but Centronio, though perhaps faultily. Finally, I do not see by what certain indication or testimony Probus, consul in the year 406 together with Arcadius, is said to be the same as the Petronius mentioned in these two rescripts. But neither does Tillemont prove his opinion more certainly. For with equal right we may doubt whether Petronius, vicar of the Spains, was ever that praetorian prefect of the Gauls of whom there is mention in Masson; since he himself proves it by no documents. Yet it somewhat favors him that both Petronius the vicar of the Spains and Petronius the praetorian prefect of the Gauls are named Petronius without addition. From all which it at last follows that the conjectures which are made concerning St. Petronius's father are plainly uncertain, whether you follow Tillemont or Baronius.

[15] For the rest, if perchance Baronius's opinion is here to be stood by, perhaps Probus, consul of the year 406, St. Petronius was born in a most splendid station indeed. For in this case his paternal grandfather was Sextus Anicius Petronius Probus, consul in the year 371 together with Gratian, father of three children likewise consuls, Probinus, Olybrius, and Probus; his grandmother Anicia Faltonia Proba, that distinguished woman whom St. Jerome pursued with lavish praises in Epistle 97, otherwise 8, to Demetrias. Proba, he says, that name more illustrious than all dignities and than all nobility in the Roman world; whose sanctity and goodness poured out upon all was venerable even among the barbarians; whom the ordinary consulships of her three children, Probinus, Olybrius, and Probus, did not weary; and who now, when all things have been burned and plundered and there is captivity in the City, is said to be selling her ancestral possessions, and making for herself friends of the mammon of iniquity, who may receive her into everlasting tabernacles. So that every rank of ecclesiastical ministry may blush, and the empty names of monks, at buying estates when so great a nobility is selling. Scarcely had she escaped the hands of the barbarians, and had wept for the virgins torn from her embrace, when suddenly she is struck by the intolerable bereavement — which she had never feared — of a most beloved son (Olybrius), and, as though to be the grandmother of a virgin (Demetrias), she receives a mortal wound in the hope of things to come; proving true in herself what is said in the Lyric poem in praise of the just man:

If the world should fall shattered, Its ruins will strike him undismayed.

[16] But of Olybrius, in this opinion St. Petronius's uncle sprung of a most ample family: and the father of Demetrias, he has this: A pious son, a lovable man, a merciful master, an affable citizen, a consul indeed in boyhood, but more illustrious for uprightness of character; happy in his death, who did not see his country falling; nay, happier in his offspring, who made more distinguished the nobility of Demetrias's great-grandmother by the perpetual chastity of Demetrias. Juliana married Olybrius, being therefore the daughter-in-law, not the daughter, of Proba, whom St. Augustine calls Juliana's mother-in-law in the book On the Good of Widowhood, chapter 24 — contrary to what seemed good to Baronius in vol. 4 of the Annals, n. 15. Further, such was the splendor and esteem of this family that there was no one in it, or very few, on the testimony of the Jerome cited, who did not obtain the consulship. His immense wealth you will understand from Ammianus, praised at n. 13. Paulinus too narrates, in the Life of St. Ambrose, that two most wise and most powerful men of the Persians, when they had come to Theodosius at Milan, set out thence to Rome, wishing there to learn the power of the illustrious man Probus; and when they had learned it, returned to their own country. That the family of the Petronii was plebeian in origin and sprung from the Sabines Valerius Maximus indicates, book 4, chapter

7, n. 5; and book 1, chapter 1, n. 13. But that the lineage of the Anicii (which they say coalesced with that of the Petronii) was ennobled not only by emperors and consuls, but also by martyrs and confessors, Baronius writes in the Annotations at the 31st of May, whom consult on these matters.

[17] this is certain, although he does not seem to have been praetorian prefect, But of whatever family St. Petronius was at last sprung, that he was born in a noble and illustrious station both Gennadius and St. Eucherius, cited at nn. 4 and 5, abundantly attest. But because St. Eucherius writes that Petronius ascended from that most full seat of worldly power into the name of priesthood, hence Baronius suspects that St. Petronius likewise discharged the praetorian prefecture. For the praetorian prefecture is called Most ample seat by Claudian in On the Consulship of the Theodori, ℣ 22, and in book 26 de Cohortalibus; and it is marked elsewhere often with Most ample power, book 16 de Poenis, and with other titles of this kind. But that conjecture is of slight weight. For first, why does Baronius not likewise conclude from it that St. Hilary too administered the praetorian prefecture, since Eucherius embraced both in the same form of speech? Then, why can it not be understood of any other distinguished dignity whatever which Petronius had held, or to which he could not indeed have aspired in vain, but which he refused out of desire for a holier life? Certainly Gennadius seems to intimate that St. Petronius mixed himself little in political affairs, when he writes that he was from his youth exercised in sanctity of life and in the pursuits of monks. Besides, Baronius's suspicion seems to agree little with Gennadius's words, if they be considered a little more attentively. He denies that the book On the Ordination of a bishop was worked out by St. Petronius. For what cause? Namely, the Work was that of a man more learned in secular letters than St. Petronius, and therefore of his father, as Gennadius believed. And he assigns this reason for his opinion: For he (St. Petronius's father) indicates in the very treatise that he was praetorian prefect. It was, namely, the custom that men learned, excelling in eloquence, and skilled in law should be chosen for offices of this kind; whence Theodoric in Cassiodorus, book 1 of the Variae, Epistle 12, writes to Eugenites: Hence it is that we lately chose you, who were laudably pursuing the studies of literary doctrine, for the summit of the quaestorship, that the dignity of letters might become the reward of your honest labor. But what at last would that reason of Gennadius be, if he had judged that St. Petronius had held that office as well as his father? And in this point we have no one older than Gennadius whom we may follow.

[18] that the Saint was born in a most noble station. It is nonetheless certain that St. Petronius shone with nobility of birth; but uncertain of what father, of what forefathers he drew his origin. That he drew his descent from the emperors Constantius and Constantine, the anonymous writer at n. 1 and some writers of the Affairs of Bologna assert; and they add that on that account Theodosius II chose for himself as wife Eudocia, St. Petronius's sister. The first Sigonio, or rather Galesinius, passed over altogether in silence, doubtless because he knew it either foreign to the truth or at any rate destitute of solid grounds; but the second Sigonio refutes in book 1 of the History of Bologna at the year 429 in these words: But those who put forward that he (St. Petronius) was the brother of Eudocia, wife of Theodosius, pay too little attention to what is most constantly written in all the ecclesiastical Histories: namely that Theodosius betrothed to himself Athenais, daughter of Leontius the Athenian philosopher, at the urging of Pulcheria his sister, when, having been robbed of her inheritance by her father and cast out of the house by her brothers Valerius and Aetius, she had come to Pulcheria to complain of the injury; and, at Pulcheria's request, having been steeped in the Christian rites, had taken the name of Eudocia. So indeed Theophanes, Nicephorus, Socrates, Sozomen, and others narrate the matter, more or less; whose testimonies it is not necessary to bring forward in a clear and plain matter. But to say that Petronius and Leontius were one and the same man, who was called Petronius Leontius; or that Theodosius had two wives of the same name, of whom the one was St. Petronius's sister and the other the daughter of Leontius the philosopher — what is this but to invent at pleasure things of which you will find not even a trace among the ancients? But let it suffice to have said this concerning St. Petronius's birth.

§ II. The Saint's character and deeds in his youth.

Born in an uncertain year, Antonio Casali in his book on the Basilica of St. Stephen, which he named the New Jerusalem, chapter 2, writes that St. Petronius was born at Constantinople in the year 386; and not without a prodigy: for when the Boy was born, a most splendid flame of light, as he says, shone from heaven, a foretoken of the purity, sanctity, and charity by which he was to make the world illustrious. When the bishop of Constantinople saw the heavenly prodigy, he presently betook himself thither, and, taking up the Boy in his hands and contemplating him not without wonder, and giving him back to the nurse, burst out into these words: Receive the Boy, concerning whom the kindness of God promises great things. If Casali narrates truly, that bishop of Constantinople was Nectarius, who at that time ruled the church of Constantinople, and, dying some years later, had St. Chrysostom as successor, as is in Theophanes and in the Catalogues of the Patriarchs, vol. 1 of the Antiquities of Constantinople, book 8. I said, If Casali narrates truly; for our anonymous writer in his Acts says nothing of the year in which St. Petronius first beheld the light, or of that miracle, nor does Galesinius. Pullieni too at p. 21 will have him born in the year 386, and supposes that in Prosper one should read is born for dies. But neither seems to be Prosper's, as I said at n. 4; and I greatly fear that it cannot be so, or be shown or confirmed by documents sufficiently ancient and of approved credit.

[20] The year, therefore, in which St. Petronius was born we more safely leave in uncertainty; no small praise from the liberal disciplines, about what time he obtained the episcopate, and when he departed this life, will be seen below. Meanwhile let us treat of his youth and of the things earlier than his episcopate. That he had a father distinguished for illustriousness of birth, for the amplitude of his offices, and for the praise of eloquence and learning, we have already seen from Gennadius; and thus from this very thing it becomes quite probable that the latter took no careless pains that the ornaments of letters and learning with which he himself shone should not be lacking to his Son. So the anonymous author of the Life judged, writing thus at n. 1: But afterwards, when he had grown up, he was handed over by his parents to the gymnasium of the philosophers, and to masters of the liberal disciplines and of the ecclesiastical sacraments. And that Petronius brilliantly fulfilled his parents' hope and expectation, he sets forth in the words which he presently subjoins: And he was so steeped, by God's bounty, that he flourished in all the studies of philosophy and especially in the spiritual ones; and besides he was learned in both Greek and Latin teaching. With the anonymous writer agree Galesinius and most more recent writers.

[21] It is likely that he devoted himself to the liberal arts at Constantinople, where Constantine the Great had erected a Lyceum, which he probably drew at Constantinople, that nothing might be lacking to the second Rome either for utility or for ornament. That both Greek and Latin letters were customarily taught there is gathered from l. un. On the Public Professors of Constantinople, in which Theodosius, consul for the 11th time, speaks thus in the year 425: Let there be therefore a lecture-hall especially ours, in it first, among those whom the doctrine of Roman eloquence commends, three orators in number, but ten grammarians; and among these also those who are known to be strong in the eloquence of Greek, etc. But that philosophy too was not neglected there, the following words disclose: And since we desire that youth be instructed not in these arts only, we join to the aforesaid masters authorities of a deeper science and doctrine also. We wish, therefore, one to be joined to the rest who may search out the secrets of philosophy. Nor indeed should you conclude from this that the studies of philosophy were then first instituted at Constantinople, or in the year 425, and began to flourish — and accordingly too late for St. Petronius, made prelate of the people of Bologna nearly five years afterwards, to have been able to frequent the gymnasium of the philosophers. For Theodosius did not then first institute offices of this kind, but ordered those instituted before to be committed, a selection being made, to certain men. See Gothofredus's Chronology at the year 425.

[22] and praise from the sacred letters But since the anonymous writer writes that St. Petronius was handed over by his parents also to masters of the ecclesiastical sacraments, he intimates sufficiently that he bestowed no less diligent labor and zeal in learning the sacred and divine Letters; and St. Petronius abundantly proved this in fact, if only those things are his which are wont to be ascribed to him by some. Meanwhile I seem to myself able to say this, that St. Petronius was renowned for no common praise of learning. To Tillemont it seemed otherwise; for although, as he admits, the splendor of his birth and his father's learning ought of themselves to have impelled him to the studies of letters, he yet believed that he neglected them — though for no other cause than that he pursued a more solid and holier learning. And he brings these grounds for his opinion: both that Gennadius says the book On the Ordination of a bishop was not St. Petronius's offspring, because it was more elegant; and that, on the same Gennadius's testimony, he was from his tender years accustomed to monastic exercises. But neither is effective. Not the first: for although Gennadius intimates that St. Petronius was inferior to his father in profane learning, yet he does not on that account exclude him from the number of the learned. Not the second: as though the exercises of the monastic life and learning could not be combined in one and the same person. The matter would be altogether settled against Tillemont if the anonymous writer wrote truly of St. Jerome, that St. Petronius had been reported by him among the illustrious men in these words: Petronius, bishop of the city of Bologna, a man full of sanctity and of the science of the liberal arts, wrote the Lives of the holy Fathers, etc. But in the Catalogue of Illustrious Men Jerome says nothing of St. Petronius.

[23] and likewise from piety he procures for himself. The anonymous writer and Galesinius then set forth St. Petronius's excellent character in his youth, which no one would call in doubt. The latter says only that he made in a short time such progress in virtue and sanctity that he was on the lips of the people of Constantinople. But he praises him most for his zeal for prayer and for the purity of intention with which, whatever he did, he referred it to God alone. The former says that he was wont to dwell nowhere more gladly than in the churches, and that he devoted himself wholly to God's service. The anonymous writer says somewhat more than Galesinius in these words, at n. 2: When therefore, the fame of his sanctity increasing, it prevailed through all Constantinople, that very Augustus, his brother-in-law, burning immoderately in love of him, loved him beyond what it is lawful to say; so much so that he gave him the primacy of the whole monarchy and of the Sacred Palace over all who dwelt in his palace, etc.; which Galesinius prudently passed over in silence, because they did not rest on a solid foundation. That he also applied his mind to monastic exercises from his youth, Gennadius is a clearer witness than those just cited. There flourished in that age, with a great reputation for sanctity, the monks who inhabited the solitudes of Egypt; and Petronius had heard much from the report of others of their virtues and of their institute of pious living. And so, as he had been delighted with an institute of this kind from boyhood, so, being become more grown, he wished himself in person to inspect what he had learned of them while absent, as Galesinius says at n. 3; and for that cause into Egypt

he went, to be more and more stirred up to a more perfect degree of virtue by the examples and lessons of monks more famous for sanctity. Nay, he also traveled through Palestine, into which St. Hilarion had introduced the plan of the monastic life — whether for the sake of visiting those monks, or from an affection of piety toward God who suffered for the salvation of mankind — and not a few places in which the mysteries of our redemption were accomplished he not only approached with reverence, but also, having diligently examined their form, situation, distance, and their whole arrangement, afterwards imitated at Bologna.

[24] That journey into Egypt is described in that book of the Lives of the Holy Fathers Various works are attributed to him, chiefly which in Rosweyde is the second — if indeed Petronius was its author; for other lucubrations too are attributed to him, of which it is not established whether they came from him. And there are wont to be attributed to Petronius the book On the Ordination of a bishop, the book On the Lives of the Fathers of Egypt, several Homilies on the Gospels, to which Vincent of Beauvais added Petronius's Satyricon, written partly in bound, partly in loose speech. As regards the book On the Ordination of a bishop, Gennadius plainly denies it to St. Petronius in the words cited at n. 5, and ascribes it to his father; by whom we must stand on this point, since there is none of the ancients who here opposes him. In Prosper indeed Petronius is read to have been renowned for his studies; but it is neither certain that Prosper wrote these words, as I said above, nor does he mention any determinate Work of Petronius. And Ado and Honorius of Autun, cited at n. 5, make not a word's mention of the book On the Ordination of a bishop as composed by Petronius; and thus perhaps they tacitly subscribed to Gennadius. Whether St. Petronius wrote the book On the Lives of the Fathers, the same authority of Gennadius makes doubtful, when he says: He is thought to have written the Lives of the Fathers, the monks of Egypt — which are the words not of one affirming but of one doubting. Honorius, just cited, plainly affirms it; but the authority of a man, holy indeed, but so many centuries later than St. Petronius, cannot make the matter certain; much less that of more recent writers, even though they be not few in number. Let the same judgment be passed also on the Homilies on the Gospels, of which there is no mention among the ancients. Finally, Vincent of Beauvais, if he attaches Petronius's Satyricon to this our Petronius — whom he writes to have been from his youth a cultivator of piety and honesty — as he seems to do, would certainly more rightly have attributed to Petronius Arbiter, the master of Neronian wickedness, or to another man of the same bran, that Work, which could not have come from any but a most impure and most lascivious pen.

[25] I return to the book On the Lives of the Fathers of Egypt, which looks chiefly to our purpose. Wonderful is the disagreement of writers in designating the author of this book, the book On the Lives of the Fathers, the second in Rosweyde, as may be seen in Rosweyde's Prolegomena. St. Jerome in the Epistle to Ctesiphon makes mention of a certain book as written about the monks, which he so describes that it fits excellently Rosweyde's book 2 On the Lives of the Fathers. For, as Jerome says, the author in it enumerates Ammonius, Eusebius, Euthymius, Evagrius, Or, Isidore, and not a few others, of all of whom book 2 On the Lives of the Fathers in Rosweyde treats; so that this book and the book as it were about the monks recorded by Jerome seem to be one and the same. Now Jerome makes the author of that book either Evagrius the Hyperborite or Rufinus; for after he has made mention of some of Evagrius's writings, he continues thus: His (Evagrius's) books very many read constantly through the East in Greek, and in the West in Latin, his disciple Rufinus translating them. Who also wrote a book as it were about the monks, and enumerates in it many who never existed, and it is not doubtful that those whom he writes to have existed were Origenists condemned by the bishops: namely Ammonius, and Eusebius and Euthymius and Evagrius himself, Or too and Isidore and many others whom it is tedious to enumerate.

[26] which Tillemont says was written by Rufinus under the Saint's name, It may seem doubtful to whom the words Who also wrote a book as it were about the monks are to be referred — whether to Evagrius or to Rufinus; but they seem to be referred to the latter, whom Jerome had just mentioned: both because he says that he wrote about Evagrius himself, and because what Jerome subjoins must be understood of Rufinus: But that rashness of his, nay madness, who could explain in worthy speech — that he prefixed to the book of Xystus the Pythagorean, a man without Christ and a heathen, the name changed, the title of Sixtus the martyr and bishop of the Roman Church? He had done this also with the name of St. Pamphilus the martyr, so as to prefix to the first of the six books of the defense of Origen by Eusebius of Caesarea — whom no one is ignorant to have been an Arian — the name of Pamphilus the martyr. And so according to Jerome the author of the book On the Lives of the Fathers seems to be Rufinus, not Petronius. This single testimony of the Lord Jerome, says Rosweyde in the Prolegomena, §10, I judge sufficient for this book to be claimed for Rufinus. I omit that very many manuscripts support it, such as the Saint-Omer one of the best stamp and from an ancient hand, which I have chiefly used in reviewing these books; and others which Henry Gravius asserts he has seen, in his Notes to the Lord Jerome's Epistle to Ctesiphon, of which we have already treated.

[27] Tillemont says, But if the author of the book On the Lives of the Fathers is Rufinus and not St. Petronius, then neither does the journey which is there described seem to be St. Petronius's. And indeed, if Galesinius, Bombaci, Pullieni, and Falconi write truly, St. Petronius went abroad first from Constantinople into Egypt, and, having traversed it, only then visited the sacred places of Palestine; whereas on the contrary he whose journey is described in the book in question set out with his companions from Jerusalem, and therefore from Palestine into Egypt, which is manifest from chapter 1. For there they are read to have answered John of Lycopolis, to whom they had turned aside, when he asked whence and for what cause they had come to him, that they had set out from Jerusalem, and had undertaken that journey for the sake of their soul's progress. That journey, then, will have been Rufinus's rather than St. Petronius's, if indeed Rufinus wrote that book. But Tillemont raises a difficulty here in book 15 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, where he treats of St. Petronius. He admits indeed that book 2 On the Lives of the Fathers is to be ascribed to Rufinus, but in such a way that he speaks not in his own name but in another's, namely Petronius's, to the describing of whose journey he lent his pen. So he concludes from the fact that the author of that book writes that he saw some things with his own eyes in Egypt which Rufinus could not have seen. And hence, he contends, it came about that St. Petronius was held to be the author of that book, as Gennadius writes.

[28] But let us see what credit these things deserve, granting even on a foundation, that in the book On the Lives of the Fathers not Rufinus's journey but another's through Palestine and Egypt is described. Is St. Petronius's journey then described there? Nay indeed, Tillemont will say; for whence will it be said that the opinion arose by which St. Petronius was thought to have written that book? But this could arise from elsewhere. For it could have been that that book was first written in Greek in the East, neither by St. Petronius nor by Rufinus, but by a certain anonymous writer different from both. It could besides also have been that St. Petronius, as a man greatly devoted to monastic studies, gave this Greek book to Rufinus to be translated into Latin; and that he afterwards performed this under Petronius's name, but after his own manner, the name of the first author being likewise suppressed. And hence it could have been thought in the West in Gennadius's time that St. Petronius had either composed that book in Greek, and therefore had described his own journey in it; or at least had given it in the Latin tongue; and thus he could also have been thought the author of the book On the Lives of the Fathers, whether written in Greek or in Latin. And if we imagine that these things really happened, we shall have whence that opinion arose in the West by which St. Petronius was judged to have written the book On the Lives of the Fathers either in Greek or in Latin; and yet it will not follow that Petronius's own journey was described in it.

[29] Nor indeed would anyone absurdly conjecture that these things really happened. as it appears, For first, that Rufinus translated many things from the Greeks for the Latins is clear from St. Jerome, cited at n. 26; and Gennadius writes of him in chapter 17: Rufinus, presbyter of the church of Aquileia, was no small part of the doctors of the Church, and had an elegant talent for translating from Greek into Latin; in short, he set forth for the Latins the greatest part of the library of the Greeks. Then, that the second book On the Lives of the Fathers was composed by Timothy, bishop of Alexandria, Sozomen seems to teach from the Greeks, book 6, chapter 29. Where, says Rosweyde in the Prolegomena to the Lives of the Fathers, §1, when he had treated of Apollo, who had lived in the Thebaid, he adds: But what was the plan of his discipline, and how great and how divine miracles he wrought, Timothy, prelate of the church of Alexandria, accurately narrates; who committed to writing the Lives not only of him but of very many others of whom mention has been made by me. And yet in the preceding chapter, the same Rosweyde continues, mention was made of the monks John, Or, Amon, Benus, Theonas, Copres, Helle, Elias, Apelles, Isidore, Serapion, Dioscorus, and Eulogius, the Lives of all of whom (although not absolutely all written by Timothy) are contained in this second book of the Lives of the Fathers. And then he subjoins after a few words: To me at any rate it becomes altogether likely that most of the Lives of this book were sketched from Timothy (he departed from among the living about the year 385). Finally, that St. Petronius had at least some part in that book becomes probable from Gennadius's words, though perhaps not so great a part as Tillemont maintains; so that on this head too it remains plainly uncertain whether St. Petronius's journey into Egypt is the one described in book 2 On the Lives of the Fathers.

[30] not sufficiently solid I add that the anonymous writer too, so far at least as it is permissible to conjecture from the Acts, was ignorant of that journey of Petronius. For at n. 10 he does indeed say that he at some time stayed at Jerusalem; but of the Egyptian journey he makes not a word's mention anywhere. Finally, Tillemont himself, treating of St. Petronius in vol. 15, p. 31, admits that the man whose journey is described in the book now so often mentioned everywhere so depicts himself as to betray that he was a monk in life and profession. St. Petronius was indeed devoted to monastic exercises from his youth; but that he was a monk by profession I have not found, nor does Galesinius say so in the Acts. The anonymous writer indeed says at n. 2 that he was a cleric; but a little after he adds that he was prefect of the sacred palace, which office I do not suppose was at that time committed to clerics. And again at n. 4, where he brings in Theodosius as it were deliberating whom he should send to Rome in the cause of Nestorius, he says of Petronius: Who for some space of time made himself over to the divine worship; by which words the anonymous writer seems to intimate that St. Petronius had not very long from the state

of a layman passed to the ecclesiastical one before he was sent to Rome by Theodosius, and presently created bishop of Bologna by Pope Celestine; which appears to me indeed more likely, especially since St. Eucherius says that St. Petronius ascended to the name of priesthood, or to the episcopal office, not from the state of a monk, but from that most full seat of worldly power. St. Petronius, therefore, more probably was not a monk in the strict sense of the name; and accordingly neither was he whose journey is described in book 2 On the Lives of the Fathers — so that to describe it here at length, after Tillemont's example, seems by no means necessary.

§ III. The Saint's legation to Pope Celestine and his consecration as bishop of Bologna.

To the rising Nestorian heresy Our anonymous writer, since he had few things to say of St. Petronius's deeds before he undertook the episcopate of Bologna, presently at n. 3 steps on to his Roman journey, on the occasion of which he was made prelate of the people of Bologna. Sisinnius, prelate of Constantinople, had died in the year 427; the clergy was divided about a successor, these striving to substitute for Sisinnius Proclus, bishop of the church of Cyzicus, those Philip the presbyter. But when scarcely any hope of concord shone out, the emperor Theodosius, the second of this name, summoned from Antioch to the mitre of Constantinople Nestorius, a man celebrated at that time for the praise of learning and eloquence, and deceiving the eyes and minds of men by an appearance of feigned sanctity. Presently in the next following year, on the fourth before the Ides of April, he was made bishop with the great congratulation of all, and in a short time so brought it about by his arts that he held the minds of the court and of the multitude bound to himself. Relying on these supports, he began to vomit forth with blasphemous mouth against Christ God and the Mother of God the impious poison which he had long cherished in his mind, by which the impious heresiarch denied Divinity to Christ, and to the Virgin a divine childbearing; whence great commotions of minds were stirred up. There withstood the heretic raging against Christ and His Mother laymen, monks, presbyters, bishops, and before the rest St. Cyril, prelate of Alexandria. But Nestorius, in no way terrified by these, increased daily by such frauds as he could the troubles he had begun to stir, and brought the faith and salvation of his people into the greatest peril. Pope Celestine therefore, a synod having been held at Rome, charged Cyril by letters written in the year 430 on the 11th day of August that, unless Nestorius should recall his error within the tenth day from the announcement, he should punish him with the penalty of deposition — which at last came to pass in the year 431 in the ecumenical Synod of Ephesus.

[32] Now let us hear from the anonymous writer how Theodosius conducted himself in these commotions. Theodosius presently sets himself against it, as the anonymous writer When the Nestorian heresy had begun to sprout, and its poison to be spread through the East, when Theodosius heard this, he presently, on the anonymous writer's testimony, shuddered, and resolved to meet the creeping evil. Theodosius therefore calls together the chief men; he sets forth the case; he asks what is to be done at this juncture of affairs. All judge that a legate must be sent to Celestine, the Roman Pontiff, who should inform the Pontiff of what was being done in the East; and finally no one seemed fitter for this than St. Petronius. He therefore is sent as legate to Celestine, that he may, by the bounty of divine grace, utterly free his country from error. So more or less the anonymous writer at nn. 3 and 4. And so according to the anonymous writer Theodosius shuddered at the Nestorian heresy from its rise, and thus already then strove to break the efforts of its author. But this appears not sufficiently conformable to the Acts of the Council of Ephesus inserted in vol. 3 of Labbe's Collection, from which it is gathered that Theodosius at the beginning of the rising heresy was of a less than fair mind toward St. Cyril, the chief defender of the Catholic faith; and on the contrary favored Nestorius, while he did not yet have his hypocrisy and frauds clearly before him.

[33] I call as witnesses Theodosius's own letters, which he sent to Cyril in the year 430 on the 19th day of November, and which Labbe sets forth in the volume cited, p. 433. writes, though the Acts of the council of Ephesus are against it, In these Cyril is charged not only with having wished to sow discords between Theodosius and his sister Pulcheria, but also as the author of the disturbance of ecclesiastical peace. Thus the Emperor there: Now therefore let your piety set forth why it is that, despising us — whom you were not unaware had religion so greatly at heart — and the priests, as many as dwell round about (whom surely it were fitting, gathered into one place, to examine and settle the controversy arisen concerning religion), you have, so far as in you lies, stirred up these disturbances and discords among the churches. I pass over other things no less harsh written to Cyril by Theodosius, since nevertheless he had done only that against Nestorius which he had in his mandate from the Roman Pontiff. The same Theodosius forbade, after Nestorius's heresy had been condemned at Rome and his deposition decreed unless he should repent within the appointed time, that any change should be made before the Synod of Ephesus to be celebrated in the year 431 — Nestorius demanding this. And so what the anonymous writer narrates of Theodosius's hatred toward the newly born heresy seems to be far from the truth. Nevertheless I do not for that reason think it false that at the beginning of the Nestorian heresy St. Petronius was sent to the Roman Pontiff, to inform the Pontiff of what was being done in the East and to implore his help for quieting the disturbances. But in what year, according to the anonymous writer, did St. Petronius set out from Constantinople and arrive at Rome?

[34] St. Petronius was sent to Rome at the beginning of the Nestorian heresy, according to the anonymous writer; but this chronological note is too vague and sends St. Petronius to Rome as legate for the year of Petronius's arrival in the city to be determined. The anonymous writer suggests a second at n. 5 in these words: Then, having entered a ship (Petronius), God willing, with a prosperous course he came after some days to the shores of the Tiber on that day on which the Pope, Celestine by name, had appointed a council with the Catholic bishops. But since the anonymous writer does not declare what that council was, or for what cause it was gathered, nothing can be concluded from this either in the present business. Further, a twofold synod was gathered at Rome in the cause of Nestorius: one in the year 429, after the Paschal feasts, as it seems; the other in the year 430, in the month of August. Of the former Cyril makes mention in his first Epistle to Nestorius in these words: What at last shall I do? For it is time to speak, or to confer with your reverence, since the reverend and most religious bishop of the Romans, Celestine, with all the venerable bishops who are with him, asks about certain papers which have somehow been brought to Rome, since it is uncertain whether they are of your religion or not; for they write to us from there greatly offended. In the second, the sentence of condemnation was passed at Rome against Nestorius, and St. Cyril was appointed its executor. Of neither synod does the anonymous writer seem able to be understood.

[35] toward the end of the year 429 or the beginning of the following: For in the same number he subjoins a third chronological note, according to which St. Petronius seems to have come to Rome at the time midway between the two synods. It runs thus: And as he (St. Petronius) was going out of the ship, behold, there are present the legates whom the Pope had sent to him, that they might reverently and honorably conduct him to the Lateran palace. For he was confidently awaiting his arrival, since indeed on the preceding night the Blessed Apostle Peter appeared to him in sleep saying: Know that Felix, bishop of Bologna, has passed from this light in peace; and beware lest you ordain any other in that church save the emperor's legate, whom tomorrow, God willing, you will see. The death of St. Felix, bishop of Bologna, was therefore still unknown at Rome when St. Petronius arrived there; and accordingly it must be that this happened, according to the anonymous writer, not long after St. Felix's death. Now that St. Felix departed this life in the year 429 the writers of the Affairs of Bologna everywhere hand down — as Sigonio, Vizani, Ghirardacci, Bombaci, Masini, and most recently Benedict XIV in On the Saints of Bologna, chapter 25 — namely, as is likely, on the 4th day of December, on which he is venerated. Whence it follows that St. Petronius probably arrived at Rome toward the end of the year 429 or the beginning of the following, that is, at that time which ran, as I said above, between the first and second synod held in the cause of Nestorius. And indeed it does not from elsewhere appear foreign to the truth that Theodosius, when he had heard that Nestorius's cause had begun to be handled at Rome, directed his legate thither. So much of the anonymous writer: what does Galesinius say on that matter?

[36] and in the year 430 between August and November according to Galesinius. He narrates almost the same things at nn. 4 and 5 as the anonymous writer; yet he joins some things which may seem not sufficiently to agree with the anonymous writer's statements and with the epoch of Petronius's arrival at the City established from him. Thus he writes at n. 5: But concerning the Nestorian affair, which he (St. Petronius) had reported in Theodosius's name, having first praised the piety of the religious prince, he (Celestine) answered him privately that, lest that pestilent heresy should creep more widely, he would proclaim an ecumenical synod, as was the custom; which synod, the first at Ephesus, was celebrated in the following year (431), in a crowded assembly of two hundred bishops. And again at n. 6: And so, letters having been given to Theodosius, as the Pontiff had ordered, concerning the synod to be convoked at Ephesus against Nestorius, (St. Petronius) set out from Rome to Bologna together with the legates of Bologna. But if the Pontiff had said this at the time midway between the two synods, he would not have appointed St. Cyril the executor of the sentence passed in the City in the year 430, in the month of August, against Nestorius, unless he should repent within ten days. And so, according to the Acts written by Galesinius, St. Petronius came to Rome in the year 430, but not before the month of August. Baronius, following Galesinius under the name of Sigonio, writes thus at the year 430, n. 61: Wherefore the emperor Theodosius, judging that the matter had gone so far that a universal council was needed (since not only Nestorius, but Cyril too, was called guilty of the crime of heresy), treated with Celestine, the Roman Pontiff, about convoking a universal council at Ephesus in the following year. That this indeed was done by the authority of Celestine, the Roman Pontiff, at the request of Theodosius through the illustrious man Petronius, afterwards created bishop of the church of Bologna, the Acts of his Life testify. The same Henschen wrote in almost the same words in vol. 2 of January in the Commentary on the Life of St. Cyril, p. 850.

[37] Garnier raises many objections here against Galesinius in Dissertation 2 On the Synods held in the cause of Nestorius. which Garnier, On the occasion of the legates, he says, we must speak briefly of Petronius, whom they say was sent by Theodosius to Pope Celestine in the cause of Nestorius, and to have carried the emperor's letters, to which the Pontiff answered that, lest the heresy should creep more widely, he would proclaim an ecumenical synod, as was the custom. Which synod, the first at Ephesus, was celebrated in the following year in a crowded assembly of two hundred bishops. If any credit were to be given to the writer of such Acts, Theodosius would have procured the calling of a synod not at Nestorius's instigation but out of hatred; he would not himself have proclaimed it, but Celestine; the Pontiff would not have passed sentence of condemnation at the time at which it was proclaimed, but would have committed the passing of it to the synod; he would not have appointed Cyril executor of the sentence, but the whole synod. But the credit of the Acts totters, however much Sigonio (or rather Galesinius), by interpolating ancient monuments,

has striven to confirm it: for Nestorius himself admits that the synod was sought by himself. Whence he is also called by Celestine the seeker of the synod. The legates of the Apostolic See, and above all Philip himself, that most zealous asserter of the Pontifical dignity, testified that the council was proclaimed not by Celestine but by the emperors; and it was proclaimed at that time at which the Pontiff's sentence passed against Nestorius was to be committed to execution; and Celestine committed the execution to Cyril, not to an ecumenical synod, as is plainly established from the letters of Nestorius and of Celestine and from the Acts of the council. So Garnier.

[38] That Theodosius did not burn with that hatred against Nestorius with which both the anonymous writer though he assails it with many arguments, and Galesinius intimate that he burned, we have from what was said at n. 33 and following. It is likewise true that Theodosius proclaimed the synod at that time at which the Pontiff had already passed sentence at Rome against Nestorius and had appointed Cyril its executor. It is likewise true that Nestorius treated with Theodosius that an ecumenical synod should be gathered, that in this way he might escape the blows decreed against him by the Pontiff. But did Theodosius on that account proclaim the synod without consulting the Pontiff? Certainly, says Garnier; for the order of events altogether demands it. For Celestine in the year 430 appointed St. Cyril the executor of the sentence passed against Nestorius, letters having been sent to him on the third before the Ides of August, that is, on the 11th day of that month; and thus at that time he was not yet thinking of an ecumenical synod to be celebrated the following year at Ephesus. At the same time the Pontiff wrote to Nestorius, to the clergy of Constantinople, to John of Antioch, to Rufus of Thessalonica, to Juvenal of Jerusalem, to Flavian of Philippi. All these letters were carried by Possidonius first to Alexandria to Cyril, not before the middle of September; then, from Alexandria to Antioch, the letters which had been written to John could not, on account of the distance of the places, arrive before October was well advanced. John, having received the Pontifical letters, warned Nestorius how great a storm hung over his head; and Nestorius then first began to treat with Theodosius that a general council should be proclaimed, which he proclaimed on the 19th day of November of the year 430. Now, says Garnier, from October as it drew to its close to the 19th day of November the days are far too few for Theodosius within that interval of time to have written to the Pontiff about gathering an ecumenical synod, and, the Pontifical letters having been received from Rome, to have been able to proclaim the Synod of Ephesus on the 19th day of November.

[39] he certainly does not prove false. But by all these things I do not see that what Baronius, and after him Henschen, wrote is convicted of falsity. For what Garnier assumes — namely that Nestorius first began to treat with Theodosius about convoking an ecumenical synod when he received John of Antioch's letters — does not appear to me sufficiently certain. For it could have been that either Nestorius or Theodosius understood from letters written directly from Rome to Constantinople what had been decreed at Rome in Nestorius's cause; and that Theodosius presently, at Nestorius's request, sent Petronius to Celestine; and that, letters having been received by which the Pontiff permitted the execution of the sentence passed at Rome against Nestorius to be transferred from Cyril to the synod of Ephesus to be gathered the following year, he presently proclaimed it too on the 19th day of November. So more or less Baronius, who sets forth this difficulty and answers it in these words: But since the narrowness of time does not permit that after Celestine's letters were delivered to Nestorius at Constantinople this year — which we have seen were written at Rome on the third before the Ides of August, and were carried to Alexandria to Cyril, and, after a synod had been held there, were brought to Nestorius at Constantinople — since, I say, the reckoning of time does not allow that after all these things Celestine could have been admonished by Theodosius, and that, an answer having been received from him, Theodosius should write letters to the bishops about convoking a council for the following year in this year (430) on the thirteenth before the Kalends of December, on which those same letters are found to have been given under this year's consuls: since these things are so, we are led into this opinion, that we judge that Theodosius did not wait for Pope Celestine's letters to be delivered to Nestorius when he himself began to treat with Celestine about convoking a synod against Nestorius. For who could doubt that so great a matter, handled at Rome in public assemblies in a synod, was not signified by letters to Theodosius, whether through Valentinian the Emperor himself or through others? And when these things were fully known, he himself, meaning to take thought for the peace of the Eastern church and to settle absolutely all dissensions, devised the remedy of gathering a synod at Ephesus, and began to treat of that matter with Celestine, the Roman Pontiff; but he proclaimed it when he had received the letters delivered from Celestine. See more on this matter in the Baronius cited at n. 37.

[40] Whatever be the case with the manner in which Theodosius proclaimed the synod of Ephesus, and much less Tillemont. whether you prefer to follow the anonymous writer or Galesinius, St. Petronius's arrival at the City seems to be bound to the year 429 or 430. Tillemont in vol. XV of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 35, writes that St. Petronius was bishop of Bologna from about the year 427, or somewhat earlier. If therefore he came to Rome before he was made bishop of the people of Bologna, he must have come to Rome earlier than the year 429 or 430. Tillemont judged, namely, that St. Eucherius's Epistle to Valerian, in which mention is made of Petronius as a prelate, was written in the year 427 or 428, a little before Hilary was raised to the see of Arles, which happened in the year 429. But these things seem to rest on a not sufficiently solid foundation. I set down Eucherius's words again: Hilary lately, and now in Italy the prelate Petronius, both from that most full seat, as they say, of worldly power, the one ascended into the name of religion, the other into that of priesthood. Does Eucherius, because he calls Petronius a prelate, deny this of Hilary? That he is doing this does not seem to me. What then? The word Lately seems to me to be taken somewhat more broadly, so as to signify that some years had already elapsed, when he was writing, since Hilary, having left the pomp of the world, had made himself over to the institutes of the religious life — namely from the year 426, or somewhat earlier; as if he should say: Valerian, if the splendor of your birth draws you away from religion, see our Hilary, born in a most noble station, who some years ago passed from the world to religion; but if you seek a more recent example, see Petronius, bishop of Bologna in Italy, who, having left the world, now, or lately, ascended into the name of priesthood. Eucherius therefore seems to have written the aforesaid Epistle to Valerian a little after the year 429 or 430; which the chronological note inserted by Eucherius in the Epistle in Rosweyde, p. 20, also seems to confirm. It runs thus: Since from the rise of this kingdom (of the Romans) the hundred and eighty-fifth year above the thousandth is nearly turning. And this year falls on the year of Christ 432 or 433. Wherefore, since Eucherius says is nearly turning, take away one year or two, and you will be near the years just assigned.

[41] At the same time at which Petronius came to Rome, St. Petronius, having arrived at Rome, is consecrated bishop of Bologna, if we believe both the anonymous writer and Galesinius, there had also come thither the legates of the people of Bologna, to ask from Pope Celestine a successor to St. Felix the bishop, snatched from among the living. He had been warned a little before in sleep by St. Peter the Apostle not to ordain anyone but Petronius bishop for the people of Bologna; which he also performed, Petronius though at first resisting, yet afterwards complying with the divine will. And so according to these authors, in the year 429 as it drew to its close, or in the following, St. Petronius was crowned with the episcopal mitre by Pope Celestine — which would that I could confirm by more certain witnesses! Otherwise it seemed to Pullieni Lupari; for he denies that St. Petronius was created bishop in the year 430, because he both conducted the funeral of St. Juliana, taken from among the living on the 7th day of February, and in the month of May next following obtained from Pope Celestine an indulgence for those visiting the church of St. Stephen. And so according to Pullieni, St. Petronius was initiated into the episcopate at Rome at the beginning of the year 429; thence he came to Bologna, and presently went off to Constantinople; yet before he departed he prescribed the form and manner of the church of St. Stephen to be built meanwhile; and at the beginning of the year 430, returning to Bologna from Constantinople, he performed in the same church the funeral rites of St. Juliana, who had contributed no slight labor and support to its building.

[42] which Pullieni says happened earlier, But first, whence is it clear to Pullieni that St. Juliana departed from among the living at the beginning of the year 430? Others certainly say that she prolonged her life to the year 435. The funeral (of St. Juliana), says Henschen in vol. 2 of February, p. 52, was splendidly conducted by St. Petronius, not without the mourning of the whole city. They reckon the years of her life in all at about seventy-five, from 360 to 435, by a probable calculation. Then the bull by which Celestine is reported to have granted an indulgence to those frequenting the church of St. Stephen was not Celestine I's, but, if it is genuine, Celestine III's, who at the end of the twelfth century held the helm of the Church. For the celebration of All Saints, which the bull mentions, was first instituted at Rome at the beginning of the seventh century, under Pope Boniface IV, and was afterwards propagated to the other churches of the West under Gregory, the fourth of this name. The bull has prefixed to it (see vol. 2 of February, p. 48) this title: Celestine bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful of Christ greeting and the Apostolic benediction. But no Pontiff is known to have used this formula of writing before John V and Sergius I in the seventh century, as Mabillon hands down in On Diplomatics, in corollary 1 appended at the end of book VI. Finally, if that rescript were to be attributed to Celestine I, Petronius would have come to the episcopal see before the year 429; for it was given in Celestine's 5th year, that is, in the year 428, as Henschen observes, since he was declared Pontiff in the month of September of the year 423. From which this also follows, that the rescript of Sixtus, by which the same indulgences are confirmed, belongs to Sixtus IV, and is corrupted in that part in which Celestine, the first of this name, is mentioned in it.

[43] [but Tillemont says — wrongly — that he was certainly not made bishop by Celestine.] Tillemont, in vol. 15, reviewing St. Petronius's deeds, nowhere mentions his ordination as made by the Roman Pontiff; but in Annotation 3 on St. Petronius he plainly betrays his mind, where he says that the people of Bologna certainly did not go to the Roman Pontiff to ask a bishop for themselves, but to the bishop of Milan, their metropolitan, because the election at that time belonged to the clergy and people, and was then examined by the Metropolitan and received confirmation. Benedict XIV admits that before Petronius's election Bologna was subject to the metropolis of Milan; he admits also that by the laws the examination of an election belonged to the metropolitan. But who is there, he says, who is ignorant that matters decreed by one having authority, however much so decreed, do not at once take their effect? Bologna was indeed placed under the metropolitan right of the archbishop of Milan from the time of St. Ambrose, but by no document is it established to us that he exercised such a right. But that metropolitans did not always exercise their right, by the example of John Angeloptes

he strives to show. We have a similar example, he says, in the metropolitan right of Ravenna, which was introduced and established in the time of John Angeloptes, who nevertheless could consecrate no suffragan — an office which St. Peter Chrysologus was the first of all to exercise. By which indeed it follows, against Tillemont, that it is not certain that St. Petronius was not ordained bishop of Bologna by Pope Celestine; yet it remains doubtful whether Celestine really performed this, which neither the anonymous writer's nor Galesinius's authority can make beyond doubt.

§ IV. The Saint scatters the remnants of the Arians at Bologna, restores the fallen churches, and founds new ones.

The Saint makes for Bologna; St. Petronius, as Galesinius writes at n. 6, having been honorably treated by Celestine while he was at Rome, and consecrated bishop, hastened to Bologna together with the legates; and when he had arrived there, he was received with the utmost joy and congratulation of all orders. And the new Prelate had nothing more at heart than to give thanks to God, by whose singular admonition he had lately obtained so great a dignity; wherefore he wished to be conducted to the church of St. Peter, whose origin Sigonio describes thus in book 1 of the History of Bologna at the year 270: He (St. Zama, bishop of Bologna), having entered the city, as the monuments of the people of Bologna report, in the year of Christ two hundred and seventy, both performed other memorable works, and was the author that a church should be built to Peter, the prince of the Apostles; and he not only dedicated it himself, but also adorned it with presbyters and deacons appointed by him, who should there by institution perform the sacred rites, according to the reckoning of those times and the abundance of pious men. That church, situated outside the city on the Via Aemilia on the side toward Modena, was for some time afterwards the seat and dwelling of the bishop of Bologna. That it was underground — as most churches were at that time, on account of the persecutions of the heathen — Masini writes in Bologna Surveyed, third printing, p. 60, and explains its various vicissitudes: namely that it was destroyed when Diocletian persecuted the church at the beginning of the fourth century; that it was restored by St. Faustinianus about the year 345; but that under Julian the apostate it was again destroyed, and was restored by St. Felix to its former splendor, but under the title of SS. Nabor and Felix, because St. Faustinianus had begun in the year 330 to found another, sacred to St. Peter, within the bosom of the city itself, to which St. Basil set the last hand in the year 350. Further, that it rejoices to this day in the title of SS. Nabor and Felix, and was formerly inhabited by the Benedictine monks of Cassino, and in the year 1512 passed to the nuns of St. Clare, says Alexander Macchiavelli in his Annotations to the Sigonio cited. See more in Masini.

[45] The affairs of the people of Bologna were at that time in such a state but laid waste wretchedly by the barbarians that they needed an effectual and prompt remedy; for, when Petronius came to Bologna, as Galesinius reports at n. 7, the remnants of the Arian heresy were not yet wholly extinguished; and moreover, by their nefarious impiety and at the same time by the monstrous ferocity of the barbarians who had lately burst into Italy, many churches lay overthrown and cast down. These in the fifth century, as Sigonio reports in book 10 On the Western Empire, made a threefold assault upon Italy. Sigonio mentions the first at the years 401 and 402: it happened under Alaric, king of the Goths, who, having passed through the Venetian territory and Liguria, crossing the Po, encircled with a siege Asti, where the emperor Honorius was staying. But when Stilicho's army approached, moving his camp thence, he made for Pollentia, a town of Liguria, where a most savage battle was joined by the Goths and Romans, victory, though not bloodless, following Stilicho's arms. Shortly after, the battle being renewed in the plains of Verona, Alaric, conquered and put to flight, was compelled to flee across the Alps. Prosper and Cassiodorus in their Chronicles refer the battle of Pollentia to the year 402, under the consuls Arcadius and Honorius for the fifth time.

[46] wretchedly laid waste This incursion of the Goths into Italy was succeeded by another in the year 405, under the consuls Stilicho for the second time and Anthemius, in which Radagaisus brought himself into Italy with an immense array of soldiers. Presently, having entered the Venetian region (Sigonio narrating at the year 405), having received into his allegiance Aquileia, Concordia, Altinum, and passing by Padua, he made straight for Rome, whose wealth especially he gaped after. And so, the Po being crossed, he presently transported his numerous army through Aemilia and the territory of Bologna into Etruria, and set about assaulting Florence. Stilicho, attacking the barbarian as he clung there and was shut in by mountains, fought with such good fortune that he destroyed the hostile army to the last man. Of which matter St. Augustine makes mention in book 5 On the City of God. Prosper in the Chronicle: Under the consuls Stilicho for the second time and Anthemius, Radagaisus was in Tuscany, many thousands of the Goths being cut down, Stilicho leading the army, overcome and taken. Zosimus, book 5, chapter 26: Attacking the barbarians unawares, (Stilicho) cut down all the enemy's forces to the last man — so much so indeed that scarcely any of them escaped. And this indeed was the outcome of the second expedition of the Goths and of the other nations whom they had joined to themselves into Italy.

[47] he found: Stilicho being taken from among the living, Alaric wished again to try the hazard of war in Italy, and at last took Rome itself about the year 409, and, having taken it, plundered it. Sigonio reports that in that expedition Alaric was twice in the territory of Bologna: first indeed, when on his very entry into Italy he came to a fortress of Bologna named Oecubaria; and again, when after the capture of Rome he came with his army to the cities of Aemilia which refused the rule of Attalus, whom he had ordered to be adorned with the imperial insignia, and assaulted Bologna itself, but in vain. But in book 1 of the History of Bologna at the year 410 Sigonio again says that the same Alaric, when he was going to Rome, threw everything through Aemilia (in which Bologna is) into confusion with fire and sword. Under Radagaisus, then, and Alaric, it is quite likely that the church of the people of Bologna was overwhelmed by very many calamities from the Goths, infected with the Arian plague, and groaned over its buildings, especially the sacred ones, overturned and cast down. Radagaisus was a cruel man and given to the worship of idols. Alaric indeed, when Rome was taken, as Jornandes writes in On the Deeds of the Goths, chapter 30, did not allow injury to be done to the places of the Saints; yet that he laid waste Aemilia after the battle of Pollentia the same Jornandes admits in the place cited.

[48] he restores the ancient churches and founds new ones, St. Petronius resolved to remedy such great calamities of the church of Bologna as soon as he arrived there. He first directed all his cares to purging the territory of Bologna of the remnants of the Arian heresy, and to restoring the fallen divine worship to a greater splendor, if he could, and to adorning the city itself with both sacred and profane buildings. And so first of all he restored the churches which had either fallen through length of time or lay prostrate through the injuries of the barbarians — which the anonymous writer at n. 12 writes were very many in number; nay, he also raised many from the foundations. For the rest, of the churches which he founded some enumerate more, others fewer. Benedict XIV in On the Feast of St. Petronius drew up this enumeration of them from the writers of the Affairs of Bologna: one church dedicated to St. Thecla; two churches, of which the one is sacred to St. Agatha, the other to St. Lucy, virgins and martyrs; likewise two dedicated to St. Bartholomew the Apostle and St. Mark the Evangelist; besides, a church sacred to St. Martin, bishop of Tours, as also another to St. Barbatianus; to which finally are added the churches of St. Stephen and of St. John the Evangelist. Sigonio recounts almost the same in book 1 On the Bishops of Bologna, in the third volume of his Works, where Rabbi noted this in general concerning the churches founded by St. Petronius: They still exist, but with an appearance so changed that nothing of the ancient seems to have remained but the name. Nay, from the first two churches (St. Bartholomew's and St. Mark's) the bishops long ago transferred the right and title of parish to other churches. Further, of these churches one was founded by St. Petronius in the year 430, others in 432 and the two following, as indeed Masini writes in Bologna Surveyed; and chiefly on his credit I note the following about each.

[49] The church of St. Stephen, as Masini affirms, St. Petronius founded already from the year 430, first of all the church of St. Stephen, in imitation of the church at Jerusalem of the Holy Cross and of the Holy Sepulchre, and joined it with the church of St. Peter already built before. Further, he divided the whole church into seven chapels, which should shadow forth the various mysteries of human Redemption; he brought thither also many pledges of the Saints; nay, he added a monastery too, where from the year 435 he dwelt together with monks summoned from Egypt. But when the Egyptian monks had died out with the lapse of time about the year 542, Benedictine monks succeeded them; who, when the Goths were pressing into Italy, hid the pledges of the Saints laid away with them; and at last left their monastery in the year 1447, after it had been laid waste by the Hungarians in the year 903 and consumed by fire in the year 1210. And in their place at last the Celestine monks were substituted in the year 1469. And among the bodies which Masini writes are kept there, there occur the bodies of St. Florian and his 40 companion martyrs, and the body of St. Petronius himself. These things indeed, and not a few others concerning the church and monastery of St. Stephen founded by St. Petronius, Masini writes; but since he brings forward no monuments sufficiently ancient by which to confirm his statements, he does not deserve undoubted credit, especially as regards ancient matters.

[50] To St. Petronius indeed the church of St. Stephen is ascribed as to its founder and if he did not raise it from the foundations, by Celestine III and Sixtus IV, Supreme Pontiffs of the Church: the former in the bull by which he grants indulgences to those visiting that church on fixed days, in these words: Since therefore in the church of the glorious protomartyr Stephen, which is called Jerusalem of Bologna, which the servant of God Petronius, bishop of that city, raised and built after the likeness of the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. But Sixtus in these: Indeed, long since Celestine of happy memory, Pope the first (nay, the third), our predecessor, to all the faithful of Christ, truly penitent and confessed, coming to the church of St. Stephen of Bologna, called Jerusalem, raised and built after the likeness of the Lord's sepulchre by Petronius of holy memory, bishop of Bologna, etc. Sigonio besides, in book 1 On the Bishops of Bologna, reports these words of Gregory VII and Alexander III: The monastery of St. Stephen, which is called Jerusalem, which the divine Petronius the bishop built for the use of that same church, together with the market of St. John the Baptist which is held there.

[51] at least he restored it, or notably enlarged it. There are not lacking, however, those to whom that church seems to have been built before St. Petronius presided over the people of Bologna. For it is read in the Description of the city of Bologna, ancient and modern, that it was an ancient church of Isis, which Julius Caesar enlarged with a chapel — an old inscription testifying this, Caesar beginning it — and that the people of Bologna, converted to the Catholic faith, by the blood shed of SS. Hermes, Aggaeus, Caius, Vitalis, Agricola, and Proculus, who underwent martyrdom under Diocletian and Maximian, transferred it to the worship of the true Godhead and consecrated it to St. Stephen. There are also those who say that St. Eusebius, the predecessor of St. Felix and St. Petronius, was buried in the basilica of St. Stephen,

they suppose; and therefore that it could not first have been founded by St. Petronius. Pullienus, page 39 and following, treads a middle path, and says that a monastery was indeed founded by Petronius and added to the church of St. Stephen, but not the church itself — not, at any rate, the whole of it — four buildings having been added to the ancient church of SS. Peter and Paul, which he raised from the foundations. Nor does he think it altogether wide of the truth that the church of St. Stephen was entirely overthrown in St. Petronius's day, and restored by him from the foundations. St. Petronius, then, will have had some part in the church of St. Stephen; but whether he raised it from the foundations, or only repaired or enlarged it, who could determine with certainty?

[52] and divided into seven chapels. Further, St. Petronius divided the church of St. Stephen into seven sacred buildings, as if into members, says Patricellius, after the likeness of the seven churches which Christians are especially accustomed to visit at Rome; so that in this way the citizens of Bologna might visit in crowds the church of St. Stephen and its seven sacred buildings, in honour and reverence of the seven Roman basilicas. But Patricellius does not seem to have noticed that at that period the custom of visiting the seven more celebrated churches of the City was not yet in use among the faithful: for it was not instituted for all of them at once, but was propagated from a smaller number to others and yet others long afterwards. Hear Onuphrius, chapter I, On the Seven Churches of the City. But this is worth knowing, he says, that in the year of jubilee anciently instituted by Pope Boniface VIII, the Christians of that time visited only the basilicas of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles. To these Clement VI added a third, the Lateran, in the second jubilee year 1350. But Gregory XI, out of devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, added a fourth in the coming year of the third jubilee, that of St. Mary Major — all of which were patriarchal. Hence it is a wonder that the fifth patriarchal church was passed over, otherwise worthy on account of its excellence to be honoured in the same year as the other patriarchal churches. So far, then, we have only four Roman churches customarily frequented above the rest by the faithful: but how their number afterwards grew, hear from the same Onuphrius; a little before he has it thus: And since those who were to make the journey from St. Paul's to the Lateran thought it unfitting to pass by unvisited the church of St. Sebastian, the cemetery of Callistus, the Catacombs, filled with the bodies of so many Saints, especially as they had to go by nearly the same road; and so in this way they added a sixth to the five churches which used to be visited. The same reason added a seventh, situated midway between the Lateran and the basilica of St. Laurence outside the walls, namely the church of Holy Cross in Jerusalem, itself also adorned with the greatest relics. And so we have roughly the time at which the seven churches of the City began to be frequented, the church of St. Laurence having been added to the earlier four — certainly long after the times of St. Petronius.

[53] For some other cause, then, did St. Petronius do this: either that he might thus more conveniently recall the mysteries of our redemption to the memory of the faithful, that he might more conveniently represent the mysteries of the redemption, or that he might found a church not altogether unlike that of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, as Pullienus judges. Certainly both Acts sufficiently reveal that St. Petronius was very devoted to the Passion of Christ, that he diligently inspected the holy places at Jerusalem, and fashioned not a few things at Bologna after their likeness. But what the anonymous writer adds at number 12 — namely that St. Petronius collected the taxes throughout the whole of Judea — is too weak for me to assent to it with certainty, since it seems to have no other foundation than St. Petronius's kinship with the emperor Theodosius, which both conflicts with the authority of the ancient writers and seems to be reckoned a fiction. See what we have said of it at number 18. Galesinius was more cautious in writing, at number XI, who wrote only that St. Petronius had great weight with Theodosius by his authority and favour, which is far more probable.

[54] Galesinius adds in the same place that St. Petronius, he enriched them with various relics of the Saints, among which, by the authority he enjoyed with Theodosius, brought many relics of the Saints from Constantinople to Bologna, and distributed them among the churches founded by himself, but chiefly to the church of St. Stephen, with which we are concerned; of which relics the writer who described the finding of St. Petronius's body in the year 1141 drew up a good long enumeration: among them he reckons, at number 5, the bodies of St. Florian and his fellow martyrs, though with the name suppressed — and most of the Bolognese follow him. It is very doubtful who this St. Florian was, whose body St. Petronius translated to Bologna. He does not seem to be the one who is entered in the Roman Martyrology on the 4th day of May. For the body of this man, who suffered in Noricum Ripense or Upper Austria, was translated from Austria to Rome, and from Rome into Poland, as may be seen in volume I of May, page 467. Nor is he the one commemorated in the same Martyrology on the 17th day of December: for this man is said to have suffered in the times of the emperor Heraclius, that is, long after the age of St. Petronius. The body of a certain St. Florian is said to be preserved both among the people of Vicenza and at Jesi; and therefore each seems distinct from the Florian of Bologna. Eusebius, On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter 13, mentions thirty-nine martyrs killed in Palestine by the order of Maximinus; but the leader of these was Silvanus the bishop, not Florian. But whoever in the end this Florian was, whose remains Bologna possesses, it is likely that among so many martyrs who poured out their blood for the faith, both in Palestine and elsewhere, under Diocletian, there was also some St. Florian, whose relics Petronius placed at Bologna in the church of St. Stephen, as Benedict XIV judges in On Certain Feasts of Saints Celebrated at Bologna, chapter 26.

[55] That the relics of St. Florian, whoever in the end he was, were thus brought to Bologna by St. Petronius is sufficiently agreed among the Bolognese writers: but whether the same is to be judged of St. Florian's companions comes into controversy. Sigonius mentions Florian alone: not only of a certain Saint Florian, of the companions he says not a word. The bull of Celestine III indeed makes express mention of Florian and his companions resting in St. Stephen's, but the Pontiff praised above says that the companions of St. Florian were inserted there by interpolation, in the same way in which Celestine I is read as substituted there for Celestine III. Further, lest this should seem ambiguous to anyone, he confirms by a twofold argument that the interpolation I have just reported was made in the bull of Celestine III; the first lies in this, that at Bologna the Office of the Common of One Martyr has always been recited in honour of St. Florian, whereas otherwise it would undoubtedly have to be recited from the Common of Many Martyrs; the second, in this, that when the urn of St. Florian was opened in the year 1640, contrary (as he says) to the opinion of the Bolognese, the relics of St. Florian alone were found in it.

[56] So indeed writes that most learned Pontiff; with whom, however, but also the bodies of his companions although he writes of a matter which he could have known perfectly well, I should not venture to agree in this place. Sigonius seems to have given him the handle for writing so, since he mentions Florian alone; against him I set the author of the Finding, who was not only contemporary with the event but an eyewitness of it, and who records the bodies or relics of forty — not merely of martyrs, but of fellow martyrs — as found in the year 1141. He has it thus at number 5: Within which (the chests found in the pavement) are contained the precious bodies of the holy forty martyrs: and on the breast of one of them (St. Florian) a most beautiful golden cross is found: and all of them indeed were placed in one tomb, so that, as they were found to be of one mind and in concord in the faith of Christ, so in the perseverance of the body they might always be united and together. To the anonymous writer the Bolognese writers everywhere add their agreement. Nor are the arguments the Pontiff brings forward of such a kind as to seem to overturn the authority of the anonymous writer and his followers. For the fact that at Bologna the Office of the Common of One Martyr has always been recited will probably have come about from this, that the Bolognese took Florian alone as the special patron of their city, not that they in no way acknowledged his companions; and the fact that in the year 1640 the body of Florian alone was found when his urn was opened seems to press no harder.

[57] seem to be reckoned in The anonymous writer just praised writes indeed that in the year 1141 all were placed in the same tomb, but he is perhaps to be understood only of the companions of St. Florian; yet however that may be, even if he must be understood of St. Florian too, the relics of Florian were in fact kept in one place and those of his companions in another, not only in the year 1640, when St. Florian's urn was opened, but both before and after the said year: those of Florian in the chapel consecrated to his name, above the altar called della Benda, or of the Veil of the most blessed Virgin; those of his companions in the chapel of St. John the Evangelist. The first is taught by Bombacius, who wrote a few months after the said opening of the urn, in On the Saints of Bologna, page 5; the second by Pullienus Luparus, a Celestine monk, who wrote in the year 1600, partly at page 43, partly at 62; and before him Particellius, in my copy at page 19 verso and at page 22; the third by Masinius, in Bologna Illustrated, published for the third time and enlarged in 1666, at the 16th day of December, page 558. So it is not surprising that the body of St. Florian, enclosed in a private urn separately from the bodies of his companions, was found without them when that urn was opened. Finally, if, as the Pontiff praised above teaches, it is credible that among so many martyrs who suffered in Palestine under Diocletian there was some one by the name of Florian, whose relics St. Petronius brought to Bologna, what reason will there be in the end why the very same should not be believed of his companions? Although there is no lack of ground for doubting from another quarter whether St. Petronius really did this, as I shall set forth below in the Annotations to be appended to the description of the finding at letter [ee].

[58] That St. Petronius added a monastery to the church of St. Stephen he also enriched it by founding a monastery. I have reported above from Masinius: Sigonius writes the same in book 1 of On the Bishops of Bologna, in these words: For in the church of St. Stephen he set forth an image of the mount on which Christ our Lord was fastened to the cross, and of the sepulchre in which he was laid when dead, and added to it a monastery which he called Jerusalem, where he himself dwelt among the monks, keeping the manner preserved by St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, and by St. Martin of Tours. But of what institute those monks were is uncertain. Constantius Rabbius, in his Annotations on Sigonius, writes that they were bound by the rules of St. Pachomius, the use of which was frequent in Italy at that period according to St. Jerome; but Casalius affirms in his Description of the New Jerusalem, book 2, chapter 3, that they followed the rule of St. Basil. It is also reported that St. Juliana, a widow of Bologna, of whom we have treated on the 7th day of February, assigned part of her goods to the maintenance of the monks of this monastery: which indeed is reckoned by Benedict XIV, in volume 10 of the second Latin edition, book 3, chapter 5, number XI, among those things which, resting on solid documents, concerning St.

Juliana are in circulation. Sigonius too has this of her, in book I of the History of Bologna: But Juliana, inflamed with zeal for an exceptional piety, assigned a great part of her fortune — for she was very wealthy — to the maintenance of the monks in the monastery of the divine Stephen, and enrolled among their number her only son (Laurence, as some will have it, whom Ambrose mentions in his Exhortation to Virginity) that he might serve God devoutly. Finally, they write that she was buried by St. Petronius in the church of St. Stephen also.

[59] After the church of St. Stephen had been built by the labour of St. Petronius, Another to St. John the anonymous writer at once subjoins the church of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist: of which Sigonius speaks thus, in book I of On the Bishops of Bologna: But in the church of St. John the Evangelist, which he built upon a mound made by a heap of earth deliberately piled up, he represented the Mount of Olives, on which Christ, after he was raised from the dead, standing with his disciples, ascended into heaven while they looked on; which place is now to be seen, the church having long since been enlarged, in the very middle of the church, marked by a stone cross. And the plain that lies between these two shrines (of SS. Stephen and John) on a lower level, represented the famous valley of Jehoshaphat, in which the same Christ is believed to be about to hold the judgment of the living and the dead on the last day; and all these things he made after the pattern of those places which he himself had seen at Jerusalem at the time when he travelled through those regions for piety's sake. Galesinius writes much the same in the Acts of St. Petronius, number 8: and in the next he enumerates certain sacred ornaments — such as the column and the cross of Christ, and the table at which the Lord reclined with his disciples, and other things especially fit to kindle the love of God — with which St. Petronius adorned the church of St. Stephen. All which monuments of most holy religion, he says, are still honoured with great devotion by the people of Bologna, and make more venerable the very church of St. Stephen, which he called by the name of Jerusalem; and for that reason the district adjoining that same church is even now called Jerusalem.

[60] sacred to John the Evangelist, For the rest, this church of St. John is one of the parish churches, and is entrusted to the administration of the Lateran Canons Regular. That from the times of the Pontiff Agapetus it was subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of Bologna is gathered from the rescript of Gregory VII, which Sigonius sets out under the year 1073 in book 2 of On the Bishops of Bologna. St. Petronius enriched it with many relics, which on the 8th day of August 1427 Cardinal Louis of Arles, legate of Martin V, and in the year 1450 Cardinal Bessarion, likewise Apostolic legate, visited. St. Petronius, whose arm it possesses, laid its foundations in the year 433, and consecrated it about two years later. It was given an ampler form in the year 1221, and afterwards adorned with a most beautiful vault, completed in the year 1640. In the choir of the greater chapel a small chest was found with an inscription of this kind: This greater chapel, marked out by the lord John the Evangelist, accompanied by a throng of angels, a certain woman, when she had very often seen the apparition most clearly, at once saw to by God's command, and to be raised from the foundations, in the year of the Lord 1517 — namely Bl. Helen de Oleo, of whom we have treated in our Acts on the 23rd day of September; where many fictions are said to have been spread abroad among the people concerning Bl. Helen, among which may be reckoned first of all that by which she is feigned to have sprung from the family of St. Petronius. Many things also which seem little probable are circulated about the revelations and apparitions made to her: whatever is to be said of the apparition of St. John the Evangelist made to her, I have reported it, as also most of the other matters in this number, on the credit of Masinius, Bologna Surveyed, third edition, page 122 and following.

[61] others to SS. Bartholomew and Mark. Of the churches of St. Bartholomew and St. Mark I transcribe some things here from the same Masinius, pages 133 and 289. St. Petronius founded both in the year 432, but a fire seized the church of St. Bartholomew in the year 1210, which, as Sigonius writes in the History of Bologna under that year, having broken out by chance at the Ravenna gate, spread through the neighbouring houses and involved in the same disaster, besides the church of St. Bartholomew, the churches of SS. Stephen, Vitalis and Donatus. But the family of the Gozzadini raised the church of St. Bartholomew from its ashes in the year 1298. In 1599 it passed to the Theatine Fathers, with the consent of Clement VIII: but the care of souls annexed to it Alfonso Paleotti, bishop of Bologna, distributed among the neighbouring parishes. To this old church of St. Bartholomew a new one succeeded, sacred to the same Saint and to St. Cajetan, the founder of the Theatine Fathers, which was begun in the year 1652, the first stone of the new fabric being laid by Girolamo Lomellini, cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and legate of Bologna: and the divine offices began to be celebrated there in the year 1664 on the 14th day of December. Of the church of St. Mark, besides what has already been said, the Masinius cited has noted these few things, namely that the parish of St. Mark was formerly united to the parish of St. Donatus on the 9th day of April 1566, but that the church of the holy Evangelist himself was granted to the confraternity of the same Saint in the August of the same year, on the 24th day.

[62] to Fabian and Sebastian, Nor did St. Petronius's labour in founding churches stop here this year: for, if credit is to be given to Masinius, he raised other churches also this year to Saints — one, namely, to SS. Fabian and Sebastian, another to St. Martin of Tours, a third to St. Lucy, and a fourth, finally, to St. Barbatianus. A huge earthquake brought ruin upon the church of SS. Fabian and Sebastian, situated at the gate called of the castle, or di castello, in the year 1505, of which Sigonius writes generally in book 5 of On the Bishops of Bologna, under the aforesaid year: Two years later the city was afflicted with two most grievous calamities, a notable earthquake and a scarcity of grain. And it was so shaken by the tremor that all the highest and greatest buildings were loosened and stripped of their pinnacles and summits. Struck with fear at this, the citizenry for many days pitched tents for themselves in the open in the fields of the city, and passed the nights there in great anxiety of mind: but afterwards it was restored. On the 15th day of June 1595, by order of Clement VIII, it was enlarged by part of the parish of St. Luke, the other part of which passed to the parish of St. Columbanus. Masinius says at page 205 that certain relics of St. Petronius are preserved in it; but what they are he does not declare.

[63] So much for the church of SS. Fabian and Sebastian raised by St. Petronius's labour: to Martin of Tours, further, there are two churches to be seen at Bologna sacred to St. Martin; the one, of which Sigonius writes thus in book 2 of On the Bishops of Bologna under the year 1217: In the year one thousand two hundred and seventeen the title of St. Martin at the Aposa was founded. And because Sigonius had just before said: While the same Henry (of Fracta) sat, other less notable churches also were raised, Carolus Rabbius subjoined this annotation to Sigonius's earlier words: But it soon grew into a notable church and an ample monastery of the Fathers of the Order of St. Mary of Mount Carmel, who came here in the year 1293. It is now inhabited by Fathers of the same Order of the congregation of Mantua, to whom John Soreth, Prior General, granted the place in the year 1466. The other is likewise sacred to St. Martin and situated in the valley of the Aposa, which is called St. Martin's, commonly Dalla croce de' sancti. And St. Petronius willed that this should be sacred to St. Martin not so very long after his death. The name of the Aposa was given to both by the river Aposa that runs through the city.

[64] But what chiefly concerns the church of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, to Lucy, you will learn from Carolus Rabbius, who to Sigonius's report under the year 1541, that the Fathers of our Society first set foot at St. Lucy's, subjoined what follows: The church was built while the lord Petronius sat, about the year 332, and afterwards destroyed in the year 903 by the Hungarians. The Lateran canons long possessed the site, which they ceded to Savinus of Sassoferrato in the year 1208, that he might rebuild the church: at his death the canons held it again, and cultivated the church when built until the year 1418, from which time secular priests possessed it under the title of Rector; and of this sort was Girolamo Casalini, who received the lord Francis Xavier into his house. Now not even a trace of the ancient church of St. Lucy appears, since in that place is to be seen the noble courtyard of the most ample college of the Fathers of the Society. But close by, under the name of the same Virgin and Martyr, is to be seen a magnificent church, which began to be built in the year 1623, Angelo Gozzadini, archbishop of Nice and suffragan of Bologna, laying the first stone on the 14th of the Kalends of May.

[65] Sigonius, in book 1 of the History of Bologna under the year 430, expressly numbers the church of St. Barbatianus among those though it is not so clear about St. Barbatianus; which St. Petronius either founded or repaired at Bologna: but in book 1 of On the Bishops of Bologna, while reviewing the same matters, he does not say a word about the church of St. Barbatianus; and under the year 485 he conjectures that the monastery of St. Barbatianus was built in the time of St. Jocundus, whom he sets as the third bishop of the Bolognese after St. Petronius. Did Sigonius doubt whether St. Petronius really raised a church to St. Barbatianus? For Benedict XIV teaches that Sigonius composed the book On the Bishops of Bologna later, and in it corrected what he had written less cautiously in the History of Bologna. However that may be, for my part it does not seem that St. Petronius raised a church to St. Barbatianus in the year 432, as Masinius says; for at that time, so far at least as appears, St. Barbatianus had not yet departed from among the living. Girolamo Fabri fixes his death in the year 444, in his book On the Sacred Antiquities of Ravenna, page 195; Rubeus places it between the years 438 and 444 in book 2 On the Affairs of Ravenna. It is read in the Acts, in Agnellus, volume 2 of the Appendix, page 39, that he died at Ravenna while Galla Placidia was intent on founding the church of St. Stephen at Rimini; which Caesar Clementinius writes, in book 2 of the Affairs of Rimini, to have happened in the year 438. For the rest, on the testimony of Masinius at page 570, the church of St. Barbatianus was formerly in the hands of the Lateran canons, but was transferred from them to the monks of St. Jerome of the Observance in the year 1480; which Sigonius too attests under the year just praised, in these words: Then in the year 1480 he shared the vacant church of St. Barbatianus with the hermit monks of St. Jerome, by decree of the Pontiff (Sixtus IV), since they desired to have a lodging. To which Rabbius subjoins: They were instituted by Bl. Peter of Pisa about the year 1370; the place was given them on the 16th day of August 1480.

[66] and finally raised churches to Agatha and Thecla alike, In the two next following years he raised churches to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, and to SS. Thecla and Agatha, virgins and martyrs; to St. John indeed and St. Agatha in the year 433, but to St. Thecla in the year 434, if at least Masinius writes truly: for not all authors agree in what years he either raised from the foundations, or restored when fallen, the several churches already enumerated

is St. Petronius said to have done. Of the church of St. John I have treated at number 59 and following. It remains, then, that I should subjoin a few things about the churches of SS. Agatha and Thecla. Masinius, page 223 and following, numbers the church of St. Agatha among the parish churches of Bologna, and says it was formerly called St. Mary di Castiglioni, and adds that, having once suffered ruin, it was restored first in the year 1196, then in the year 1653. Lastly, the same Masinius affirms at page 461 and following, from a certain instrument of the year 1375, that the church of St. Thecla was formerly at least in the number of the parish churches of Bologna, and that it is today committed to the administration of secular priests, and finally enriched with relics of St. Petronius.

[67] and enriched them with sacred relics. Nor indeed was it enough for St. Petronius to have raised so many churches for the Bolognese, but he judged that they must also be enriched and fortified with very many remains of the Saints: When these works were finished, says Sigonius in book 1 of the History of Bologna under the year 430, he went back to Constantinople to Theodosius, whether on private or on public business, and by the authority he enjoyed with the emperor obtained leave to carry away many sacred relics from Constantinople, with which, on returning home, he adorned both the other churches built by him and, above all, the shrine itself of the divine Stephen, and the chapels set at the four crosses: for besides the churches already enumerated, St. Petronius also raised as many stone crosses at the four gates of the city, which were to be a terror to the demon, a protection to the Bolognese, and a perpetual incitement to fight bravely for God and for their own salvation.

§ V. The Saint repairs and enlarges Bologna.

Bologna half-ruined, St. Petronius, coming to Bologna, found not only the sacred but the profane buildings also turned upside down; which lot indeed Bologna shared at that period with many cities of Italy, as is understood from the Letter of St. Ambrose in which he thus consoles Faustinus, who was bearing the loss of his sister too grievously: But you grieve that a city lately most flourishing has suddenly fallen. Yet this is common to us not only with men, but also with cities and with the lands themselves. For coming from the city of Bologna you were leaving behind you Claterna, Bologna itself, Modena, Reggio; on the right was Brescello, in front Piacenza met you, still sounding its ancient nobility in its very name; on the left, pitying the untilled tracts of the Apennines, you were considering the strongholds of peoples once most flourishing, and were going over them again with sorrowing affection. So many corpses, then, of half-ruined cities, and the funerals of lands laid out under the same view — do these not warn you that the departure of one woman, holy and admirable though she was, should be held the more capable of consolation? etc. The disaster of the Bolognese, therefore, is certain; but by whose doing was it brought on?

[69] Some will have it that the matter happened thus. On the death of Valentinian, the Bolognese threw off the yoke of the emperor Gratian, which disaster and, entering into an alliance with the people of Modena and of Reggio, made war on the neighbouring people of Claterna in order to extend their borders. When the affair became known, Gratian sent to Bologna with an army a certain Asclipius who was staying at Spoleto, who both restored the people of Claterna to the empire and forced the Bolognese themselves to surrender, and, having imposed a prefect on the city to keep it to its duty, returned to Spoleto. But Sigonius explodes all this in book 1 of the History of Bologna, both because these things are destitute of the authority of the ancient Annals, and because it does not seem likely that the Bolognese and their allies then had such strength as to dare take arms against the still unimpaired resources of the Roman empire — a thing which not even the most opulent cities of those times contemplated; and further because, from the very beginning of the disturbances, they could easily have been kept to their duty by the consular of Liguria, whom they obeyed. But let us take up the thread of the narrative again.

[70] When Gratian was dead, the sum of empire devolved upon Theodosius, the first of that name: some wrongly ascribe it to Theodosius I, he, as they say, substituted new magistrates at his own pleasure for the old ones of the cities and provinces, and sent to Bologna in particular a Greek, dear indeed to himself, but greedy, proud and intemperate; who, when he was assailing the chastity of a noble matron of Bologna with threats and entreaties, had the matter disclosed by her to her husband. He modestly warned the man to desist from what he had begun, but got a blow on the ear for it: stirred by which, the matron's husband, wishing to avenge the insult offered him, at once drew his sword and killed the imperial prefect. Hence the Bolognese, in great fear of Theodosius lest what had happened not long before to the Thessalonians should befall them too, punished their fugitive fellow-citizen in what ways they could; but committed the body of the slain man to the earth with much honour. Yet not even in this way did they escape the wrath of Theodosius: for the emperor, coming into Italy a little later, forced the Bolognese to undergo the lot of the Thessalonians. For which cause St. Ambrose barred Theodosius from entering the church when he was at Milan, and struck him with anathema, from which he was unwilling to release him until he had enacted a law that no one should be put to death unless thirty days had passed after the sentence of death had been pronounced against the accused.

[71] and dress it out with quite fabulous With these things our anonymous writer partly agrees, partly adds some matters, partly disagrees. For if we follow what has just been related, the Bolognese not only foresaw the impending disaster but strove to turn it away from themselves; but if we follow the anonymous writer, they were overwhelmed by an unexpected disaster while suspecting nothing of the kind. But they themselves, he says at number 17, not knowing the coming plague, acted according to the edict of the king. And what he adds of his own are roughly these things: first, that Theodosius signified to the Bolognese that they should prepare a fitting burial for a certain nephew of his whom he wished to be entombed among them; namely, that he might overwhelm them unawares by a sudden attack, and cover his lust for vengeance under a show of goodwill. The second, that St. Ambrose, moved by the outrageousness of the deed, decreed that no king should thereafter enter Bologna, and that no one's corpse should be brought into the city.

[72] additions, Further, the Ambrosian edict, as they at least contend, is set down in Patricellius in these words. Ambrose, the servant of Christ, bishop of Milan. To all the most beloved brethren of either order, the greater namely and the lesser, eternal salvation in the Lord. We believe that the overthrow of the city of Bologna is most well known to all the kingdom of Italy, which she cruelly suffered not by true justice, but on a bald pretext, through Theodosian rage. Wherefore we have judged it worthy and equitable, and on the part of God and of Saint Peter, by whose name the church of Bologna is adorned, we earnestly establish and confirm a condemned and irrevocable sentence of anathema, that no king henceforth enter the city of Bologna. But if anyone shall chance to be so bold as not to satisfy this sentence, and shall rashly have entered the aforesaid city, let his life be ended in the present year, and be prolonged no further. Let the body also of any dead person by no means be carried into the city, lest on a like occasion she suffer such loss again. Our anonymous writer adds that this edict, by St. Ambrose's order, was hung up on a marble tablet on the eastern part of the city wall, which had remained untouched, and remained there so long until at length it went to ashes in repeated fires.

[73] they clothe it, But as for what our anonymous writer and others write, they plainly betray themselves as too credulous of old wives' tales. The immoderate vengeance of Theodosius upon the Thessalonians is indeed in everyone's mouth, and is attested by good testimonies of antiquity: but of a slaughter inflicted on the Bolognese by Theodosius neither Ambrose himself nor any of the ancients anywhere makes mention. Nor is it necessary to refute the fable at greater length; Galesinius prudently suppressed it in the Acts of St. Petronius, and the more cautious and learned writers of Bolognese affairs do not admit it. Hear Sigonius, book 1 of the History of the Bolognese, under the year 375: But this history (of the Thessalonian slaughter), attested both by the writings of Ambrose himself and by the monuments of all the ecclesiastical writers, they commonly transfer to Bologna in such a way as to explain the whole affair far otherwise than it happened. Then, setting out the fable in a few words, he goes on thus: How alien these things are, to omit all else, this can be no doubtful proof: that it does not seem probable that the Bolognese, still weak from the disaster lately received from Gratian, as they themselves write, and relying on their own strength, should have attempted so great a crime (namely, suddenly snatching up arms, killing the magistrate, and revolting from Theodosius); and that what the Supreme Pontiff did not decree amid so great perfidy and contumacy of the heathen and the Arians, the bishop of another city should have decreed.

[74] Dismissing these things, then, let us come to more probable opinions about the disaster of the Bolognese. but others refer it to Maximus and other tyrants, Baronius, under the year 387, number 60, ascribes it to the tyrant Maximus in these words: Further, the very entry of Maximus into Italy seemed as terrible as it was sudden: for like an overflowing torrent pent in by the narrows of the mountains, pouring itself wholly out upon the plain and dragging everything in its way along with it, he afflicted with immense disaster that part of Italy which met him after his descent from the Alps; and he then grievously harassed the noble cities Piacenza, Reggio, Claterna, Modena, Bologna, and others, their riches plundered and their citizens led into captivity, as Pacatus affirms, and as St. Ambrose too touches upon in his Letter to Faustinus. We have quoted the words of Ambrose above at number 67, from which, however, it is not clear at what time, or by whose doing, the disaster he mentions was brought upon the Bolognese: and Pacatus writes only this much about Italy, in his Panegyric of Theodosius: Although (it must be confessed) the Italian nearest to us shows deep wounds, and the Spaniard next to him, yet each has in his grief his consolation. The one did not see the tyranny; the other saw the tyrannicide. The rest, which immediately precedes and follows the words just cited, pertains to Gaul. Italy, then, on the testimony of Pacatus, seems to have received deep wounds under Maximus; but did Bologna too? Nor do they rest on firmer foundations who will have it that it happened under Eugenius, who in the year 394 shook Italy with warlike disturbances, and, conquered by Theodosius, paid the penalty for usurping the empire.

[75] Sigonius goes back to the age of Constantine the Great to assign the time of the devastation of Bologna; or more probably refer it to Constantine the Great, for thus he has it in book 1 of the Bishops of Bologna: The same man (St. Petronius) is also declared to have been the chief instigator with the emperor (Theodosius the younger) for restoring the city (of Bologna), which holy Ambrose reports to have been half-ruined in his own age: marking, that is, the disaster which it received from Constantine in the Maxentian war along with the rest of the cities of Aemilia. Benedict XIV has lately come over to Sigonius, where he treats of St. Petronius. He himself, he says, found everything in this city in a deplorable state, so that our regions were rightly and deservedly called by St. Ambrose, in the cited Letter to Faustinus, "unhappy remnants" and "corpses of cities", which the disasters brought on by Maxentius and the civil wars under the tyranny had all but laid low and overwhelmed. Yet this difference exists between the two, that the former makes Constantine, the latter Maxentius — perhaps together with the other tyrants — the chief author of these calamities; as will become plain to anyone comparing the words of each.

[76] Constantine, about the year 312, moving his army from Gaul into Italy against Maxentius, first took by force the city of Susa, Petronius not only repairs, situated at the foot of the Alps. Torches were thrown at the gates of the city,

which, spreading further, consumed part of the city: but the fire was put out by Constantine's exertion, as is read in the Panegyric of Nazarius addressed to him. Then, advancing to Turin, he routed the forces of Maxentius, and took possession of Turin and the other cities of Italy situated between the Alps and the Po, which surrendered of their own accord. He came also to Milan, and treated kindly the cities which of their own will embraced his rule. In a second battle he routed the enemy at Brescia, and soon in a third at Verona. This city too yielded to the victorious Constantine. He also besieged Aquileia and Modena and other cities of Italy, as his panegyrist just praised reports in these words: I pass over you, Aquileia, and you, Modena, and the other regions to which, because of the conveniences of incredible blessings that followed, the injury of the siege was most welcome. As, therefore, he was compelled to besiege Modena, so it seemed likely to Sigonius, and not without reason, that he surrounded Bologna and the other neighbouring cities with a siege, and inflicted on them, at least until they surrendered, the usual damages of war. Zosimus favours Sigonius, who says in book 2 that Constantine inflicted no damage on those cities which surrendered of their own accord, but on the contrary overthrew those which he found resisting him. But as for Maxentius, he indeed befouled Italy with exactions, lusts and slaughters, but I do not know whether he destroyed the cities and towns that obeyed him. I should therefore prefer to subscribe to Sigonius's opinion, although I would not wish to deny that the city of the Bolognese could have fallen into various calamities under Maximus or other tyrants as well.

[77] but also gives it an ampler But whoever was the author of these calamities, this at least is certain, that the affairs of the Bolognese were in the worst condition when by God's gift they obtained St. Petronius as the restorer of their fortunes. In the beginning indeed, as they relate, Bologna was of no great circuit, as the ancient ages bore. Access to it lay open through two gates only, of which one looked east, the other west; the former led toward Ravenna, the latter toward Modena. A third and a fourth are said to have been added to these under the rule of the emperor Gratian. But when St. Petronius repaired Bologna, some will have it that nine gates were built, others twelve; and so he not only restored what had once fallen, but also gave the city an ampler form, so that the Bolognese not undeservedly regard St. Petronius as, so to speak, a second founder of their city. Which indeed Galesinius has briefly summed up thus in the Acts of St. Petronius, number XI: But that he might omit no service toward the people of Bologna that could proceed from himself, using the help of the emperor Theodosius, to whom he was most dear, and of the citizens of Bologna, whom he loved singularly in Christ, he enlarged the circuit of the city.

[78] form, But Sigonius writes in this manner in book 1 of the History of Bologna: Lastly Petronius, that he might omit no service toward the Bolognese that could proceed from himself, using the help of the emperor and of the Bolognese, extended the circuit of the city further than it had been until then; and how great it was up to that age, those four gates of his indicate, which stood in those places where the four stone crosses raised there by the same Petronius's work are still the monument of the matter. And he led new walls around through those spaces, in which some ancient gates raised in a circle are to be seen even today, which are called by the name of the Little Towers. The anonymous writer adds at number 19 that part of Bologna was restored by Theodosius I at the order of Ambrose, but that Petronius completed what was lacking to the Theodosian work; further, that the emperor's officers abundantly supplied Petronius with whatever was necessary for restoring Bologna; which, though it may perhaps be true, yet what the anonymous writer adds seems false, namely that they did this because he was a kinsman of the emperor; how little likelihood this has has been said above, and both Sigonius and Galesinius prudently judged that it should be passed over by them in silence.

[79] The Bolognese hand down that St. Petronius, having enlarged Bologna with sacred and profane buildings, and takes care that it be adorned with a public school, also took care that it should be adorned by Theodosius with the right of a public school; on which matter Sigonius, so often cited, writes thus in book 1 of the History of Bologna: Besides so many and so great benefits of Petronius toward itself, the city professes that it owes him this above all — as it has noted in ancient monuments and confirmed by the authority of later emperors — that he obtained from Theodosius the right of a public school, in which Bologna afterwards flourished above the other cities of Italy, the honourable custom of fostering studies having been instituted from the first emperors onward. But it is a wonder that the same Sigonius, in book 1 of On the Bishops of Bologna, where he treats of St. Petronius, makes no mention of so distinguished a matter, nor the often praised Galesinius in the Acts of St. Petronius, nor finally the anonymous writer, who carried the torch before these. What those monuments are from which the Bolognese have learned that a university was set up among them by Theodosius, Sigonius does not declare, at least in this place. But Benedict XIV mentions a certain Theodosian Privilege, whose original indeed was burned in the year 1313, but a copy of it was carved in the basilica of St. Petronius, and inscribed on a bronze tablet in the church of St. Dominic, by the work of Ludovico Bolognini, in the year 1507.

[80] Muratori published a copy of the Theodosian privilege in volume 3 of the Antiquities of the Middle Ages, as the Bolognese at least Dissertation 34, which, both for its length and for the slight credit it deserves, I have not judged it necessary to transfer here: hear, however, Muratori's judgment of it: I should be, he says, prodigal of time, nay even injurious to the learned reader, if I spent a single word in showing the falsity of the diploma, since it strikes the eyes of all most openly, with none even pointing it out. But lest it seem strange to anyone that Sigonius, praised above, a diligent and cautious writer, gave his hand to a fiction of this kind, he goes on thus: This solemn imposture does not indeed seem to be disapproved by our Sigonius in the History of Bologna. But I have just cause for suspecting that a patch was sewn on to that Work by someone after his death. See what I have said in the Life of the same Sigonius, prefixed to his Works in the latest Milanese edition. Another copy of the Theodosian Privilege Ughelli brings forward in volume 2 of Italia sacra, column 9, which, he says, is extant carved on a marble tablet at the church of St. Petronius; although by its own narrative it seems to limp in the judgment of sensible men skilled in ancient matters. This one indeed is shorter, and on that account to be transcribed here; but in such a way that to have recited it is at the same time to have refuted it.

[81] It runs thus: Lest the good arts and the doctrines of all the disciplines perish, they have tried to prove, since morals, health, judgments and the rest of that kind are governed by the best learning: We, Theodosius, by the grace of God Roman Emperor Augustus, taken with the convenience and fertility of the place, after deliberation weighed for five and twenty months, with Celestine the Supreme Pontiff, twelve Cardinals, innumerable archbishops and bishops, and other Christian princes and dukes placed in various dignities, and also with Baldwin of Flanders and Walter of Poitiers, counts and legates, of whom the one for Louis king of France, the other for Philip king of England, assigned to those arduous affairs, held their place, the college also of a hundred senators sitting, do decree by this inviolable indulgence that Bologna shall be the fount of all the sciences, the cabinet of our secrets, the perpetual seat of study; willing moreover that all sentences passed by judges who have not studied in this kindly city for at least five years shall be utterly void: and if anyone promoted to the dignity of a magistracy shall have received the master's book from any other than the archdeacon of Bologna — even though men skilled in any faculties whatever should have conferred and approved it — him we by our authority deprive of every dignity. But if anyone by rash daring shall injure scholars coming to or going from this place of study, let him be punished with death. If the governor does not carry this out, we order that he be visited with the same penalty. And a copy of this sacred Constitution, secured with the golden bull of our majesty, and written by the hand of Cicero, notary of our court, for the perpetual memory of the matter, we hand over and grant to be administered, guarded, and carried out with all their might, to Bishop Petronius, sprung from the blood of the emperors of Constantinople, who with the highest entreaties has begged and procured it. At Rome in the Capitol, in the year of the Lord's Nativity 333, on the 9th day of May.

[82] but so far they have not persuaded foreigners. The Bolognese, says Benedict XIV, commonly defend the genuineness of the monument (of which at number 79 at the end) — Ghirardacci, Vizani, Gagio, Orlandi in the Notice of Bolognese Writers; but some foreigners attack it with strong arguments. He then subjoins Muratori's words adduced at number 80, and adds that Alessandro Macchiavelli composed an Apology for it, but one which by no means satisfied Boehmer; and that another besides had already for many years been engaged on the same subject at the time when the Pontiff was writing of Petronius, but of whose findings on the matter he had not yet received notice: whose lucubrations, since I have not seen them, it would not be fair to pass judgment upon; although I fear they may not be able to draw foreigners over to their opinion. Benedict XIV embraces Sigonius's opinion (if indeed it was really Sigonius's); moved, so far as appears, not so much by the monuments of the Bolognese as by Sigonius's judgment and authority; or by the hope that the origin and antiquity of the University of Bologna might be shown more solidly and clearly than hitherto by the industry and labour of the Bolognese, whose chief concern it is.

§ VI. The Saint's death, miracles and cult.

The Saint goes on ruling his people piously, as he had begun, We have already said that St. Petronius, after he had enlarged and adorned Bologna with sacred and profane buildings, undertook also a journey into the East, and brought back thence to his people a great quantity of relics, and distributed them among the monasteries founded by himself, but especially to the church of St. Stephen; an enumeration of which may be seen in the Acts of the Finding, composed by a contemporary author, and to be published after the Life of St. Petronius. But in what year he set out for Constantinople, or how long he stayed there, is not sufficiently ascertained; and what he did at Bologna after his return has nowhere, so far at least as I know, been committed to writing: yet I have no doubt at all that he went on giving his people very many proofs of a most excellent and most holy pastor, whose beginnings were so distinguished, until at last he paid the debt of nature. Authors are not of one opinion about the year in which he departed from among the living: Fabri, in the Monuments of Ravenna, mentions Petronius as still among the living in the year 485; Alberti thinks he died in the year 460; Vizani in 451, Ghirardacci in 450; Ghini in 441; Prosper of Aquitaine — but in a corrupted text — in 383; Sigonius too was pleased with the year 450. At last, says he, renowned for many wonderful virtues, while Theodosius and Valentinian were still ruling, in the four hundred and fiftieth year, leaving a great longing for himself in all, he passed to the Lord on the 4th of the Nones of October.

[84] Sigonius follows Gennadius; and he writes thus of Petronius's death: and he died about the year 450; He dies while Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, and Valentinian are reigning. Since, therefore, Theodosius met his day in the year 450, the death of St. Petronius cannot be deferred beyond this year; yet it could have happened earlier, consistently with Gennadius's words — indeed perhaps it did in fact happen so: for from Gennadius's words Theodosius survived Petronius; and Theodore the Lector records that he

died on the 28th of July, and Theophanes on the 20th day of June: the Menaea too commemorate Theodosius on the 29th day of July; and so he must be said to have died at least before the month of August of the year 450. On the other hand, the Bolognese everywhere, with Sigonius praised in the preceding number, write that St. Petronius died on the 4th day of October; and if we judge that this is so, he will have been taken from among the living as early as the year 449. But if we suppose that he died in the year 450, then the 4th day of October will have been consecrated to St. Petronius of old not because he died on that day, but because his relics were translated, or for some other cause not discerned by me. And these considerations indeed have led me to place the year of St. Petronius's death about the year 450 at the beginning of this Commentary. The body of the deceased was honourably laid to rest in the church of St. Stephen; where, having been withdrawn from the memory of men by the lapse of time, it was found in the year 1141 by a singular favour of the Deity, under Henry bishop of Bologna, as the author of the Finding narrates at length — which is to be published, as I have said, after the Life of St. Petronius. For the rest, as authors do not agree about the year of St. Petronius's death, so neither about his successor. Sigonius judged this to have been St. Paternianus, and most of the more learned follow him.

[85] Living and dead he was renowned for prodigies: but of those by miracles which he wrought while living, the voracity of time, as it is fair to believe, has grudged not a few to the memory of posterity: of these both the anonymous writer and Galesinius describe only one or two. The first the anonymous writer relates at number 19 and following in this manner: When on a certain day the same venerable Father was standing by the masters of a work of this kind with great care and solicitude, it came about by God's doing that one of the workmen, when he wished to raise a column in the upper order of columns, embraced it round about with the whole effort of his body and with joined arms, so that it might stand upright until it should be held up by the other workmen with whatever devices. But that man, weighed down by the mass of so great a weight, his strength failing, and unable to hold out long under so heavy a burden, fell headlong from above to the earth together with that same column, his arms clasped around it in a swift whirl: and the confessor of the Lord St. Petronius, seeing him set in the peril of this danger and slipping in a headlong fall, at once raised his eyes to heaven and signed him with the sign of the holy Cross; and by the merits indeed of that Father, ever to be named, God straightway looked with his accustomed mercy on the prayer of his servant Petronius; for that column suffered no damage at all of breaking or of cracking, but remained solid and unharmed as before: and the workman, feeling nothing amiss, escaped the mass of the imminent peril, as he himself used to relate thus: "When I, roused in all my inward parts, was in anguish, troubled on every side alike, and had begun to fall with an unstoppable rush, a certain man clothed in snowy robes, like the blessed Petronius, stood beside me, who held up the column with his hand and preserved me unhurt."

[86] not only while he was still So this workman was indeed snatched from the peril of death by the prayers of St. Petronius, but was not called back from death to life, if the words of the anonymous writer be regarded: yet Galesinius relates the matter otherwise, and at the same time explains what church was being built when this prodigy happened. And while the church itself (of St. Stephen, of which he had just been speaking), he says at number 10, was being built, an occasion was offered for a marvellous work to be performed in God's name. For a certain workman, relying not so much on bodily strength as on skill, was strenuously raising a marble column with the help of tackle and instruments: but the ropes by which it was being lifted broke, and he, crushed by the sudden fall of the column, perished. On hearing this, blessed Petronius ran up, and having made a prayer to God, called back the workman, who lay dead, to life by God's power. You see what discrepancy there is between the two authors in recounting the circumstances of this prodigy; whence it is permissible to conjecture that circumstances so unlike were set down in writing by both authors — removed as they were from the event by many centuries — only from popular tradition, and that not sufficiently consistent, and therefore do not deserve entire credit: yet that a benefit was conferred on this workman not without a prodigy I shall not unwillingly admit.

[87] among the living, The anonymous writer next pursues a second prodigy of St. Petronius while he was among the living: namely that, when St. Petronius was performing the sacred rites at Constantinople, it happened that a certain nobleman of Capua, guilty of homicide and on that account punished with public penance, did not dare to enter the church with the rest of the faithful, but waited before its doors, as the custom of those then was who for the more enormous offences were separated from the communion of the faithful. When St. Petronius had learned this — by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, as the anonymous writer believes — he bade him again and again to enter the church, and, as he still did not dare, warned him a third time through a minister: at last he obeyed, when he understood that he was being called by St. Petronius, whose fame he knew: and Petronius, having carefully warned the man not to let himself be swept into like crimes henceforth, reconciled him to the Church with the greatest kindness. The emperor himself was present at the affair, if we believe the anonymous writer, and together with the rest who were there gave worthy praises to God, because he had deigned to make his servant Petronius illustrious by that miracle. I could wish that I might establish this prodigy, such as it is, on a better witness; Galesinius passes it over untouched.

[88] But of the number of those things which he wrought after he had been translated from this life to the immortal one, that is especially famous but after his death also which gave occasion for the founding of a magnificent church to the name of St. Petronius. Sigonius relates it in On the Bishops of Bologna under the year 1307, in which it happened, in this way: In the following year (1307) he (Uberto of Piacenza, bishop of Bologna) took the greatest fruit of delight from a certain sudden devotion of the people. For when many everywhere in the city were sick, they happened to begin drawing water to quench their thirst from the nearby well which is under the altar of St. Petronius in the church of St. Stephen: and thereupon, on the day of Pentecost, very many of those who had drunk of it were suddenly freed from their fevers, to the greatest admiration of all. And so, when this was noticed, a great concourse of the people was made thither to draw from the well, and when many were healed one after another, the city's ancient devotion toward St. Petronius was restored, and this was the chief occasion for afterwards setting up for him the magnificent church in the square. Rabbius subjoins in his Annotations on Sigonius that the devotion of the Bolognese toward St. Petronius was stirred up in that year chiefly on the occasion of a single beggar, who, to relieve his thirst, drew water from the well of St. Stephen's church, and, having implored the help of St. Petronius, recovered on the spot; whence a concourse of the people arose, especially of the sick; of whom not a few returned home endowed with health. Benedict XIV adds from Count Valerio Zani in the Life of St. Petronius: For then indeed (when the sick man just spoken of was healed) there began to flow thither in great number from the neighbouring villages and lands the blind, the deaf, the maimed and the crippled, so that in the public archive Acts are still preserved in which it is narrated with what providence the magistrates acted, and how by their order tents were raised in the square next to the basilica, in which the sick might be lodged; out of whom a hundred and fifty recovered at the invocation of Saint Petronius.

[89] This series of miracles, says Benedict XIV, often praised, made illustrious: to which was added the famous victory won at the invocation of the same Saint against the Visconti aggressor, who was trying to usurp the lordship of Bologna for himself, was the cause of a new and ample church being built in his honour in the Greater Square in the year 1390. This second miracle of St. Petronius Valerio Zani also relates, and says that he appeared together with the most blessed Virgin in defence of the city when Bologna was pressed by siege; terrified by which sight the enemy did not dare approach the walls of the city, and withdrew from the field. But since this miracle happened between the years 1307 and 1390, I think that the Visconti of whom Benedict speaks, and the siege of Bologna of which Valerio Zani speaks, are designated by Sigonius when he says under the year 1359 and following that Bernabò, Visconti of Milan, tried to claim the rule of the city of Bologna for himself and did the greatest damage to the suburban churches, but was then worn down with the greatest disaster by the Bolognese in a sharp engagement joined with his army at the first milestone from the city, and afterwards made peace with the Bolognese. Finally Valerio Zani adds from Leandro that by the patronage of St. Petronius the life of a little girl who fell from a height was restored in the year 1444, and that by the Saint's intercession very many benefits were wont to be conferred, even in his own age, on those who had placed their trust in him. Nor is it any wonder that Petronius, enrolled among the citizens of heaven, should be most favourable to those toward whom he did not cease to deserve well while he lived in this life.

[90] [whom the Bolognese ever since his death, but especially from the twelfth century,] Whoever shall weigh in his mind the almost innumerable benefits with which St. Petronius heaped Bologna, and the outstanding sanctity of the man, will easily be persuaded that the Bolognese did not long delay to pay sacred honours to their holy bishop and to place themselves under his patronage: and indeed that it so happened Sigonius relates in book 2 of the History of Bologna, in the part on the Religious Orders. The altar of the lord Petronius the bishop, he says, whom from his death and consecration onward the city venerated with special devotion, dedicated in the church of the lord Stephen, was cultivated with such diligence that even the bishop and the canons and the whole clergy went to it every year on his feast, and duly performed the divine service there, being received by the monks with incense and holy water, and honoured with certain gifts of food and drink, such as those times afforded; of which custom some traces have remained to this day. For the rest, although it seems in no way doubtful that St. Petronius was always in honour and veneration among the Bolognese, yet, as Benedict XIV says in volume XI, Institution 74, few monuments of public veneration are at hand which are older than the finding of his body itself in the year 1141, under Pope Innocent II and Henry bishop of the Bolognese: but from that time the cult of St. Petronius received a notable increase. In the year 1211, as Masinius writes, a sacred building was raised to his name, which is now commonly called that of Old St. Petronius; and afterwards, under Ottaviano Ubaldini the Younger, bishop of Bologna, it was granted to the Servite Fathers: likewise another, which is called that of the Castle of Bologna; and the same Masinius writes that a hospital also was dedicated to his name outside the gate of St. Felix, whose rector in the year 1375 was Dinadanus Sala.

[91] a church having also been founded in his name in the year 1390 But the Bolognese raised to their Patron a far more august church in the fourteenth century, and one, as Benedict XIV just praised says, deservedly to be numbered among the most distinguished shrines of Italy. In the year one thousand three hundred and ninety, says Sigonius in book 3 of On the Bishops of Bologna, the bishop

there was none in the city. But in that year a deed was done more memorable than any, as coming from a free people. For since the city still had no church dedicated to St. Petronius, its bishop and patron, on the day before the Kalends of February a decree was made by the council that a most noble and most ample one should be set up in the square, and that a huge open space should be prepared for it by removing thence many private houses and some sacred buildings as well. These matters having soon been dispatched with exceptional diligence and industry, on the 8th (others write the 7th) of the Ides of June, with the clergy and magistrates standing by, the first stone, consecrated in the basilica of St. Peter, was set in the left corner of the church, toward the east. Moreover, when the church of St. Sylvester and of St. Thecla, which in earlier years had been moved into the square, had burned down, the people refused to rebuild it; but set a stone cross there, which afterwards they also removed, and so enlarged the space.

[92] with a notable church, In the following year, as the same Sigonius relates, Pope Boniface, reconciled with the Bolognese, besides the other privileges which Sigonius enumerates, bestowed on the city a Jubilee by which they might advance the new work of the basilica. At which there was great public rejoicing; the shops were closed by public edict for three days, and some games were held on the 4th of the Nones of October. Bartholomew, not yet consecrated bishop, on the day of St. Petronius celebrated the first solemnities of Mass that were performed in the new basilica, at the fourth chapel from the east, which happened to have been finished first of all by the Bolognini. The same Boniface IX, and John XXII — otherwise XXIII — supreme Pontiffs, advanced this magnificent work not a little. For the former granted to those visiting the new church of St. Petronius on the 4th day of October indulgences to be gained every year, like those granted to those visiting St. Mary of the Angels at Assisi on the first and second day of August, and St. Mark the Evangelist at Venice on the feast of the Lord's Ascension. But John XXII increased it with revenues also in the second year of his Pontificate; as may be seen in the bull of the same Pontiff in Count Valerio Zani, in the Life of St. Petronius, page 237. Moreover the church of St. Petronius was enlarged by a college of canons, instituted by Pius II and approved by Filippo Calandrini, bishop of Bologna, in the year 1463, on the testimony of Sigonius; and in the following year at last, on the 8th of the Kalends of October, the roof was set upon its summit: Which, he says, when Pope Pius heard, he not unwillingly bestowed a most liberal pardon of sins on all who should visit the basilica on his feast day. Whoever desires more about this notable church of St. Petronius, let him consult Ughelli, Masinius, and the other writers of Bolognese affairs.

[93] Nor did the Bolognese wish to attest their love and veneration for St. Petronius only by founding churches or sacred buildings, and by decreeing solemn processions in his honour. but they also frequently instituted solemn processions in his honour, according to the custom received from their ancestors; on which matter Benedict XIV in Institution 74: On the 4th day of October the feast of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna, will be celebrated in the customary way, to whose patronage and protection this city and diocese are commended. On the vigil of the same solemnity, namely the third day of October, his sacred head will be transferred from the church of St. Stephen to that of St. Petronius, a solemn procession having been proclaimed; then, when Vespers have been performed on the fourth day of October, the sacred head will be restored to its former place with the same pomp, as has been the yearly custom. The Pontiff subjoins in the same place that the Feast of St. Petronius had long since been celebrated with a proper Office and Mass with an Octave; which Galesinius affirms to have been in use from the very finding of his sacred body, in these words at the end of the Acts: And so, when the body of blessed Petronius had been found, it was decreed that the finding should be honoured on the same day as his death, an indulgence of two years being granted for the eight following days. For which reason the church of Bologna piously and religiously celebrates continually on those eight days the Office of the canonical hours, instituted in his honour in holy fashion from that time onward.

[94] Argelati inserted both the proper Office and the proper Mass of St. Petronius, and with a proper Mass and Office, taken from the Life of the same holy Bishop written in Italian by an anonymous priest and published at Bologna in 1721, in volume III of the Works of Sigonius, column 375 and following. The Office runs thus:

Hymn at Matins.

Hear, most excellent Redeemer, the prayers which we pour out to you, and the praises which, singing, we utter to your Petronius.

A messenger sent from the very shore of the Thracians concerning the Nestorian plague, you take counsel with him who bears the place of Christ.

He, taught by dreams, and at the asking of our fathers, sets you — who were thinking of no such thing — over the flock of Bologna.

Straightway you take away the seeds left behind of the Arian sect, and build up again the churches overthrown by its profane fury.

Raising by the power of Christ bodies lulled to sleep in death, you lead back the straying sheep into his golden folds.

You our city, suppliant, honours, and asks that you obtain for us from the Father of lights remission of our sins.

Hymn at Lauds. transcribed here from the Italian Life of the Saint,

Thence we ask you, Father, suppliants in pure raiment: look kindly on the church dedicated to your name.

Receive, being present with us, our offerings, our prayers, our vows; drive plague and famine and battles away from our borders.

Bind the city with the bond of shining peace, that, enjoying holy leisure, it may dedicate itself wholly to Christ.

Glory be to the Trinity, to God the Father and to the Son, with the Spirit the Paraclete, unto ages of ages. Amen.

The Antiphon at Lauds is framed in these words: He who has done great things in all the earth received blessed Petronius, a great priest, and made him blessed in glory. Verse: Pray for us etc. Responsory: That we may be made worthy etc. Prayer: Let your people exult, O Lord, in the commemoration of your holy confessor and bishop Petronius, that they who rejoice in his votive Office may be relieved by his help. Through Christ etc.

Hymn at Vespers. published at Bologna in 1721,

That you might gain heaven by an easy road, holy Petronius, far from your father's dwelling you sought out the caves, having traversed the course of the Nile.

Your care was to converse with the holy fathers, and to tame your body with scanty fare, and to hand down the lessons of that kindly life in sacred pages.

The ardour of a great piety drove you to visit the lofty ridges pressed by Christ's feet, and the sky from which, as a boy, he drew the light he loved.

Nor was it only once that it pleased you to water the Lord's holy sepulchre with warm tears, and to reverence the stones that had touched the divine body.

Now we venerate your solemn altars with much incense, and bear our praises in song to heaven, here where you enjoy the blessed life.

The bishop, whoever shall sit upon your throne, your chosen servants, the suppliant fathers, and the city your nursling — prosper them, O God, through you.

May the loving Father grant this, and the Son, and the holy Spirit who, proceeding from both, with wondrous goodness governs the whole world. Amen.

To the Hymn is subjoined an Antiphon of this kind: In holiness and justice let us serve him who has given us so devoted a Father and so solicitous a Shepherd, seeking not his own things but those which are Christ's. The rest as above at Lauds.

[97] But the Mass usually celebrated on the solemnity of St. Petronius which they transcribed, and honoured him devotedly. is this: Introit: The Lord established for him etc. Psalm: Remember, O Lord, David etc. Prayer: Almighty everlasting God, look propitiously upon the solemnity of this day, and make your Church rejoice in perpetual festivity through the intercession of blessed Petronius, your confessor and bishop. Through our Lord etc. Epistle: Behold a great Priest etc. Gradual: Behold a Priest etc. Verse: There was not found etc. Responsory: You are a Priest etc. Gospel: I am the good Shepherd etc. Creed throughout the whole Octave. Offertory: I have found David etc. Secret: We ask, O Lord, that the gift of this Sacrifice be touched by your hand, which we offer rejoicing on the festival of blessed Petronius, your confessor and bishop. Through our Lord etc. Communion: Blessed is that servant etc. Postcommunion: As we celebrate, O Lord, the votive joys of your blessed confessor and bishop Petronius, grant, we beseech you, that through these holy things which we have received he himself may commend us to the ears of your mercy. Through our Lord etc.

§ VII. Benedict XIV receives the head of St. Petronius as a gift from the Celestine Fathers.

The head of St. Petronius, A great increase was also made to the sacred cult of St. Petronius among the Bolognese by the care and exertion of Benedict XIV, the late supreme Pontiff. The cathedral church possessed notable relics of him; in the church of St. John on the Mount the Saint's arm had been deposited, which used to be exposed to the veneration of the faithful on the second Sunday of October, as Masinius writes at page 486; the church of St. Stephen possessed the sacred body of Petronius, yet in such a way that the Saint's head was separated from the rest of the body, so that fuller satisfaction might be given to the piety of those flocking to the relics of their Patron. This was placed in an urn wrought in the Gothic style, whose inscription was this: In the current year 1380 this notable work was made, in the time of the liberty of the popular government and of the guilds of the commune of Bologna, for the adornment of the sacred head of this most holy Protector: and Jacobus, called Rosetus, made it. Clement VIII had forbidden it to be transferred elsewhere, under sentence of excommunication to be incurred by the deed itself, unless perhaps some most grave cause, or the solemnity of the day sacred to holy Petronius, should require it.

[99] For this custom had already long obtained among the Bolognese, hitherto preserved and honoured at St. Stephen's, as I have partly related above, that on the day before the Feast of St. Petronius his sacred head should be handed over to the syndic of the fabric of the Petronian church, to be exposed there to the public cult of the faithful; whence on the following day it was carried back every year to the church of St. Stephen, not without great pomp and a solemn procession; from which so pious and praiseworthy an institution Clement wished nothing to be taken away. But it seemed fitting that some new distinction and ornament should at length accrue to the august buildings of St. Petronius from the head of their Patron, which was also the just and equitable desire of the citizens. And this had long been among the wishes of Benedict XIV. Raised therefore from the see of Bologna to the summit of the supreme Pontificate, he took diligent pains that the monks of St. Stephen, in whose keeping the head of St. Petronius had hitherto been, should bestow it upon the Petronian church. And they, not unwillingly, granted the Pontiff his wish, and complied without reluctance with the devout desire of the Bolognese. And so his sacred head was transferred with great solemnity to the church of St. Petronius, to remain perpetually in the power and among the treasures of that church; and the Pontiff prescribed the manner and method of keeping it, and granted a proper Office of this translation, to be recited however only in the city itself. All which will appear more fully from the documents drawn up on this matter and published by the Pontiff Benedict himself in volume X, from page 725.

[100] to Benedict XIV The Celestine Fathers, having learned the Pontiff's desire, and having assembled what they call the definitorial chapter in the monastery of SS. Peter and Catherine at Maiella of Naples on the 25th day of November of the year 1741, offered the head of St. Petronius by way of a perpetual gift, as is clear from the instruments drawn up on that matter. They run thus: In the name of the Lord. Amen. By the present public instrument

let it be everywhere evidently plain to all, and be it known, that in the year from the Virgin's Childbearing one thousand seven hundred and forty-two, in the fifth Roman Indiction, on the 24th day of March, our most holy Lord Benedict, by the favour of divine Clemency Pope, the fourteenth of that name, happily sitting, in the second year of his reign, whom may the Most High deign long to preserve in safety. What follows was drawn up in the Italian tongue, and we therefore render it into Latin, following at times rather the sense of the words than the words themselves.

[101] The Congregation of the Celestine Fathers The Congregation of the Celestine monks of the Order of St. Benedict, as it has always cherished toward the supreme Pontiffs sentiments both of veneration and of filial obedience, very dutiful and compliant, so has always judged that nothing more honourable could ever befall it than to seize a fitting opportunity of attesting its desire to carry out promptly the commands of the supreme Pontiffs. Wherefore the same Congregation has professed in a manner plainly singular its devotion toward the present supreme Pontiff, Benedict XIV, whom he has continually honoured with most clement beneficence and with sure and irrefragable proofs of fatherly love. Since therefore the same Congregation has perceived, among the other gifts which so greatly adorn the name of his Holiness, a singular devotion also toward St. Petronius, formerly his predecessor in the archbishopric of Bologna, but now the most beneficent patron of the same city; and likewise a singular zeal for promoting the cult of the said Saint among others also, and for stirring up the devotion of the faithful to the veneration of the same Saint; and since the same Congregation had in its keeping the body and the head of the aforesaid Saint in the notable basilica of St. Stephen at Bologna; it judged that its dutiful regard toward his Holiness could not be more fittingly proved than by devoutly bestowing a portion of that sacred pledge, and by offering, in the place of a reverent gift, so far as it lay in its power, the head of that same Saint, whose living image and holy manners are found vividly expressed in the same Pontiff.

[102] decrees to give it as a gift. And so, a definitorial chapter of the same Celestine Congregation having been assembled on the 25th day of November of the year just past, 1741, in the royal and venerable monastery of SS. Peter and Catherine at Maiella of Naples, in the presence both of the Father abbot general and of the other father definitors and the chief superiors of the Celestine Order, the same, on account of his Holiness's declared devotion to the said Saint, and at the same time for the sake of attesting more and more their humble obedience toward the Pontiff, by unanimous consent and concordant deliberation decreed that the head of the said Saint, so far as it was or could be in their power, should be reverently offered to his Holiness; being persuaded that he would hold acceptable the gift of that thing which the Fathers of the chapter acknowledged and professed to be his own, and to depend altogether on his full, free and supreme authority. And by the force of this decree (an authentic copy of which is inserted in the present instrument, of the tenor given at the end) it was enjoined on Father abbot Dom Celestino Orlandi, procurator general, that he should express these devout sentiments to the Pontiff in the name of the whole religious body, and, in making the gift of the sacred head of St. Petronius, should not only confirm the said donation by word of mouth, but also, by virtue of the faculty received from the decree, leave in writing a perpetual and irrefragable testimony by a public and solemn instrument, and by any other Acts agreeable to the Pontifical mind. Hence the same Father Orlandi, procurator general of the whole Congregation, after he had been presented at the pontifical throne and had attested the aforesaid to the Pontiff by word of mouth, with the consent also of the most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal Riviera, protector of the Celestines at the holy See, judged that the matter should be declared by a public instrument, so that he might fulfil in every part the charge laid upon him.

[103] The aforesaid Father procurator general, therefore, appearing before me, and through Father Orlandi public notary, and the witnesses undersigned, adhering to the faculty enjoined on him by the full definitory on the said 25th day of November 1741, and the decree made and published therein having been expressly and verbatim repeated, with the knowledge and consent of the aforesaid most eminent protector, of his full and free judgment and not otherwise, in the name of the whole religious body offers, gives and grants by way of irrevocable donation to his Holiness, our Lord Pope Benedict XIV, the said sacred head of St. Petronius, bishop and patron of Bologna, which is kept in a seemly reliquary and exposed to public veneration in the basilica of St. Stephen at Bologna; praying, in the name as above, his Beatitude that he receive it as a token of the veneration and reverence which the Celestine Congregation has professed, and that he thereafter either retain it in his own keeping or dispose of it at his pleasure; declaring in the name of the aforesaid Congregation that his religious body, from the time it passed the aforesaid decree, and much more from the present stipulation, wishes to keep the aforesaid relics as a mere deposit, and only for the sake of afterwards carrying out that supreme disposition which his Holiness shall deign to prescribe concerning the said sacred head irrevocably given to him, so far as it is or can be in the power of the Celestine religious body. At the same time the Father Procurator general declares, in the name of his whole Congregation, that it will regard as a fresh specimen of Pontifical beneficence if he will not be unwilling to accept that precious pledge as a proof of due filial acknowledgment, and to hold as acquired what is in any case his own, and if he will go on protecting the religious body by his supreme Pontifical beneficence, as he is wont, and rendering it secure.

[104] To these things the public Notary subjoins in Latin: Concerning all which premises I have issued this public instrument, being required etc.: he offers, Done at Rome in the venerable Celestine college of St. Mary in Posterula, and in the house of the said most reverend father, procurator general, in the presence of the most illustrious lords Don Francesco Maria Martini, son of Martini of good memory, treasurer and third dignitary of the cathedral church of Uria, and Don Giuseppe Formica, son of Nicola of good memory, of Monopoli, witnesses called, had and specially asked to these things, who subscribed themselves together with the said most reverend father, namely:

I, Dom Celestino Orlandi, abbot of St. Mary in Posterula of the City, procurator general of the Congregation of the Celestines of the Order of St. Benedict, approve as above etc.

I, Dom Francesco Maria Martini, treasurer, was present, as above.

I, Giuseppe Formica, was present, as above.

[105] its own in this matter The tenor of the decree of the definitorial chapter mentioned at number 102 is this: Since the Celestine Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict owes very much on many counts to our most holy Lord Pope Benedict XIV, and especially acknowledges itself bound to him because, forgetful of the supreme authority which he holds, he has taken counsel not as a prince, as he might have done, but as a most excellent parent, and has willed his devotion toward St. Petronius, formerly the well-deserving bishop of Bologna but now its most munificent patron, whose sacred body is kept and honoured in the basilica of St. Stephen in the keeping of our Celestine family, to be plainly seen by the same Congregation; the aforesaid Congregation has judged it greatly to its own interest that at one and the same time it should both exhibit to the Supreme Pontiff proofs of filial obedience and of dutiful goodwill, and should also contribute its zeal and labour, so that the devotion itself of the supreme Shepherd and visible Head of the Church might more earnestly stir up the faithful of Christ to devotion toward the holy Bishop and to his cult. On which matter the fathers of the same Celestine Congregation, in whose hands lies the power of conducting affairs, assembled in definitory, although they well understood that from the custody of the sacred pledge, in no part diminished, much dignity accrued to the basilica of St. Stephen and much splendour and ornament to themselves as well, nevertheless with united votes and with the free, concordant, nay earnest agreement of all minds, most advisedly resolved that the head of St. Petronius, which is fittingly preserved apart from the body in the said Basilica, should be given as a gift to the Supreme Pontiff.

[106] to the Pontiff For it seemed to them fitting that the remains of the holy Bishop should come into the possession of Benedict XIV, who, setting before himself the image of so great a Predecessor, never omitted to instruct that same spouse, the church of Bologna, most wholesomely by word and example, to kindle it with zeal for the divine honour, and to advance its welfare in all the parts of the pastoral ministry. On which matter the most reverend Father abbot general and the other definitorial fathers, in order to unfold more fully the dutiful sentiments of the Celestine Congregation, and to procure for themselves from day to day new supports of Pontifical authority and love, by united endeavours and with full votes delegated the father abbot Dom Celestino Orlandi, procurator general, that, prostrate most humbly at the feet of our most holy Lord, he might give him as a gift, in the common name of the whole Congregation, the venerable head of St. Petronius, so far as it pertains to our same Congregation; and that concerning such free and irrevocable donation made to the supreme Pontiff he might by word and writing and even by a public instrument declare, transact and execute all those things which should be both agreeable to the Pontifical mind and clear testimonies of the grateful and devoted spirit of the Celestine Congregation. And this above all he should assert, that the gift itself is repaid with ample interest if it fall to the Celestine Congregation, taken as it were into Pontifical clientship, to be cherished by the authority and protection of so great a prince.

[107] Further, that this is a legitimate copy of the decree of the definitorial chapter is clear from the following attestation delegated: appended to this copy of the decree in Benedict XIV: The present copy has been extracted from the Book or Register of the capitular Acts of our Celestine Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, which begins from the year 1740, and especially from pages forty-nine and fifty of the said Register, on which pages are contained the Acts of the definitorial chapter celebrated in the venerable and royal monastery of SS. Peter and Catherine at Maiella of Naples, by me Dom Giuseppe Palazzi, secretary of the most reverend Father abbot general and registrar of the said chapter; and, a collation having been made word for word, it agrees with its original. In testimony whereof, by the mandate of the same most reverend Father abbot general, I have affixed the seal and subscribed myself.

Dom Giovanni Palazzi, secretary and registrar.

Place of the ✠ seal.

And because the successor of the late Pietro Nicola Cantarelli, notary of the court of the Capitol, has been asked concerning the premises; I, Francesco Maria Lorenzini, citizen of Rome and by the grace of God and by Apostolic authority public notary of the same court of the Capitol, have for him subscribed and published the present instrument, and fortified it with my accustomed sign, being required etc., saving always etc.

Place of the ✠ seal.

[108] To the donation of the head of St. Petronius, made to Benedict XIV by the Celestine congregation, the donation being consented to there was added also the consent of the most eminent Cardinal Neri Corsini, commendatory abbot of the basilica of St. Stephen, as the following instrument attests: In the name of the Lord. Amen. By the present public instrument let it be everywhere evidently plain to all, and be it known, that in the year from the Virgin's Childbearing one thousand seven hundred and forty-two, in the fifth Roman Indiction, on the twenty-fourth day of March, our most holy Lord, by the favour of divine clemency Pope Benedict XIV, happily sitting, in the second year of his reign, whom may the Most High deign long to preserve in safety. All that follows was written in the Italian tongue, down to the clause subjoined to the instrument: Concerning all which etc.

[109] The most eminent and most reverend lord Neri, Cardinal Corsini, deacon of the Holy Roman Church of the title of St. Eustace, commendatory abbot of the abbey of St. Stephen at Bologna, although he has always aimed, as at a part of his office, not only at the preservation of the goods of his abbey but also of its rights and splendour; and

although he has always, as it deserved, made the greatest account of the sacred deposit of the entire body of St. Petronius, patron of the said city, which is preserved in the church of his said abbey, and is perhaps the most excellent of the things that belong to it, and has held it as the most excellent ornament of his abbey: nevertheless, since there came long ago into the mind of the most eminent lord Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, archbishop of Bologna (now our most holy father Benedict XIV), the most equitable thought of procuring for the notable collegiate church dedicated to the same holy Patron a part of that sacred deposit; and since he kindly asked the aforesaid most eminent commendatory abbot for his assent, and for the gift of the head of the aforesaid Saint, which was long ago separated from the rest of the body and placed in a precious silver reliquary, that it might the more conveniently be exposed to public veneration; he, not only because of the equity of the petition, but also because it proceeded from a most vigilant pastor, so well deserving of the church of Bologna, and held in the highest veneration by the most eminent Cardinal, the commendatory abbot, favoured the desires of that most vigilant pastor with all the readiness he could, so far as it lay in his power.

[110] by Cardinal Neri Corsini But when afterwards that man of such merit had reached the Pontifical throne, he did not cease, amid his Apostolic cares, to keep before his eyes whatever concerned the splendour and advantage of his native city and of the church of Bologna, nor, among other things, the very design of enriching the church dedicated to St. Petronius with his head. And this scarcely reached the ears of the most eminent lord Cardinal Corsini before he resolved to give it as a gift to his Holiness, so far as it lay in his power, together with the reliquary in which it is now enclosed, that he might use it at his pleasure and for the greater glory of the holy Bishop. Hence, before me and the undersigned witnesses, the most eminent lord Cardinal Corsini, as commendatory abbot of the aforesaid abbey of St. Stephen, so far as it lies in his power, by irrevocable donation gives and grants to our most holy lord Pope Benedict XIV the sacred head of St. Petronius, bishop and patron of the said city of Bologna, which was long ago separated from the rest of the body and placed in a precious silver reliquary that it might the more conveniently be exposed to public veneration in the venerable church of his said abbey, that he may use it at his pleasure and for the greater glory of the said holy Bishop. The said most eminent lord Cardinal Corsini, commendatory abbot of the said abbey of St. Stephen at Bologna, declaring that, from the stipulation of the present instrument, so far as it lies in his power, he will see that the said sacred relics are kept in the said venerable church of St. Stephen as a mere deposit, and only for the sake of afterwards carrying out that supreme disposition which his Holiness shall deign to prescribe concerning the above-said head of the holy Bishop Petronius, humbly offered as a gift irrevocably as above, together with the reliquary in which it is enclosed, and not otherwise etc.

[111] commendatory abbot of St. Stephen's, Concerning all which premises I have issued this public instrument, being required etc.: Done at Rome in the Palace of the said most eminent lord Cardinal Corsini, situated in the Via della Lungara, in the presence of the most illustrious lord Filippo Cantagalli, knight of Jerusalem, son of the most illustrious lord count Vincenzo of good memory, patrician of Foligno, and of the most illustrious lord Carlo Nappi Cancellieri, knight of the sacred military Order of the divine Stephen, Pope and Martyr, son of the most illustrious lord count Francesco, noble of Cingoli, witnesses called, had and specially asked to these things, who subscribed themselves together with the said most eminent lord Cardinal Corsini, namely:

I, Neri Cardinal Corsini, commendatory abbot of the abbey of St. Stephen at Bologna, approve as above etc.

I, Filippo, knight Cantagalli, was present, as above.

I, Carlo, knight Nappi Cancellieri, was present, as above.

I, Ludovico Ricci, by the grace of God and by Apostolic authority public notary, and chancellor of the consulate of the Florentine nation of the City, being asked concerning the premises, have subscribed and published the present public instrument of the donation of the above-said sacred relic, and fortified it with my accustomed sign, being required.

Place of the ✠ Sign.

§ VIII. The Pontiff gives the head of St. Petronius to the canons of the same Saint, and prescribes the rite for celebrating its translation.

Benedict XIV, the sacred pledge, Benedict XIV made over the head of St. Petronius, which he had received as a gift from Cardinal Corsini and the Celestine Fathers, to the Bolognese canons of the collegiate church of the same Saint; and he inserted in his praised Work, as witnesses of the matter, the letters sent on both sides. The Pontiff's letter, in which, besides other things, the manner of keeping the sacred pledge is prescribed, runs thus:

To our beloved sons the chapter and canons of the collegiate church of St. Petronius at Bologna.

POPE BENEDICT XIV.

Beloved sons, health and Apostolic benediction. Although we have always made the greatest account of the city of Bologna, our most beloved native place, the mother of the sciences and the good arts, and illustrious for the deeds nobly done by her citizens: yet on this ground above all has she seemed worthy of commendation, that the renowned nation of the Bolognese has built to St. Petronius, formerly its Bishop and now its Patron, a church most famous both for elegance and for size, and has left to posterity a testimony of its piety that will endure for ever. But the more abundantly the ancestral religion of our forefathers has been wont to be praised in the raising of that sacred and august building, the greater has been the desire that has come upon us that his sacred and venerable head, which is kept and honoured in the Basilica of St. Stephen apart from the rest of the body lying there, should one day be transferred into a church of this kind, to increase the grandeur and majesty of the place and to stir up more earnestly the devotion of the faithful people. And so from that day on which we, born of a patrician family of Bologna, were chosen into the distinguished college of the advocates of the consistorial court (to which most ample office we rightly hold that the ampler ones we afterwards filled are to be referred), and undertook to assert and defend the rights of your church in the courts, we judged that our zeal and services also should be directed to this aim. But both the very difficulty of the matter and the obstacles that everywhere interposed themselves put off this concern of ours to a far later time.

[113] which he had long had in mind, Afterwards, when we had been raised to the office of secretary of the Congregation which interprets the Council of Trent, and were duly dispatching the business of the Congregation of the Celestine monks of the Order of St. Benedict, to which the church of St. Stephen is known to belong, although an occasion of winning the goodwill of those same monks and of renewing the design long since conceived was offered more than once, yet we judged that we must refrain from every kind of such overtures, lest the claims of justice, which by our office we had diligently to guard, should seem to be drawn aside in hope of favour or of grace. From that distinguished place, which we long held, we were taken into the most ample college of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church by Benedict XIII of holy memory, our predecessor, who also set us, unequal as we were to so great a charge, over the church of Ancona; and then, being called by the singular munificence of the supreme Pontiff Clement XII to the government of the church of Bologna, lest we should seem to degenerate from the ancestral piety of our Forefathers, we found ourselves kindled more keenly by the hope of obtaining the sacred pledge, from which we had never been parted. On which matter we opened our wishes, which we were at last striving to fulfil, to our then colleague, our beloved son Neri Cardinal Corsini, commendatory abbot of the basilica of St. Stephen, who with a wholly ready and willing mind judged that your church could be enriched with that chief part of the sacred remains, provided that the assent of the Celestine Congregation and the support of Apostolic authority were added to the donation. This excellent and most obliging goodwill of our colleague, although it added spurs to us who were already running, and moved us to press the matter more earnestly with the monks, nevertheless we found must be deferred to the day appointed for the general chapter, so that it might be carried through in that assembly duly and in order; and that the monks themselves, in whose hands lies the power of conducting affairs, assembled in definitory, might deliberate most advisedly upon such a business.

[114] Meanwhile, God so commanding, we ascended this supreme summit of the Catholic Church, as unwillingly as undeservingly; and judging that the fullness of time had at last come in which we might obtain our wish, we left it to our beloved son Domenico Cardinal Riviera, protector of the Celestine Congregation with us and with this holy See, and likewise to our beloved son abbot Celestino Orlandi, procurator general of the said Congregation in the City, zealously to promote our desire with those same monks. By their action, then, the matter was happily brought to this issue, that the abbot general of the same Congregation and the other definitorial Fathers, with united votes and with the free, nay earnest agreement of all minds, in order to procure for themselves from day to day new supports of our Pontifical love, offered us as a gift the venerable head of St. Petronius, together with the case in which it is enclosed, so far as it pertains to them. To this also was directed the obliging goodwill toward us, long known and proved by clear tokens, of our beloved son Neri Cardinal Corsini, who so far as in him lay ratified the renowned gift offered to us, unfolding also more fully the signification of his filial zeal toward us. But although we have received the gift of the sacred head with no small consolation of the Pontifical mind, yet we wish the old case, fit for keeping other relics, to be left in the basilica of St. Stephen in the hands of the Celestine family; since so distinguished a gift is of itself of such value that it can be increased by no ornament.

[115] But lest any part of our diligence should seem to be wanting to the completion of the work, the manner of keeping it being prescribed, we have had a small chest, skilfully and elegantly joined, made in the City, in which the sacred head shall be enclosed. It has moreover been left to our judgment to appoint a certain day on which the chest, enriched with the sacred treasure, shall be transferred to your church with solemn rite and pomp and with as great a concourse of clergy and people as can be had. It will be yours meanwhile to designate a fit place in which this illustrious gift may be safely and honourably kept under a double key, the one to be kept perpetually by the dean of the Forty Men of Bologna, the other by the precentor of your notable collegiate church. But when, within two years to be reckoned from this our letter, the altar shall have been finished which has been begun at great expense and with great splendour by our beloved son and fellow-citizen Pompeo Cardinal Aldrovandi, and when at the same time within that period there shall have been completed the repository for keeping the sacred head, shown to us beforehand in the elevation and form of the same altar, we will and command that the sacred head be placed in it, and that to the two keys a third be added, to be kept by the firstborn for the time being of the Aldrovandi family. But if at the time prescribed by us the work shall still be unfinished, it will be ours, if life allows, to provide fittingly for the keeping of the sacred pledge; or, if death has cut us off, or we have resigned the archbishopric, it will be the part of the archbishop of Bologna then existing to designate a fit place for it.

[116] Moreover we expressly forbid that the sacred head, once brought thither, be removed and transferred elsewhere: and the rite of honouring it, yet on the feast day of the holy Bishop, or on another also, as shall seem good to the archbishop of Bologna, it shall be exposed to the veneration of the faithful on the chief altar of your church; and on the vigil of the same feast it shall be carried in procession from the same church through the Greater Square next to it; power being granted also to the same archbishop to do this as often through other places of that city as he shall judge public processions should be proclaimed at his own discretion. Moreover, that with greater

worship than can otherwise be had, and according to the ancient and excellently established custom of the church, the memory of the solemn translation may be recalled, we will and command that, on the annual recurring day of the same translation, the proper Office, which we have very lately ordered to be published, be recited by all the faithful of Christ of either sex who in that city are bound to the canonical Hours.

[117] To this our letter, to be delivered to you by the priest Filippo Maria Mazzi, he makes it over to the Bolognese canons of St. Petronius: the agent of our affairs there, we have added the public documents in which are recorded the donations of the sacred head made to us, both by our beloved son Neri Cardinal Corsini and also by our beloved sons the monks of the Celestine Congregation: but our Pontifical liberality, by which we have given as a gift to you and to your church the same sacred Pledge together with the precious case, we judge to be sufficiently manifest and attested to all in the evidence of this our Apostolic page, which will endure for ever. It will therefore be your office to place documents of this kind in the archive of your chapter, lest they perish by the injury of time, and to apply yourselves to their keeping with fitting fidelity and diligence. Finally we shall understand that the proofs of our fatherly love and bounty bestowed upon you have been received by you with a mindful and grateful spirit, if your own zeal is not wanting in stirring up the devotion and cult of the Christian people toward the holy Bishop, and if your offices of prayer to him are not wanting, that, aided by his help in so great a difficulty of the times, we may diligently and faithfully fulfil the ministry which we have received from Christ Jesus, full though it be of cares and anxieties; and we impart to you from our heart the Apostolic benediction. Given at Rome at Saint Mary Major, in the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-three, on the tenth day of July, in the third year of our Pontificate.

[118] and they to the Pontiff It was surely fitting that the canons of St. Petronius should give thanks to the supreme Pontiff for so great a token of goodwill and so distinguished a gift; and so they wrote back: Most blessed Father. As soon as we received the most auspicious news that you, most blessed Father, had been raised to that supreme degree of dignity and greatness, next to heaven, plainly by divine counsel and with the fullest goodwill of all, we were both flooded with a certain incredible delight of joy, and a sure hope arose in our minds that by your bounty we should very soon obtain, for the greater cult of our protector Petronius and for the honour and adornment of our chapter, that which was the wish not only of ourselves but of our Forefathers: namely that the sacred head of the same most blessed Petronius should be kept perpetually among us and in this his own church, as in its proper seat. But now, when by your Apostolic letter we have been informed of so great a gift conferred upon us, by which we understand a very great addition to be made to your other and almost innumerable merits toward us, how great a joy has been brought to us and indeed to the whole city, there is no need to declare in words, nor, if there were, should we have strength equal to the doing of it. What if to the greatness of the distinguished and almost divine gift which you have bestowed we should add the very manner and whole form of the bestowal, most full of incredible clemency toward us?

[119] give thanks. For you both chose to address the most excellent Apostolic letter about the gift of the sacred head — that is, your own letter — to us ourselves and to our chapter, though you could have addressed it to others; and you willed that it should be our office to place the same sacred head in a fit spot, while a more illustrious seat is being prepared for it; and you decreed that our chapter should keep and guard that most precious pledge, at present indeed in partnership with the exalted senate, but hereafter with the most noble family of the Aldrovandi besides; finally — not to be tiresome by running through each point — even in the very opening of that same Apostolic letter of yours you deigned to exalt and adorn us and our chapter by the commemoration of your most favourable goodwill toward us even from your youth, or rather of your strenuous and unconquered guardianship and patronage of us and of our affairs, so that nothing more distinguished for our glorying, nor more delightful for our rejoicing, nor more firm and sure for our auspicious and happy foreboding, could ever have befallen us. For all these benefits received from you we give you the most abundant thanks, most blessed Father, and we owe still greater; and we follow, honour and proclaim the greatness of your spirit and your plainly singular liberality toward us with the homage of a most devoted heart, and we promise that the memory of it shall be everlasting among us. Meanwhile, prostrate at your most holy feet, we most humbly imprint our kisses upon them; and for what remains, we shall assiduously pour out to God and to holy Petronius our prayers, heaped up with the prayers of the whole people, which we trust and will take care shall be the more fervent on account of your latest gift, that you may long live as Pontiff for the good of the whole Christian commonwealth — you whom all good and wise men confess and proclaim worthy to live in the excellence of so great a dignity.

At Bologna, the 20th day of July 1743.

*YOUR BEATITUDE'S*

most humble, most devoted and most obedient servants and subjects, the precentor and canons of the chapter of St. Petronius.

[120] But the proper Mass and Office, of which the Pontiff makes mention at number 116, The proper Mass and Office to be recited on the day of the translation within the city only under the lesser double rite, are made as on the Feast of the same St. Petronius, except the proper parts, which are of this kind: Prayer: O God, at whose nod even the bodies of the Saints themselves are disposed through divers places; grant, we beseech you, that we who honour the translation of blessed Petronius, your confessor and Bishop, may ourselves also be translated from our depravity to the rectitude of living devoutly. Through our Lord etc. Lesson IV. After Petronius, bishop of the Bolognese, had restored our city, worn down and almost undone by civil and foreign war, by his present help, purged it of errors, and instructed it most wholesomely by word and example, at last, while Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, and Valentinian were reigning, he rested in a holy end on the 4th of the Nones of October. His sacred remains, laid to rest in the church of St. Stephen the protomartyr, which he himself among others had built and adorned, lay there until the eleventh century of Christ in a lowly place (such as those times afforded), afterwards unknown to the citizens themselves. While Innocent II, the Roman Pontiff, was sitting, Henry, bishop of Bologna, stirred by exceptional piety to search out the relics of the Saints in that church, first came upon the body of St. Petronius, which an abundance of miracles rendered most famous not only to the people of Bologna but also to the neighbouring peoples. And not long after, the most devout citizens, that they might more clearly attest their grateful spirit toward the holy Bishop, decreed for him a church in the nobler part of their city, public money being contributed for it, of such majesty and size that it has been handed down to memory that the emperor Charles V was there presented with the imperial crown by Pope Clement VII.

[121] Lesson V. When, therefore, in that church the birthday of St. Petronius was kept every year as a festal and solemn day, proper, by which while the city, most devoted to its Bishop and Patron, venerated his relics resting elsewhere: to increase the solemnity of the day, it became the custom that the sacred head of Petronius, separated from the rest of the body, should be carried over on the previous day from the church of St. Stephen to the other dedicated to the holy Bishop, a solemn procession being appointed, with a great concourse of the clergy and of all the orders, and be exposed on the chief altar to the veneration of the faithful; and on the following day be carried back to the former church, whence it had been brought, the neighbouring peoples also attending that sacred pledge with prayer, vows and gifts in grateful devotion. And lest anything should be lacking to the common joy, the execution of the laws was mitigated on that day, and the guilty whom the public power held in chains were led out of prison and restored to liberty.

[122] the translation of the sacred head Lesson VI. Most recently Benedict XIV, Supreme Pontiff and likewise archbishop of Bologna, kindled by his old zeal and piety for increasing so far as he could the cult of the holy Bishop his predecessor, willed that his sacred head, enclosed in a more precious chest built with elegant workmanship, should be transferred with notable pomp and solemnity into the basilica raised to him, and most munificently assigned this chief part of the sacred remains as a gift to the same basilica. Yet on the vigil of the feast, recurring each year, in order to preserve the ancient and excellently established custom, he commanded that the same head should be carried in supplicating procession from the church of St. Petronius through the Greater Square next to it, and be again placed and kept in the aforesaid church. Finally, that there might stand a perpetual monument of the distinguished gift and of the solemn translation, he ordered by Apostolic authority that the memory of the event be recalled on this anniversary day.

[123] the Pontiff willed to be celebrated hereafter. This Mass and Office Benedict XIV not only approved, as is clear from number 116, but also ordered to be published and to be recited within the city every year on the anniversary day of the translation, as is clear both from the same number and from what follows, which is subjoined immediately to the aforesaid Mass and Office in the cited Pontiff: The above-written Prayer and Lessons of the second Nocturn for the Mass and Office on the anniversary day of the translation of the head of St. Petronius, bishop and chief protector of the city of Bologna, from the basilica of St. Stephen to the notable collegiate church dedicated to the same Saint, our most holy lord Benedict XIV has kindly approved, and has ordered to be recited each year on the said anniversary day of that translation under the rite of a lesser double by all seculars and regulars of either sex of the aforesaid city only who are bound to the canonical Hours.

This 20th day of August 1743.

Fr. J. A. Card. Guadagni, Pro-prefect.

Place of the ✠ seal.

T., Patriarch of Jerusalem, secretary.

§ IX. The translation of the head of St. Petronius from the church of St. Stephen to the church of St. Petronius.

He exhorts Father Felice Antonio Sgarzi, abbot of St. Stephen's The letters exhibited above having been written on both sides, the Pontiff began to apply himself to this, that the translation of the head from the basilica of St. Stephen to the church of St. Petronius should be carried into effect in good time. On the 28th day of August of the year 1743, therefore, he sent a letter to Felice Antonio Sgarzi, conventual abbot of St. Stephen at Bologna, in which he exhorted him to hand over the head of St. Petronius to the bishop of Amathus, who would shortly request it in the Pontiff's name. It runs thus.

POPE BENEDICT XIV.

Beloved son, health and Apostolic Benediction. After the renowned and distinguished gift of the head of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna, offered to us last year, had more clearly declared the ancient regard and filial zeal of the Celestine Congregation toward us, known to us by very many proofs: this solicitude has always been fixed in our heart, that that sacred pledge, than which nothing more delightful or more excellent could have befallen us, should be transferred, as to a settled seat, into the collegiate church raised to the holy Bishop.

[125] Since therefore, the matter being at last ready to hand, a fixed day must be appointed as soon as possible for the solemn translation by the bishop of Amathus, [the Pontiff, that he may hand over the head of St. Petronius to the bishop of Amathus;] to whom the church of Bologna has very lately been entrusted to be ruled and administered, and who will inform you of our mind; it will be most agreeable to us if you will lend your exertion and zeal that the venerable head of St. Petronius, taken out of the old chest in which it lies, and enclosed in another more elegant one, may be handed over to the same bishop, requesting it in our name,

and that, in the manner he shall settle with you, the business itself may be transacted as speedily as possible. And since your obliging goodwill and that of your monks promises us abundantly that you will perform this fully, we most lovingly impart to you the Apostolic benediction as a witness of our Pontifical charity, to be won by you on this ground above all. Given at Rome at St. Mary Major on the 28th day of August 1743, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.

[126] The abbot of St. Stephen wrote back to the Pontiff on the day before the Nones of September of the same year: he promises that he will do it, Most blessed Father. Nothing more honourable could ever have befallen my Congregation of the Celestines, nor, I think, will befall it hereafter, than what was happily done before this, when it humbly offered as a gift to your Holiness the sacred head of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna, so far as it was its own concern. For although whatever has been handed over to us Celestines for our use and keeping is by every right subject to your authority, nevertheless your Holiness, most graciously asking back what was your own, has deigned to acknowledge it as though derived from the goodwill of your subjects. And although your most gracious kindness, with which you have in a wonderful manner honoured our Congregation in this matter, has filled the minds of all the Celestines with the greatest admiration: yet this has quite surpassed all our expectation, that you have been willing to write to me about the translation of the venerable head shortly to be performed. To confess candidly what I feel, a doubt thence first arose in me whether so diffuse a liberality of your Greatness toward us could be turned into a fault against the lofty dignity of a Pontiff.

[127] But it vanished altogether when I began to reflect that among the innumerable gifts of your mind — of which surely there have never been more honourable proclamations or more frequent praises — kindness and courtesy hold no lowest place, by which you are wont so to bind all men's minds to yourself that it is said everywhere with one mouth by all that nothing like it has ever happened. What therefore you have most kindly deigned to do with us will be the perpetual honour of our Congregation of Celestines, the eternal praise of the Pontifical Majesty, and the immortal glory of your most illustrious name. But as for us, since there is nothing in any of us by which your Holiness should seem to have been led to so great a kindness, we bear so great a burden of your benefits that we are altogether unequal to returning thanks, yet we shall continually carry them within our hearts, pouring out prayers to God with a heart most devoted to you, that he may long preserve you in safety for the good of the whole Christian commonwealth, and always bestow on you all things prosperous and happy. To the bishop of Amathus I have already shown myself ready and prompt for all things, and I shall so comply with him in all things that no solicitude or care may seem to be wanting in me in carrying out your commands. Finally, prostrate at your Holiness's feet and most humbly kissing them, I suppliantly beg the gift of the Apostolic benediction upon myself and my Congregation of the Celestines.

*YOUR HOLINESS'S*

At Bologna, from the monastery of St. Stephen, the day before the Nones of September 1743.

Most humble, most devoted servant and most obedient son,

Dom Antonio Felice Sgarzi, ex-general of the Celestines, conventual abbot of St. Stephen's.

[128] The abbot of St. Stephen's the head of St. Petronius And so on the 2nd day of October of the year 1743 the bishop of Amathus, Lattanzio Felice Sega, in the Pontiff's name went to the church of St. Stephen, and transferred the head of St. Petronius, duly identified, from the old case into the new one, to be solemnly transferred the next day from the church of St. Stephen to the church of St. Petronius; of which matter the often-cited Pontiff presents a public instrument of this kind: In the name of God. Amen. By this present public instrument let it be everywhere evidently plain to all, and be it known, that in the year from the saving Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand seven hundred and forty-three, in the sixth Indiction, on the second day of the month of October, our most holy lord Benedict XIV, by divine providence Supreme Pontiff, sitting, the most reverend Father Dom Felice Antonio Sgarzi, ex-general of the venerable Congregation of the reverend Celestine monks of the Order of St. Benedict, conventual abbot of the monastery of St. Stephen at Bologna, to the effect of promptly fulfilling, as was fitting, those things which the aforesaid most holy lord Pope Benedict XIV, happily reigning, willed to be committed to him in the Apostolic Letter given at Rome at St. Mary Major on the 28th of August last past, and adhering to the request made to him in the name of his Holiness by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Lattanzio Sega, noble patrician of Bologna, bishop of Amathus, provost of the metropolitan church of Bologna, private chamberlain of the same most holy lord Pope, and deputed by him while still retaining the care and government of the church of Bologna, presented the sacred head of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna and chief protector, still enclosed in the old tabernacle and fortified with seals, and yesterday drawn out in that same tabernacle from the repository of the holy relics existing in the lower church of the basilica of St. Stephen and consigned to the said most reverend Father abbot Sgarzi — as is said to be clear from the record of the most excellent lord Michele Lotti, notary and at the same time Chancellor of the abbey of the divine Stephen — and carried over to the upper church of the said basilica, and there kept exposed upon the High altar until the present for the public veneration of Christ's faithful, in the presence of, and with the continual attendance in the same upper church near the said High altar, of:

[129] For the most illustrious and most reverend chapter of the metropolitan church, before witnesses, the most illustrious and most reverend lords: the archdeacon Count Alessandro Formagliari, noble patrician of Bologna, doctor of both laws, member of the college, public lecturer; canon Ludovico Scali Paltroni, noble patrician of Bologna, doctor of both laws and of sacred Theology, member of the college, public lecturer, and Greater penitentiary of the said metropolitan church; canon Giovanni Guidotti, noble patrician of Bologna, doctor of both laws, member of the college, public lecturer; and canon Floriano Dolfi, noble patrician of Bologna, doctor of both laws, member of the college, and public lecturer. For the most illustrious and most reverend chapter of the most notable collegiate basilica of St. Petronius, the most illustrious and most reverend lords: the precentor, marquis Francesco Zambeccari, noble patrician of Bologna and domestic prelate of our most holy lord Pope; the dean Alessandro Garofali, doctor of both laws and of sacred Theology, member of the college, public lecturer; canon Sebastiano Rocco de' Conti, doctor of both laws, member of the college, and canon Felice Riccardi de Ortona Bocchi, Apostolic protonotary. For the most illustrious and most reverend chapter of the collegiate church of St. Mary Major, the most illustrious and most reverend lords: the prior Filippo Cagnoli, doctor of sacred Theology, member of the college, public lecturer; canon Marco Antonio Pandini, and canon Giovanni Giacomo Amadei.

[130] For the most illustrious and exalted senate, the most illustrious and exalted lords senators, here named, marquis Ludovico Ratta and marquis Giovanni Nicolò Tanari. For the magistrates, prefects and deputies, Count Guido Ascanio Orsi and Count Vincenzo Marescalchi. For the prefects and deputies of the abbey of St. Stephen, marquis Luigi Albergati, president of the reverend fabric of Saint Petronius, and Count Francesco Marescotti, fabric-warden of the same reverend fabric of St. Petronius; and all the deputies, nobles and patricians of this city of Bologna. For the most illustrious and most excellent colleges of the lords Doctors, the most illustrious and most excellent lords: Pietro Antonio Roversi, doctor of both laws, member of the college, public lecturer and consultor of the most holy Inquisition, Prior of the college of Pontifical law; the most reverend Provost Filippo Vernizzi, doctor of both laws, public lecturer, consultor of the most holy Inquisition, and Prior of the college of Imperial law; Paolo Battista Balbi, doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, public lecturer, professor of anatomy, and Prior of the college of Medicine; and Marco Antonio Laurenti, doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, public lecturer, professor of anatomy, and Prior of the college of Philosophy.

[131] He presented it to the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop of Amathus, he hands over to the bishop of Amathus, who, having duly identified it present as above, who, receiving it in the presence as above, and having attentively inspected the said tabernacle, and finding it well closed and the seals with which it was fortified entirely untouched, identified and declared that the identity of the sacred head of St. Petronius, bishop of Bologna and chief protector, existing within the same tabernacle, was established; of which notable sacred relic a description is contained in the Report of the most illustrious and most excellent lord Giuseppe Pozzi, private chamberlain and extraordinary physician of the aforesaid most holy lord Pope, lecturer in the university of Bologna, doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, member of the college, emeritus public professor of anatomy and of the institute of sciences, to be registered in due course at the end of the present instrument; which most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop of Amathus, in the presence likewise as above, having broken the said seals, opened the said tabernacle with the veneration that was fitting, and drew from it the said sacred head, and immediately laid and placed it within a more precious and more elegant reliquary case, wrought in the kindly City and given as a gift, together with the sacred head itself, by the most munificent liberality of the aforesaid most holy lord Pope, to the most illustrious lords canons and to the most notable collegiate church of St. Petronius of this city:

[132] and sealed, commits it to the abbot to be kept until the next day. Which reliquary case, well closed, he sealed with his small seal, impressed on melted red Spanish wax, at each front corner, adding at one of the rear corners of the said case the seal of the most illustrious and exalted senate of Bologna, and at the other the seal of the most illustrious and most reverend chapter and canons of the said most notable collegiate church, impressed on like Spanish wax; and then the said sacred head, placed within the said new case and fortified with seals as aforesaid, was again exposed by the said most reverend Father abbot ex-general upon the said altar, to be kept there until the following day of its solemn translation; concerning all which we the undersigned notaries have drawn up the present public instrument, being required. And the tenor of the report announced above is what follows further. This I translate into Latin.

[133] of the identification, Whereas, by the order of his Holiness Pope Benedict XIV, happily reigning, the venerable head of St. Petronius, bishop and chief patron of our city of Bologna, was to be transferred out of the old case into a magnificent and most elegant case given as a gift by the liberal piety of his Beatitude, by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Lattanzio Felice Sega, bishop of Amathus, he therefore, by the Pontiff's mandate, charged me, the undersigned public lecturer and anatomist of the same city, that I should diligently observe and report what in the said sacred head is most worthy of note by the rule of my profession. I say therefore, the due formulas being premised, as in the Acts, etc.: that on the 2nd day of October 1743 the above-said bishop of Amathus opened the old sacred case, and that there was observed a cranium, covered for the greater part with a cap of red silk adorned with gold, on the top of which had been set a small cross, flat and cast of gold.

[134] just mentioned This covering being removed, the sacred head was found — or more truly the upper part of the head (for the whole lower jaw was missing, and no small part of the upper) — bound, surrounded and as it were wholly enclosed in a silver case, on the base of which rests the flat surface of the fragment of the upper jaw united to the bones of the cranium. There lay open to the eyes of the bystanders the frontal, parietal and occipital bones, and a little of the basilar ones, the remaining part of the head remaining covered and bound with slender silver plates, which, joined below to the base of the case,

cross one another above at the crown of the cranium, for the firmness of the lateral, front and rear parts. These plates are not so fitted to the crown of the cranium as to adhere wholly to it, but serve, as it were in place of a handle, for lifting the sacred case; to which end there is found at the point of the crossing, for the sake of greater firmness, a gem as broad as a giulio, which displays an engraved image of St. Petronius clothed in episcopal vestments and giving a blessing. The cranium is not large, nor thick; whence it might be conjectured that the Saint was of no great body and little sinewy. But since a conjecture of this kind may be most fallacious, and makes little to our purpose, I therefore leave it to another's judgment.

[135] On the left part of the sinciput a fissure appears, whose length equals the length of half an inch a description, and whose width equals the thickness of the little finger, by which the thickness of the bones of the cranium — which is filled with cotton — can be examined. The bones are neither of an ashy nor of a white colour, but reddish, and their sutures do not much appear, because here and there they are covered with thin plates of cloth soaked in gum or some other glue; which is plain evidence that the sacred head was at first found in great part broken into fragments and eaten away, so that art was needed to join and strengthen it. But now it offers no cause for which it should be necessary to have recourse to any such work, since in it are found neither papers nor fragments nor excessive mobility of the bones. And these indeed are the things which were diligently observed by me at the supreme Pontiff's order. In faith whereof I have subscribed this report, Giuseppe Pozzi, private chamberlain and extraordinary physician of our lord Benedict XIV, public lecturer of the university of Bologna, doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, member of the college, emeritus public anatomist, and academician of the Institute of sciences.

Thus far Giuseppe Pozzi in Italian; the subscriptions of the witnesses which follow were drawn up in Latin.

[136] Done at Bologna in the said upper church of the basilica of St. Stephen near its said High altar, and the attestations. there being present there not only all and each of those before named, but also the very reverend Dom Giuseppe Cuppini, priest of Bologna, prefect of ceremonies and parish priest of the metropolitan church, and the very reverend Dom Giovanni Antonio Cardinali and the very reverend Dom Giulio Parisi, mansionaries of the same Metropolitan church, witnesses employed, called and asked to all and each of the aforesaid.

Concerning the aforesaid I, Tarsizio Maria Folesani Rivieri, doctor of both laws, citizen and public notary of the college there at Bologna, and Apostolic and imperial, was asked jointly with the undersigned most illustrious lord Antonio Nanni, citizen and notary of the college of this city: in faith whereof etc.

Place of the ✠ Sign.

Concerning the aforesaid etc. I, Antonio, son of the late lord Giovanni Battista de' Nanni, citizen and public notary of the college of Bologna, Apostolic also and imperial, and senior registrar of the archiepiscopal court of Bologna, was asked jointly with the above-written most illustrious and most excellent lord doctor Tarsizio Maria Folesani Rivieri, likewise citizen and public notary of the college of Bologna. In faith whereof etc. I have here subscribed myself etc., being required etc.

Place of the ✠ Sign.

[137] These things having been duly performed on the 2nd day of October, on the following day Lattanzio Felice Sega, Then on the 3rd of October the same bishop bishop of Amathus, transferred the head of St. Petronius from the church of St. Stephen to the basilica of St. Petronius, a most solemn procession having been appointed, to which a vast multitude of every order flocked, as will again be clear from the following instrument: In the name of Christ. Amen. By this present public instrument let it be everywhere evidently plain to all, and be it known, that in the year from the saving Nativity of the same our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand seven hundred and forty-three, in the sixth Indiction, on the third day of the month of October, our most holy lord Pope Benedict the fourteenth sitting and happily reigning, Mass having been completed — with the attendance of the most illustrious and most reverend lord pro-legate of Bologna, the most illustrious and exalted lord standard-bearer of justice, and the exalted lords Elders, the whole clergy and all the magistrates, and the whole most illustrious and exalted senate — and celebrated with every solemnity of rite by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Lattanzio Felice Sega, noble patrician of Bologna, bishop of Amathus, provost of the metropolitan church, private chamberlain of the aforesaid most holy lord Pope, and deputed by him while still retaining the care and government of the church of Bologna, at the High altar of the upper church of the basilica of St. Stephen of this city, upon which the sacred head of the lord Petronius, bishop and chief protector of Bologna, was being kept publicly exposed to the veneration of Christ's faithful;

[138] to the church dedicated to the Saint Which head, solemnly identified yesterday with the due observances, drawn out of the old reliquary and laid within the more precious and more elegant reliquary case sent by the most munificent liberality of his Holiness and given as a gift, together with the sacred head itself, to the most illustrious and most reverend lords canons and to their church, the most notable collegiate basilica of St. Petronius of Bologna, and fortified with the seals of the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop of Amathus at each front corner of the said case, and sealed at the rear corners with the seal of this most illustrious and exalted senate and with the other of the most illustrious and most reverend chapter of the most notable collegiate church of St. Petronius, and shortly to be solemnly transferred to the said most notable collegiate church — the same most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop of Amathus, in the presence of us notaries and of the undersigned witnesses, receiving reverently the aforesaid reliquary case presented and handed over to him by the most reverend Father Dom Felice Antonio Sgarzi, ex-general of the venerable Congregation of the reverend Celestine monks, conventual abbot of the venerable monastery of St. Stephen at Bologna, inspected it attentively, and, finding it well closed and the seals placed upon it as aforesaid entirely untouched, and finding them to agree with the record of the said identification, placing and sealing received yesterday by us notaries, identified and declared that the identity of the sacred head of the divine Petronius, bishop and chief protector of Bologna, existing within it, was and is lawfully established in every way etc.

[139] with great solemnity And thereupon, for the effect of the solemn translation of the said notable sacred relic to be made as aforesaid — all the guilds of the secular arts going before, then the spiritual confraternities, and after these the regulars of the Religious orders called Mendicant, with lighted torches — the same notable sacred relic, contained in that precious case, was raised by the ministry of the reverend priests vested in sacred vestments and placed upon a magnificent frame likewise sent for this effect by the aforesaid most holy lord our Pope, the said reverend priests, vested as above, carrying it, while the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lord pro-legate, the most illustrious and exalted lord standard-bearer, and the exalted lords Elders, the whole clergy, the magistrates and the exalted senate walked devoutly around the same notable sacred relic with torches likewise lighted, and after them followed an innumerable people flocking to the sacred solemn procession, a great part of which carried lighted torches; and it was carried over to the said most notable collegiate basilica of St. Petronius, to be placed and kept there according to the terms of the aforesaid donation of his Holiness: concerning all which we the undersigned notaries have drawn up the present public instrument, being required.

[140] In the presence of the most illustrious lords Alessandro Fabri, transfers son of the late lord Giovanni Paolo, notary of Bologna, and Nicolò Pinoli Pederzani, son of the late most excellent lord doctor Pietro Lazzaro, citizen of Bologna, of the chapel of St. John the Baptist of the Celestines, both chancellors of the aforesaid most illustrious and exalted senate, and lord Ferdinando Gaetano Mazzoni, son of the late lord Giovanni Battista, likewise citizen of Bologna, of the chapel of St. Proculus, witnesses employed, specially called and asked to all and each of the aforesaid.

Concerning the aforesaid I, Tarsizio Maria Folesani Rivieri, son of the late lord Bartolomeo, doctor of both laws, citizen of Bologna, notary of the college, and Apostolic and imperial, was asked jointly with the undersigned most illustrious lord Antonio Nanni, likewise public notary of the college of Bologna, asked in the same way concerning the aforesaid as above etc. In faith whereof etc.

Place of the ✠ sign.

Concerning the aforesaid I, Antonio, son of the late lord Giovanni Battista de' Nanni, citizen and public notary of the college of Bologna, Apostolic also and imperial, and senior registrar of the archiepiscopal court of Bologna, was asked jointly with the above-written most illustrious and most excellent lord doctor Tarsizio Maria Folesani Rivieri, likewise public notary of the college of Bologna, asked in like manner etc. In faith whereof etc. here I etc.

Place of the ✠ sign.

[141] Finally the bishop of Amathus handed over the head of St. Petronius to the Saint's canons, the head of St. Petronius, and which they placed in the Little choir of the Petronian basilica, while in the meantime a new altar was being built by the munificence of Cardinal Pompeo Aldrovandi to receive and keep this sacred head; as the following instrument shows: In the name of God. Amen. By this present public instrument let it be everywhere evidently plain to all, and be it known, that in the year from the saving Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand seven hundred and forty-three, in the sixth Indiction, on the third day of the month of October, our most holy Lord, the lord Pope Benedict XIV, sitting and happily reigning. In the presence of me etc. and of the witnesses etc., the most illustrious and most reverend lord Felice Lattanzio Sega, noble patrician of Bologna, bishop of Amathus, provost of the metropolitan church of Bologna, and also private chamberlain of the aforesaid most holy lord our Pope Benedict XIV, and deputed by the same most holy lord our Pope, who still retains the care and government of this church of Bologna, for the effect of carrying into due execution the things specially committed to him by his Holiness in this matter;

[142] to the canons of St. Petronius, There being with him the most illustrious and most reverend lords dignitaries and canons of the said metropolitan church, and the whole clergy, the sacred head of the divine Petronius, bishop and chief protector, hitherto preserved in the basilica of St. Stephen at Bologna, given by the Pontifical liberality of the aforesaid most holy lord our Pope Benedict XIV, together with the precious case sent from the City, to the most illustrious and most reverend canons of the most notable collegiate basilica of St. Petronius and to their church, as appears from his Apostolic Letter in the form of a Brief given at Rome on the 10th day of July last past, to which etc., of the tenor to be inserted below; and very lately handed over by the most reverend Father Dom Felice Antonio Sgarzi, ex-general, of the venerable monastery of St. Stephen aforesaid, to his most illustrious and most reverend lordship requesting it in the Pontiff's name, in the old reliquary within which it was kept well closed and fortified with seals, according to the contents of another Apostolic Letter of his Holiness directed to the said most reverend Father abbot ex-general, given at Rome at St. Mary Major on the 28th of August last past, to which likewise etc., of the tenor to be similarly inserted below; and then, upon its prior identification made by the same his most illustrious and most reverend lordship with the due observances, found untouched and so declared,

[143] enclosed in a new case, And thereupon drawn out of the old tabernacle, which was left to the said basilica, and immediately and reverently laid and placed within the said precious silver case sent from the City by his Holiness as aforesaid, well closed and with the small seal of his most illustrious

and most reverend lordship doubly fortified, and also sealed with the seal of the most illustrious and exalted senate of Bologna and with the other of the most illustrious and most reverend chapter of the said most notable collegiate church, as appears in the preceding record of such identification and sealing received by the most excellent lord Tarsizio Folesani Rivieri, notary of the college of Bologna and chancellor of the said most illustrious and exalted senate, and by me the notary, to which etc.; and, so placed, was transferred with solemn rite and pomp, and with the greatest concourse of clergy and people that could be had, into the church of the said most notable collegiate church, for the consummation of the Pontifical donation and the entire fulfilment of the mind of our most holy lord.

[144] to be possessed In the presence and hearing of the most illustrious and most reverend lord Giovanni Carlo Molinari, referendary of both signatures of our most holy lord Pope, perpetual commendatory abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux, Apostolic protonotary Participant and pro-legate of Bologna; of the most illustrious and exalted lord Count Giacomo Insulano, standard-bearer of justice; of the most illustrious and exalted lords Elders, the tribunes of the people, and the whole exalted senate — he handed over, consigned and delivered it to the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lords canons of the said most notable collegiate church of St. Petronius, who were present and who accepted it with the veneration that was fitting for their chapter and for the aforesaid church, and who placed it upon the High altar, to be afterwards kept safely and honourably for the present in the Little choir of the same church under a double key, the one to be kept by the most illustrious and exalted lord dean for the time being of the Forty Men of Bologna:

[145] And the other by the most illustrious and most reverend lord precentor of the said most notable collegiate church, and kept which keys the same most illustrious and most reverend lord handed over, through the person of the most illustrious and most excellent lord Filippo Maria Mazzi, general agent deputed by his Holiness for this his reverend archiepiscopal table of Bologna — the one to the noble man lord Count Filippo Aldrovandi, patrician of Bologna and senior senator, and the other to the most illustrious and most reverend lord marquis Francesco Zambeccari, noble patrician of Bologna, domestic prelate of the aforesaid most holy lord our Pope, and precentor of the said most notable collegiate church — they being present and accepting; until, when the altar in the same church has been completed by the most eminent and most reverend lord Pompeo, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Aldrovandi, and the repository for the said sacred head, it be placed in the elevation of the same altar, in all things and through all things according to what has been prescribed by his Holiness in the said Apostolic Letter directed to the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend lords the chapter and canons, to which also in this part etc. Concerning all which etc.

[146] I, the above-written and undersigned notary, have drawn up this public instrument, being required etc. he consigns it. The tenor of the Apostolic Letter announced above is here omitted, by the will of the petitioners. Done in the said most notable church, the basilica of St. Petronius, near the High altar, there being present there the noble men lord abbot Antonio, son of the late noble man lord Giovanni Elefantuzzi of famous memory, of the chapel of St. Proculus; lord marquis Antonio Amorini, son of the late noble man lord Giovanni Andrea of famous memory, of the chapel of St. Marinus; and lord Count Ludovico, son of the noble man lord Count Francesco Malvasia, of the chapel of SS. Gervase and Protase, all patricians of Bologna, witnesses employed, specially called and asked to all and each of the aforesaid.

Concerning the aforesaid etc. I, Antonio, son of the late lord Giovanni Battista de' Nanni, citizen and public notary of the college of Bologna, Apostolic also and imperial, and senior registrar of the archiepiscopal court of Bologna, etc., was asked. In faith etc. I have here subscribed myself, being required etc.

Place ✠ of the Seal.

LIFE

By an anonymous author

From the Chronicle of the monks of St. Stephen at Bologna.

Petronius, bishop and confessor, at Bologna in Italy. (S.) BHL Number: 6641

A. By an Anonymous Writer

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's birth, his manners in youth, and his consecration as bishop.

Illustrious in family, in learning, At the outset of this history ^a it must first be set down whence he took his origin, and from what line he drew his genealogy, or of what sort and how great he was in life; as also most of those who profess to know report by word of mouth ^b, that he was a Greek by nation, and happily drew his origin from the imperial line of two kings, namely Constantius, Constantine and Constans ^c. Whence it came about that Theodosius the second, made emperor of the Romans from heaven, took his sister to himself as wife, and lawfully received her with the dancing joy of the whole city of Constantinople ^d. From the cradle he was weaned and brought up by Christian parents. But afterwards, when he had grown up, he was handed over by his parents to a school of philosophers ^e, and to masters of the liberal disciplines and of the ecclesiastical mysteries. And so, by God's bounty, he was steeped in them that he flourished in all the studies of philosophy and especially in the spiritual ones: and moreover he was learned in Greek as well as in Latin teaching ^f. Whom also blessed Jerome, that distinguished doctor and interpreter of the divine laws, commemorating him among the hagiographers in his Catalogue of Illustrious Men, says: Petronius, bishop of the city of Bologna, a man full of sanctity and of the knowledge of the liberal arts, described the Lives of the holy Fathers in Egypt ^g: and he is read to have lived in the time of the emperor Theodosius the Younger ^h. Finally, while still set in infancy, he subjected the temple of his body in every way to the service of Christ. For he had read: No dignity is greater than to serve Christ. Thereupon he began to frequent the sanctuaries ⁱ of the Church of God so diligently that he gave himself to the study of psalmody through all the churches rather than devote himself to earthly dwellings, as the Psalmist says: "I have chosen to be an abject in the house of God rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners ^k."

[2] in virtue, and in offices at the court of Theodosius 2 For having obtained the clerical office ^l, he wholly subjected himself entirely to the service of the Creator, whom all the elements obey, having left nearly all his patrimony. And so he was strong all night long in unremitting prayer; he gave himself over to fastings and prayers and frequent vigils: his body also he ruled chastely, without the contagion of lust; so that an innumerable throng of either sex in the city of Constantinople followed his holy footsteps. He willingly bestowed alms on the needy, as his means supplied him; he refreshed the poor, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and counted the calamity of others his own. When therefore the fame of his sanctity grew frequent and prevailed, that is, through the whole of Constantinople, the same Augustus, his brother-in-law ^m, burning immoderately in love of him, loved him beyond what it is lawful to say; so much so that he assigned him the first place of the whole monarchy and of the sacred palace above all who dwelt in his empire, and had given him the power of distributing all the royal tributes at the pleasure of the most holy man Petronius, as had been the custom with each, and of receiving small gifts into the imperial treasury: since he had also commanded that the taxes which were brought yearly by the couriers of all the provinces from every part of the world under the usual terms should be kept in the treasury of the palace. So too all things had been given into his hand, so that whatever he wished he distributed at his pleasure out of the taxes to the needy and the poor and to those serving the Lord Christ. And while he steadfastly performed the service of the poor in secret, so far as he was able, he strove, as it is written: When you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does ⁿ. But a lamp set upon a candlestick cannot be hidden without shining upon all who are in the house ^o: so this man too could not lie hidden without being known to all, as the Evangelist testifies, who says: Nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known [p].

[3] And while he was doing such things, the chief men of the city of Constantinople St. Petronius, and the better part of the people began to embrace him with wonderful veneration and with an immense longing as a father, for the grace of so great a religion divinely bestowed upon him: since indeed he had been accustomed to fatten them fully with divine food, by exhorting, that is, and teaching that they should take pains to keep in themselves the love of God and of their neighbour according to the precept; as the Scripture teaches: "Faith without works is dead [q]." And while he overflowed with these and such-like holy utterances, which it would now be long to recount, the whole city also, refreshed by his sweet and pleasant admonitions and giving due thanks to the Lord who had bestowed on it such a minister of benevolence, rejoiced with the joy of peace and gladness. Meanwhile, at the prompting of diabolical craft, the savagery of the depraved heretics [r] and of the Jews — who, denying Christ and seeing many wonders, were always unbelieving — and also of the faithless heathen [s], had cruelly sprouted up through * … the native lands, little by little from place to place, and had especially practised on those who were altogether profane: just as in the time of St. Sylvester the supreme Pontiff, who, by God's inspiration, overcame the maintainers of such deceit in the sight of Constantine Augustus and of his mother queen Helen, by proofs drawn from the Old and the New Law [t].

[4] Then Theodosius the Younger, emperor of the Romans, Nestorianism springing up, caesar augustus, author of justice, lover of the divine law, hearing of so great an outrage, shuddered [u]; and judged himself guilty before God if he should allow so pestilent a heresy to be propagated in his country. And so, having called together all the chief men of that province who rightly worshipped God, the emperor addressed them, saying: All you who stand in this council, hear what I am about to say concerning the Author of all the ages, whom the fierce savagery of certain men strives to divide from his only Offspring and from the holy Spirit [x]. To this one who presided over the rest, full of the divine Spirit, said: Wherefore a useful and wholesome counsel seems to us, that these things be made known through a fit messenger, one who fully knows the page of the divine law, to the Roman Pontiff [y], and that he seek the authority of the Apostolic See, which is above every dignity of the world: and this pleased all. Then Augustine said to them: Whom then shall we be able to send, who may know how usefully to make clear the whole order of this venomous superstition? All unanimously with one accord gave this counsel: We know no one within the power of your empire who is so fit and serviceable for carrying out this work as Petronius the servant of God, your dear one and kinsman most vehemently beloved; who knows all Greek and Latin speech, and who is no mean scholar in the knowledge of the Old and New Testament, and who for some space of time has given himself over to the divine worship. The emperor said: Therefore we have judged it fitting that he should graciously yield to your words and to our prayers, and, by the bounty of divine grace, utterly free … the country from error.

[5] having set out for Rome at the order of Theodosius II, For blessed Petronius, at once satisfying the imperial commands, steadfastly set about seizing the road, Augustus accompanying him as far as the harbour where a ship was being prepared: he endowed him with many gifts and precious ornaments adorned with gold and various gems, and weeping kissed him, and said:

O venerable one, farewell, brother-in-law [z], ever beloved by me; go, I pray, brother-in-law, to the threshold of Peter the key-bearer, and bring me back, gladder and safe, the sacred teaching that shall condemn the depraved heretics and the profane, and that the simple Godhead may at last be believed threefold.

In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the kindly Spirit, may the dread straits of the sea grow gentle, and may your ship pass through the storms made uncertain by wind and rain.

Then, having gone aboard ship [aa], by God's will and with a prosperous course, after some days he came to the shores of the Tiber on that very day on which the Pope, Celestine by name, had appointed a council with the Catholic bishops [bb]. And as he was disembarking from the ship, behold, there were legates whom the Pope had sent to him, that they might conduct him reverently and with honour to the Lateran palace [cc]: for he was confidently awaiting his arrival, since on the previous night the blessed Apostle Peter had appeared to him in sleep, saying: Know that Felix, bishop of Bologna, has departed from this light in peace [dd], and take care that you ordain no other in that church save the emperor's legate, whom, God willing, you shall see tomorrow.

[6] by a divine revelation And when Petronius, the servant of God, entered the palace, Pope Celestine was at once filled with great joy, and, receiving him gladly, ordered him to be lodged near himself in the palace, and commanded that all things necessary should be furnished him. But on the next day, when the holy Apostolic one was sitting in the Constantinian basilica [ee] with many bishops to carry out the sacred council, citizens of Bologna of every order were present in the midst of the council, asking that a pastor be given them [ff]. To this the Pope spoke with Apostolic mouth: "Those whom God foreknew and predestined, them also he magnified [gg]." And the Prophet says: "This was done by the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes [hh]." He began also to relate the tenor of the past vision, while all who were present listened with close attention. All therefore with one accord, giving praise, lent their assent to this sacred ordination. And when the illustrious man of the Lord, Petronius, understood God's will concerning himself, and could no longer resist, silently weighing that saying of the Apostle who says, "He who resists the power contradicts the ordinance of God [ii]," the servant of Christ, recognizing this by the revelation of the divine Spirit, although unwilling, nevertheless devoutly prostrated himself at the feet of the supreme Pontiff and said weeping: "Not my will, but yours be done [kk]."

[7] Then Pope Celestine, holding a staff in his hand, he is consecrated bishop of the Bolognese went on speaking thus:

With this staff, and with Christ as witness, I commit to you the see of Bologna, its people and all the faithful, that you may keep them by sacred admonitions and govern them, and that they may rejoice with you in the hall of the heavenly King, and enjoy with peace the angelic strains of love, and that, your sheep being fed with admonitions, you may be filled among the stars, and obtain the everlasting fountain of the chosen flock. Sent by the Lord, may you be worthy of such an office, and by the power of God may you enjoy the light of day, and may you deserve to win the applause of praise by your manners and by a life friendly to the pursuits of goodness. Let such care with firm governance be enough for you: may you restore the churches after the manner of a shepherd; you shall always beget rich adopted offspring.

These things having been thus foretold, signing him he blessed him thus:

Receive the power by which you may be able to bring salvation; may the power of binding and of loosing the lands be yours at your own pleasure, Brother vehemently beloved, and may you dissolve what is bound, and bind and loose what is not bound.

And he anointed his head while all gave thanks.

[8] This he said, and straightway blessed him with such a speech:

Sent by Christ, may you ever be blessed; by Pope Celestine, to whom may Christ from heaven bestow on you the gifts on high, may the grace of the Lord be with you without end for ever, that you may wipe away filth; I ask, reform the deeds of the people, lest the intent wolf, the faithless and bloody robber, swallow up, destroy, tear, rend and drive away any that wanders through or strays round about, out of the sheepfold duly and freely granted you by me, which God has now taken to himself and left to Bologna, that you might keep the crops, or water them from a living fountain, and carry all, as they desire, into the citadel of the heavens. As bishop you go to the city, which rejoices at your coming, and console with your accustomed admonitions the peoples that mourn. The city granted to you has perished [ll] … The strong doorposts of the gates have fallen in a row, the lofty walls fall, and the baths of delights. What is left … will very soon be about to fall, and the whole ancient work will be dissolved to its foundations. But, by the mercy of God, you will be able to repair it the sooner; at least let it at last be repaired through you. Help her, for she is destroyed in ruins. May God watch over you, bless and govern you, the Father and the Offspring and the Spirit; and of oil, of wine, of honey and of pepper … and of fresh antidote, and of precious nard, may you be full, of wheat, of corn and of days, and of as great abundance as the patriarch Jacob.

By the Lord of kings, who has blessed you for ever; and may he too be blessed, and enjoy the light of paradise. And cursed shall he be who seeks to curse you. By these was just Abraham once at last upheld, who, seeing three and rejoicing, then freely adores one; and his mystery I believe was reckoned just. Then first he believed God in his heart … and then was called the faithful friend of God, when he deems the riches of the Trinity to be the glory of one [mm]. Strengthened by this help he soon becomes a blessed patriarch [nn], so that, as He increased him, he became the father of an ample nation for ever. Then the Lord speaks to Abraham with such words as these: I will multiply your seed, poured out through the regions of the world, and extended, and replenished with great abundance; and as the sands of the sea are not truly numbered, and as the stars of heaven are numbered at no hour, so neither is it bounded by any common number. From the stock of aged Jacob are the twelve fathers, whom God exalted and multiplied with children. As he cherished the begotten offspring with a father's love, he rained manna from heaven above on a clear night, and the loving father fed them with banquets and satisfied them, and poured forth water from the top of a barren rock, and Moses the lawgiver wrote down the laws in letters.

who poured upon Saul's head in royal fashion; afterwards David duly becomes king by the gift of the true God, and king David also composed the songs of the psalter. Afterwards Solomon built a noble temple for the Lord, which his mother's wisdom fitly ordered in due rite. And may Raphael, who heals sorrows, be your guide and companion, who is called the Medicine of God in the height of heaven. And may he be your forerunner, guardian and restorer, who well defended Tobias from the enemy unto life, and led him safe and brought him back to his blind father, and then afterwards healed both his father's eyes, and made him see straightway as before.

and strong or raging nations grew up. Thence come the aged patriarchs and the prophets, illustrious chieftains, women greatly blessed. From faithful David proceeded the origin of Christ, who redeemed the human race, slain by a cruel slaughter, from the bond of death by his own blood; the ranks of the Saints, who give praise from the seat of the heavens; the disciples of Christ are ministers of this stock, who have obtained glowing robes and stoles also woven with gold, and garlands of hyacinth, and now become the first friends of the Almighty, with whom may you deserve to have the kingdom on high. Hereafter may the good angel of the Lord accompany you, and dispose well, and lay up your good things in the clear sky, where there is no rust at all. Nor shall it be taken away; whatever is well placed remains, where the joyful citizens of heaven sing their songs, and praise the kindly Christ with lofty voice. May he also preserve, guard and govern you, as long as you shall stand in this world in calm, but may he protect you unto the end, here and everywhere, and at last grant you the pleasant place of paradise.

ANNOTATIONS.

k. Psalm 83, ℣ 11.

n. Matthew 6, ℣ 3.

p. For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known. Matthew 10, ℣ 26.

q. James 2, ℣ 20.

r. He means Nestorius and his followers: Nestorius began to sit at Constantinople in the year 428, and a little after to vomit forth the poison of his heresy, impiously denying to Christ his Divinity and to the Virgin Mother a divine childbearing. See number 31.

s. He attributes the errors of the Jews and the heathen to the Nestorians, either because in this point, and that a most grave one, they agreed with the Jews and the heathen, who refused to acknowledge as God one who (as they impiously pleaded) had been born after the manner of other men; or in following the examples of the Fathers. Proclus in his Letter to the Armenians holds Nestorius worse than a Jew. Let us flee, he says, this newly fabricated and novel blasphemy also, which far surpasses Judaism as regards the greatness of the blasphemy. For they, while they reject him who is the Son, deprive the branch of its root: but these, adding another beyond him who is the Son, mark the inviolable nature as though it were of many kinds. Cyril too compares the Nestorians to the Jews, in the Homily delivered after Nestorius was cast down, saying: For indeed they put on the person of a Christian man, but keep meanwhile a judaizing mind: and to the heathen he compares Nestorius, in Labbe, volume III of the Councils, page 586: Every nation indulging in nefarious wantonness and dissoluteness this man has surpassed in his malice.

t. He points to the famous disputation of St. Sylvester held with the Jews, the history of which is inserted in the Acts of the holy Pontiff, but defiled with those fables whose falsity manifestly appears. Go to Baronius under the year 315, number 10 and following, and to Pinius, volume III of August, page 559 and following.

u. Theodosius was not so hostile to Nestorius; on the contrary he favoured him against Cyril, while he had not yet seen through the heretic's frauds. See number 32 and following.

x. Nestorius, that is, tore Christ apart into two persons, two Sons of God, and two Christs: hear Vincent of Lérins, who lived under Theodosius and Valentinian, explaining the Nestorian heresy thus in his Commonitory, in Baluze, page 333 and following: But Nestorius, with a disease contrary to that of Apollinaris, while he pretends to distinguish two substances in Christ, suddenly introduces two persons; and with unheard-of wickedness will have there be two Sons of God, two Christs, the one God, the other man; the one who is from the Father, the other who is begotten of the Mother. And therefore he asserts that holy Mary must be called not Theotocos but Christotocos: because, forsooth, of her was born not that Christ who is God, but he who was man. But if anyone thinks that in his writings he says one Christ and preaches one person of Christ, let him not readily believe it. For either he contrived that by the art of deceiving etc. And at page 340 he has it thus: Anathema to Nestorius, who denies that God was born of a Virgin, who asserts two Christs, and who, having exploded the faith of the Trinity, introduces to us a quaternity. Further, the whole speech which the anonymous writer here attributes to Theodosius he drew from his own store, as anyone will easily detect in the course of the Acts, without my saying so, that he has done elsewhere too.

y. Garnier contends, with arguments not slight but yet not altogether convincing, that the council of Ephesus was proclaimed by Theodosius without the knowledge of Celestine, the Roman Pontiff; and accordingly he denies that Petronius went as legate to Rome to request it. See what is said at number 37 and following.

z. See the Annotations at letters c, d, m.

aa. More probably toward the end of the year 429 or the beginning of the next. Go to number 34 and following.

bb. What that council was the anonymous writer does not say: in the cause of Nestorius two were held at Rome, the one in the year 429 after the Paschal feast, as it seems; the other in the year 430, in the month of August: but the anonymous writer seems unable to be conveniently understood of either. See number 34 and following.

cc. That the former dwelling of the Roman Pontiffs, founded near the Constantinian basilica, as is believed, by St. Sylvester at the expense of Constantine the Great, as Panvinio writes in On the Seven Churches of the City, page 168, was Constantine's palace, Aringhi hands down in book 4 of Subterranean Rome, chapter 44. In the meantime Constantine, he says, moved by Sylvester's example, set his hand to the munificent building of churches. For in his own Lateran palace he built a church to the Saviour.

dd. If we adhere to these words of the anonymous writer, Petronius had come to Rome before word was brought there of the death of St. Felix, bishop of Bologna, and therefore not many days after his death: and St. Felix is believed to have died in the year 429, on the 4th day of December, on which he is honoured.

ee. Of that basilica Panvinio, just praised, speaks thus at page 106: The basilica of St. Saviour, which from the place is called the Lateran, from its founder the Constantinian, and from its ornaments the Golden, was built, together with the neighbouring patriarchate (or Lateran palace), for the use of the Roman Pontiffs, by the pious emperor Constantine on the ridge of the Caelian hill, and was consecrated by St. Sylvester on the 5th of the Ides of November, about the year of Christ 320. He adds in chapter I: It is now called St. John's.

ff. Tillemont says that the Bolognese certainly did not have recourse to the Roman Pontiff to ask a new bishop for themselves, because it was then established custom that the metropolitan of Milan, to whom the see of Bologna was subject, should be approached for that cause. But from a custom generally received it does not certainly follow that it was always and everywhere observed, as Benedict XIV says. See number 43.

gg. To the Romans 8, ℣ 29 and following: For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be made conformable to the image of his Son, that he himself might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom he predestined, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

hh. Psalm 117, ℣ 23.

ii. To the Romans 13, ℣ 2. And so, he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God.

kk. Luke 22, ℣ 42.

ll. See number 68 and following.

mm. But when did Abraham first believe God, and was called the friend of God? Was it when he saw the three angels and adored one? Or rather, to use the anonymous writer's words, when he deemed the riches of the Trinity to be the glory of one — that is, when he believed in some fashion the mystery of the most holy Trinity, which the anonymous writer seems to hint at in the words just cited? For one or other follows from the anonymous writer's words: but whichever you say, it is all one. For Abraham did not then first believe God; for the apparition of the angels made to Abraham is related in Genesis, chapter 18, ℣ 1 and following. But in chapter 15, ℣ 6 it is read: Abram believed God (as he promised him an innumerable posterity) and it was reputed to him unto justice; to which also belongs that saying of James, chapter 2, ℣: Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice, and he was called the friend of God. For the rest, as regards the Mystery of the most holy Trinity acknowledged by Abraham when he saw three and adored one, Estius comments thus on this place: Augustine, in book three against Maximinus, chapter 26, will have it that Abraham acknowledged the Trinity in these three; and he says that which the Church sings: "He saw three, and adored one." Not but that he thought them men, or angels in human form (for he wished to wash their feet and to set food before them, nay, he did set it before them, and they, as it seemed, ate) but that meanwhile, by divine instinct, in receiving three and addressing only one, he indicated this Mystery. And Cornelius a Lapide, after saying that Abraham's guests were recognized by him gradually, first as men, then as angels and envoys of God, and that they symbolically signified the most holy Trinity, discourses thus: Hence it follows that Abraham first adored these angels, as angels and envoys of God, with dulia; secondly, recognizing that they represented God, and the most holy Trinity represented in them, he adored them with latria, as St. Augustine teaches; for he who appears here and speaks with Abraham is always called Jehovah, which is the proper name of God, to whom latria is due. So they.

nn. Likewise Abraham had already been constituted a patriarch by God before, as is clear from Genesis, chapter 17, ℣ 5: Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but you shall be called Abraham: because I have made you a father of many nations.

perhaps per patriam* through the country

read: Augustus*

* nothing seems to be missing.

CHAPTER II.

The Saint restores Bologna.

With sacred and profane All the pontifical rites and blessings having therefore been duly performed in the customary manner of bishops, the citizens of Bologna return joyfully to their city with their consecrated Bishop. And when he drew near to his diocese, the whole city was crowned with joy. The throng of either sex burst out in praises and spiritual hymns, and did not cease to praise the Lord, who had bestowed on them so great and such a Shepherd and Father. And when the venerable Father was seated on the pontifical throne, he first laid the spiritual foundation of his virtues, by labouring namely for the repair of the churches overthrown by the * … devastation, and there he repaired very many ^a. He also founded from the foundations, with marvellous workmanship, a monastery outside the city on the road that runs eastward, in honour of St. Stephen the protomartyr ^b. For the buildings of the same monastery are very spacious and lofty, inlaid with divers stones, surrounded round about with very many precious columns of porphyry stone and of other stones of divers colours, with their bases and capitals, marked with various figures of men, of four-footed beasts and of birds; there with very great labour he carried out in figure a work marvellously built after the likeness of the Lord's sepulchre, according to the pattern which he had seen and had diligently measured with a rod, with careful attention, when he was at Jerusalem; for there it had fallen to him for some course of days to collect the taxes throughout the whole of Judea ^c. The walls too of the sepulchre are raised within on every side round about with their joinings, and with squared and cut stones shining with exceeding whiteness.

[13] He also built from the foundations another edifice, and that with a very great variety of columns ^d, buildings after the likeness of the holy places with a courtyard round about, with two orders of precious columns with their bases and capitals, adorned with manifold devices, so that above the lower order of columns another more precious one rose, and in such a way it extended

as far as the place which in figure is called Golgotha, that is, Calvary, where the cross was set on which Christ was fastened for the salvation of the world. And that place is painted with various images of divers colours; and the pavement of the whole work is laid with Parian and porphyry stone, and with stones of divers variety. So beautiful and so bright are all the buildings of this place that whoever has once beheld them desires with most ardent love to see them again. And in the same place which is called Golgotha he set a wooden cross, which in length and breadth was made throughout, on every side, after the likeness of the Cross of Christ. But after a long course of years the savage nation of the Hungarians invaded the whole province with very great devastation ^e: one part of them, which had been the crueller, saw the cross set there, and desiring to destroy it so that it should thenceforth not be adored by the worshippers of Christ, filled that whole building with wood and straw, and likewise kindled fire, that it might burn the cross, and that so great a glory of that illustrious work might fall headlong: by no man's merits, but by the divine clemency, it came about that the holy cross remained unharmed by the savagery of those wicked men, as it is today: and the chief part of the edifice, though scorched by the strong heat of the fire, stood by the power of the holy cross.

[14] But another thing which he accomplished with great labour is not to be passed over in silence. after the likeness of the places of Palestine, And he measured, when he was at Jerusalem, by how many rods Golgotha was distant from the Mount of Olives: and in the same way he measured there also ; in the pleasant plain of that place he founded a mount, which to the present day is called the Mount of Olives, which with great sweat and exertion he raised up; and by imperial edict he had earth dug and brought from elsewhere. And indeed on the top of this mount he zealously built with every diligence a monastery in honour of St. John the Evangelist, with a loftier building, with high … ^f. And in the middle of the church he wondrously adorned a courtyard with columns of precious stones in a rounded circle, and he clothed the vestibule which was before the courtyard with divers stones of a milky colour with their carvings. And he took care to adorn the walls of the whole building of the courtyard and vestibule on every side round about with beautiful paintings. From the foot of this mount to the top the ascent was by marble steps. In the middle of the courtyard is the place from which, while the disciples looked on, Christ ascended into heaven. And in that same place the Holy Spirit came upon them and gave them the knowledge of all tongues: there, of course, a cross was set, that it might hereafter be the sign of so great a holiness. And the space that lies between Golgotha and the Mount of Olives is a valley which is called Jehoshaphat: and in it is the field Haceldama, which was bought by the Jews with the thirty pieces of silver which Judas brought back, for the burial of pilgrims, as is read in the Passion of the Lord ^g. Another work also, which he skilfully carried out, is not to be omitted; rather let us take pains to set it forth in writing. He also made in figure, with great care, a pool, according to what he had measured with the rod in Jerusalem, after the likeness of the pool of Siloe, of which the Lord said to the man born blind: "Go to the pool of Siloe and wash ^h": and the blind man did what he had commanded him, went and washed and saw and believed God.

[15] Bologna, It must therefore be made known to our descendants, namely to the citizens of Bologna, concerning the calamity and overthrow of the city of Bologna — what and how great things it once suffered from the tyranny of the most impious emperor Theodosius ⁱ. When Theodosius, emperor augustus of the Romans, had come from Constantinople to Rome ^k, he sent his legates through all the provinces: and at last he directed to the city of Bologna a certain man who held the first place in the royal court above all others, or who was dearer to him than the rest. That city was the garden of Rome, in which is the seat of the empire: and therefore the city of Bologna is anciently called the Garden of Rome, because a garden is indeed a place which, though it may seem small, is yet held by husbandmen more pleasing and dearer than all fields: it is planted with trees of every kind; there are apples acceptable to eat, there too are vegetables through the whole circuit of the year; there grow health-bringing herbs breathing the sweetest odours, and producing saffron and purple flowers of various coloured appearance. And a place of this kind is more loved and guarded than all others by husbandmen. Wherefore that city has not unfittingly been called the Garden of Rome: for by its proper etymology and by a special word this name … * Bologna was bestowed upon it ^l; because it abounds in all riches and is fully filled with all good things; so productive of wine that no land would dare contend with its praises: and so fertile that not only does the soil of that diocese produce fruits of corn, barley and wheat of divers kinds, but also, as is read in the Deeds of the Franks, the trees of Bologna once brought forth harvests — a wonderful thing to tell. And the same city is situated at the foot of the mountains, and possesses pleasant plains and fishy marshes near it. The inhabitants of that city are naturally of good faith, skilled in arms and strong in counsel. There was once there an arena, built with marvellous workmanship, in which assemblies were often held by the Augusti ^m. There too were built royal palaces and baths ⁿ, marvellously adorned within and without with columns of precious stones and with their carvings. And this city is the beginning of the Roman province and of Aemilia ^o.

[16] which Theodosius I, avenging the killing of his friend To this so illustrious city, then, the emperor had directed the man dearer to him, that he might collect the royal tributes from the neighbouring cities and bring them as far as Bologna: since he had determined to stay there for the space of very many days. But this legate, like a fool, swelling with empty glory because of the king's favour toward him, broke out into such boasting that he believed himself to fall but little short of the royal dignity. For there was no one of so good a disposition in that whole city whom he did not shamefully dishonour, and — a thing wicked to tell — how savagely he beat him. But on a certain day this same man, full of fury, was seen to disgrace with a beating one of the chief men of the aforesaid city: straightway the whole city was turned into an uproar. And he who had suffered such things, rising manfully against him as though mad, struck him on the breast with a pole which he held in his hand, and he, falling at once, vomited out his life with his blood. And when the report of this thing reached the emperor's ears, the king began to be exceedingly grieved thereat: but that so great a sorrow might not be perceived by anyone, he pretended to make light of such a deed; but soon he sent another messenger to the same city, and with feigned deceit put in his mouth peaceful words in guile, after this manner: Know that the king's favour toward you is very great, and that on account of the arrogance of one man, swelling with the lightness of empty glory, he does not wish that his … be severed from the goodwill of his faithful subjects; believe too that he will be continually most peaceable toward you: and indeed those things which must be prepared for the coming of so great a prince ought to be fittingly made ready — whom on the appointed day, life attending, you shall behold after the accustomed manner of a father.

[17] Meanwhile the nephew of Theodosius Augustus, who had long been sick for many days past, had wretchedly laid waste, as he drew near the city, being held by a graver distress of body, breathed out his soul into the air before he reached the city. Whereupon the emperor, troubled by no small grief, immediately sent a legate to the city, bearing words after this manner: We do not wish you to be ignorant of the death of the emperor's nephew: whence our lord the emperor has charged me to intimate to you peaceably enough that you receive him, with the lifeless corpse of his dear nephew, into the city, until his poor body be entombed in the bishop's church with royal dignity. The citizens indeed had prepared all necessary things in the palace which was outside the city: but they, not knowing the coming plague, acted according to the edict of the king. And it came to pass, according to what the king had determined, that entering the city with his army he proceeded to the palace: and he was received diligently by the citizens. But when that man had been buried, an edict went out that the whole soldierly cohort should rise against them, which also was done: for of the citizens they killed some and bound others in chains, and laid waste the whole city with plunder and fire; they destroyed from the foundations the high walls of the city, the towers and the palaces, and moreover the churches of God; and he set out for Milan. And when blessed Ambrose, bishop of Milan, learned this, he denied the king entry into the church [p] until he had promised that he would rebuild everything. The king therefore commanded that the city should be enclosed with a wall in whatever manner, but not on the former foundation [q].

[18] But blessed Ambrose, knowing this kind of peril and the dreadful slaughters of either sex, St. Ambrose bearing it ill, and likewise the ruin of the walls and the calamity of widows and orphans, and moved with compassion like a father, lest thereafter any such thing should befall this so desolate city, spoke thus under the bond of excommunication, the servant of Christ: Ambrose the bishop, to the most beloved brethren of either order, the greater namely and the lesser, eternal salvation in the Lord. We believe that the overthrow of the city of Bologna is most well known to all the kingdom of Italy, which she cruelly suffered not by true justice, but on a bald pretext, through Theodosian rage. Wherefore we see it to be worthy and equitable, and on the part of God and of St. Peter, by whose name the church of Bologna is adorned, we earnestly establish and confirm a condemned and irrevocable sentence of anathema, that no king henceforth enter the city of Bologna. But if anyone shall chance to be so bold as not to satisfy this sentence, and shall rashly have entered the aforesaid city, let his life be ended in the present year, and be prolonged no further. Let the body also of any dead person by no means be carried into the city, lest on a like occasion that city suffer such loss. This edict of the holy priest and distinguished confessor of Christ was, at his bidding, engraved on a marble tablet, which the same confessor of the Lord ordered to be set in the wall of the same city which had remained unharmed by the Theodosian rage, and which faces east; that it might be for a testimony to all posterity. After these things the aforesaid city was many times burned by fire; and the tablet itself, scorched by repeated fire, was broken into very many fragments [r].

[19] he restores, and notable And so the man of the Lord, Petronius, beholding his city lately overthrown, as has been said, by Theodosius Augustus, who had reigned a little before, and the walls thrown down, and the palaces utterly destroyed from the foundations, began diligently to restore, out of the imperial tribute, those things which had not been repaired by Theodosius, or which he had left unfinished. For all the prefects, praetors, tribunes and heralds of all the provinces of this kingdom, hearing the fame of his royal kinship, and that he was the king's kinsman, flowed together to him from every side, bringing him the royal taxes. When on a certain day the same venerable Father with great care and solicitude over a work of this kind

was standing by the masters, it came about * by God's doing that one of the workmen, when he wished to raise a column in the upper order of columns, embraced it round about with the whole effort of his body and with joined arms, so that it might stand upright until it should be held up by the other workmen with whatever devices.

[20] he works a miracle. But that man, weighed down by the mass of so great a weight, his strength failing and unable to hold out long under so heavy a burden, fell headlong from above to the earth together with that same column, his arms clasped around it in a swift whirl: and the confessor of the Lord, holy Petronius, seeing him set in the peril of this danger and slipping in a headlong fall, at once raised his eyes to heaven and signed him with the sign of the holy Cross: and by the merits indeed of that Father, ever to be named, God straightway looked with his accustomed mercy on the prayer of his servant Petronius; for that column suffered no damage at all of breaking or of cracking, but remained solid and unharmed as before: and the workman, feeling nothing amiss, escaped the mass of the imminent peril, as he himself used to relate thus: When I, roused in all my inward parts, was in anguish, troubled on every side alike, and had begun to fall with an unstoppable rush, a certain man clothed in snowy robes, like the blessed Petronius, stood beside me, who held up the column with his hand and preserved me unhurt [s]. Then all the people who had seen these things glorified God, saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has bestowed on us unworthy men so great and such a Patron, not by our merits but by the bounty of his own grace. And from that hour they began more and more to embrace him with due veneration. O how wonderful, how praiseworthy is the immense mercy of the Lord, which did not long delay to succour fittingly his Servant who trusted in him, as the Scripture says: "All things are possible to him who believes" [t]: before the loving father Petronius could implore help from the Lord — for already the peril of the fall was hanging headlong over them — God, who is the knower of secrets, looking upon his faith, mercifully and divinely helped him in the very moment of tribulation: and so this man too, according to his faith, obtained more swiftly than he could utter it what he had desired concerning the safety of the workman in peril.

ANNOTATIONS.

k. About the year 390.

p. About the year 390 the Thessalonians had stirred up a sedition on account of a certain prisoner demanded but not obtained, and in it had killed Butheric, the master of the soldiers: Theodosius, at the persuasion of his courtiers, would not have that crime unavenged; but the vengeance, carried out not without a huge slaughter of the innocent, exceeded measure. The emperor, entering Milan, went to the church to pray; but he was forbidden entry to it by St. Ambrose until he should duly expiate his crime by penance, and was rejected from the communion of the sacred mysteries. This was the true cause of the entry to the church being denied to Theodosius; but the one which the anonymous writer here asserts is unknown to approved authors, and can please no one but the over-credulous.

q. Its circuit, that is, having been extended.

r. Not even so does the anonymous writer make his statements credible: for it is clear that that Ambrosian decree is a pure and utter fiction.

s. See number 86.

t. Mark, chapter 9, ℣ 22.

supply Theodosii* of Theodosius

* or the valley of Jehoshaphat, of which a little below?

or columnis* with columns?

* nothing seems to be missing.

supply factum* it was done

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's remaining deeds and his death.

He goes to Constantinople; whence, These things being done, the loving Father returned to Constantinople ^a. And when on a certain day he was celebrating Mass in the basilica which is of the patriarchate ^b, the emperor standing by with all his chief men, as he turned to bless the people, he at once beheld before the doors of the church a certain pilgrim with loosened hair, who was going abroad in this fashion on account of a homicide which he had committed. For in those days there were two men in the city called Capua ^c who for very many days had quarrelled with one another with great bitterness, so that they gave themselves up vehemently to a perfect hatred of each other; of whom this man was one: on a certain day, when he was going in his usual manner, becomingly adorned, to the court of the prince merely for the sake of military service, and was proceeding, attended by soldiers, before the palace of his enemy, it happened suddenly — not by design — that one of his enemy's house-servants, who was up in the palace, took a certain basin full of water to throw the water out into the drip; and so the whole flow of the water came down on the head of the soldier: and the soldier, galled and gnashing his teeth, went about with no slow step to all his kinsmen, his neighbours, his household and his intimate friends, that all with one accord might lend him aid to avenge the disgrace of so great an affront: and so, a civil fight having at once begun, the prince of the city of Capua ^d, when he heard of this deed, not slothfully but armed with a breastplate and advancing in a swift chariot to break up the fighting, ran into the midst of the fiercest engagement, where the weight of the whole battle was being cruelly harassed with thick weapons: then this wretched man, out of his mind and utterly forgetful of himself, seeing from afar his lord the prince streaming this way and that (for fury supplies arms), thought him to be the other, and, poising his spear, manfully hurled it with great force into the prince's groin, and he died. Straightway all, sending up their voices in weeping, run together to the lifeless corpse of the prince: a sad service at the end of the contest of battle.

[22] But that man secretly took to flight, and, with his hair torn and his cheeks scored by his nails, the man guilty of homicide having been reconciled to the Church, thus wailing he made his way in haste to the palace of the Archbishop ^e, and, prostrate at his feet, began to ask for himself the pardon of penance: and presently, a penance being laid upon him, with bare feet and his whole body covered with rough haircloth, he set out abroad: he carried also in his mouth a grinding stone, which neither in eating nor in drinking nor in sleeping did he ever cast out of his mouth. This man the distinguished Shepherd, seeing him standing before the doors of the church — which we believe was done by the revelation of the Holy Spirit — sent his minister to him, to say these words to him: My lord has sent to you, that you may come to him: but he would not come; and he sent a second time in the same way, and he put off coming: and again a third time he sent the same minister to him, saying: Go and say to him: Petronius, bishop of the city of Bologna, commands you to enter the house of God, and to put off no longer coming to him. And he, hearing the name of so great a Bishop (for he had many times heard the report of his good repute), at once prostrating himself on the pavement, came on his knees with slow course to his feet: then the loving Father graciously begins:

Son, rise quickly, and at once receive what I say to you; begin to praise God, who reigns for ever, who governs heaven, earth, the sea and all things; and what you hold in your mouth, brother, now give me.

Whatever was in his mouth, he poured out mingled with blood.

Then the Bishop too, full of the divine breath, says:

Your sin was not wholly committed of your own will; the salvation of yourself and of the people has made you reborn in mercy, that you may beware henceforth of committing such a fault.

Then the emperor and all who were present with him, seeing this sign, gave worthy thanks to God with great joy, who works such things

through his servant Petronius ^f.

[23] returning to his own people, he rests in peace some years later; Therefore, not long after some interval of time, while these and very many other things were being done, the holy man of the Lord Petronius, of virtue to be remembered, full of grace and kindness, called to mind his sons whom he had left, and did not long suffer to desert them, lest the ancient enemy should lay snares to seize the sheep entrusted to him. For a command was given by Theodosius the younger caesar, his kinsman, through all the provinces of Italy, that all peoples from the various regions should obey the precepts of the most blessed confessor of Christ Petronius, bishop of Bologna. But the emperor, desiring to endow him with many gifts, said to him: Whatever you shall command and ask of us shall be given you. To this blessed Petronius answered, saying: I need no gift whatever of your possessions, but only the patronage of the Saints ^g: wherefore he ordered five little bodies of the Innocent Children ^h to be given him, whom Herod by a cruel sentence ordered to be slaughtered for the Son of God. And so, having received leave from Augustus, he hastens joyfully to his own city of Bologna: at the sight of whom the citizens and the whole throng of the faithful were filled with great joy at their Shepherd's return ⁱ. Afterwards too he persevered without intermission in preaching and strengthening them with the spiritual nourishment of eternal life, and up to the end of his life he did not cease to preach the words of life and salvation. And this venerable and loving Father, after passing some years honourably and peacefully, happily departed to the Lord. And when the blessed confessor of Christ Petronius had died, with hymns and praises he was borne up by Angelic choirs as victor and triumpher to the longed-for joys of paradise. And he was buried, with due honour and the utmost diligence, in the basilica of St. Stephen, which he himself had built from the foundations ^k.

[24] whose patronage, and that of the other Saints Rejoice, illustrious city of Bologna, and it behoves you to exult with much sweet modulation of voices and with angelic dancing, since you are happily adorned with the patronage of many Saints. O how blessed are you, city of the Bolognese, and how to be venerated by the neighbouring cities, because in truth five little bodies of the holy Innocents, who were not defiled with women, and also the bodies of the notable martyrs Vitalis and Agricola ^l rest in you; of whom the one by the cross and the other by divers kinds of torments happily gained the starry halls; and many other bodies of Saints which are unknown to the citizens of Bologna; and likewise the illustrious body of the distinguished martyr of Christ Proculus ^m, who for the Lord's service was sent by the wicked worshippers of idols to undergo a capital sentence; and the precious bodies of the most holy martyrs Hermes, Aggaeus and Caius ⁿ, who by the bounty of divine grace lie on the road anciently called the Salarian, in the place that faces east; of whom the Psalmist says: "The Saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice in their beds" ^o: and likewise the venerable body of holy Juliana [p], whom blessed Ambrose, archbishop of the city of Milan, when he was disclosing the bodies of the holy martyrs Vitalis and Agricola, praising her with his own mouth, thus spoke of: And she is holy Juliana, who offered and prepared a temple to the Lord [q]. Likewise also the body of the most blessed Isidore [r], confessor of Christ and most brilliant doctor, rests in you; who, when he was returning from Rome, lodged at this city, and, being held by a grave distress of body, by God's permission there ended his life, and was there buried by the orthodox men of the people. And also the venerable bodies of the holy Bishops of that city, namely Felix [s], the disciple of blessed Ambrose, Parthenius [t] and Tertullian [u], Jocundus [x] and Theodore [y], and very many others, who, placed in the starry seats, enjoy the delights of God's paradise; and together with these whom we have named above, the relics of holy men and of very many other Saints, and especially of blessed Catherine, virgin and martyr [z], which he took care to entomb in divers places within silver and golden chests in the aforesaid church of St. Stephen, which is called Jerusalem. The same most blessed confessor of Christ Petronius enjoys their fellowship in that country; so that by their winning and devout intercession the city of Bologna may be saved from the savagery of enemies by Christ the King our Lord; since among all the neighbouring cities it ever stands, free and dear beyond the rest, without the bridle of a harsh power, in happy security.

[25] Let us therefore give thanks, most dear Brethren, and exult with all veneration, the author of the Life congratulates the Bolognese upon. celebrating today the solemnities of blessed Petronius our patron [aa]; as he today rejoices among the evangelical choirs in heaven, so let us too rejoice on earth. Let us therefore, Brethren, take pains to celebrate most devoutly the solemnity of this present day, on which our distinguished father Petronius happily rendered his soul to heaven, and let us yearly come to his venerable and most precious body, so that, by Christ's favour, we may be able to have an assiduous intercessor in all our necessities, and with him may deserve happily to come to the fellowship of the citizens on high, by the grant of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

o. Psalm 149, ℣ 5.

p. She is honoured on the 7th day of February, at which she has her place in our Acts, volume I of February. Her body is preserved in St. Stephen's.

q. The words of Ambrose in the book On the Exhortation to Virginity, chapters 1 and 2, delivered at Florence, are these: That widow, therefore, is holy Judaea, who prepared and offered to the Lord this temple which we dedicate today etc. But Benedict XIV and others whom he praises in chapter 5 judge that the Juliana of whom Ambrose here speaks is a Florentine, and different from the Bolognese one.

r. See below the Annotations appended to the Finding of the sacred relics, at letter h.

s. He was St. Petronius's predecessor. They say he died in the year 429. His body rests in the church of SS. Nabor and Felix: his head in the metropolitan church. The day sacred to him is the 4th of December.

t. The writers of Bolognese affairs mention no bishop of this name. Sigonius, under the year 359 in book I of On the Bishops of Bologna, thinks that not Parthenius but Basil was laid to rest in the church of St. Stephen, because the burial place of the other bishops of Bologna is known, but not that of Basil, who either began the church of St. Stephen — under the name, however, of SS. Peter and Paul — or completed it when begun by Faustinian. Masinius on the contrary writes at page 61 that Basil's body is preserved in the church of SS. Nabor and Felix. Pullienus Luparus, in drawing up at page 262 a summary of the relics preserved in the church of St. Stephen, remains in doubt whether the relics of Basil, of Parthenius, or of Paternianus are to be understood in this place: but Sigonius and Masinius say that the body of Paternianus was buried in the church of SS. Nabor and Felix and is preserved there. Casalius judges the Parthenius mentioned here to be a Roman martyr, killed together with Calocerus under Decius and buried in the cemetery at St. Xystus by Anatolia, of whom we have treated in volume IV of May at the 19th day of May, page 301 and following: where indeed their translation into Gaul is recorded; but of the Bolognese one, deep silence. Two Roman martyrs of the same name besides are reported in the same volume at the 17th day of May, page 26. So that I have nothing certain to hand which I might affirm about this Saint, whether Parthenius or Parthemius.

u. Paternianus succeeded St. Petronius, and Tertullian succeeded him in the see of Bologna, as Sigonius at least hands down. He sat from about the year 470 until perhaps the year 485. His body was laid in

the church of St. Felix. He is honoured on the 27th day of April, at which place he also has a place in our Work.

x. Tertullian's successor, according to Sigonius: he is honoured on the 14th day of November. His remains rest in the church of SS. Felix and Nabor, and are exposed for veneration at the altar which is called that of the Crucifix.

y. He is honoured on the 5th of May, for which day see the Acts.

z. Masinius writes that her foot is preserved in the church of St. Stephen.

aa. This phrase hints that this Life was delivered as a sermon on the feast of St. Petronius.

A SHORTER LIFE

by Galesinius as author.

Petronius, bishop and confessor, at Bologna in Italy. (S.)

A. By Galesinius.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's birth, youth, embassy, and consecration as bishop.

St. Petronius, born at Constantinople of an illustrious family, Petronius, bishop of Bologna, was born of his father Petronius ^a, a citizen of Constantinople, a most illustrious man and one excellently learned in the disciplines of letters. For at the time when he held the prefecture of the praetorium, which was the most ample dignity among the emperors, he also composed a book On the Ordination of a Bishop, full of learning and of Christian piety ^b. He, then, as he was learned in Greek and Latin, so took care that his son Petronius should be taught, and above all trained in Christian manners and in the doctrine of the best arts. And so the Boy, having in a short time advanced to a great knowledge of things, so profited in the rules of holy living that his sanctity was celebrated in the frequent talk of the citizens. For, led by the Spirit of God, since he understood that the beginning of every affair ought to be made from prayer, he was wont to undertake nothing without first entering the church and imploring from God by holier prayers help for the business to be done, referring to him alone his thoughts, his actions and his pursuits.

[2] the solitudes of Egypt having been traversed, When his age was now confirmed, being more vehemently inflamed with a certain ardour of the Christian religion, he burned above all with love for the monks, whose discipline at that time was most flourishing in the solitudes of Egypt. Wherefore, although he had learned from others whatever they did devoutly and religiously, yet, since he thought it not enough for the plan of his own purpose to have received these things by the ears, he judged that he must survey with his eyes both the places and all the other things which he had heard with zeal. And so he came into Egypt ^c, where, penetrating into the innermost desert, he did not cease to enjoy converse with each of them, until he fully knew the holy rules of their life; and returning thence home, he so vehemently loved that discipline that he handed down in written monuments the Lives of the monks ^d, which, religiously composed and greatly approved, those same monks embraced as certain sure rules in which the whole excellent plan of their monastic institute might chiefly shine forth.

[3] and the holy places of Palestine, The religious Man, therefore, fixed with all care and thought upon the most holy rules of the Christian faith, in order that he might be kindled the more from day to day by contemplation, having now traversed the solitude of Egypt ^e, resolved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ^f. Where Christ, true God and Man, left the imprinted traces of our redemption accomplished. And so when he came to that city, all aflame with zeal for meditation, he venerated in person, in holy and religious fashion, the Lord's sepulchre above all, and the other sacred monuments of the things he had done, and each of the places which he had honoured in absence with inward piety. And when at last he had surveyed everything, with a certain incredible ardour of mind — yet so that those things might cling more fixedly in his mind for contemplation — he noted also with singular diligence their situation and plan. Wherefore he deservedly so won for himself the favour and love of Theodosius the Younger, who then ruled, a most religious prince, that by his reputation for sanctity he obtained no less authority with him than his father had obtained by industry in the conduct of affairs ^g.

[4] Nestorius disturbing the Catholic cause, he is sent by Theodosius the Younger For, the piety of the Man, most attentive to the religion of God, and his prudence being known, Theodosius wished to use his services in the handling of a most grave affair. For at that time Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, intemperately abusing his zeal for the divine letters, was attempting to violate the most holy doctrine of the Catholic faith by a perverse tenet ^h: and the pious prince Theodosius, judging that this matter must be met in good time, thought that the Roman Pontiff, pastor and governor of the whole Church, must be consulted by him. And so he sent to Rome as legate Petronius, a man most approved by him ⁱ, who should diligently transact the matter with Pope Celestine. And it came about by God's counsel that, from the time when he, sent by Theodosius, came to Rome, there were present also the legates whom, on the death of Felix, bishop of Bologna — who had been an intimate companion of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan — the Bolognese had sent to ask the Pontiff to appoint in his place a successor as their bishop.

[5] to Rome to Celestine; by whom And a little before these legates had arrived at Rome, Pope Celestine had been admonished in sleep by the divine will through St. Peter the Apostle that, since Felix, bishop of Bologna, had departed from this life, he should set over the Bolognese as bishop Petronius, who, sent as legate by the emperor Theodosius, would shortly be present at the City; since the same Apostle affirmed that there was no one who would both discharge the office of a bishopric more religiously and fulfil the truly just desire of the Bolognese. Moved indeed by this, the Pontiff, when both Petronius and the Bolognese were now present and each had set out their requests, showed them what he had received in sleep, and pronounced that he gave them Petronius as a fit successor to Felix. But concerning the Nestorian affair, which the other had reported in Theodosius's name, having first praised the piety of that religious prince, he answered him privately that, lest that pestilent heresy should creep more widely, he would proclaim, as was the custom, an oecumenical synod [k]; which synod, the first of Ephesus, was celebrated in the following year ^l in a crowded assembly of two hundred bishops.

[6] Petronius therefore, declared bishop of Bologna by the Pontiff on the signification of the divine will, he is given as bishop to the Bolognese. as one who perceived that the episcopal burden is heavy and not easily borne save by a certain singular excellence of divine virtues, at first strove to refuse it; but, learning the settled will of the Pontiff, who would by no means have the office divinely conferred on him be flatly rejected, he obeyed his command. And so, having given, as the Pontiff had ordered, a letter to Theodosius about the synod to be convoked against Nestorius at Ephesus, he set out from Rome to Bologna together with the Bolognese legates. And when he approached the city, received by a multitude of every age and order of the congratulating city pouring forth, he entered the basilica of saint Peter, which was then the bishop's see outside the city, and gave thanks to God with religious prayers, as had been his rule from his earliest years. Thence he betook himself to fulfilling the parts of an excellent pastor and to procuring the advantages of the city.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

The Saint's remaining deeds and his cult.

Thereupon for extinguishing the remnants of the Arian perfidy, But at the time when he came to Bologna, to the pastoral see of his church, the remnants of the Arian heresy were not yet wholly extinct, and many churches lay overthrown and prostrate through their nefarious impiety and at the same time through the monstrous savagery of the barbarians who had lately burst into Italy ^a. And since he, kindled with zeal for the house of God, judged that he must meet these evils above all, he strove first with the utmost effort to instruct the city by doctrine and by the offices of a holy life, and, setting before himself the example of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, to restore the Catholic faith, violated by Arian perfidy. Then he rebuilt the churches of God that had been wrecked and overthrown, and likewise built new ones, that a greater increase might be made from day to day to the worship of God, with the highest zeal of the Bolognese. Of these he consecrated one to Bartholomew the Apostle, a second to Mark the Evangelist, a third to Fabian and Sebastian the Martyrs, a fourth to Martin, a fifth to Barbatianus, Confessors, a sixth to Agatha, and a seventh to Lucy, Virgins and Martyrs ^b.

[8] and for founding them. Moreover he dedicated two churches, separated by no long interval from each other, with great significations of divine things: one to Stephen the Protomartyr, the other to John the Evangelist. In the latter, which he built upon a mound made by a heap of earth deliberately piled up, he religiously represented the Mount of Olives, where Christ the Lord, after he rose from the dead, standing, while his disciples looked on, ascended into heaven. In the former, which, dedicated to saint Stephen, he joined with the church of the holy Peter and Paul consecrated by blessed Ambrose, he diligently expressed the image both of the mount where the Lord poured out his blood on the altar of the Cross for the salvation of the human race, and of the sepulchre in which the same was laid when dead. And the plain that lies between these two churches ^c on a lower level, by its situation he made to represent that famous valley which is called Jehoshaphat.

[9] not only by sacred buildings, And that as a solicitous Shepherd he might still more vehemently stir up the minds of his flock to the ardent charity of God, by setting before them sacred images which they might honour after the likeness of those places which he himself had already venerated at Jerusalem, he took care that these things should be devoutly expressed and represented in the church of St. Stephen: the column at which Christ the Lord was beaten with scourges; the Cross to which he was fastened; the table at which the same

reclined with his disciples; likewise the place to which Peter, the prince of the Apostles, withdrew, repenting of his sin, after he had denied that he was Christ's disciple; and besides the chamber in which the angel Gabriel, sent from heaven, greeted the Virgin Mother of God. All which monuments of most holy religion are still honoured with great devotion by the people of Bologna, and make more venerable the very church of saint Stephen, which he called by the name of Jerusalem; and for that reason the district, even now adjoining that same church, is called Jerusalem.

[10] And while the church itself was being built, an occasion was offered for a marvellous work to be performed in God's name ^d. For a certain workman, relying not so much on bodily strength being adorned meanwhile with a notable prodigy, as on skill, was strenuously raising a marble column with the help of tackle and instruments: but the ropes by which the column was being lifted broke, and he, crushed by the sudden fall of the column, perished. On hearing this, Petronius ran up, and, having made a prayer to God, called back the workman, who lay dead, to life by God's power, while all who were present were both astounded at the spectacle of so admirable a thing and vied with one another in praising the sanctity of bishop Petronius.

[11] Moreover, at the request of holy Juliana the widow, he consecrated a church to the holy Vitalis and Agricola, but he applies himself also to profane matters, which she had had built at her own expense in the place where those martyrs had been tortured. And that he might omit no service toward the people of Bologna that could proceed from himself, using the help of the emperor Theodosius, to whom he was most dear, and of the citizens of Bologna, whom he loved singularly in Christ, he enlarged the circuit of the city ^e. These works therefore being finished, the blessed bishop Petronius, returning to Constantinople, by the authority which he had in great measure with Theodosius obtained leave to transfer many sacred relics from that city and from other places. With which relics, when at last he returned thence, he religiously and devoutly adorned both the other churches of God built by himself and above all the church itself of saint Stephen, and the chapels set at the four crosses ^f which the same man had raised.

[12] Since therefore what Petronius had already as a youth prudently and devoutly conceived from his pursuit of letters and of a holy life, that he as bishop, like a parent and teacher of his people, had approved by the example of his life, by works of piety, and by every office of pastoral solicitude, [while about the year 450 he lays down his mitre with his life, but not the patronage of his flock.] he, having administered the church of Bologna for some years, profited marvellously both the devotion of the citizenry and the adornment of the city. At last, when he had fallen into a sickness which grew worse from day to day, and he felt the time of his death pressing, he called his clerics to him and commended to them the Church and the orthodox faith in the weightiest discourse he could. A little after, when he had religiously received all the Sacraments and had devoutly prayed to God, in the reign of the emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, he passed to heaven ^g; and, being renowned for many miracles after his death also ^h, he deserved to be honoured by the Bolognese with especial devotion ⁱ. His body was buried in the church of saint Stephen, which after many centuries, by divine counsel unknown to the city, was found under Pope Innocent the second [k], while bishop Henry was reviewing the sacred relics which it had been handed down from their ancestors were extant in that church. And so, when the body of the blessed bishop Petronius had been found, it was decreed that the finding should be honoured on the same day as his death, an indulgence of two years being granted for the eight following days. For which reason the church of Bologna piously and religiously celebrates continually on those eight days the Office of the canonical hours, instituted in holy fashion in his honour from that time onward ^l.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE FINDING of the Relics of St. Petronius and of other Saints

By an anonymous author

From the Chronicle of the monks of St. Stephen at Bologna

Petronius, bishop and confessor, at Bologna in Italy. (S.) BHL Number: 6643

A. By an anonymous writer.

Out of hidden and unknown places Whereas the illustrious city of Bologna shone marvellously among the rest in the doctrines of all eloquence, and bore the pre-eminence of honour in various and high-seeing matters in all things, the divine mercy deigned to visit the renowned church of St. Stephen, built from its first beginnings ^a by the most blessed Petronius of old, bishop of the holy church of Bologna, and called in figure Jerusalem; which indeed that most reverend man had adorned with distinguished honours and enriched with the most precious relics of very many Saints, and, lest at any time some wicked and most cruel boldness of stealing them away or of carrying them off by violence should be opened to the faithless, he took care to use his skill in hiding them in divers tombs ^b: of which relics a writing had publicly recorded for posterity only the names, not the places: for that writing had been found in a certain book, which asserted that the pledges of the Saints had been hidden in the aforesaid church within three chests. But when, very many times having now passed, they were as it were consigned to oblivion by all, and were honoured by none, because they were unknown to all, the Lord Jesus Christ, I say, who had bidden his most holy name to be presented by his faithful ones before kings and governors, and had caused them to be adorned with shining crowns, was unwilling that their memory should be forever unknown to or forgotten by human minds in their praises, but willed that their merits should be celebrated daily by the faithful with illustrious praises and worthy honours. And so, when the writings so often mentioned had been examined by the abbot and read through by the monks of the aforesaid most holy church, they began diligently and many times to make enquiry among themselves, and took pains to seek out from the older men where the chests described might lie hidden. And when they very often burdened their minds with various opinions about this, they recalled … ^c a certain one hidden under the chest of St. Isidore *: for it could not be seen by anyone; but when the basilica of the aforesaid St. Isidore was lately being built, the old men who were then present saw it from one side, and many times reported all these things to the aforesaid abbot and monks.

[2] All these things therefore having been heard and thoroughly known, of St. Petronius and of other Saints, the aforesaid abbot, having taken counsel with lord Henry ^d, most reverend bishop of the holy church of Bologna, and with certain monks and the wiser of the neighbours, began to search out the aforesaid chest, and removed apart the one in which the body of blessed Isidore ^e lay, and so at last with great labour were scarcely able to reach the aforesaid one: for it was enclosed round about with a very strong wall, and above, between it and the upper ground, was heavily weighted with marbles as well, and upon it, on a certain marble, the name Symon had been carved ^f. Meanwhile, when the aforesaid one was opened in the presence of the aforesaid lord bishop and of the abbot and monks ^g, and of very many others who had been there to carry out this work, they found an unspeakable body, and saw letters set down on either side of the chest concerning the aforesaid name. All these things being thus done, they opened the one that had been St. Isidore's also: and when it was opened, they found the body of that most blessed man ^h and the bones of very many others, and especially of the Little Ones who were slain for Christ by Herod ⁱ, and a most beautiful silver chest bound and fastened with a silver chain: which indeed the aforesaid bishop, inspecting it diligently with those who were present with him and taking it in his hands, they were scarcely able to open; and in it they found a copious multitude of holy relics wrapped within a marvellous cloth. For so great joy all began to weep: they understood therefore that in this was fulfilled what the Gospel word seems to declare, saying: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find" [k]. All which things being thus prudently examined, and rendering the greatest thanks to almighty God, they took pains to search with the greatest diligence for the finding of the rest.

[3] And when they were disputing about this among themselves, they came with one accord to the holy Cross in the place relics, other which is called in figure Golgotha ^l by blessed Petronius, and behind it in the wall of that church, by God's prompting, they began to search with hammers; in which, by the favour of the divine clemency, they found another case full of precious relics: within which also they saw a precious golden casket and another most beautiful silver one. And in the golden one they saw a certain part of one of the nails fixed in the hands or feet of the Lord: and in the silver one is contained a certain small piece of the Lord's shroud, for so the ancient writing too seems to declare. All hesitation, then, about the things written being utterly removed, a question about the rest entered in most vehemently among them: but he who utterly did away the doubt of the most holy Peter amid the storms of the sea, and who is wont with the right hand of his power to raise up the bruised and to loose those in fetters, deigned to impart a most speedy and wholesome counsel for finding what they desired. For there is in the church of St. Stephen itself a sepulchre built by blessed Petronius after the likeness of that in which our Lord Jesus Christ had been laid: and at the entrance of it on the right there is found a most beautiful chest built of precious marbles, in which St. Petronius took care to lay away manna ^m and various and innumerable relics of the Saints: and on the left there appears to be built the one in which the most holy body of blessed Petronius rests: and when with the greatest fear they had opened it, they beheld that Most Holy one himself, and beside him they found another chest filled with distinguished and innumerable relics of the Saints; three glass phials also, having within them most holy gifts, they behold in the same place.

[4] in the year 1141 on the 4th day of October, These things, then, having been examined and thoroughly known by the aforesaid most celebrated lord bishop and by all of us who were pressing forward to so sacred a spectacle [n], it came to pass on the morrow that the most glorious report of this matter was spread abroad by the venerable bishop through the whole city, nay through the whole land of the bishopric of the Bolognese: and all men and women of divers regions, gathering even in very great troops into one, took pains to come to so great a mystery with such gifts as they could. And the same holy bishop sent sacred missives through all the congregations of his bishopric, enjoining by his delegations that every archpriest should carefully make known this most holy finding to his clerics and peoples, and that all should come in honourable haste to so great a solemnity with procession and litanies. Moreover to all who took pains to come thereafter to this festival, for eight days before and as many after, of all their sins two years' the aforesaid lord always

bishop most devoutly made remission, together with all his clerics. And the consuls and citizens of Bologna confirmed by oath before the aforesaid church that all who should thereafter come from whatever places to this so illustrious solemnity should, as has been said, for eight days before and afterwards, always be safe and secure, they themselves and their goods. And all these things were accomplished at the city of the Bolognese in the aforesaid church of St. Stephen in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and forty-one, on the fourth of the Nones of October, on the very festival of the most blessed confessor of Christ, saint Petronius: on which illustrious solemnity it was appointed, and firmly established by the aforesaid most reverend lord bishop of Bologna and by all the clergy, that the aforementioned Finding of the Saints and the solemnity of the most holy Petronius should thenceforth be faithfully celebrated in perpetuity by all the people of Bologna and of the whole bishopric, and be adorned with especial praises and worthy honours [o].

[5] others somewhat later And so after a very short space of time, when counsel had been taken by the abbot and monks of the aforesaid church that the wall of the church of the holy Cross, in which the place had been called Golgotha by St. Petronius, should be destroyed from the foundation on every side and rebuilt more firmly: and digging it as they had determined, they found in the pavement of that church precious chests very firmly compacted with bitumen, within which are contained the precious bodies of the holy forty martyrs [p]: and on the breast of one [q] of them a most beautiful golden cross is found: and all of them indeed were placed in one tomb, so that, as they were found to be of one mind and in concord in the faith of Christ, so in the perseverance of the body they might always be united and together [r]. Meanwhile, when the wall of the aforesaid church was being broken through on every side, in that very wall near the ground three most beautiful chests of cypress, of equal size and of the same quality, were found separately: in each one of them, indeed, was found placed a silver chest … joined, wrapped within a most beautiful cloth: and these, each of them, appear to have been made of equal quantity and like quality, and appear to be filled with a most fine cloth and with very many other gifts.

[6] Tell me, I say, tell me, I pray, most blessed Petronius, builder and constructor of this church, in the church of St. Stephen are directed, if you understood that the things contained within these chests were of so very small use and of no goodness, why did you withdraw them from human sight, and enclose them so secretly beneath the ground, and so very diligently put a chest within a chest? and why did you explain nothing of their name? If you knew them worthy of so great honour, why did you explain nothing of their name? Let then our perfect faith answer for you and say truly that you perceived them to be of illustrious dignity and of wondrous greatness; and that, because you were unwilling to have the knowledge of the place and the notice of the name searched out, these things proceeded not from sloth or from folly, but you understood that this flowed from the greatest care and holy foresight: for you took away in every way from thieves and robbers the hope of stealing and the most wicked boldness of plundering, and you willed that the place itself should always be kept holy and inviolate, and you signified that the things hidden there stood in unspeakable holiness [s]. But what, most holy Bishop, you decreed should be kept silent in these three, in the rest, I say, you most openly wrote down for all the names of all who rest there; and that writing you left to us for a memorial, as in a testament. And you have intimated that the names of those which are contained in the first chest are these, as we believe.

[7] Of the cloth in which Mary wrapped Jesus. Of the manger and of the spittle [t]. which, Of the table where he supped, and of the remains of the supper. Of the thong, and of the column where he was bound, and of the wood of the Cross. Of the robe and of the crown of thorns. Of the nails with which he was pierced. Of his garments and of his sepulchre. Of the place of the Mount of Olives, whence he ascended into heaven. Relics of St. Mary, namely of her garments and of her sepulchre. Of the cloth of the memorial of St. Michael [u]. Relics of St. John the Baptist, of his body and of his garments. Relics of St. Peter, of his body and hair and of his beard. Relics of St. Paul. Relics of St. Andrew. Of the cloak of St. John the Evangelist. Relics of St. James, his brother [x]. Relics of St. Thomas. Relics of St. Bartholomew, an inch of the thumb. Relics of St. James, the brother of the Lord [y]. Relics of St. Luke the Evangelist. Relics of St. Matthew. Relics of all the Apostles. Relics of St. Martial, the kneecap. Relics of St. Stephen the protomartyr, flesh and blood, and one tooth, and of the stones with which he was stoned. Relics of St. Maurice. Relics of St. Julian. Relics of St. Alexander. Relics of SS. Tiburtius and Valerian and Maximus. Relics of SS. Nazarius and Celsus. Relics of St. Christopher. Relics of SS. Vitus and Modestus. Relics of SS. Marcellinus and Peter. Relics of St. Sylvester. Relics of St. Urban. Relics of St. Laurence. Relics of St. Genesius. Relics of St. Germanus [z]. Relics of the three children Ananias, Azarias and Misael. Relics of St. Ermen. Relics of St. Agatha. Relics of St. Christina. Relics of St. Cecilia. Relics of St. Petronilla. Relics of St. … [aa]. Relics of St. Martin [bb]. Relics of St. Simeon. Relics of SS. Primus and Felician. Relics of St. Quintinus. Relics of St. Sixtus the Pope. Relics of St. Joseph. Relics of St. Felicity. Relics of St. Regundis.

[8] one by one In another chest: of the tunic of St. Mary. Of the hair of St. Peter. Relics of SS. Cosmas and Damian. Relics of St. Germer. Relics of St. Remedius. Of the blood of St. Leodegarius [cc]. Of the shroud of the Lord, with which he lay in the sepulchre. Relics of St. … [dd]. Relics of St. Nicholas. Relics of St. Sophia. Relics of St. Symphorian. Relics of SS. Fabian and Sebastian. Relics of St. Hilary. Relics of St. Justus. Relics of St. Anastasia the martyr, of her hair. Relics of St. Benedict the abbot [ee], of his haircloth; of the shoes of the Lord.

[9] here set out, In the third chest: Relics of St. Peter the Apostle. Relics of St. Andrew. Relics of St. Farulphus. Relics of St. Maxentius. Relics of St. Sulpicius. Relics of St. Remigius. Relics of St. Marculf. Relics of St. Marcianus [ff]. Relics of St. John the Baptist. Relics of St. Bibianus [gg]. Relics of St. Martin. Relics of St. Palladius. Relics of St. Avitus. Relics of St. Bonitus. Relics of St. … [hh]. Relics of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian. Relics of St. Chrysanthus. Relics of St. Cassian. Relics of St. Frontinus. Relics of St. Amandus. Relics of St. Candidus. Relics of St. Euphemia, of her blood. Relics of St. Stephen of the city of Rome.

[10] you have. And with these aforesaid, and with the patronage of very many other Saints, the church of St. Stephen is adorned — who are distinguished citizens of the heavenly kingdom with Christ; by whose most devout and assiduous intercessions may we all be cleansed from our hidden faults, and may we deserve to attain without end to their fellowship; by the grant of our same Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

it was at once believed to be that of Isidore of Seville; who, however, died at Seville and was buried between his brother St. Leander and his sister St. Florentina. See his Life illustrated in our Work at the 5th day of April. Constantine, abbot Gaetani, holds that the body of Isidore the Sicilian is preserved at Bologna, who, passing through Bologna, fulfilled his mortality there; and Constantius Rabbius also comes to this view in his Annotations on Sigonius.

k. John 16, ℣ 24.

p. Namely of St. Florian and his fellow martyrs; of whom see number 54 and following.

q. Of St. Florian, the leader of the rest.

r. Understand this of St. Florian's companions: or at least, if at that time the same tomb covered the relics both of St. Florian and of his companions, they were afterwards separated from one another, either in the year 1335, in which the chapel of St. John the Evangelist was built, as Masinius writes at the 16th day of December, or at some other time. See the preceding Commentary at the places cited a little above.

s. Consult the Annotations here at letter b.

t. Patricellius does not mention it in the Catalogue of the same relics.

u. I am no Oedipus, to divine what or what kind of relics are here recorded. Patricellius, Pullienus Luparus and Casalius enumerate the relics preserved in the church of St. Stephen: but of these none mentions relics of the sort. The inept describer of them, then, will either have cast these down on paper faultily, or absurdly added them to the rest.

x. Or him called the Greater.

y. Or the Less, bishop of Jerusalem.

z. Omitted in Patricellius.

aa. Of saint Hilary, namely, from Patricellius's Catalogue.

bb. Omitted in Patricellius.

cc. Of whom? Leodegarius, bishop of Autun and martyr, is very well known, but he lived only in the seventh century. It is no idle suspicion that relics of Saints are here sometimes reckoned who are even some centuries later than St. Petronius; which will be plain in the case of St. Benedict a little later.

dd. Of St. Mennas. From Patricellius's Catalogue.

ee. There can be no Saint understood here older than Benedict, the restorer of the monastic Order among the Westerns, who ceased to be on earth in the sixth century: and therefore beyond doubt St. Petronius did not lay away his relics in the church of St. Stephen. Hence, further, a not unfounded suspicion arises that other relics too are here reported by the anonymous writer as received from St. Petronius, which the monks of St. Stephen procured for themselves later and hid in the ground, as I noted a little before.

ff. Patricellius reads: of Macrinus.

gg. Read: of Bibiana, as Patricellius has it.

hh. Of St. Dindymus. From the same.

read: repererunt* they found