ON SS. PALMATIUS AND COMPANIONS: MAXENTIUS, CONSTANTIUS, CRESCENTIUS, JUSTINUS, LEANDER, ALEXANDER, SOTER, HORMISDAS, PAPIRIUS, CONSTANS, AND JOVIAN, MARTYRS AT TRIER IN BELGIC GAUL,
Under Diocletian and Maximian.
SYLLOGE.
Palmatius, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Maxentius, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Constantius, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Crescentius, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Justinus, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Leander, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Alexander, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Soter, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Hormisdas, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Papirius, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Constans, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.) Jovian, martyr at Trier in Belgic Gaul. (S.)
BY J. B.
I have commented generally, in volume 2 of October at the 4th day of that month, from page 330, on the Acts of the Martyrs of Trier killed among the Treveri for the faith of Christ by Rictius Varus under Diocletian and Maximian; Of these holy Martyrs it has already been treated since St. Palmatius and his Companions were part of them, and have obtained Acts in common with the other martyrs of Trier, it is not necessary to repeat what was said there. Let him therefore who desires a fuller knowledge of these Martyrs, whether of their martyrdom, or of their finding, or finally of their cult, go to the Commentary praised, and to the Acts joined to it with the Annotations: I shall adduce here only a few things which are peculiar to St. Palmatius and his Companions. I gave various more recent Martyrologies (for to the ancient ones, such as the Little Roman, Bede, Ado and Usuard, these Martyrs are not known) in §1 of the Commentary preliminary to the Acts of the Martyrs of Trier: this is peculiar to the Saints of whom we now treat above the rest, that Baronius
inserted some of them by name into the Roman Martyrology, and indeed in such a way as to divide them into two classes, assigning one of these to the 5th day of October and the other to the 12th of December. In the former place it reads thus: At Trier, of the holy martyrs Palmatius and Companions, who underwent martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Rictiovarus.
[2] Whom Baronius understood here by the name of the Companions of Palmatius at the 4th day of October he did not express; but this can be gathered without difficulty partly from Sigebert, whom he praises in the Annotations, partly from what he wrote at the 12th day of December: for Sigebert, at the year 1071, besides those whom Baronius mentions at the 12th day of December, lists Hormisdas, Papirius, Constans and Jovian; and these he must be judged to join to Palmatius at the 5th day of October, lest he be said to have commemorated the same class of martyrs twice. At the 12th day of December the Roman Martyrology reads thus: At Trier, of the holy martyrs Maxentius, Constantius, Crescentius, Justinus and Companions, who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Rictiovarus. And lest you should doubt who were the Companions of these Martyrs, Baronius adds this in the Annotations: Not only did these three most illustrious senators of that city suffer then; but also four others, whose names are these: Justinus, Leander, Alexander and Soter. Of the finding of whose bodies Sigebert treats in his Chronicle in the year of the Lord 1071. But why did Baronius divide those Martyrs into two classes? He thought that many Christians were brought to Trier from elsewhere to Rictius Varus at various different times and put to punishments; All of whom, he says in volume 2 of the Annals at the year 303, number 124, the Church of God has joined in the bundle of a single commemoration with an anniversary solemnity on the day before the Nones of October. Wherefore Baronius separated Palmatius, Hormisdas, Papirius, Constans and Jovian from the rest, and the 12th day of December was assigned to the latter by the mere choice of the reformers of the Roman Martyrology, although contrary to the faith of the monuments of the church of Trier and the old tradition of the place, as was said at number 91 of the Commentary praised before; but these are more safely believed; especially since none of the ancients, so far as I know, said that our Saints suffered at different times, nor does their simultaneous passion seem to be opposed to the state of the church of Trier under Diocletian and Maximian, as I have set out more fully in §4 in the same place.
[3] to what was said there The finding of the Martyrs of Trier, made in the year 1071 or the next following, has been described from a contemporary author in volume 2 of October, page 376 and the two following. Of their widely dispersed relics I treated there from page 367, §§11 and 12: and by name I made mention of the relics of St. Palmatius at page 353, number 90. A few things must now be added about these. Hontheim, in §16 of the History of the Martyrs of Trier, writes this of the relics of St. Palmatius: An arm-bone of this holy Martyr, taken from the tomb, the collegiate church of St. Paulinus keeps in a case: the same does not have the head: nor will it be found in his sarcophagus: for when, about twelve years ago, certain rather curious students of the university rashly opened the sarcophagus, there were seen a very few bones with ashes, and a tablet on which was written: "Bones and ashes of St. Palmatius, consul and martyr." The most illustrious and equally most learned author says rightly: for the emperor Charles IV, king of Bohemia, most zealous for sacred pledges, having received the greater part of the body of St. Palmatius as a gift already from the year 1356, wished it to be carried to Prague; concerning which the most illustrious Pessina, bishop of Smederevo in Hungary, writes in the Phosphorus of Prague, page 519, in the Index of the relics kept in the metropolitan church of St. Vitus at Prague: 5 (October), of St. Palmatius, martyr of Trier, the arm and part of the head, whose body Charles IV brought from Trier; and he gave these parts to the church of Prague. The rest he laid up in the church dedicated to the honour of that holy Martyr at Karlstein, where it is kept today.
[4] The autograph of the donation is kept in the castle of Karlstein, concerning the relics of St. Palmatius of which we have this copy: We, Boemund, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See archbishop of the holy church of Trier, archchancellor of the sacred empire through Gaul and the kingdom of Arles, and also the provost, dean and chapter of the church of St. Paulinus outside the walls of the city of Trier, situated in the Campus Martius, wish it to come to the knowledge of all by the tenor of these presents: That when the most serene and most invincible prince and lord, the lord Charles IV, by favour of the divine clemency Roman emperor, ever augustus, and king of Bohemia, a generous lord, after receiving the sacred imperial insignia, had first come to the city of Trier, and had asked of us with devout mind that we would give to the same lord, our lord the emperor, exhumed, the body of the most holy martyr Palmatius, who was formerly consul and patrician of the same city of Trier, and was beheaded by Ricciovarus, prefect of the city of Rome, at the command of the emperor Maximian, together with blessed Tyrsus, leader of the Theban legion, and his companions, for the Catholic faith and the holy name of Christ, near the same city of Trier in the Campus Martius, and was honourably entombed in the said church of St. Paulinus, where also a multitude of the faithful has at all times devoutly and humbly striven to venerate the body of the same holy martyr Palmatius and to visit it with due veneration.
[5] We, having had diligent consideration, counsel and discussion upon this, in Bohemia although it was exceedingly anxious to our hearts that so great a treasure of the aforesaid church should be alienated from us, yet, not being able to resist the so devout and so fervent desires of so great a prince and lord, with unanimous will and consent alike granted that the monument in which that body had formerly been placed should be opened in the presence of the same lord, our lord the emperor, the stones which had been rolled against it being rolled back, and we gave him the same body, partly in bones, but more reduced to ashes and already to dust, only two bones and a few ashes of the same body being again replaced in the tomb itself, with the consent of our said lord, the lord emperor, and reserved for the said church of St. Paulinus in memory of the same holy Martyr. And lest any doubt should arise about these things at any time, we have caused the present letters to be made at the request of our oft-said lord, and to be fortified by the appending of our seals.
[6] And the witnesses who were present at the opening of the sepulchre itself and at the taking out and donation of the aforesaid sacred body are these: the Venerable Father in Christ the lord John, bishop of Luthen (so it seems to me to be written here; but in Pessina, page 444, in a diploma of Charles of the year 1354, he is called of Litomyšl), chancellor of the sacred imperial court; the illustrious princes the lord Bolesław of Falkenberg and Bolko of Teschen, dukes; the notable men the lords Burchard, count of Magdeburg, master of the imperial court, and Albert, count of Anhalt; and many other prelates and clerics, knights and lay people worthy of faith. Done in the aforesaid church of St. Paulinus at about the third hour of the night, and given at Trier in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and fifty-six, in the ninth Indiction, on the 9th day of the month of November. Beneath, on the first face of the copy, there is a double place for a hanging seal on this side and that; on the other face these words are read: I, master Wenceslaus Adalbert Calisius, formed bachelor of Sacred Theology, canon of Stará Boleslav and dean of the royal chapel of Karlstein, attest that all things are thus found and kept altogether in the treasury of the said church… In faith of these things I have fortified it with my own hand and the seal of my deanery. Done in the deanery of Karlstein, 30th October 1662. At the sides of the seal there is read, written in another hand: The same lord as above. Finally, on the back of the copy, written in the same hand as the copy, these words are read: Copy of the letters of Boemund, archbishop, and of the chapter of Trier, given to Charles IV concerning the body of St. Palmatius. They are kept and venerated in the Castle of Karlstein together with the body. A church of the same Saint is likewise seen there (this word is added in another hand) by the waters or river which is called Mies.
[7] some things are added; Further, from the words both of Pessina, related at number 3, and from those which we have just copied from the copy of the donation, Charles IV not only brought the relics of St. Palmatius into the castle founded by him (it is about three miles distant from Prague towards the south-west), but also raised a church there in honour of the same holy Martyr. Balbinus, in book 3, chapter 8, §3 of the first decade of the Historical Miscellanies of the kingdom of Bohemia, after saying that the head and other relics of St. Palmatius, martyr of Trier, are kept in the chapel of St. Catherine in the castle of Karlstein, adds this: Whose church is on this side of the river below the castle. So he: but we have an Enumeration of the relics brought to Prague by Charles IV, drawn up, as it appears, already from the year 1368, a copy of which was transmitted to our Predecessors by Father Theodore Moretus in the year 1652, in which at the 10th day of May this is found: On the same day, of St. Palmatius, martyr, consul, who was beheaded together with his wife and sons and 32 others of both sexes, with whom Simplicius the senator also suffered. The relics of this St. Palmatius the same Charles brought to his castle of Karlstein, where below the same castle he founded a parish church in honour of the same Saint. Behold another Palmatius, to whom that church was dedicated. That Charles IV brought relics of Palmatius, the Roman martyr, from Rome, and laid them up in the castle of Karlstein too, is not doubtful; but did Charles found the church for him or for Palmatius of Trier? Probably the author of the cited Enumeration, although contemporary with the event, was deceived by the equivocation of the names. For it is not probable that Balbinus, who received his information from a priest of our Society who had lived many years in the castle of Karlstein; or Calisius, dean of Karlstein; or Pessina, when he was writing the Phosphorus, dean of St. Vitus and well acquainted with the said Enumeration, which he mentions partly at page 458 and partly at the beginning of the following, thought otherwise on this point than the author of the Enumeration without cause, and were ignorant of the day sacred to the patron of that church.
[8] as also of those, But another question also arises from the same homonymy of those two Saints: Cardoso, in the Lusitanian Hagiology printed at Lisbon in the year 1666, at the 10th day of May records St. Palmatius, whose head, he writes, had long been in honour and veneration at Coimbra in the church of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross; and in the Annotations he adds that the canons annually recall the memory of St. Palmatius, whose head they possess, on the 5th day of October, which day, being sacred to Palmatius of Trier, seems to indicate him, and not the Roman martyr venerated on the 10th day of May. Cardoso, however, thinks otherwise; both because in the printed book of relics (he probably means the little Work of Gaspar dos Reis on the same subject, written in the year 1596), page 116 (in my copy 126), these verses are read about St. Palmatius:
Bravo, worthy heir of Roman blood, by right martial Rome submits her head to you.
But where, the enemy vanquished, is your noble victory, Palmatius? Or is to be conquered your glorious palm?
And also because in the Offices of the canons, then recently printed, there is read at the 5th day of October: On the feast of St. Palmatius, Roman consul, and his companions, martyrs, a double. The other things which Cardoso adds have little strength. He therefore judges that the religious of the Holy Cross, because they saw Palmatius inscribed in the Roman Martyrology at the 5th day of October, applied by error to the Roman martyr the day sacred to the martyr of Trier.
[9] But Henschenius, in volume 2 of May, page 845 and the following, admits that some error crept in here upon the canons, which into Portugal either upon the older ones, who assigned the day proper to the martyr of Trier to the Roman martyr, or upon the more recent ones, to whom the Roman martyr appealed more than the one of Trier: but which of them he does not define, because the records of the translation, from which it might be clear whether that head was brought to Coimbra from Rome or from Trier, are lacking: yet he prefers to believe that the older ones did it, because they had received that head from Trier, and to ascribe the error to the more recent ones. And this, he says, I judge the more probable because Palmatius of Trier is not found inscribed in the Martyrology of Usuard in the form in which it passed from Gaul into Italy and Spain; and so they could not have taken occasion for erring from the present Roman, which did not yet exist, and which Baronius augmented in this part from Molanus, who followed the copy interpolated in this our Lower Germany.
[10] The opinion of Henschenius is favoured by the solemn reception of relics were formerly carried. made in the year 1595 in the monastery of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Coimbra, and written in the same year in the Portuguese idiom by Gaspar dos Reis of Leiria and published in print: for since the said relics are said there, in §1, to have been brought into Portugal, if not from Trier, at least from parts of Germany, it is more probable that the relics of St. Palmatius reckoned among them were those of the Martyr of Trier rather than of the Roman; but that the canons of the Holy Cross already then applied the eulogy of the Roman to the one of Trier, who was less known to them. The same cause makes these verses also favour Henschenius, which are read, turned, in the cited Gaspar at page 136:
Why, holy bones of the Saints, do you seek foreign homes? Say, why do you leave your own houses? Impious Germany long since had spurned us, treating even God Himself with no religion. But why * have you not remained in other shores of Christians? There were none who would venerate us so reverently.
Further, if the people of Coimbra possess the head of Palmatius of Trier, they certainly do not possess it entire, as is clear from what has been said of his relics kept at Prague and Karlstein. Moreover, in the year 1588 our professed house of Lisbon, having received as a gift from John Borgia, ambassador of Philip II, Catholic king, to the emperor Rudolph II, relics of St. Palmatius brought from Germany into Portugal (and so more probably of St. Palmatius of Trier), placed them with solemn pomp in the church of St. Roch, as we likewise learn from the Portuguese account of the reception printed in the same year.
Annotation* read cur (why)