ON ST. EUPILIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT COMO IN ITALY
ABOUT THE YEAR 537.
SYLLOGE.
From the Martyrologies, and especially from the Annals of Como.
Eupilius, bishop and confessor, at Como in Italy. (S.)
BY C. B.
Among the bishops of the church of Como, or Novocomum, of whom we have already brought many illustrious for sanctity into our Work, St. Eupilius, who at Como, contrary to what Ferrarius seems here to insinuate, St. Eupilius, or, as he is also found called, Euplius, is numbered ninth in order by Ughelli in volume 5 of Italia Sacra. Him Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy which he published in print in the year 1613, adorns today with this following elogium: Eupilius, 9th bishop of Como. He succeeded St. Eutychius in the episcopate. He, a German by nation, drew his origin from the city of Utrecht. Coming into Italy, since he excelled in probity of life, learning, and morals, he deserved to be substituted for St. Eutychius in the church of Como. Which church he administered so piously that he died not without the reputation of Sanctity on the 5th day before the Ides of October. His body was laid in the church of St. Abundius. But to the elogium he presently subjoins an Annotation, conceived in these following words concerning our Saint: He seems, from conjectures, to have lived after the year of the Lord 500 and to have presided over the church of Como; he began not many years ago to be entered in the tables and to be celebrated in the church of Como. Besides, the same Ferrarius, in his new Topography of the Roman Martyrology, printed in the year 1609, reckons St. Eupilius among the bishops of Como for whom, though they are held among the Saints, the church of Como, as he says, recites no Office; and hence I at first doubted whether Eupilius, who is inscribed in no ancient sacred Fasti, enjoyed ecclesiastical cult at Como from a time more than a hundred years before the said year 1634 — before the very celebrated decrees of Urban VIII, by which it was provided that the honours proper to the Saints should not be paid to servants of God not yet inscribed by the Church on the roll of the Saints or the Blessed, nor honoured with ecclesiastical cult for more than a hundred years before the year 1634 — and therefore whether he rightly claims for himself a place in our Work.
[2] from immemorial time, as a Saint. But this doubt was removed from me by Primo Luigi Tatti of Como, theologian of the Somaschan congregation and consultor of the holy office. For he, in his Martyrology of Como, which he published in the year 1675, celebrates St. Eupilius today in these words: At Como, of St. Eupilius, bishop and confessor, at his own altar in the church of St. Abundius; who, coming to Como, since he excelled in probity of life, learning, and morals, deserved to be substituted for St. Eutychius; and he presided over the church of Como with such religion under the calamitous rule of the Goths that, departing from this life, he deserved to be co-opted among the heavenly ones; and then, in what he presently appends to this brief elogium, he affirms that the body of St. Eupilius, which had been buried at Como in the church first called that of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and afterwards that of St. Abundius, near the latter's tomb, was afterwards translated to an altar in the same church, consecrated under the proper name of Eupilius, or rather, as the same author teaches in the sacred Annals of the city of Como, published in the year 1663, book 7, numbers 91 and 130, under the names of St. Eusebius — likewise a bishop of Como, already brought into our Work at the 22nd day of May — and of St. Eupilius; and since that altar was consecrated as early as the year 1095, as I shall show below, it truly becomes evident from what has just been said that the honours proper to the Saints were paid to St. Eupilius already from several centuries before the year 1634, and therefore from a time immemorial before it. But did these consist solely in the altar having been consecrated under the names of St. Eusebius and St. Eupilius together?
[3] That the natal day of St. Eupilius, or the 11th of October, on which he is believed to have died, he is venerated; and he appears to have been a German rather than an African was also celebrated with solemn rite at Como every year, and indeed without interruption, from a time immemorial before the year 1634, may be gathered from what the praised Tatti relates in the cited Martyrology and Annals. But, that we may proceed by method and path, it is fitting that we speak of the Saint's birthplace, and of the time at which he obtained the see of Como and then died, before these things are brought forward. I begin from the birthplace. Ballarini, in his chronological Compendium of the city of Como, page 99, affirms that St. Eupilius was born at Utica, which is a maritime city of Africa in Mauretania, now called Bizerte; but, says Tatti, mentioned again just now, in the said Annals of the same city, his homeland, book 7, number III, Eupilius was constantly believed by all our writers to be a German, and the only difficulty that presents itself is to find which among the many cities of Germany is his homeland. Those who speak of the Saint with sounder judgment make him a native of the city of Utechia or Utichia; but in what province this city is situated no one declares, except Ferrarius alone, who, finding no place of Germany called by that particular name by the geographers, acutely conjectures (see his words transcribed here at number 1) that it is the illustrious city of Ultrajectum, in Dutch Utrecht, which is the capital of one of those pleasant provinces of Belgium or Lower Germany. Truly, no place of Germany is found called by the cosmographers either Utechia or Utichia, or, as we read in one Catalogue of our bishops, Nitecchia; wherefore, taking account of the similarity which exists between the name Ultrajectum, in Dutch Utrecht, and the name Utechia or Utichia, whence Eupilius is related to have sprung, we incline without difficulty to judge with Ferrarius that Utrecht is the homeland of Eupilius.
[4] So, more or less as to substance, the praised Tatti, made bishop, as is reported, in the year 532, presently adding also that those who, not finding a city of Germany distinguished by the name of Utichia, therefore said that Eupilius was born at Utica — which name likewise approaches by similarity the name of Utichia or Eutechia — and so made him an African, did not notice that St. Eupilius is asserted by common consent of the more ancient historiographers to have been a Teuton by nation and, further, born in Germany. But although Tatti commends from their antiquity the historiographers whom he here mentions, he by no means declares when they flourished; and since it is so, it may rightly be called into doubt whether they did not live too far removed from the age of Eupilius to have been able to have thoroughly ascertained what they narrate of him; wherefore, although it appears that on their credit Eupilius is to be believed born in Germany rather than in Africa, I nevertheless think the matter by no means certain. Brautius meanwhile makes Eupilius a German by nation, as one who sings thus of him today in his poetic Martyrology:
A German mother brought forth Eupilius as her nursling; The glad soil of Como received him as father.
Nor is it certain either when Eupilius was made bishop of Como; however, since St. Eutychius, already brought into our Work at the 5th day of June, on which he is venerated, occupied the see of Como immediately before St. Eupilius, and, as is there determined with Tatti — who nevertheless admits that nothing certain can be affirmed about him — closed his last day in the year 532, nothing is nearer than that he who immediately succeeded him in the see of Como should be said to have begun to occupy it about the same year 532.
[5] he died about the year 537, And indeed Ughelli, in volume 5 of Italia Sacra, among the bishops of Como, affirms that Eupilius then succeeded Eutychius in the bishopric of Como. Nor is Tatti to be thought to dissent from him in his Martyrology of Como; for although he says there, in the words transcribed here at number 2, that Eupilius presided over the church of Como under the calamitous rule of the Goths, yet, since that rule held in Italy from the year 476 to the year 554, he certainly by no means opposes Ughelli, who writes that Eupilius was created bishop of Como in the year 532. Further, the year in which the Saint died can be determined no more certainly than that in which he began to occupy the see of Como. Tatti, already often praised, having stated in the mentioned Annals of his Homeland, book 7, number 129, that some bind the Saint's death to the year 539, and others on the contrary to the year 535, affirms that neither these nor those rest on sufficiently firm authority, and that therefore the opinion of the former is little certain, and that of the latter very doubtful; and since nothing at all occurs by which either of those opinions may be rendered certain, and the Saint, whether he closed his last day in the year 535, for which Ballarini and Ughelli stand in the places cited above, or in the year 539, which pleased the writers praised by Tatti, may not unfittingly be said to have died about the year 537, hence, wishing above to designate in some way the time at which the Saint migrated to those above, I wrote in the margin "about the year 537", although in the meantime I would not obstinately oppose those who might contend, either with Castellanus that Eupilius died somewhat earlier than the year 535, or even later than the year 539. Let us now proceed to those things which are later than the death of our Saint and pertain to him in any way whatever.
[6] [and buried in St. Abundius, he was afterwards translated there to his own altar, and under it,] That St. Eupilius was at Como, in the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, afterwards called that of St. Abundius, near the bodies of his predecessors
buried, and thence afterwards translated to an altar of his own, marked also with the name of St. Eusebius and situated, as Tatti teaches in the places cited above, in the same church, under which, from what is to be said below, he is preserved even today, all the writers who speak on this argument record with unanimous consent; but there is none who declares when that translation was made. Ballarini indeed affirms that Eupilius was enrolled in the number of the Living in heaven under the Pontificate of Vigilius, Justinian reigning as emperor; but does he intend by this to signify that St. Eupilius was then raised from the place where he had been buried and translated to the aforesaid altar of his name? If, as will perhaps seem to some, the matter stands so, it must be that this translation, as having been carried out under Pope Vigilius, who sat from the year 537 to the year 555, happened in the space of time which lay between these two years, and therefore not very long after the Saint's death, if one looks to what Ballarini writes; but since this writer alleges no author or ancient monument at all from which he drew that St. Eupilius was enrolled in the number of the Living in heaven under the Pontificate of Vigilius, it comes about even from this that it may not without reason be doubted whether it was in fact done then. The reason for doubting on this matter is further very greatly increased by the fact that the altar to which St. Eupilius is narrated to have been translated seems, from what is now to be said, to have been consecrated no earlier than the year 1095.
[7] When Pope Urban II, who occupied the Chair of St. Peter from the year 1088 to the year 1099, which Pope Urban II in the year 1095 was staying at Como in Lombardy, being about to set out thence into Gaul, he there, as Porcacchi teaches in On the Nobility of Como, book 1, page 22, consecrated the church of St. Abundius together with the altars of some of the holy bishops of Como, namely Adelbert, Rubianus, Eusebius, and Eupilius. But in what year was this done? Bertold, in the Chronicle at the year 1095, writes thus: The lord Pope (namely Urban II), affairs in Lombardy being well disposed, began to turn aside into Gaul by the sea route, and arrived at St. Mary of Le Puy on her Assumption, and by Apostolic authority proclaimed a synod at Clermont for the Octave of St. Martin. Since, therefore, as may be gathered from these words of the said chronicler, Pope Urban II was in Lombardy, in which Como is situated, in the year 1095, being about to cross into Gaul, and then, from what has been said, while he was staying at Como about to set out for Gaul, consecrated there the church of St. Abundius and the altars of it just mentioned, and by name the one marked with the names of SS. Eusebius and Eupilius, it follows that he most probably did this in the said year 1095. Now, if the altar called after SS. Eusebius and Eupilius was consecrated only in the year 1095, it does not appear likely that it had been built as early as the 6th century under the Pontificate of Pope Vigilius and adorned with the relics of St. Eupilius.
[8] Porcacchi, at the place cited above, says indeed that it was consecrated by Urban, not for the first time, but anew; he consecrated, and enriched it with indulgences but Tatti, in the Martyrology of the church of Como, notes today that the altar of St. Eupilius was dedicated by Pope Urban II in the year 1095, these words "anew" being omitted; nor is it to be believed on the sole authority of Ballarini, the more recent writer praised above, who alleges no ancient surety for himself, that that altar was built as early as the 6th century under the pontificate of Pope Vigilius and adorned with the relics of St. Eupilius; and it hence becomes uncertain, even from this, whether St. Eupilius was then raised from the earth and translated to the altar of his name. But although it be so, it appears likely, even from the fact that that altar was, from what has been said, then consecrated by Urban, that this was indeed done no later than the 11th century. Nor did Urban then only dedicate it with solemn rite, as Tatti affirms, all the authors who speak of that matter agreeing with him, but he also enriched it with various indulgences, as the praised Tatti likewise affirms in the Annals of the city of Como, book 7, number 130. Hear how the same Tatti speaks, opportunely here also for our purpose, in his Martyrology of the church of Como at the third day of June, on which he begins to speak of the church of St. Abundius at Como, then consecrated by Urban II.
[9] enriched. But Urban, he says, not only dedicated this basilica (namely that of St. Abundius) out of his exceptional kindness towards our city and towards the monks of St. Benedict, of whom he had formerly been a nursling in the Congregation of Cluny; but also adorned it with sacred indulgences to endure perpetually. For he granted to those piously visiting this temple on this day of its consecration the remission of all venial sins and of a third part of capital ones; which he also extended to those visiting the same church on the natal days of SS. Abundius, Eusebius, Eupilius, Adelbert, and Rubianus, bishops of Como, whose altars erected there he inaugurated with sacred ceremonies on the following day. The stations at this church and its altars, on account of such indulgences, were formerly held in such honour and cult that, from the constant concourse of the people, those days were kept as holidays from court cases and judicial acts, ecclesiastical as well as secular. So he; from which surely everyone will gather that the natal day of St. Eupilius, as I have already noted above, was celebrated with solemn rite at Como every year already from a time immemorial before the year 1634; and as formerly, so also today this honour is shown to St. Eupilius at Como, and his sacred body is preserved there entire even today, with honour, under the altar to which, from what has been said above, it was translated no later than the 11th century. These two things still remain to be shown here. I take my beginning from the latter. In the year 1590 the bodies of the holy bishops of Como Abundius, Amantius, Consul, Exuperantius, Rubianus, and Adelbert, carried in a most solemn procession of the whole clergy and people to various churches of the city of Como, were placed in a more honourable seat and tomb in them, as Tatti teaches from authentic documents in the Martyrology of Como at the 1st day of July.
[10] is preserved with honour even today. Hence it came about that Ballarini, at the place cited above, and after him Ughelli, in volume 5 of Italia Sacra, judging that the body of St. Eupilius too was then translated elsewhere from the church of St. Abundius, committed to writing, through an error into which Castellanus also partly slipped, that one half of that sacred pledge was then brought into the chapel of the Crucifix which the cathedral church of Como contains, and the other into the church of the Friars of the Order of St. Dominic called St. John of Pedemonte; but, says Coleti in his Additions to Ughelli, the whole body of St. Eupilius is still preserved in the church of St. Abundius. But in the year 1590 the bodies of SS. Abundius, Consul, Exsuperantius, Amantius, Rubianus, and Adelbert were translated, but not that of St. Eupilius. Finally, the bodies of which half was brought, at the request of the most eminent Cardinal Gallio, into the cathedral, and the other half into St. John of Pedemonte, were those of SS. Rubianus and Adelbert, as is clearly evident from the Inscription which stands to be read in the cathedral in the chapel of the crucifix, of this tenor: "The other part of the holy bodies of Adelbert and Rubianus, bishops of Como, translated hither from the church of St. Abundius in the year 1590 on the 1st day of the month of July with a most celebrated procession." So he, presently citing for himself Tatti, who teaches what he says in the Annals of the city of Como, book 8, number 197.
[11] But although the body of St. Eupilius was not translated in the solemn procession just mentioned here, and he is now honoured at Como every year also with an ecclesiastical Office. yet the aforesaid altar under which it rests, since it had been shaken in the restoration of the church of St. Abundius (see Tatti in the Martyrology of Como at the 22nd of May), was restored anew with sacred ceremonies to its former veneration by Ninguarda, bishop of Como, under whom these things were done; and under it even today that sacred pledge, wrapped in silk veils and enclosed in a leaden chest, which together with the chest containing the body of St. Eusebius is placed in a great marble tomb, is preserved with honour, as may again be seen in Tatti in the Annals of Como, book 7, number 130. Moreover, the Saint, whose body is thus guarded at Como even down to this time, is also venerated there, no differently than formerly, in solemn manner and rite, and indeed with an ecclesiastical office, although in the meantime this has perhaps not been done from immemorial time. So, namely, Ferrarius and Tatti suggest. For the former, after reckoning St. Eupilius, in his new Topography of the Roman Martyrology printed in the year 1609, among the holy bishops of Como of whom the church of Como recites no office, then affirms, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy published in print in the year 1613, that the same had begun to be celebrated in the church of Como not many years before; and thus he reveals, not obscurely as it appears, that Eupilius had then not long begun to be venerated in the church of Como with an ecclesiastical Office; while as for the latter, that is Tatti, he, being about to enumerate today in his Martyrology of Como the authors who treat of St. Eupilius, reckons among these the Offices of the church of Como; and since he does not seem likely to have done so unless an office of St. Eupilius were found among them, there is surely reason to judge that such an office is in fact found among them, and is recited every year of St. Eupilius in the church of Como.