ON SS. FORTUNATA AND HER BROTHERS: CARPONIUS, EVARISTUS, AND PRISCIAN, MARTYRS, AT CAESAREA IN PALESTINE,
In the year CCCIII or the following.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Mention of the Martyrs in the martyrologies: their ancient cult: of what weight the Acts are: translations of the relics: miracles.
Fortunata, virgin and Martyr, at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Carponius, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Evaristus, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Priscian, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
BY S. D.
Although these four Martyrs are announced in the Hagenoy codex of Usuard on the 30th day of September in Reichenau, an island of Swabia in the diocese of Constance, mention of the holy Martyrs among the martyrologists, perhaps because on account of certain relics translated there they are venerated there on that same day, nevertheless both the Acts themselves and, among others, the Vatican Codex and the present-day Roman Martyrology constantly assert that they suffered at Caesarea of Palestine and on this same 14th day of October: the Vatican indeed with the following sufficiently distinct eulogy: In Campania, of Saint Fortunata, virgin, who suffered with her three brothers Carponius, Evaristus and Priscian, at Caesarea, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Urban being Governor. The Roman, however, separates the Brothers from the Sister, announcing her thus: At Caesarea in Palestine, of Saint Fortunata, virgin and Martyr, who, in the persecution of Diocletian, after overcoming the rack, fires, beasts and other torments, gave up her spirit to God: whose body was afterwards carried to Naples in Campania. And them in this manner: Likewise of the Saints Carponius, Evaristus and Priscian, brothers of the same blessed Fortunata, who, slain with the sword, likewise received the crown of martyrdom. I pass over the other martyrologists who have mentioned either St. Fortunata alone, or the Brothers together, but more meagrely; as also Ferrari, because, although he has gathered very many things about them from Paolo Regio, yet he records nothing which has not been drawn and condensed from the Acts.
[2] ancient cult, The most ancient cult of these Martyrs among the Neapolitans is sufficiently proved by that very old Calendar of the Neapolitan church which I have in hand — that one, I say, which, cut in marble, as they judge, in the ninth century after the birth of Christ, was discovered in the year XLI of the present century in the church of St. John Major, while it was being repaired, and then illustrated with notes by Ludovico Sabbatini, and transmitted to our predecessors in its original characters. This Calendar has thus at the 14th day of October: XIIII p, of Gervasius and Prtasius, of Fortuna, or Fortunata. Here indeed, as also in some more recent Calendars or Martyrologies, no mention is made of the Brothers; but since they suffered together, and their bodies were translated together from Caesarea to their Homeland in Campania, and thence to Naples, it appears evident enough that at that time, as also now, they obtained cult together, although the Brothers perhaps on the following day. That St. Fortunata is venerated today at Capua separately from her Brothers is testified by the Sanctuary of that church, and the Breviary which was printed in the year 1489, having three lessons proper to this Saint, drawn from the Acts which we shall give below. Why the memory of St. Fortunata is more illustrious in the church and in its Office could be gathered from these reasons which Antonio Caracciolo alleged to a certain over-curious person demanding the same — namely, from the second: either because she was slain first — to which, however, the Acts seem to be opposed — or, what pleases more, because greater virtue, daring, and of mind
solidity shone forth in Fortunata: for she had a much fiercer contest with a threefold enemy, as the reader will easily understand from the Acts, which now come to be weighed.
[3] The first who handed down the passion of these Martyrs to posterity and the Acts was Autpertus the priest, whom some have thought to have been abbot of Monte Cassino; but having, as Caracciolo rightly notes, no other foundation than that an abbot of Cassino of the same name was living at the same time: but whoever this Autpertus was, since he himself confesses that he first put forth his pen at the request of Stephen II, prelate of Naples, and that after the translation of the holy bodies to Naples had already been accomplished, almost five hundred years had already run out from the epoch of the Martyrs, which we shall fix at the birth of the IV century; to which interval of times is added also the distance of places, so that whatever Autpertus could gather about the deeds of these Martyrs had to be sought above all from the narration of sailors and the tradition of the people of Patria. That the autograph of Autpertus is extant in the Neapolitan library of the Holy Apostles, Caracciolo, just mentioned, is witness; among whose copies I think the lessons of the Office of St. Fortunata printed at Naples in the year 1568 ought to be reckoned, if only for this reason, that if you reduce the said Lessons, XLI in number, into one legend, there will coalesce from them the entire passion of the Martyrs, in the very words of Autpertus, as the words cited by Caracciolo and others from the Autograph show, more probably written throughout.
[4] to be edited here; Although the first Lesson bears this title: The Passion of Saint Fortunata, virgin and martyr, the prologue begins; I learn nevertheless that the Prologue is lacking from the following words of Caracciolo, who saw the autograph: Autpertus the priest … imitating, as he says, the Doctors Ambrose and Gregory, who spoke of SS. Agnes and Felicity, left us the passion of Saint Fortunata written. For no mention of Gregory or Ambrose is made in these Lessons, whence I think that these things pertained to the Prologue, as also perhaps the year in which they suffered. Similarly, that in the prologue Autpertus dedicated his Legend to Stephen the bishop is related by Bartolomeo Chioccarelli, Neapolitan jurist, page 72 and following, in these words: there is extant also with us a Life of the same martyrs… written at the impulse of this bishop Stephen, to whom it is also dedicated, as its preface teaches: although all these are lacking to us, we shall nevertheless give these Lessons, reduced into one Legend, to the press, embracing them as a true copy of Autpertus for the reasons just given, since no other Acts are available, the mistakes — which occur not few — and a few anachronisms being corrected.
[5] The epoch of the Passion of the Martyrs seems to be indicated both by that most savage persecution of Diocletian and Maximian through the whole Christian world, which Autpertus relates, by which their martyrdoms indeed took place in the year 303 or the following; and by the prefecture of Urban at Caesarea of Palestine: for since this persecution was first proclaimed by the aforesaid emperors in the year 303, as Pagi learnedly notes at this year, and in the same year in which, on the testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea, Urban had recently been administering the prefecture of Palestine, it necessarily follows that the contest of our Martyrs took place either in the year just named (not before, which Caracciolo says Autpertus intends) or in the following. Or in the following, I say; for Caracciolo thought that it was to be tied absolutely to the year 303, led by this reason, that he would have it altogether, on the authority of the same Eusebius, that Diocletian and Maximian laid down the fasces of empire at the beginning of the following year, namely 304; but, although Eusebius signifies this obscurely, and this was once the opinion of Baronius and other learned men, yet after the book of Lactantius On the deaths of the persecutors came to light, it will become clear to anyone who has gone through its chapter XVII that the said emperors abdicated the empire only in the following year 305. Hence I do not know how certain persons, with whom Baronius himself seems to agree, could refer the contest of the Martyrs to the year 308, in which neither the often-named emperors any longer ruled the empire, nor Urban Palestine, but Firmilian.
[6] and their bodies first to Patria, then to Naples The bodies of the Saints, as appears from Autpertus, did not rest long at Caesarea, but, secretly taken thence by sailors, and carried through very long journeys of the sea, as he himself speaks, to the Campanian shore, were deposited and buried at the city of Patria (of which more in the annotations). And the people of Patria, thinking this was done by a divine gift, in order to provide the more quickly for the honour of the Saints, raised a basilica from the foundations within the city and adorned it with the sacred pledges of the Martyrs: whence it came about, says Camillo Tutini, who himself also composed the Acts of the Martyrs in Italian, page 107, that the people of Patria thereafter venerated these Heavenly ones as protectors of the city: but since this city was levelled to the ground about the year 455 by the Vandals who had entered Campania, the sacred bodies of the Martyrs were left without honour under the rubble for 200 years and more; until Stephen II, created prelate of the Neapolitans about the year 768, ordered these sacred pledges to be searched out and translated to Naples. Since this translation took place, as Autpertus says, in the reign of Constantine and Irene his mother, and while Hadrian, pontiff of this name II, presided over the Roman see, it can by no means be set before the year 780, in which Constantine and Irene took up the reins of empire together: but whether it was made about the year 789, as Summonte, on Caracciolo's testimony, computes, I would not dare to affirm. Camillo assigned the year 774, but, trusting this author more as a historiographer than as a chronologer, we shall bring forward what he himself relates from page 110 out of the manuscript of the monastery of St. Gaudiosus concerning the same translation of the bones of the Saints.
[7] into a basilica, When, therefore, the bodies of the Martyrs, enclosed in a wooden chest, had been brought on a wagon to Naples, Stephen the prelate, clad in pontificals, went forth to the place which is called Olimpiano, near the monastery of St. Gaudiosus, to receive the sacred pledges; but when they strove to lift the chest from the wagon to carry it to the principal church, all their effort was vain; for it came about by divine providence that neither could the chest be moved from the wagon, nor could the oxen, however much they were urged, be turned to go forward. Astonished by this miracle, the prelate and people flee to prayers, and at length it seemed good to carry the sacred remains of the Martyrs into the nearby monastery of St. Gaudiosus. As soon as they had determined this, suddenly the oxen, hastening more swiftly to the said monastery, were an indication to all that it was the divine will that the pledges of the Saints should be deposited there. Whence Stephen more probably placed the chest of the relics in the church of St. Gaudiosus — although Camillo is silent on this — until he should have completed the new church which he was already then planning in honour of the Martyrs. John the deacon mentions this, writing thus under Stephen: He added also in the monastery of Saint Gaudiosus the basilica of Saint Fortunata, in which he laid away with great honour the body of the same martyr, brought from the church of Patria, where she had previously wished to be buried.
[8] And he raised not only this basilica but also a monastery of nuns, together with a monastery dedicated to St. Fortunata, whom he wished to serve the same church and to be subject to the abbess of St. Gaudiosus, as is proved from a certain instrument written in Lombardic characters about the year 800, and preserved in the said abbey of St. Gaudiosus, whose beginning, as it is extant in Camillo, runs thus: Gemma, humble Archdeaconess and Abbess of the monastery of the Saints Gaudiosus, Confessor of Christ, and Saint Fortunata, Virgin, where their venerable bodies rest, of the handmaids of God, together with the whole congregation of nuns. The same Camillo relates that, besides this most ancient basilica of St. Fortunata, which to this day, if I am not mistaken, is seen within the monastery of St. Gaudiosus, another was built by the Neapolitans in honour of the same Saint, and he says that this is established from an ancient writing of St. George, written likewise in Lombardic and rather elongated letters, which begins thus: In the reign of Alexius Porphyrogenitus, the great emperor, in the year 29, etc., on the I day of the month of August, 3rd Indiction, at Naples, Sparanus, Cleric and Canon of the church of St. Fortunata, which is in the public quarter named Granci, in the region of Furcillense. But we think with Caracciolo that this church either perished, or is altogether the same as the chapel of St. Fortunata at the nuns of St. Gaudiosus: but, not to dwell longer on these things, let us now look at what was further done concerning the bodies of the Martyrs.
[9] Scarcely had the relics been brought into the basilica completed by Stephen the prelate, which we spoke of above, translated, to have been made famous by Miracles when the Neapolitans experienced the Martyrs of Christ as most beneficent toward them: for there is an ancient tradition, on Camillo's testimony, among the nuns of St. Gaudiosus, that among others Raimondello Orsini, prince of Taranto, obtained health divinely for his wife through their intercession; whence also they relate it came about that many vied in offering many gifts to the same church, and the prince of Taranto indeed a most precious crystal cross, which to this day, on Camillo's testimony, is preserved in the church of St. Gaudiosus. The same Camillo relates that it is recorded in a certain manuscript of the same monastery that thieves once broke into the church by night through a window to despoil it, but, already laden with booty, when they were about to go out through the same window, stood so immovable that they could not turn themselves in any direction, until, morning having come, the wretches, found thus by the nuns entering the church and confessing their guilt, gave back what they had taken away, and, having become penitent, departed. It happened also, as the same manuscript teaches, that the nuns once desired St. Fortunata to be depicted in an image, but, the painter having already been summoned, the age of the Saint when she had suffered was not known (for this ought altogether to be established for a history painter); whence to the painter, being overly anxious, the Saint herself appeared one night in sleep, having the form of a young girl, and, testifying that at this age she had undergone very many torments, disappeared; wherefore the Saint was depicted at that age, like one dying. But whatever be the truth of this matter, although I would not deny that it could happen, yet it raises a suspicion of falsehood, both from the unusual manner of the apparition and because the Acts, written long before, taught the age of the Martyr more than enough. But now let us pass on to more certain things.
[10] and in the year 1561 In the year 1561 Laura Piscicella, abbess of St. Gaudiosus, intending to restore the altar of St. Fortunata, which threatened to fall, together with the wall of the church, gave instructions to Giuseppe Filippo, architect of the city of Cava, that he should boldly carry out whatever he thought necessary to this end; whence he, having resolved to destroy the altar to the ground, on the following night in sleep sees a most beautiful girl standing by him, strictly forbidding that he himself should touch the said altar, but that he should commit the matter to a worthier person. Terrified by this vision, the architect in the morning, which was the fifth of May (not of March, as Baronius erroneously has in the notes on the Roman martyrology) and a Monday, discloses the matter to the abbess, who, presently entering the church, prostrated herself before the same altar, earnestly asking the divine goodness that it would deign to inspire her as to what counsel was to be taken in this matter. Having finished her prayer and rising, she had withdrawn about two paces when suddenly the greater part of the face of the altar fell onto the pavement. Paolo Regio writes that part of the back fell down; but, since he himself confesses that she had prayed
the abbess, as is usually done, before the altar, and seems to acknowledge a miracle in this, that the abbess, having stepped back two paces before the collapse, escaped the danger of being crushed, this could not have taken place except in the front part of the altar. This part, therefore, having fallen down, a fairly large marble tablet appeared; and while the abbess, astonished at the prodigy, stood still for a little, there fell likewise also part of the marble tomb in which the sacred remains of the Martyrs were preserved within.
[11] The prodigy being at once made known, the nuns run together, found there again and, taking lights, while they pour forth prayers all around the altar, the abbess reports the matter to the most illustrious Ottaviano Preconio, bishop of Ariano, who was staying at Naples at St. Lawrence's in those same days; nor did he hesitate long, but at once flew to the monastery of St. Gaudiosus, and, entering the church of St. Fortunata, found together with the nuns master Ambrogio da Pontecorvo, provincial of the Dominicans, and Fr. Vincenzo da Sant'Angelo, confessor of the same monastery, who themselves too had run to this spectacle. A prayer therefore having been said first, the bishop of Ariano, proceeding to the examination with these two priests, found first at the bottom of the altar a fairly large marble tablet, upon which rose a tomb divided into various hollows and well secured with iron hooks. At the head of this tomb was a marble chest, having an opening in the middle, which was closed by a little iron grating, inscribed round about with the following words: here lies the body of St. Fortunata, virgin and martyr, and the bodies of her brothers, martyrs; but before this chest could conveniently be inspected, the marble tablet had to be removed which, covering the altar, overhung it above, bound with iron knots or anchors, which were so eaten and blackened by smoke that they were a manifest indication that lights had once customarily been lit before these relics. And that this altar had in fact once been consecrated in honour of the same Martyrs was proved by particles of bones and of linen dipped in oil, a little wooden box with certain particles of red wax sprinkled with dust, all of which were found within the said tablet, hollowed out in the middle in the manner of a cross.
[12] found, This marble being removed, there appeared painted the martyrdom of St. Fortunata and her Brothers; wherefore, the tomb of the Sister being opened first, they found a chest made of Marcian wood, most ancient (perhaps that which Stephen had found), in which rested the bones of the holy Martyr, wonderfully fragrant, there being laid on top two little cords or strings of little beads (they call them crowns), which were made of whitish bone, and of which 63 were counted on one cord, 72 on the other. Having raised, therefore, this wooden chest with the relics, they carried it processionally with lighted lights to the sacristy, and presently returning, among many others which they uncovered in the same place, they found the remains of St. Carponius, part of the head, wrapped in a silk veil interwoven with gold, but torn in the middle, which relics, together with certain little sprigs of myrtle placed with them, spread a most sweet odour: and because they saw that the Martyr's head had been very small, it was thought that St. Carponius had obtained the palm of martyrdom when quite young. There now remained the relics of SS. Evaristus and Priscian, which also, finding them a little later near the same place, they deposited with the bones of St. Carponius in one casket, and this in a certain chapel of the monastery. But since Giulio Pavesi, archbishop of Sorrento, was administering the Neapolitan diocese (for Alfonso Carafa, the metropolitan, was detained at Rome by Pius IV), the abbess asked leave of the bishop of Ariano that the archbishop of Sorrento also might be summoned, who by virtue of his office should visit the relics found.
[13] and enclosed in a new altar, The bishop of Ariano assenting, the archbishop of Sorrento was present shortly after, who, an examination being duly instituted, recognized the sacred relics of the Martyrs, and ordered all that had been done to be drawn up into a public act, which is preserved to this day in the archiepiscopal curia of Naples. And the bones of St. Fortunata remained in the sacristy of the church, and those of the three Brothers in the aforesaid chapel, until, the altar being now completed, they were most honourably placed in it, having first been carried processionally around the city; except, however, the parts of the heads, which were enclosed in a silver bust, which is seen to this day, with the images of the Martyrs carved on it, in the same chapel of St. Fortunata. This last translation took place, I think, on the third day of August of the same year 1561; for for that day, on the testimony of Paolo Regio, Pius the fourth granted most ample indulgences to all the faithful of either sex who, contrite and confessed, should visit the chapel of St. Fortunata on that day; and not only to these, but also to those who, being lawfully hindered, provided they were confessed and contrite, should depute another in their name to visit the chapel. Since the bull of the Indulgences, as also the authentic Acts of the finding and translation, are not at hand, what we have narrated here rests chiefly on the authority of Camillo Tutini and Paolo Regio. The Acts of the finding indeed, on Caracciolo's testimony, begin thus: We, brother Ottaviano, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Monopoli and elect of Ariano, etc. The curious reader is moreover to be warned here that some bones of the holy Martyrs were translated to Prague before the finding mentioned at num. 10: for Pessina relates, in the Phosphorus of the church of Prague, page 472, that certain ones were carried to that metropolis by Charles IV about the year 1356, and enclosed in a gilded silver reliquary with lions and eagles, equal to the tomb of St. Januarius.
[14] we are taught that they went on to shine forth. Nor are three Miracles which the same Camillo relates to be passed over, of which the first happened thus: while the nuns were keeping vigil by night in prayers at the relics found, a certain lay sister of most religious life suddenly collapsed, having suffered a fainting of spirit. The sisters fly to her, to bring help to the one sinking, when behold, having long been without speech, but at length coming to herself, she openly testified that she had seen two angels who, incensing the sacred relics with thuribles, shone with such splendour, such majesty, that her spirit failed her. The second was thus: Faustina Caracciolo, wife of the marquis of Montefort, being barren, fled to St. Fortunata for obtaining a little son, and not in vain; for what she asked she merited to obtain from the Lord through the Saint's intercession; wherefore, in grateful memory of the benefit, she ordered a silver arm to be made and hung up at the Saint's relics, giving likewise a most precious altar-cloth (they call it an antependium). I read a third not unlike this Miracle; for another matron, likewise barren, since she could not conveniently visit the chapel of St. Fortunata herself, because it was within the enclosure of the monastery, asked a certain nun that for the space of a whole month she would visit the chapel daily for her intention, namely of obtaining offspring. The month, therefore, being completed, the woman conceived and bore a little daughter, whom she wished to be called Fortunata, so that she might daily see a living monument of the benefit. And these are the three Miracles which Camillo Tutini, having received them from the manuscript of the often-mentioned monastery, put on record.
THE PASSION, DRAWN FROM THE PROPER OFFICE
By Autpertus the Priest.
SOLE CHAPTER.
The homeland of the Martyrs: their birth: their most fierce contest: beheading: translation of the bodies first to Patria, then to Naples.
Fortunata, virgin and Martyr, at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Carponius, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Evaristus, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
Priscian, her brother, Martyr at Caesarea in Palestine. (S.)
BHL Number: 3081
BY AUTPERTUS.
St. Fortunata, a little Christian girl, The homeland of the most holy virgin Fortunata was Caesarea of Palestine: in which, sprung of noble birth, while she was still passing the years of girlhood, she shrank in horror from all with which this world entices. Her mother was quite unbelieving, but her brothers were most Christian. Despising therefore, as we have said, those things which according to the flesh have power in the world, freely leaving her mother's error, she flew to baptism. Nor were delays interposed but that she took up the habit of sacred religion, which she not only raised to the summit of perfection by the pursuit of unblemished virginity, but also dedicated the shedding of her own blood: for consummating long times in a short time, and running swiftly like a giant along the paths of the virtues, she came in this way to the palm of martyrdom, the Lord protecting her. For in the time of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian a most savage persecution a was harassing the Christians through the whole world, whence it came about that a certain governor of most impious cruelty, named Urban, b within the city of Caesarea bound many with chains for the name of Christ, thrusting them into prisons and afflicting them with various torments.
[2] For seizing in one onset thirty-seven worshippers of Christ, while she piously ministers to her brothers held in prison, he consigned them to the workhouses, whom he was eager to hear at the next session and in public confession; among whom were likewise bound three brothers german of the most devout virgin Fortunata, afflicted the more harshly the more they were ready beyond the others in the defence of the faith; of whom the first was called Carponius, the second Euachristus, the third Priscian: and Fortunata, showing an equal affection of love toward the servants of Christ, with only one girl as companion, wore down the threshold of the prison with continual visitation, spending to the utmost of her strength whatever she could on the martyrs of God. While these things were being done, it came to the knowledge of the virgin that the holy confessors of God were to be heard by the governor at the next session: and she, inflamed with immense longings for the heavenly homeland, groaned and said: O who would grant me to be made a sharer with the martyrs of God, that, failing together with them through torments, I might more quickly come to my spouse and lord Jesus Christ! But a certain one of the bystanders, hearing these things, reported to the judge, who was second to the governor, how she did not leave the threshold of the prisons even for an hour, but persisted in watching over those in chains. And he, ordering her to be shut up in the outer custody, reported to the governor what had been said and what done.
[3] she is brought and set before the governor: Then the governor, inflamed with fury, at once sitting on the tribunal, ordered the blessed Virgin to be brought before him; and when she had been led into the office of the governor, and was shining, irradiated with divine light, Urban, shaking his head, spoke to her thus: How are you called? Blessed Fortunata answered: As concerns earthly generation, I am called Fortunata; but as concerns heavenly, I profess myself a Christian. The governor said: Deny the name of Christianity, and sacrifice to the almighty gods. But if you will not, you will perish altogether by various punishments. Fortunata answered: O if you too would consign yourself to the worship of the one God, you would by no means urge one to serve false gods! Do you not know that no one can serve two masters? he will surely hold to the one and despise the other. If therefore no reason persuades that we may serve two without offence, how much more many? one therefore is to be served, one is to be pleased in all things. Nor is there another besides the one, as the error of the demons has persuaded. Hear therefore, governor, what the leader of Christianity defines concerning these things, hear and believe, that you may in some way attain to the salvation of your soul. We know, he says, that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one; for if there are those who are called Gods, whether in earth — as indeed there are many Gods — yet to us there is one God the father, from whom are all things, and we in him. c
[4] but neither by his blandishments and threats, The governor Urban said: Consider yourself and your youth, as we too are busy to consider them.
Hold the religion which the whole world has held from the beginning, lest by a most bitter death you lose the flower of your youth: I have an only son: be you also my singular daughter: join yourself to his illustrious side, and you will be more lovable to me than this whole world. The virgin Fortunata answered: Your son, to whom you desire to betroth me, is only a man; but my spouse is both God and man: he stretches over the earth for a space of five feet; but this one fills heaven and earth alike: he possesses little of earth; this one is the possessor of heaven and earth: to him there will afterwards be an abominable stench, to this one always a delightful odour: he is the corrupter of chastity; this one is the preserver of virginity; to whom while I cleave, I shall remain ever a virgin: whom when I shall have received, in one hour and moment I shall bear a thousand sons without pain, and a thousand grandsons: nor will there be any care in nourishing little ones, because all together come forth from the womb of perfect age. The governor said: These things indeed which you relate — who would doubt that they are uttered by an insane mind? Tell me, who is this one so great and such, about whom you presume such and so great things? Fortunata answered: He is the lord Jesus Christ, whom you do not know. Then the governor ordered her to be taken back into prison, thinking that she could in some way be turned aside from this purpose of hers.
[5] But the mother of the blessed virgin Fortunata was held afflicted with excessive grief, reckoning with herself and saying: nor overcome by her mother's tears What, do you think, has become of my daughter, who for so many days does not appear as she used to? Meanwhile a messenger came to her to say: Fortunata your daughter is held in custody on account of Christian sacrileges. Then she, beating her breast and face, and sending up huge wailings to heaven, goes in haste to the prison, and, having seen her daughter, is wholly turned to tears, and, wailing, rolls at her feet, washed her footsteps, and, breaking out into complaint, said: My dearest and sweetest daughter, what madness, what error has invaded you, that, leaving the joys * of the present life, you hasten of your own accord to torments? Let at least the singular affection of your mother call you back from this folly of yours. Remember that I bore you, that I suckled you, that I brought you up to this age; and if your brothers, estranged in mind, do not remember a mother's affections, do you at least, who were more pleasing than all, who were always more lovable, not have an iron breast, do not despise the most bitter mourning of your mother. To whom blessed Fortunata answered: What have I to do with you, O mother of the flesh! now I love the kinship of the spirit, and, leaving earthly parents, I am joined to heavenly ones. But if there is in you any affection of tenderness toward me, he knows it whom the supreme maker loves: believe in Christ, who is the life of all, and no one will divide our fellowship. You rejoiced to have had a daughter on earth: rejoice rather to have obtained a martyr in heaven, if only you believe in Christ at my persuasion.
[6] While the mother was silent at this, she gave no answer to her daughter: she is brought out again, then the Virgin, turning to the keeper of the prison, begged him to allow her to be joined to the Confessors of God who were held in the inner custody, giving him some of the money which she had reserved for herself for the use of the Saints. Then he, having received the money, permitted her to go in to the Martyrs of God; where, when she had entered, she fell at their feet, entreating and saying: I beseech you, servants of Christ, by him to whom you are hastening with speed, that you will have me, your handmaid, as a companion of the journey and a partner, that it may now be granted me to be helped by the suffrages of your prayers. Having heard which, the most blessed martyrs kneel with the virgin, stretch out their hands to heaven, shed tears, send forth prayers, and at once obtain the effect of their petition: for suddenly, as they prayed, a voice came from heaven, saying: Peace be with you, your prayer has been heard: but know that I will receive her through a huge penalty of martyrdom, but you through lighter torments, into eternal life. Meanwhile the most impious Urban ordered blessed Fortunata to be brought to him from the prison, naked in body but clothed with God: and when she had been led into his sight, the governor said to her: What have you considered in so many days concerning your safety? Saint Fortunata answered: My salvation is Christ: To whom he: Deny at last, unhappy girl, the name of your Christ, and begin to worship the Gods, that you may likewise come with us to their fellowship. But if you still persist in your opinion, I will make you perish by punishments.
[7] To this Fortunata answered: I am neither so foolish and after overcoming torments, as to cast away my salvation and be enticed * by the languors of idols, nor so timid as, despising the images, to dread torments. While she said these things, therefore, the governor Urban, inflamed with greater fury, ordered her head to be shaved, and, as if to the disgrace of her nobility, to be led about publicly through the city shaved. And while she was being dishonoured, the blessed virgin said nothing, but only, gazing at the heavens, considered the inner beauty of her Spouse. Nor do these things suffice for the rabid dog: subjoining exquisite and new torments, he commanded the most blessed virgin to be divided into two parts with the bristling teeth of a saw, as if she were wood: and while the ministers of iniquity were eager to accomplish this, she, turning to the Lord, sang psalms, saying: I will fear no evils, for thou art with me, [d] O Lord: and again, groaning, she said: Lord Jesus Christ, power and life of the Saints, I now entreat thee that this kind of torment may not touch me: and this, O Lord, I ask for this reason, not that I may in any way flee the penalty of martyrdom, but that in me, so small a girl, thou mayest show the power of virtue to the confusion of Urban the governor. At which words, indeed, her cutters were undone, were weakened; they desired to fulfil what had been ordered, and were not able. They drew the saw indeed with all their strength, but did not touch the flesh. And when they perceived that they were labouring in vain and to no purpose, at length coming to themselves they released the Virgin untouched.
[8] Coming, therefore, they reported to Urban, saying: after the ferocity of the beasts was tamed, There is no man upon the earth who can tear the flesh of this girl; for she is harder than stone, stronger than adamant: the strength of your servants has failed: all our effort has been weakened, nor can we inflict on her body so much as a wound the size of the point of a single needle. Hearing these things, the tyrant raged, and, touched with most insane pain, uttering roars rather than words, said: Alas, alas, alas, we are conquered! but, taking up his strength again, he was devising yet more unseemly things, so that, acting against God * and the princes, she should not ascribe to herself the triumphs of victory. For perhaps she will by no means elude the teeth of the beasts, as she eluded the iron by magic art. Finally the most iniquitous governor ordered an amphitheatre to be prepared for him, so that the people of the whole city might come together to this spectacle of beasts of diverse kinds; and the day had not yet come, and behold the amphitheatre is filled with men and women. The tyrant, sitting on the tribunal, orders the wild beasts to be let loose: then he commanded also the blessed Virgin to be brought in: and when she had been brought in and was standing in the midst of the beasts, she at once fled to the accustomed weapons of prayers: and then with joyful face and cheerful countenance she addressed the people watching thus: O nobility of the people, O spectacle of the most noble city, attend, and see now the God of the Christians, of what goodness he is, and how much he who made heaven and earth avails on earth.
[9] For behold the lion roars, the bear growls, and the leopard moves all his limbs for the leap; to which she is thrown in vain, the ferocity, but, the name of Christ being heard, they grow tame more quickly than men: and that you may know these things are so, turning to the beasts she said: May Christ, who formed you from the earth, himself command that you change your bestial savagery into gentleness to the praise and glory of his name; and beckoning to them with her hand to come, at once they came with bowed neck, and joyfully licked her feet. Then a lion of most savage ferocity, leaping out, ran to the tribunal of the governor, turning toward blessed Fortunata, with such nods as he could, so that she might understand that he wished to ask what she ordered to be done with the impious governor: for, as far as concerned himself, he altogether wished to kill him. Then the most blessed Virgin, crying out, said to the lion: I command you in the name of the lord Jesus Christ not to harm him, nor to touch him; for we do not render evil for evil: let the eternal punishment suffice him which is prepared for him after his departure from this life. Hearing these things, as the lion runs back to the place in which he had first stood with blessed Fortunata, a great shout of the people arises, and voices are raised even to heaven; they say, they repeat again and again: One is the God of the Christians, who made heaven and earth: one is the lord Jesus Christ, whom this blessed Girl preaches. Then Urban, of most wicked intent, seeing himself overcome, groaned with redoubled pain and said: Woe, woe, woe to me, so often shamefully conquered; what new thing I may now devise in punishments I do not find.
[10] But one of his parasites e gave counsel, saying: at length sentenced to the sword with her brothers, Let her ankles be bored through and fastened with iron pins: f and when this had been done, she bore the torment with even mind. And when she had long remained victorious in the punishment and did not fail, the impious governor ordered that she should undergo capital sentence: but she, having learned that she would end her life by the sword, turned wholly to joy, and, with eyes and hands stretched out to heaven, said: Lord Jesus Christ, preserver of all chastity, who hast taught me from the cradle, hast taken from me the love of this world, who hast strengthened me in the contest of the passion, and, as I perceive, hast already freed me from the hand of the most impious governor, I praise and bless thy name, and render thanksgivings to thee, my spouse and lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest unto everlasting and all ages. Meanwhile the Governor Urban put off the hearing of the martyrs, fearing to be still worse confounded by men than he had been confounded by a girl, and hoping that there would be one remedy for him, if he ordered them likewise to be beheaded: he ordered it, and it was done. And the most blessed Fortunata, hearing that her brothers german were to be beheaded together with her, turning, said to the executioner: I give you twenty gold pieces if you promise that you will do what I ask; and he said: If you give what you have pledged, I will do what you urge; and she offered the gold pieces divinely bestowed on her, saying: I ask that our bodies be not left unburied after death; as soon as they have paid the debt of death, let them be covered with earth; for I am anxious lest they be burned with fire; which was afterwards so done as she herself had asked.
[11] these already slain, she too peacefully expires; And her three brothers having been beheaded, that is, Carponius, Euachristus and Priscian, before she was struck she began to pray thus: Lord Jesus Christ, king of the ages, who hast not forsaken me up to this point, but hast always made me to be unconquered, creator of all goodness,
look now upon thy handmaid, and grant me to complete manfully what with thy help I was able to begin, because the time is now at hand that the soul should desert this body wearied with pains, and come at length after the punishments to thy promises. While the most Holy virgin was pouring out these prayers to God, suddenly a voice thundered from heaven, saying: Come, come, come, glorious Fortunata, and pass to the kingdom with the highest glory. Animated by these promises, the blessed Virgin admonished the swordsman, saying: Approach, man, approach, and fulfil quickly what you have been ordered. Hearing, he now wished to strike her, but, made to tremble, he fell down, and said to her: I see, lady, certain men in white, and choirs of virgins surrounding you, whence also, my limbs wasting away for fear, I cannot fulfil what you say. Then she, fearing the words of the one refusing, cried out with a huge voice and said: O God, who art the eternal truth and deceivest none of thine, who hast deigned now also to call me to thy kingdom; O God, true and chaste lover, for whom pilgrim souls sigh, and into whom the angels desire to look, g make me without any delay put off the burden of bodily frailty, and come to lay hold of the sweetness of thy divinity. And saying this she sent forth her spirit. And the bodies of the holy martyrs Carponius and Euachristus and Priscian were gathered by Christians, and committed to worthy burial with blessed Fortunata.
[12] whose bodies first to Patria, But on a certain night sailors came, and, having noted the place, stole the bodies of the three Brothers and of the most blessed Sister, and took them with them in a little ship, no one knowing, and sailed very long journeys of the sea: and behold, in the middle of the night, angels descending from heaven sat on the prow of the ship, and, sitting, sang psalms, saying: This glory is to all his saints h. When they had heard these voices, collapsing with excessive fear they fell on their faces as if dead: and suddenly the most blessed virgin Fortunata appeared to them, and said to them: Arise and fear not: i the Lord has sent you angelic spirits from heaven, to direct your journey to the place where, for the enlightenment of many souls, you may commit our bodies to burial: and, these things said, the holy vision was taken away from their eyes before the day dawned, the angels secretly providing guidance for the journey. The sailors came with the most blessed bodies of the Martyrs into the parts of Campania, to the place which is called Patria, [k] and there, digging, they buried them, and at once each returned to his own city. Who would doubt that this was done by divine providence, since they seem to have provided, by the bodies of the Martyrs carried off, not for their own citizens but for those of others: but since, according to the sentence of the gospel, a lamp lit ought not to be put under a bushel, but placed upon a lampstand, to shine for all who are in the house of the lord, l the inhabitants of the city of Patria, perceiving that such a treasure had been divinely bestowed on them, embracing it as a heavenly gift with gladness and exultation, rendered innumerable thanks to the Lord. Then, with the help of the holy Martyrs, they were zealous to build a wonderful basilica in the place of Patria: whose wonderful power, spread far and wide, ministered the pleasing joy of protection to all who approached.
[13] These things being done, how the body of this most sacred Martyr was afterwards translated to Naples and this being laid waste by the Vandals, the following discourse shows in order. In about the four hundred and fifty-second year, therefore, from the glorious incarnation of our lord Jesus Christ, namely after the death of the augusti Valentinian and Maximus, m while the most blessed and first Leo held the pontificate of the Roman church, Genseric, king of the nation of the Vandals, coming from Africa, supported by the help of the Moors, obtained Rome, the same Most Holy pontiff Leo n coming to meet him, whose supplication so pacified him that he abstained from fire and slaughter and punishments. Then the Vandals and Moors, pouring themselves through Campania, consume all with sword and flames; meanwhile they cast down the captured city of Capua to the very ground. They likewise lay low with equal ruin the city of Nola, in which was the Most Holy bishop Paulinus, o and very many others. Naples, however, on account of its renowned fortification, they could not take; they leave it laid waste outside.
[14] Meanwhile, since the aforesaid city of Patria was then utterly laid waste, they were translated to Naples. and the relics of the Saints could not have due reverence, many times having now rolled by, namely in the reign of Constantine and Irene his mother, and while Hadrian, pontiff of the Roman see, presided, Stephen, bishop of Parthenope, [p] of whom mention was made above, [q] perceiving that this would be of exceeding honour, having taken counsel with the holy clergy and at the same time with the magnates, that they should be held worthy and glorious for the protection of their city, the grave-cloths being sent, [r] raising thence the little body of the sacred martyr Fortunata, took care to place her with great glory, honour, with hymns and praises, in the monastery of the girls of God which blessed Gaudiosus, [s] an African bishop, had built within Naples — fleeing, namely, the savagery of the Vandals who had then invaded Africa — in the church which shines most excellently with the name of the same blessed Fortunata; and there she shines splendidly and gloriously to this day. In which place the worshippers of Christ, continually paying vows and praises, wonderfully obtain advantages and benefits from the lord, he indeed accomplishing it who is glorious in the saints, wonderful in majesty, doing signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, and bestows on those who persevere unto the end rewards and everlasting joys. The Most Holy virgin and martyr Fortunata suffered, therefore, on the fourteenth day of the eighth month, which is inscribed the day before the ides of October, to the praise and glory of God the saviour and lord Jesus Christ, who with the father and the holy spirit lives and reigns God through all ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
d. Psalm XXII, verse 4.
Today it is commonly called la torre di Patria, and it is that watch-tower with a lodging which, on Cluverius's testimony, is seen on that narrow track which lies between the Tuscan or Tyrrhenian sea and the right bank of the river Glanis or Clanis, commonly l'Agno, flowing into the sea. But this place, when it was enriched with the relics of the Martyrs, was called not Patria but Linternum, or more rightly Liternum, and was a city of Campania or the Terra di Lavoro, not only most ancient and episcopal, but also a colony of the Romans, easily most celebrated for this, that it merited to receive Scipio Africanus, that most vigorous champion of Roman liberty, who had left the City on account of the ingratitude of the citizens, and to entomb him with itself, there being carved on his sarcophagus, as he himself had asked, the following words, which are read in Valerius Maximus, book V, chapter III: UNGRATEFUL. FATHERLAND. YOU. DO. NOT. EVEN. HAVE. MY. BONES. I think the name of this town was derived from the river Liternus flowing past it, the same which today is called the Clanis, quite celebrated among the most ancient orators and poets alike: let us hear one, Ovid, singing thus in book XV of the Metamorphoses:
Hence the warm springs and the mastic-bearing Liternum are reached.
But the town of Liternum having been destroyed by the Vandals about the year 455, since, as La Martinière and others assert, only the word Patria of the inscription just quoted could any longer be read, the tower erected shortly after in the same place, as also the lake which the river Clanis intersects before its mouth, were called, to this day, the tower of Patria and the lake of Patria. But I do not know why Baronius alone, in the Notes on the Roman martyrology, writes that the relics of these Martyrs were translated first to Pozzuoli and thence to Naples, unless perhaps he erroneously or carelessly wrote Pozzuoli for Patria.
Naples was anciently called Parthenope, from Parthenope, one of the Sirens, those goddesses, namely, whom they fabled to sit upon the shoals and rocks of the Tyrrhenian sea and, by the sweetness of their song, to entice those sailing past to themselves, to the end that, the ships being dashed on the rocks, they might hold the wretched men in the sea. Frequent is the mention of them among the ancients: let Silius lead the band, who mentions Parthenope specially thus:
One of the Sirens gave her own, and memorable, name To the walls — Parthenope, Acheloüs's daughter; over whose sea Her songs long reigned; when through the waves she sang Sweet destruction to wretched sailors, not to prosper.
But since they could not attract Ulysses passing through the same sea, they said that, affected with such grief, they cast themselves into the sea and were scattered hither and thither, of whom one, Parthenope, because she had settled in that bay of the sea where Naples now is, is fabled to have communicated her name to the city afterwards built.
q. In the prologue, namely, as we said in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 4.
r. Although exequiae is mostly taken for the funeral itself, yet in Zeno of Verona, in the sermon on faith, hope and charity, it denotes the linen cloths in which the bodies of the dead are wrapped. So du Cange. Whence I suspect that Autpertus means the same here. Further, before these words missis exequiis, in the Proper Lessons, beginning from the word haberentur, the following are inserted:
So they disposed: Already long since they had done this very thing concerning the Saints Euticetes and Acurius, and the other prelates, concerning blessed Januarius, Proculus, Sossius and Severinus, which. But these we have struck out as superfluous; for that they not only disturb the sense, but also are not Autpertus's, but added from the store of some rude interpolator, is sufficiently proved by the fact that the entire text here cited by Caracciolo does not have these things mixed in.
s. Of St. Gaudiosus, whose acts the same Camillo enlarged rhetorically, it will have to be treated at the XXVIII day of October, at which he stands inscribed in the Roman Martyrology.
Perhaps: placent*?
* Redundant.
relictis gaudiis* (leaving the joys)
Perhaps: illiciar*?
Read: Deos* (the Gods)