ON ST. EUSTACHIUS, OR EUSTATHIUS, OR ALSO EUSTASIUS, PRESBYTER, MORE PROBABLY A MARTYR, IN EGYPT,
From the Hieronymian and other sacred Fasti.
AGE UNCERTAIN
CommentaryEustachius or Eustathius or also Eustasius, presbyter, more probably M., in Egypt (S.)
BY C. B.
Eustachius, who, as appears, is not to be assigned to Syria, The Saint here proposed is today assigned to Egypt in the Lucca Hieronymian copy in Fiorentini, with which the Corbie copy in the same Fiorentini agrees almost exactly, in these words: In Egypt, of Eustasius the presbyter; and although in the Echternach Hieronymian copy in the praised Fiorentini he is attributed to Syria, yet it appears that we must stand rather by the two Hieronymian copies already mentioned, which set down the Saint in Egypt, than by the one Echternach copy, which places him in Syria. This opinion is settled, first indeed because, since it wrongly, from what has been said above, assigns Hedistius to Rome and Evagrius and Proseria to Campania, we may not undeservedly suspect that it likewise sets down Eustachius in a place not his own; and then because, since the same Echternach copy records several Saints today in Syria, it could easily have happened that the copyist who wrote it numbered among them Eustachius or Eustasius, although he belonged not to Syria but to Egypt. I explain more clearly what I mean. In Martène, tome 3 of the Thesaurus Anecdotorum, col. 1547 and following, there is extant a Martyrology compiled under the name of Jerome and written, as the editor notes, about a thousand years ago, in which on each day several Saints are announced without the place being expressed in which they either suffered or flourished.
[2] What, then, if a Hieronymian copy similar to that Martyrology, but to be assigned to Egypt, in which Burrus and Donatus or Donata were noted together with Eustachius or Eustasius, without the arena in which they had contended for the faith being expressed, gave its light to the copyist who transcribed the Echternach copy from an older Hieronymian copy, and hence he, supposing that not only Burrus and Donatus or Donata, whom he saw assigned to Syria in another Hieronymian copy likewise lighting his way, but also Eustathius or Eustasius belonged to that province, actually set him down there together with Burrus and Donatus or Donata? That it could thus easily have come about that Eustathius or Eustasius was placed in Syria in error by the copyist who wrote the Echternach Hieronymian copy, everyone who weighs attentively what has already been said will perceive without difficulty. Now then, since this is so, and since it does not seem likely that the copyists who wrote the two other Hieronymian copies mentioned above would have assigned Eustasius in them to Egypt if they had found him set down elsewhere in the other copies lighting their way, I am of opinion that for this reason and at the same time for the others already stated he is in fact to be assigned to Egypt, and therefore that we must stand by the two Hieronymian copies praised above in which, as has been said, he is set down there.
[3] as a martyr, Usuard indeed announces Eustachius the presbyter today in Syria; but that he
did so from some Hieronymian copy which was similar to the Echternach one appears beyond doubt, as Du Sollier says today in his Observations on Usuard; and since this is so, we certainly ought not here to be moved by the authority of Usuard to attribute Eustachius or Eustasius to Syria, and the same must be said of the present Roman Martyrology and the other sacred Fasti which have followed Usuard here. Let us now say something of the time at which Eustachius either died or flourished, and of the title of martyr which we judge more probably belongs to him. Learned hagiologists generally hold that all the Saints inscribed in the Hieronymian copies are to be regarded as martyrs, unless the contrary can be solidly proved. Wherefore, assenting to them, I am of opinion that Eustachius, inscribed today in the Hieronymian copies, is to be regarded as a martyr, since nothing at all argues the contrary. But, you will say, Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilio, book XI, num. 283, speaks of our Saint in the following manner: Eustachius the presbyter on that very day (October 12) in Syria (or rather, from what has been said, in Egypt) fell asleep in Christ; and thus he plainly reveals that Eustachius rested in peace, that is, died a confessor, not a martyr. I admit it, he has it so, and the author of our manuscript Florarium also supports him. For although in today's eulogy of Eustachius, which he supplies and which would fit any Saint who embraced evangelical poverty, having left the transitory things of this world, he does not openly say that he rested in peace or died a confessor, he nevertheless expressly calls him a confessor.
[4] But who would give undoubting credence to those two hagiologists, who indicate, without any older surety, that Eustachius who suffered, as appears, before the 5th century, did not end his life by martyrdom but died a confessor? Certainly no one who has considered that the one flourished in the 14th century and the other only in the 15th, and that therefore both were many centuries distant from the age of Eustachius, who, from what is to be said below, was among the living before the 5th century. The most learned men who reformed the present Roman Martyrology do indeed likewise give Eustachius the title of confessor in it; but since this title is attributed to the Saint neither in the Hieronymian copies nor in other ancient monuments either sacred or profane, they most probably did so impelled by the authority of the bishop of Equilio alone. Wherefore, since in that matter they certainly gain no greater credence for themselves than he, they ought not to move us to believe that Eustachius died a confessor and therefore is not to be distinguished by the title of martyr, as having been taken from the living in peace. As for the time at which he approximately either died or flourished: since he ended his life by martyrdom, as I have just shown, it appears very likely to be true that he was among the martyrs whose names (see our Du Sollier in his Preface to Usuard, num. 22) Pope Gregory the Great had collected in one codex; wherefore, since Gregory departed from the living about the beginning of the sixth century, from this, and at the same time from the fact that in the age of this Pontiff that codex, being then very old, could easily have been a hundred years old, I bring myself to think that Eustachius, inscribed in it, probably flourished, and indeed also died, before the 5th century, although meanwhile it is uncertain in which of the centuries preceding it his death occurred.
[5] Furthermore, although this holy Presbyter of ours is to be regarded as a Martyr, and one and the same with Eustachius, patron of the people of Borgo, as appears from what has been adduced above, there is nevertheless no reason why he should therefore be thought different from the Eustachius the presbyter whom Ferrari, thinking otherwise, announces today in his general Catalogue of Saints not inscribed in the present Roman Martyrology, as I have already shown above among those Passed Over, and whom he further affirms, both in his general Catalogue just mentioned and in his particular Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, on the strength of the tables of the church of Borgo communicated to him, to be held in great veneration at Borgo San Donnino, and indeed regarded as patron, because of enemies routed by the inhabitants of this city, which lies not far from Parma, at his invocation; which church was instituted, as Ughelli teaches in the Italia Sacra enlarged by Coleti, tome 2, col. 68, with its first bishop Papirio Picedi, in the year 1603. Ferrari indeed distinguishes the Eustachius the presbyter whom he celebrates with the title of confessor; but the present Roman Martyrology likewise distinguishes with this title the Eustachius the presbyter whom it celebrates, and yet no one would therefore say that he is different from Eustachius the presbyter inscribed today in the Hieronymian copies. As therefore in the present Roman Martyrology, so also by Ferrari, Eustachius the presbyter is today wrongly given the title of confessor. Nor does it matter that Eustachius, inscribed in the Hieronymian copies, is announced in Egypt or Syria, while Eustachius, mentioned by Ferrari, is announced at Borgo San Donnino. For why could not one and the same Eustachius be attributed to Egypt or Syria on account of the martyrdom which he underwent there, and to Borgo on account of the cult which he enjoys there? There will perhaps be someone who will not easily bring himself to think that the people of Borgo would have invoked an Eustachius, a Syrian or Egyptian presbyter, known to them in whatever way only from the Hieronymian or other sacred Fasti.
[6] he seems, for the reasons here adduced, to be so regarded. But since Calendars, both ancient and recent, almost daily commemorate some one of the many Saints whom either the present Roman Martyrology or other sacred Fasti enumerate, even one sometimes less well known, it could easily have happened that the people of Borgo, using formerly a Calendar of this kind, in which, just as in the Calendar of the Capuan Sanctuary in Michael the monk, Eustachius the presbyter, whether Syrian or Egyptian, was set down on the 12th day of October, invoked him for that reason against enemies against whom it perhaps happened that they had to march on that day, and, a victory having been won over them, adopted him as patron and thereafter venerated him as such and at the same time as a confessor. However that may be, Eustachius, the patron of the people of Borgo, is indeed not different from Eustachius inscribed today in the Hieronymian copies. This opinion is settled, first because on the same 12th day of October on which the latter is commemorated in those copies, the former is honoured with ecclesiastical cult by the people of Borgo, as it is permitted to gather from both of Ferrari's Catalogues at this day; and then because an Eustachius the presbyter who flourished or died either at Borgo or elsewhere in Italy, different from Eustachius inscribed today in the Hieronymian copies, is known neither from these nor from other ancient monuments either sacred or profane. Moreover, besides the fact that the Acts of Eustachius inscribed in the Hieronymian copies, as also of Eustachius the patron of the people of Borgo, are wanting, the time also at which both the one and the other flourished and passed to the Lord is unknown. Nor is it anything to the purpose that Eustachius, inscribed today in the Hieronymian copies, flourished and further, as we saw above, departed from the living before the 5th century; for although the matter is so, nothing nevertheless prevents Eustachius, the patron of the people of Borgo, from being believed to have both flourished and fallen by martyrdom at that time too.