ON ST. GRAMMATIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
AT SALERNO IN THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES
PERHAPS IN THE 8TH CENTURY.
SYLLOGE.
The memory of the Saint in both Catalogues of Ferrarius, his ecclesiastical cult, the time of his see uncertain.
Grammatius, bishop and confessor, at Salerno in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
BY C. B.
This holy bishop of Salerno Ferrarius records today in both his Catalogues, [The Saint, who is commemorated today in both Catalogues of Ferrarius, and with an elogium,] of which one comprises the Saints of Italy and the other the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology. And he does so in the latter indeed with these few words: At Salerno, of St. Grammatius, bishop; but in the former, employing a longer elogium as well, in which he presents a certain compendium of the Life of St. Grammatius. That elogium, which he received from Gaspare Musca, priest of the city of Salerno, whom he cites at the end, Ughelli, in volume 7 of Italia Sacra, among the bishops of Salerno, recites entire in the very words used by that writer in the Catalogue of the bishops of the church of Salerno, page 12, which Ferrarius somewhat changed; and I too am about to do so here now before all else. It runs thus: St. Gramatius, bishop of Salerno, born of noble parents, but far nobler on account of their practice of Christian piety, wonderfully given from boyhood to the veneration of the divine Majesty, joining integrity of morals and life with the study of the disciplines, having grown older, in order to follow with his whole soul Christ the Lord, the author of poverty, distributed his possessions to the poor. Presently, when the holy man Bonosius, bishop of the city of Salerno, had flown from this pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland, though unwilling, he is created bishop by the incredible consent of all.
[2] Raised to the summit of this honour, he nonetheless always had the same solicitude for the poor; which is transcribed here entire, the same humility was in his heart, the same gravity in his countenance. Vehemently stirring the people by assiduous sermons to contempt of human things and desire of eternal beatitude, he so subjected the flesh to the rule of the spirit by prayers, vigils, and fasts that, loosed from earthly business, he clung with his mind to heavenly things. At length, near to death, having bestowed the furniture of his house with his own hands on his needy and poor, he admonishes the presbyters and clerics, summoned as sons, of his migration to the Lord, exhorts them to live well and in Christian fashion, and at the same time foretells that the church of Salerno would not long afterwards be distinguished by a heavenly treasure (which pertained to the body of the glorious apostle and Evangelist Matthew); and, with eyes raised to heaven, on the 5th day before the Ides of October, which day is kept every year as a feast in his honour in the church of Salerno, he fell asleep in the Lord; and God, who is wonderful in His Saints, afterwards illustrated his sanctity with very many miracles; through whom He restored to the blind the faculty of seeing, and to the deaf of hearing, and to the dumb of speaking, and to the lame of walking, cleansed lepers, and freed paralytics too and those oppressed by unclean spirits. Such is the elogium of Grammatius which I have thought fit to transcribe here; but what credence does it deserve?
[3] nor yet as certain on every side is it held, he is adorned by Musca, Musca, who, supplying it, grants Grammatius the second place among the bishops of Salerno in the Catalogue praised above, speaks thus towards the end of the admonition to the studious reader prefixed to it: Would that, concerning the earlier bishops, whom our church has always held and venerated among the number of the Saints, we had been able to bring forward something more certain, besides what is to be said! But in them we have followed, as regards their order, not their number, the Tables, the Breviary, the Missal, and the ancient inscriptions of the altar which is called that of the holy Confessors, and other monuments of our church whose credit is held certain. Musca, therefore, if he records true things, had monuments whose credit was held certain to guide him; but the order of the ancient prelates of the church of Salerno illustrious for sanctity, which he then followed and which he here indicates he drew from these, is by no means certain, as will become plain from what is to be said below, if perchance Musca contends that no others sat in between among these. Besides, when at the end of the elogium already given he assigns whence he received what he records in it, he names only the Breviary of Salerno; and since it is commonly known even to the learned that the Breviaries of particular churches, in which not rarely things foreign to historical truth are found recorded, cannot be held for monuments of certain and indubitable credit, the things which are related by Musca in the elogium or compendium of the Life of our Saint just transcribed here, and are not known to have been drawn from anywhere else than from the Breviary of Salerno, can truly by no means be held as certain on every side.
[4] at Salerno, where honourably even today But although it be so, Ferrarius indeed, who, as I have already said, records Grammatius today in both his Catalogues of the Saints, rightly marks him at Salerno in the brief announcement transcribed here above.
For there this our Saint not only was bishop, but also obtained burial; he is preserved honourably even today, and further, which is the chief point, he is honoured as a Saint with ecclesiastical cult whose beginning cannot be assigned, as you will understand from what is now to be said. Lesson VI of the ecclesiastical Office mentioned below, which is proposed at the 11th day of October concerning St. Grammatius among the proper Offices (for so they are called in the title which they bear) of the feasts of the church of Salerno extant in our possession, reformed by apostolic authority by the most illustrious and most reverend man, the Lord Bolognini, archbishop of Salerno, and printed at Naples in the year 1594, having narrated the death of the Saint, concludes in this manner: His body (namely Grammatius's) was laid in the altar of the Pontiffs of the lower basilica of the cathedral church (of Salerno), where blessed Bonosius rests; so that, as their lot in the pontificate had been the same, and the same their glory in heaven, so too the place of their veneration should be the same. That St. Grammatius was buried at Salerno in that very place which is indicated here Ughelli also relates at the place cited above, presently adding to the Saint's elogium, recited from Musca: His (namely St. Grammatius's) body is laid in the cathedral church in the lower crypt under the confession of the altar, where also are placed the venerable bodies of other holy bishops of the same city (of Salerno); and that the body of St. Grammatius is preserved at Salerno in the cathedral or Metropolitan church even today, or at least was still preserved towards the end of the 16th century, is made credible by the Constitutions published by Antonio Marsilio Columma, archbishop of Salerno, in the diocesan synod in the year 1579 and printed in the following year.
[5] For in these, the Bodies and relics of the Saints which are found laid in the Metropolitan church of Salerno are indicated at page 383, is preserved, with ecclesiastical, and then on the following page these words are read: In the altar which has been constructed in honour of the confessors on the south side rest the bodies of blessed Bonosius, bishop of Salerno, blessed Grammatius, blessed Verus, blessed Eusterius, blessed Gaudiosus, blessed Valentinus, bishops of Salerno. To the said Constitutions is added Ferrarius, who expressly affirms that St. Grammatius rests or is preserved even today at Salerno in the greater or cathedral church, in the Annotation which he subjoins to his elogium, in these following words: The body of St. Grammatius rests in the greater church of Salerno beside St. Bonosius; so that I do not know why Castellanus — who, following the example of Ferrarius, marks Grammatius today in his Universal Martyrology — relates, in the announcement by which he does so, that the body of this our Saint is preserved in St. Bonosius's. Did he perhaps think that the cathedral church of Salerno — which, Ughelli writes in volume 7 of Italia Sacra among the Bishops of Salerno, was consecrated to God formerly under the title of St. Mary of the Angels, but now under the name of St. Matthew the Apostle, the patron of the city — is now also distinguished by the appellation of St. Bonosius, bishop of Salerno, already brought into our Work at the 14th day of May? However that may be, that the sacred body of Grammatius is indeed preserved even today in the cathedral church of Salerno appears wholly certain and indubitable from what has been said. I now turn my discourse to the cult which he enjoys at Salerno.
[6] In the Calendar which the proper Offices of the feasts of the church of Salerno praised above have prefixed to them as the things adduced here prove, he is venerated the feast of St. Grammatius, bishop and confessor, is prescribed at the 11th day of October under the double rite; and then at page 69 and the two following, after these words, On the 11th day of October, of St. Gramatius, bishop of Salerno; all from the common of Confessor Pontiffs except those which are proper here, a Prayer and six proper Lessons are proposed to be recited for the ecclesiastical Office with which St. Grammatius was then to be honoured. The Prayer is not much different from the Prayer which Gaspare Musca appends from the Breviary of Salerno to the elogium of Grammatius transcribed above, and is conceived in these words: O God, who have granted us this most holy day by the solemnity of blessed Gramatius, your confessor and pontiff, be present, propitious, to the prayers of your Church, that she who glories in his merits may be fortified by his suffrages. Through our Lord, etc.; but as for the Lessons, these, besides what, as we saw above, they relate about the body of St. Grammatius laid in the cathedral church of Salerno, supply almost nothing which is not contained in the elogium or the compendium of whatever kind of the Life of St. Grammatius transcribed here above. Besides, they are found, as it appears, nowhere else than in the Propers of the feasts of the church of Salerno, reformed and given to the public light in the year 1594 (see their title at number 4).
[7] enjoys, he is numbered second among the bishops of Salerno by Musca, Wherefore, since they yield the palm of antiquity to the elogium transcribed here above — as one which, although it is supplied in the Catalogue of the Bishops of Salerno, sent forth into the light no earlier than the same year 1594, was nevertheless then drawn by Musca, as he himself here notes at its end, from the Breviary of Salerno, and indeed, as Ughelli adds at the place cited above, an old one — I have judged that they are not to be inserted entire in this Sylloge, but only that, if perchance they offered anything which could be of use in any way, this should be proposed to the reader. Meanwhile, both from them and from the other things already adduced, it becomes evident that Grammatius is venerated at Salerno not only as a Saint but also as a bishop of Salerno; but although it be so, and it cannot in any way be doubted that he truly was a holy bishop of Salerno, yet the time at which he occupied the see of Salerno cannot be determined with certainty, as will become plain from what is now to be said. Musca, who conjectures, in his admonition to the reader which he prefixes to the Catalogue of the bishops and archbishops of Salerno praised above, that there were more ancient bishops illustrious for sanctity who governed the church of Salerno than he is afterwards to relate, then in it grants among them the first place to St. Bonosius, the second to St. Grammatius, the third to St. Verus, the fourth to St. Eusterius, the fifth to St. Gaudiosus, the sixth to St. Valentinianus, and finally the seventh to Gaudentius, whom he himself neither calls a Saint nor does the church of Salerno venerate him as a Saint.
[8] and yet probably, if perchance, who after the year, Hence there are those who, having noticed that after Grammatius first four other bishops, and only then Gaudentius, who sat in the year 500, are thus placed by Musca, conjecture that our Saint was living about the year 400. But, says Ughelli in volume VII of Italia Sacra among the bishops of Salerno, it is easy to notice, as Antonio Caracciolo learnedly hints in On the sacred monuments of Naples, at Gaudiosus, that Musca did not take account of time in listing those bishops of his; but that he placed the saints before all others, and presently subjoined Gaudentius and the rest who were not saints; and he judged that Bonosius, whom Gaudiosus succeeded, flourished at Naples and Salerno many years after Gaudentius. So he, following Caracciolo here, and indeed not wholly without reason; for although, contrary to what seems to be hinted in these words, it appears from Musca's own words transcribed here at number 2 that he took account of order, and therefore also of time, in listing the six ancient and holy bishops of Salerno already mentioned — or took care diligently that he should not by chance place after another any one of their number who had occupied the see of Salerno before the other of them — yet it may be doubted whether he does not wrongly set those holy bishops of Salerno, and therefore also St. Grammatius, before other bishops of Salerno not conspicuous for sanctity, than whom they were later, even for this reason: that he sets before Gaudentius, who is known to have presided over the church of Salerno in the year 500, Gaudiosus, who nevertheless, from what I shall now subjoin, turns out most probably to have governed it in the office of bishop only after that year.
[9] The church of St. Mary at Naples was built by St. Pomponius, bishop, as is here proved, sat in 500, Gaudiosus of whom treatment has already been made in our Work at the 14th day of May, after the year 500, or when the 6th century had already begun for some while, as everyone will gather from what has been said there of that Saint; and in the encomiastic oration on St. Gaudiosus, accustomed to be recited at Salerno on his feast, which, copied from the manuscript codex of the abbot Costantino Gaetani, Ughelli presents in volume VII of Italia Sacra, where he treats of the bishops of Salerno, at St. Gaudiosus, these following words are read concerning this bishop of Salerno, who in the title prefixed to the oration is called a Neapolitan by birth and race: When therefore he had been called to receive the honour of the clerical state, he with weeping refused to accept it. But the prelate (namely of Naples), in order to have this, as it were compelled him against his will; who, after much urgency of prayers, at length received it with fear in the church of the Mother of God (namely at Naples). Gaudiosus, therefore, as is understood from these words of the said oration, was ordained a cleric by the bishop of Naples in the Neapolitan church of the most holy Mother of God Mary; and since it is so, and this, from what has been said, was not built before the 6th century had already begun some years, it follows that Gaudiosus — who, as is declared in the same oration immediately after the words just recited from it, was promoted to the see of Salerno not very long after he had been made a cleric — occupied it only after the year 500, in which Gaudentius presided over the church of Salerno.
[10] But, that the studious reader may now understand whither these things tend, how long after the said year was this done? [and his predecessor Bonosius died only in the 8th century, as Ughelli conjectures, then he too departed from the living,] Ughelli, in volume 7 of Italia Sacra among the bishops of Salerno, conjectures that Gaudiosus, and therefore also his predecessor Bonosius, departed from the living not long before the times of Grimoald, duke of Salerno, whom he says lived in the year 800, and therefore in the 8th century; and since the order assigned in the preceding number, in which Musca lists six ancient bishops of the church of Salerno illustrious for sanctity, was received from monuments of approved credit, as he here indicates in the words recited at number 2, and therefore seems to be genuine and consonant with truth — although in the meantime those six bishops probably had others in between themselves, and so succeeded one another not immediately but only mediately — it follows that Grammatius, who is placed by Musca, when he lists these same six holy bishops, between Bonosius and Gaudiosus, likewise exchanged this mortal life for immortal in the eighth century, if indeed both of these, as Ughelli conjectures from what has been said, departed from the living then. But did Bonosius and Gaudiosus in fact die not long before the times of Grimoald, duke of Salerno, or only in the 8th century? Ughelli, who conjectures, as I have said, that this was done then, does so solely from the fact that, as he says, the body of St. Gaudiosus, whom St. Bonosius preceded in the see of Salerno, was requested by Grimoald, duke of Salerno, whom he affirms lived in the year 800. But says at the 14th, at which concerning St. Bonosius, of Salerno
bishop, he treated, at the day of May, our Henschen: It does not sufficiently appear why the duke of Naples could not have sought from him (Grimoald, duke of Salerno) the body of St. Gaudiosus, even though he had died several centuries before.
[11] but although that conjecture of Ughelli, as is proved, does not stand, So it surely is, and therefore Ughelli's conjecture is not sufficiently founded for it to be believed on its account that either Gaudiosus or Bonosius occupied the see of Salerno only in the eighth century. Nor, even if we granted for the moment that Gaudiosus presided over the church of Salerno not long before the times of Grimoald, duke of Salerno, and therefore in the 8th century, would you rightly judge the same likewise of St. Bonosius, unless it were established that he sat either immediately or certainly not long before Gaudiosus. But did Bonosius truly sit either immediately or not long before him? In Ughelli, in the encomiastic Oration on St. Gaudiosus praised above, blessed Bonosus and other prelates of Salerno, his predecessors, are said to have appeared to this Saint when near to death; and since, of the predecessors of St. Gaudiosus who appeared to him, Bonosius alone is there expressed by name, Ughelli, thinking that this was done by the encomiast because he judged that Bonosius had presided over the church of Salerno either immediately or not very long before Gaudiosus, brought himself to believe that Bonosius had in very truth sat at Salerno either immediately or not very long before Gaudiosus; but why could not the encomiast have named Bonosius alone, not because he judged that he had sat at Salerno either immediately or not long before Gaudiosus, but before absolutely all his predecessors? However that may be, since the six ancient bishops of Salerno illustrious for sanctity succeeded one another, from what has been said, in the order assigned by Musca, and that not immediately but probably only mediately, there is surely no reason why Bonosius — between whom and Gaudiosus, when Musca lists those six holy bishops, three of them in all, namely Grammatius, Verus, and Eusterius, are placed — should not be believed to have sat long, nay even a century or two, before Gaudiosus; and since it is so, it certainly could not be inferred, from the fact that we should grant for the moment that Gaudiosus sat in the 8th century, that Grammatius, who is placed by Musca immediately after Bonosius, likewise sat then.
[12] the Saint, nevertheless, on account of the prediction mentioned here, But can it not be proved in some way by another reason that our Saint sat then? In the ecclesiastical Office of St. Grammatius which is proposed today among the proper Offices of the feasts of the church of Salerno praised above, in Lesson VI, these following words are read concerning this our Saint: He foretold the coming of the body of the most blessed apostle Matthew in these words: "Not after many times the church of Salerno will be adorned with a heavenly treasure and led to the highest summit of honour." That this very thing which is recorded here was foretold by Grammatius, and indeed when already near death, is likewise asserted by Musca in the elogium of our Saint transcribed here at number 1, by Ughelli in volume 7 of Italia Sacra among the Bishops of Salerno, and likewise by Mazza in the History of the city of Salerno, published in the year 1681. But what follows from this for our matter? The body of St. Matthew, apostle and Evangelist, was translated in the year 954 from the city of Paestum to Salerno, as we showed in our Work at the 21st day of September in the Commentary prefixed to the Acts of that Saint, § V. If therefore the said prediction of St. Grammatius is to be understood of the body of St. Matthew translated to Salerno, and was truly uttered by this our Saint when already near death, it will be necessary, as it appears, to establish that it happened not many times before the translation of the body of St. Matthew to Salerno, or the year 954, in which, from what has been said, this was done, and therefore either at the beginning of the 10th century or not much earlier.
[13] But since Grammatius did not expressly foretell that the church of Salerno was to be adorned with the body of St. Matthew, [although perhaps to be understood otherwise than they would wish, and not to be attributed to Grammatius,] contrary to what Ferrarius today insinuates in his elogium, having wrongly changed the words of Musca, it may surely with good reason be called into doubt whether the prediction of our Saint of which we speak here was afterwards rightly understood, and further ought to be understood, of the latter's being translated to Salerno. For what if — since things foretold as future are usually explained in a more obscure manner — by the heavenly treasure with which Grammatius foretold the church of Salerno was to be adorned was understood Gaudiosus, a bishop altogether exceptional for his illustrious deeds, sanctity, and miracles, who, not very long after the death of Grammatius, was granted by heavenly gift to the people of Salerno to govern their church? Besides, since this prediction attributed to Grammatius was drawn originally from the Breviary of the church of Salerno, as everyone will easily gather from what has been said above, and the Breviaries of particular churches do not everywhere deserve entire credence in what they narrate, it may likewise with good reason be called into doubt whether that prediction was truly uttered by Grammatius; especially since the order assigned above, which Musca followed in listing the six ancient bishops of the church of Salerno illustrious for sanctity, and which we embrace from what has been said, requires that Grammatius — who is listed among these before Gaudiosus, who certainly ended his life before the year 800, as it is easy to draw out from what has been said above — be believed to have exchanged this mortal life for immortal before the same year 800, and therefore certainly before the 9th and 10th centuries, contrary to what the mentioned prediction, if it ever took place and is to be understood as most would have it, seems from what has been said above to require.
[14] he seems to be referred to the 8th rather than to any other earlier century, However, since sometimes things which were to happen only long afterwards have been foretold by the Saints as about to happen shortly, and therefore the prediction of St. Grammatius of which we treat here would not have to be called foreign to the truth even if, as is commonly built up, it were to be understood of the translation of the body of St. Matthew to Salerno, and this was not carried out until about two hundred years had elapsed after it had been foretold — hence I, by no means thinking that it, which, though it certainly ought not from what has been said, can yet not unfittingly be expounded of the translation of the body of St. Matthew to Salerno, is to be rejected as certainly false or fictitious, judge that the death of our Saint, which on account of what has been said can be deferred neither into the 9th nor into the 10th century, is to be referred to the 8th rather than to any other earlier century, so that he may be removed as little as possible from the translation of Matthew, which, as the said prediction holds, happened not very long after the death of St. Grammatius; although in the meantime whether the Saint truly died then is very uncertain, as everyone will gather from all that has been said.