ON SS. PALATIAS AND LAURENTIA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS, AT ANCONA IN ITALY,
Under Diocletian.
SYLLOGE.
The memory of the holy Martyrs in the sacred Fasti, their sacred cult at Osimo and Ancona, their uncertain deeds.
Palatias, V. M., at Ancona in Italy. (S.)
Laurentia, V. M., at Ancona in Italy. (S.)
BY J. B.
If we give today together the holy virgins and martyrs Palatias and Laurentia, whom others commemorate separately and on different days, The memory of the holy martyrs in the sacred Fasti we do this for the reason that our Predecessors generally determined in our Work to follow the order of the Roman Martyrology: and this today announces both Virgin Martyrs together in this manner: At Ancona, of Saints Palatias and Laurentia, who in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Dio, were deported into exile and worn out with labours and hardships. Ferrari was not unaware that in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy as well as in the General Catalogue of the Saints Laurentia is inscribed at the Kalends of October, and Palatias at the 7th day of October: he gives the reason for his doing so at the 1st day of October in the General Catalogue of the Saints, in the Annotations on the announcement of St. Laurentia, in these words: From the Tables of the church of Ancona on this day. In the Roman Martyrology she is treated together with St. Palatia on the 8th of this month. But the aforesaid church treats of them separately, on this day of Laurentia, and on the 7th of Palatia. Yet those who emended the Roman Martyrology were not the first to announce St. Palatias at the 8th day of October at Ancona; since Petrus Equilinus too, who flourished in the fourteenth century, did so in book XI, chapter 130, folio 291, in these words: *Saint Palatia on the same day
rested at Ancona*, although it does not seem to have been said by him with sufficient truth that St. Palatias, as will be seen below, died at Ancona, which is a port of Italy on the Adriatic sea and an episcopal city in the Ecclesiastical dominion.
[2] she is marked on various days: Châtelain too, in his Universal Martyrology, announces St. Palatias on one day and St. Laurentia on another: the latter in these words at the 1st day of October: On the same day, the death of St. Laurentia, venerated at Ancona, and sent into exile for the faith together with St. Palatias by order of the judge Dio under Diocletian: the other at the 8th day of July in this manner: On the same day, the birthday of St. Palatias, sent into exile for the faith's sake under the emperor Diocletian and the judge Dio, to whom a church is sacred at Osimo in the March of Ancona. But why did Châtelain consign her to the 8th day of July? Did Châtelain perhaps learn from more recent notices sent to him in France that she is venerated on that day at Osimo? Whether the matter stands so, I do not know: but in the Calendar of the festivals of the Saints which are celebrated with a double Office by ancient custom of the church of Osimo, published at Macerata in the year 1656 by order of Antonio Bichi, bishop of the same city, I read thus at the month of October: 8. Of Palatias, virgin and martyr, double. Parish church at Osimo. Châtelain joined both on the 8th day of October, adding to what was recited above that both were worn out by labours and hardships. So much of the martyrologists, and the various days on which both or one of the holy Virgin Martyrs is marked; let us say a little about their cult.
[3] That St. Palatias obtained a church dedicated to her name at Osimo, and an ecclesiastical cult there, we have heard from Châtelain and the Calendar of Osimo: its founder was a native of Ancona, the sacred cult, at Osimo St. Palatias, namely St. Benvenuto, prelate of Osimo, as was said in his historical Synopsis with us, volume III of March, page 395, number 15, from Giovanni Baldo, canon of Osimo, in the Life of the same holy Bishop, who died in the year 1276; by which signal proof indeed he willed to testify excellently the singular piety which he was said to bear toward the Virgin, not born indeed in his native place, as Baldo says, but, as we shall soon see, especially venerated there. Whether St. Laurentia too formerly enjoyed, or enjoys today, a singular cult at Osimo, nothing has occurred thus far from which I might gather it: but if one asks about the sacred cult of both among the people of Ancona, the matter stands far otherwise. Of St. Palatias Ferrari, in the General Catalogue of the Saints at the 7th day of October, says in the Annotations: Her feast is celebrated with an Octave as patroness of the city. He likewise calls her Patroness of the city of Ancona in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at the 7th day of October. On what occasion St. Palatias was chosen as Patroness by the people of Ancona is not clear: Giuliano Saraceni, a patrician of Ancona and canon-dean of the cathedral church, in the Historical Notices of the city of Ancona, published at Rome in the year 1675, reports at the year 304 that the bodies of those holy Virgins lay hidden at Ancona from the year 304, to which he ties their martyrdom, until about the year of Christ 400 they were dug out into the light.
[4] These, further, he writes were preserved in his age enclosed in a chest in the Cathedral church of St. Cyriacus; but at Ancona both obtained but that he does not know when they were brought into it; as neither what was the cause of the procession which, according to Ferrari, was customarily held among the people of Ancona on the 6th day of October, that is, the day before the feast of St. Palatias; yet that an ancient tradition bears that Ancona was once freed by their help from a siege of the barbarians; and that from this it could easily have come about that they were enrolled by the people of Ancona among the number of their Patrons, and that this annual procession was decreed in their honour; which things, although they may seem probable, I should nevertheless wish I could both explain more distinctly and confirm more solidly by ancient and approved testimonies: under Totila Ancona was besieged by the Goths and brought into danger, as Procopius writes in book IV of the Gothic war, chapter 23: but I should not dare affirm that the procession is so ancient, or that already then St. Palatias had been chosen as patroness by the people of Ancona. But since these things show sufficiently, though only in general, the ancient cult of the holy Virgins among the people of Ancona, and hardly any hope is left of finding older and fuller testimonies, let us come to another proof of the sacred cult and veneration of the people of Ancona at least toward Palatias. In the sixteenth century, when the people of Ancona had provided more than enough for the Mount of piety erected in their city, from which the want of the poor might be relieved, they took certain revenues from it and erected a monastery for forty or fifty nuns of the Order of St. Clare under the invocation of St. Palatias with the leave of Sixtus V, as appears from the Brief of the said Pontiff, given in the year 1588 on the XXI day of the month of May, in the 4th year of his Pontificate, and presented by Giuliano Saraceni, part 2, book XI, pages 429 and following, whose beginning is: Our beloved sons the Community of our city of Ancona have lately caused to be set forth to us, etc. For the rest, that not only St. Palatias but also St. Laurentia was enrolled by the people of Ancona among the tutelary Saints, Ughelli says in volume 1 of the enlarged Italia Sacra, column 325, writing thus of Ancona: The same city is also enriched with the relics of St. Liberius, confessor, son of John, king of Lesser Armenia, of SS. Palatia and Laurentia, virgins and martyrs, whom Ancona venerates and honours among its tutelary Saints. Finally, that relics of St. Laurentia of Ancona are also preserved and venerated at Rome in the Oratory of St. Mary situated in the Piazza Giulia, write Giuliano Saraceni, cited above, part 2, book 2, page 62, and Panciroli in the Hidden Treasures of Rome, Region XI, church 16. And these are the few things I had to say about the cult of both holy Virgins.
[5] But their deeds, which from Ferrari But if anyone asks what their deeds were; here they are, as they were drawn together by Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy chiefly from the Acts of St. Palatias and the monuments of the church of Ancona: at the 1st day of October he writes thus of Laurentia: Laurentia, a virgin of Ancona, companion or handmaid of St. Palatia, virgin (for Palatia was born of most illustrious race), together with her was long tortured in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Dio, and cast into the fire; when she had come out of it unharmed, by order of Dio, a stone being tied to the neck, both are plunged into the deep sea; but, rescued by an angel, they are put in a little boat and ordered to be deported into exile. Carried by a storm to the shore of Centumcellae, they are sent bound by Promotus, proconsul of Tuscany, to Rome to the emperor: who ordered them to be exiled at Fermo, a city of Picenum. Where, having prayed God to call them to Himself from such great hardships, on the Nones of October they joyfully passed to their Spouse. The body of Laurentia, when it had been unknown for some time, was found at Ancona on this day. At the 7th day of October he writes thus of St. Palatias: Palatia, who is also Palatias, a most illustrious virgin of Tyrus, was kept in a tower by her father, together with Laurentia her nurse, on account of her signal beauty; who, since she secretly worshipped Christ, being accused before her father by the handmaids because she did not care for the Gods, is tortured by him in various ways: for, ordered to venerate the Gods, having execrated them, she is savagely beaten, until the strength of the wearied torturers failed.
[6] are recited. Shut in prison for some days without food and drink, refreshed by an angel, she is strengthened to fight bravely. Led out therefore to the praetorium bound with iron, since she would not sacrifice to the gods, she is cast into the fire; but the flame, fleeing from her, killed very many of the idolaters. Wherefore her father hands her over to the prefect Dio to be punished with the extreme penalty. He orders her, a stone being tied to her neck, to be plunged into the depth of the sea. But rescued by angels and walking upon the waves, being seized again, she is put into a little boat together with Laurentia to be deported into exile. These, carried by a storm to the shore of Centumcellae, seized by Promotus, proconsul of Tuscany, are sent bound to the emperor Diocletian. But when the emperor had sent them away into exile to Fermo, they, having prayed God more vehemently to call them to Himself out of such great hardships, passed in peace to their Spouse on the Nones of October. Whose bodies were buried at Ancona. I do not know whether Ferrari consistently enough makes St. Laurentia, the companion of Palatias in exile, a virgin of Ancona, but Palatias of Tyrus, namely born at Tyrus in Tuscany near the lake of Bolsena, as some will have it; in which matter Ferrari attributes too much to the fabulous Acts, or Passion, of St. Palatias. I should prefer to conjecture that both were indeed born at Ancona, but died in exile at Fermo, and that the Christians of Ancona buried their bodies, carried thence, among themselves; unless perhaps both (which assuredly Petrus Equilinus relates of Palatias) met their end at Ancona after various tortures and the exile pronounced against them.
[7] So one may assuredly suspect, because the extant Acts of St. Palatias from the Acts, are so little probable that they hardly merit any credence. We have two copies of them, one sent to us from the archive of Ancona in the year 1649 by Father Henricus Lindanus of Loreto; the other copied from the Vallicella manuscript K, folio 524: this one says that St. Palatias was born at Tyrus, namely in Tuscany near the lake of Bolsena, as they say: but whether a Tyrus ever existed in the nature of things in that place is not sufficiently clear, as our Pinius showed at the 24th day of July, §2 of the Commentary on the Passion of St. Christina. The Ancona copy does not name Tyrus; but as to the substance of the rest, although somewhat more contracted than the Vallicella one, it agrees with it pretty well throughout; so that it appears of no better mark than that. Further, the Vallicella copy has that her father, a gentile but an illustrious man, shut up the virgin Palatias, a Girl of eleven years, on account of the excellence of her beauty, in a tower together with Laurentia, her nurse or governess; which savours of the fable of Danaë. When he had understood from the handmaids that she spurned the gods, he deals with her in many speeches, which it is of no use to report here, that she should sacrifice to the gods; she promises that she will sacrifice, but to the true God; which, since her father thought it said of his gods, he let his Daughter go for the while. She meanwhile, turning to prayer, sees an angel standing by her, by whom she is fortified for the contest with the sign of the cross: but that strength might not fail her body either, she found set before her some prodigious bread, I know not what, with which to drive away the fast of twelve days which she had endured; how fabulous these things are is sufficiently apparent.
[8] After this she breaks her father's idols, and distributes them to the poor, not meriting credence, while shut up, namely, in a tower, and attended by no handmaids but gentile ones. On the next day the father, revisiting his Daughter, when he understands what has been done with his gods, and sees that she is not moved from her purpose by words, ordered her first to be struck in the face, then, stripped, to be beaten with rods by twelve men in succession until they failed: she meanwhile, the more harshly
than the gentleness of the holy Virgin and her reverence toward her father would allow, rebukes him in these words: Shameless and without honour, abominable to God, behold, those who beat me have no strength; I mean the idols which you adore cannot give them strength. Then cast into chains and into prison, she despises the prayers and blandishments of her mother; she is then cast into the fire; but remains unharmed by it, by which nevertheless fifteen hundred idolaters are consumed. A new judge succeeds her father, namely the prefect Dio, who ordered her to be thrown headlong into the sea by night with a stone tied to her neck: but where did this happen? At Tyrus? But there is no sea there, and it ought to have been said that she was thrown either into a river or into the lake of Bolsena. At Ancona indeed it could have happened; but the author of this Passion made no word about Ancona. But wherever the thing was done, behold again a new prodigy: thrown into the sea, received by the hands of angels, walking upon the waves she hastens to the shore. Thence, brought back to Dio, she is sent to Rome to Diocletian: and when, driven by a storm, she had put in at Centumcellae, she is directed to Rome by Promotus, consul of Tuscany; whence, sent into exile by Diocletian, when she had come to Fermo in Picenum, she obtained from God, together with Laurentia, the end of her hardships and of her life.
[9] drawn, are plainly uncertain. Of this kind is the narrative of an unknown author concerning SS. Palatias and Laurentia, which I do not think will find credence among the learned: that it was committed to writing long after their age may be gathered from what he presently subjoins to the narrative of their death in these words: Then the Christians came and gathered their bodies, they buried her in the same place on the Nones of October, where their benefits abound even to this present day to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord has done many marvels through her even to the present day; which words seem to indicate that the bodies of the said Saints lay long at Fermo, and that the Saints were illustrious there for many prodigies: the first does not agree well enough with what Saraceni says of the body of St. Laurentia found at Ancona about the year 400; the second, namely that they were illustrious at Fermo for many prodigies, I have read nowhere else. Furthermore, these Acts, or the Passion of St. Palatias, are altogether similar to the Acts of St. Christina, announced at Tyrus near the lake of Bolsena, already given in our Work at the 24th day of July, except that in these more prodigies occur, and St. Christina is said to have been pierced with arrows; and this not only as regards the substance of the matters but also as regards the circumstances, indeed even the very words by which they are expressed; wherefore we do not think it necessary to reprint the Passion of St. Palatias here. Finally, not only the Acts of St. Christina but also the Acts of SS. Acisclus and Victoria, martyrs of Cordova, to which these again are similar in many things, as may be seen in Tamayo in the Hispanic Martyrology at the 17th day of November, are suspect: so that there is hardly anything that can be affirmed certainly and without danger of error about SS. Palatias and Laurentia; if you except what we have said about their sacred cult.