ON ST. CERBONIUS OF VERONA, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, IN ITALY,
PERHAPS TOWARDS THE END OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.
SYLLOGE.
His memory in the sacred Fasti, ecclesiastical cult, the time of his episcopate.
Cerbonius, bishop and confessor, at Verona in Italy. (S.)
BY C. B.
The present-day Roman Martyrology announces on this day two Cerboniuses, The Saint, who has been honoured at Verona from time immemorial, the one bishop of Populonia in Etruria, the other bishop of Verona in the dominion of the Venetians in Italy. Of the former, because he is very probably less ancient than the other, we shall treat presently afterwards; of the latter we treat now. He is one of the thirty-six bishops of the most ancient as well as most celebrated city of Verona whom it venerates as Saints. None of these indeed except St. Zeno, already inserted in our Work at the 12th day of April, is found inscribed in the sacred Fasti of Usuard, which alone the Roman Church formerly used; but, although this is so, all those thirty-six bishops nevertheless enjoyed public cult from time immemorial, as the most illustrious Agostino Valier, himself also bishop of Verona, proves from the Old Martyrology and from writers of the fifteenth century in the ancient Monuments of his church, brought out at Venice in the year 1576, fol. I and the following; and hence, unless I am mistaken, it chiefly came about that of the same thirty-six holy Bishops, after Galesinius had inscribed several of them in his Martyrology, published likewise at Venice only two years after the monuments of the church of Verona which I have just mentioned were published there, altogether twenty-three, and by name St. Cerbonius, who is also found called Cerbonus, were afterwards brought into the present-day Roman Martyrology.
[2] Certainly this holy Bishop of Verona, who is still absent from the Roman Martyrology printed at Antwerp in the year 1586 with the types of Christopher Plantin, and on the same day on which he is inscribed in the sacred Fasti, appears afterwards in the same Martyrology, which came out enlarged and corrected likewise at Antwerp from John Moretus in 1591, announced today in these few words, Likewise at Verona, of Cerbonius, bishop; so that from this alone it may not rashly be believed that St. Cerbonius, bishop of Verona, was certainly not inscribed in the Roman Martyrology before the year 1580, and that consequently Castellan, in a Note placed in the margin of his Universal Martyrology, in which he commemorates St. Cerbonius today, rightly observes that he had recently been added to it. But does he likewise rightly add there that no inquiry was made into his death day by those who brought St. Cerbonius into the present-day Roman Martyrology? This I would not dare to assert; but, however the matter stands, Galesinius had already before commemorated St. Cerbonius in his Martyrology on the same 10th day of October as the Roman Martyrology, in the following manner: Likewise at Verona, of St. Cerbonius, bishop, who, zealous for propagating the Gospel discipline, renowned for the praise of wisdom, having religiously administered the church of Verona, rested in the Lord with great testimony of sanctity. Moreover, not only does Ferrarius, who lists Cerbonius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, likewise do so at the 10th day of October, but Agostino Valier also expressly affirms that he passed to the Saints above on this very day, and Ughelli afterwards followed him among the bishops of Verona in tome 5 of the Italia Sacra.
[3] died, as it appears, on the 10th of October, The place in which Agostino Valier affirms what I have said occurs in him at fol. 38, in the elogium, or, as it is called by him, History, of St. Cerbonius, conceived in these following words: Cerbonius, bishop of Verona, was a man inflamed with an incredible zeal for propagating the Gospel discipline and wonderfully devoted to extirpating heresies: he so joined eloquence with wisdom that he obtained in his time a great reputation for prudence and sanctity among the whole people of Verona. Worn out with old age he died on the sixth day before the Ides of October, that is, on the 10th day of this month, leaving a great longing for his virtues. He was buried in the basilica of St. Proculus. So the writer last praised; and since he praises at the beginning of his Work an ancient Martyrology from the parchments of the cathedral church of Verona, in which he found written the names of the thirty-six holy Bishops of Verona, he very probably affirmed in his elogium, or History, already given that the Saint died on this day because he found the name of Cerbonius written in that Martyrology at the 10th day of October. However that may be, it is also asserted in an old tablet of the church of St. Proculus near Verona, in Onofrio Panvinio, book 4 of the Antiquities of Verona, chapter 3, that St. Cerbonius died on the 10th day of October; and since this is so, and no monument is found which records the death of the Saint on another day, it appears sufficiently probable from all that has just been alleged that he in very fact exchanged this mortal life for the immortal on that day. The next thing is that we now inquire into the year, or rather (for who could attain this in any way, even by conjecture, in the very thick darkness in which the matters concerning the ancient bishops of Verona are wrapped on every side?) into the century, in which St. Cerbonius either died or occupied the episcopal see of Verona, or at least show that not even this can be assigned with certainty.
[4] Ferrarius, who, as I have already indicated, marks St. Cerbonius today in his Catalogue, the see of Verona not in the eighth century, that is, as Ferrarius relates, in which he embraces the Saints of Italy, at the same time supplies there the elogium with which he adorns him, to be recited here now, taken in great part from the elogium which I transcribed above from Agostino Valier and conceived in these words: Cerbonius, the 34th bishop of Verona, was substituted for St. Anno, since he excelled in eloquence, learning and uprightness of life. He, most desirous of propagating the Gospel discipline, devoted diligent labour to that matter, and was especially intent on extirpating heresies. When, therefore, he had purged his church both by learning and by the example of an innocent life, and had left many tokens of sanctity, he flew to the reward of his labours on the 6th day before the Ides of October, and was entombed in the church of St. Proculus. If, therefore, one must stand here by Ferrarius, it will follow that St. Cerbonius, since this writer declares in the words already given that he succeeded in the see of Verona St. Anno, who was taken from the living about the year 780, as we taught in our Work at the 23rd day of May, on which it was treated of this holy Bishop of Verona, from Ughelli among the Bishops of Verona and from Onofrio Panvinio in the Antiquities of Verona, book 5, chapter 15, certainly occupied it not earlier than when the eighth century of the Christian era was already far advanced and consequently the seventh had entirely elapsed.
[5] But in the list of the bishops of Verona which Ughelli exhibits in tome 5 of the Italia Sacra, enlarged by Coleti, from column 678, after St. Anno, St. Cerbonius is placed at column 696 immediately before St. Simplicius, who, as is asserted there, flourished about the year 490; and although that list more than once strays from the true time and order in which the bishops who occupied the see of Verona before St. Anno, mentioned by Ferrarius, lived and succeeded one another, and is almost everywhere destitute of the credit of ancient monuments, it is nevertheless, as regards the bishops who succeeded St. Anno, fuller and more approved than that it should become probable that a place among these, even immediately after St. Anno, can be granted to St. Cerbonius, contrary to what is done in the said list. Girolamo Dalla Corte, indeed, in the History of Verona, part 1, book 4, page 197 and the following, relates that Petronius, who in this list is placed by Ughelli immediately before St. Cerbonius, also flourished in the ninth century and consequently after St. Anno; but it does not seem to be doubted that this writer strays far from the truth (see tome 2 of September of our Work, page 677, on that holy Bishop of Verona). But indeed, you will say, since St. Cerbonius, as appears sufficiently probable, not to say certain, from what has been said, occupied the see of Verona before St. Anno, and indeed before the year 720, in which, as Ughelli teaches, Paternus, Anno's immediate predecessor, was already bishop of Verona, at what time or in what century was he raised to it?
[6] but, as from the ancient document adduced here A certain rhythmical piece, which by Mabillon
was first published among the Vetera Analecta, tome 1, page 371 and the following, and afterwards also reprinted among the writers of the Res Italicae, tome 2, part 2, column 1095, an anonymous author composed as a description of Verona while Pippin, son of Charles the Great, was reigning; and concerning this document of the eighth century, in which SS. Euprepius, Dimidrianus, Simplicius, Proculus, Saturninus, Lucilius, Gricinus and Zeno are related to have been the first eight bishops of the church of Verona and to have governed it in the order in which they are listed here, the most noble Scipione Maffei, in tome 5 of the enlarged Italia Sacra, addressed to Nicolò Coleti, column 672, having first said that Ughelli and the others who patched together lists of the ancient bishops of Verona rest on no monument and have nowhere to set their foot, writes thus: To me, therefore, finding up to this day no document either older or more genuine, it would seem a sin to depart from the tradition of the anonymous author; especially since a second witness also is present, who preceded the other writers of this argument by more than two hundred years; namely John, deacon of the church of Verona, who in the imperial History which he wrote, now lost, recited the first eight bishops of Verona with the same names and in altogether the same order, as we learn from Panvinio, Antiquities of Verona, book 4, chapter 3, who had read that chronicle.
[7] is proved, after St. Zeno So the praised Maffei, who, after he has then proved that St. Proculus and St. Lucilius, of whom the one is asserted in the said description of Verona to have been the fourth and the other the sixth bishop of the church of Verona, sat in the fourth century, presently also shows that two Zenos are wrongly set up by Baronius, and that St. Zeno, who is listed in the same description of Verona as the last of the first eight bishops of Verona, also flourished in the aforesaid fourth century, but when it was already verging to its end; and since it is so, and it appears that one must stand here by the most learned Maffei, who thought it a sin to depart from that description, that is, from the series of the first eight bishops of Verona woven into it, handed down by the anonymous writer, it follows that St. Cerbonius, since he has no place in that series, that is, among the first eight bishops of the church of Verona, and consequently must be said to have sat after the last of these, Zeno, who departed this life towards the end of the fourth century, flourished only after the fourth century, or at any rate not long before the fifth. But did the Saint also in very truth live either when the fourth century was almost finished or when the fifth was already running? Agostino Valier, bishop of Verona, already praised above more than once, exhibits in the said Monuments of his church, before the first folio, an unfolded Catalogue of the bishops of Verona; and in this Cerbonius is marked immediately after St. Zeno, who, as has been said, flourished towards the end of the fourth century and was the eighth bishop of Verona; so that he, if one must stand by that Catalogue, occupied the see of Verona either when the fourth century was already going out or only when the fifth was beginning.
[8] But besides the fact that this Catalogue, in the very first eight bishops of the church of Verona, and very probably occupied in the fifth or sixth or seventh century conflicts with the description of Verona praised above, that is, with the series of them which this contains, and with almost all the other catalogues of the same, it appears more probable, from what is brought forward with us concerning St. Zeno at the 12th day of April, on which he is honoured, and in Ughelli, tome 5 of the enlarged Italia Sacra, column 693, under Syagrius, that this man, and not St. Cerbonius, was the immediate successor of St. Zeno in the see of Verona. Moreover, the time at which St. Cerbonius and most of the other bishops of Verona noted by Ughelli between St. Zeno and Paternus, that is, between the fourth and eighth centuries, were living, and which of them succeeded one another, is not established from documents of approved credit, as Ughelli himself, after Panvinio, confesses at column 692 under St. Probus. Therefore, although I judge it probable, on account of what has already been said above, that St. Cerbonius sat in either the fifth, or the sixth, or the seventh century, I would nevertheless not dare to assert for certain whether this took place not very long after the death of St. Zeno, that is, as the fourth century was going out or while the fifth was running, or, on the contrary, in one of the two following centuries. But although it is so, I have nevertheless indicated above in the margin, with the doubting word perhaps added, that Cerbonius died towards the end of the fifth century, because he is marked by Ughelli immediately before St. Simplicius, who he says flourished about the year 490, and because, where that writer cannot be convicted of error, as is the case here, I have wished to adhere to the order of the bishops of Verona which he composed rather than to other writers, being about to do otherwise without hesitation if a clearer light, by which the epoch of the episcopate or death of St. Cerbonius might be determined more certainly and more closely, shall at some time shine forth.
[9] and is asserted to have obtained a tomb in the church of St. Proculus at Verona. For the rest, Agostino Valier, just praised again, who relates in his elogium transcribed here above that St. Cerbonius was buried at Verona in the church of St. Proculus, brings forward in his aforesaid Work, page 3 verso, two inscriptions of the church of St. Proculus at Verona, the one taken from a stone tablet, the other from an old parchment tablet, in which it is asserted that the sacred bodies of St. Cerbonius and of some other Saints are kept, or rest, there. To that place I refer for both, for brevity's sake, the studious reader, of which the former can also be seen in Onofrio Panvinio, book 4 of the Antiquities of Verona, chapter 3; and he will also find what is related in the two said inscriptions about the bodies of St. Cerbonius and of the other Saints resting, or kept, at Verona in the church of St. Proculus confirmed, or, if you prefer, affirmed anew, by the same Agostino Valier in the index of the relics preserved at Verona, which this writer also supplies in his said Work, page 86. Other things which I might discuss here concerning St. Cerbonius occur nowhere, nor is there reason why this should appear strange to anyone, since Onofrio Panvinio complains, in book 4 of the Antiquities of Verona, Ughelli and other writers of Italy generally not dissenting from him, that the deeds of very many of the bishops of Verona who flourished before the year 760 are most obscure and uncertain, and overwhelmed by the darkness of antiquity through excessive age and the fatal sloth of our forefathers.