ON SS. DASIUS OR DATIUS, ZOSIMUS, JANUARIUS, DOROTHEA OR DOROTHEUS, ZOSIMUS OR SUSIMUS, JANUARIA OR JANUARIANA, MARTYRS AT POZZUOLI IN CAMPANIA; AND ON SS. EUTYCHIUS, PROMACHUS, LUCIUS, MARCELLINUS, AND BERMIACUS, AND PERHAPS SS. ZOSIMUS OR SUSIMUS AND JANUARIUS OR JANUARIA, MARTYRS AT NICOMEDIA,
PERHAPS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 4TH CENTURY.
COLLECTION FROM THE MARTYROLOGIES.
Datius, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Zosimus, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Januarius, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Dorothea, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Zosimus, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Januaria, martyr at Pozzuoli in Campania (S.)
Eutychius, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Promachus, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Lucius, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Marcellinus, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Bermiacus, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Zosimus, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
Januarius, martyr at Nicomedia (S.)
V. D. B.
[The memory of one band at Pozzuoli and of two at Nicomedia is made today in the Hieronymian lists;] The Hieronymian codices today keep so diverse an order that no other way seems possible to be entered upon for investigating the Holy Martyrs belonging to this day than a complete review of them. The codex of Florentini runs thus Hieronymian Martyrology of Florentini, at the 20th of October: In the city of Ponteoli, of Dasius, Zosimus, Januarius, Dorotheus, Sussimus, Januariana. At Nicomedia, of Eutyches Ibid., compare the corrigenda., Promachus, Lucius, Marcellinus, Bermiacus. Likewise of Sussimus, Januarius; the Antwerp codex In Florentini, at the 20th of October: Of Eutychius, Promachus, Lucius, Marcellinus. At Pozzuoli, of Zosimus, Dorothea, Januaria, Bermiacus, Sisinnus. Likewise of Januaria; the Corbie codex Ibid., in the place cited: In the city of Pozzuoli, of Dasius, Anosinimus, Januarius, Dorotheus, Susimus, Januaria. At Nicomedia, of Eusticius, Promachus, Lucius, Marcellinus, Berniacus. Likewise of Susimus, Januarius, Julius; the Martyrology of Reichenau Sollerius' edition, before part II of the Martyrology of Usuard, p. 13.: At Nicomedia, of Eutychius, Promachus, Lucius, Marcellinus. At Pozzuoli, of Zosimus, Dorothea, Januarius, Zosimus; that of Augsburg Ibid., p. 22.: Of Clasus, Zosimus, Promasius, Januarius, Eutyches, Marcellina; that of Labbe Ibid., p. 29.: Of Dasius, Zosimus, Primacus, Januarius, Eutyches, Lucius, Marcellina; the Ottoboni In Giorgi, Martyrology of Ado, p. 686.: In the city of Pozzuoli, the natal day of St. Zosimus, bishop. At Nicomedia, of Primacius, Susimus; the Brussels Usuard codex In Sollerius, Martyrology of Usuard, p. 614.: In the city of Pozzuoli, the natal day of the holy Martyrs Zosimus, Januarius and Dorothea; the auctarium of Greven to Usuard Ibid., p. 615.: At Nicomedia, of the Saints Eutychius, Promasius, Lucius and Marcellinus; in the city of Pozzuoli, of the saints Zosimus, Januarius, Dorocha; and finally the Hieronymian codex of the canons of Lucca In Florentini, at the 20th of October: Of Dasius, Zosimus, Lucius. I have omitted the names of SS. Caprasius and Neon, which follow these in many calendars. And all these must now be sorted out.
[2] the names of the Martyrs Dasus or Dasius, nay corruptly Clasus, or, as Galesini writes, Datius, is omitted in several codices, especially in the Antwerp and Reichenau, perhaps because the same name recurred at the head of the following day; but in these there is no reason for striking him out. Next comes St. Zosimus, whom the Corbie codex calls Anosinimus, and of whom Caracciolo read in an old manuscript Martyrology of the Library of the Holy Apostles In Florentini, p. 928.: On the 13th day before the Kalends of November, in the city of Pozzuoli, the natal day of Zosimus, bishop, who was translated into the monastery of Monte Petroso; and of whom, as Ughelli writes Italia Sacra, vol. VI, col. 275., and from him Francesco Orlendi Orbis Sacer et Profanus, vol. IV, p. 1657., mention is made in an old Martyrology of the Nuns of St. John of Capua. And indeed Michele Monaco found in this convent two most ancient Calendars, in one of which at the 19th (read the 20th of October Sanctuarium Capuanum, p. 401. is read: The Deposition will be of St. Zosimus, bishop; in the other at the 20th day Ibid., p. 410.: Of St. Zosimus, bishop. Michele Monaco published a third ancient Calendar, found in the treasury of Capua, to which a second hand had added several names, among which at the 20th of October Ibid., p. 420.: Of St. Sosimus, confessor, bishop; and a fourth according to the custom of the major church of Capua, in which likewise at the 20th of October a second hand added Ibid., p. 433.: Of Zosimus, bishop, confessor; and finally a fifth from a printed breviary, in which likewise at the 20th of October you have Ibid., p. 547.: Of Maximus, Levite and Martyr. Of Zosimus, bishop and confessor; on which Monaco notes concerning Zosimus: Of Zosimus, bishop of Pozzuoli, our Martyrology… In the office nothing. On the other hand the Vatican Usuard codex, marked number 5949 In Sollerius, p. 614., attributes St. Zosimus not to Pozzuoli but to Benevento, in these words: At Benevento, of St. Zosimus, bishop. And indeed on the 17th day of October, at which we spoke of him, St. Zosimus, otherwise St. Zeno, is venerated at Benevento. But since he is held a confessor, not a Martyr, and therefore seems not to have been fit to be inscribed in the Hieronymian Martyrology (for which reason too we judge that the name of Confessor given to our Zosimus in the Capuan Calendars is superfluous), and since moreover the relics of St. Zosimus of Benevento rest in the church of St. Sophia at Benevento, he must be held different from ours, and its own St. Zosimus must be kept for Pozzuoli. But whether he should be called a bishop on account of the authority of the Ottoboni Martyrology, of the second praised by Caracciolo, and of the Capuan Calendars, the other monuments being silent, I prefer to doubt rather than to define; certainly I should not dare with Ughelli to refer St. Zosimus, bishop of Pozzuoli, whose name was inscribed in the Hieronymian lists, to the 6th century: for there there is room for scarcely any but Martyrs. Dorotheus, who appears in the codices of Florentini and of Corbie, is called Dorothea in the Antwerp, in the Reichenau and in the Brussels Usuard, but Dorocha by Greven: Dorothea seems to please Florentini more.
[3] who suffered at Pozzuoli; The same man, noticing that the St. Januarius of his own codex is called Januaria in the Antwerp codex, testifies that this pleases him more, since below there comes: Likewise Januaria. But this reason is less firm; not only because all the remaining codices have Januarius, but because in the Antwerp codex an omission rather than a different reading is detected. For the others have Januarius and Januaria or Januariana, and below likewise Januaria; while the Antwerp codex has only two Januarias, Januarius being omitted. The Sussimus of Florentini's codex, or, as others have it, Susimus, is called Sisinnus in the Antwerp, Zosimus in the Reichenau; whence, since one Zosimus was already present, he was omitted in several others. I should think the true name was Zosimus, both because it is so written in the Reichenau codex, although it was already present once in the same announcement, and because Susimus is a name otherwise unheard of. Lucus or Lucius, who is met with in the Lucca codex, has slipped from the Nicomedian band into the Puteolan. Galesini, using books where the arena of the Saints was not ascribed,
assigned them to Rome according to his custom. The error is in plain view. Our Stilting judged Acta SS., vol. VI of September, p. 764, c d. that some of these Martyrs belong to the band of St. Januarius, the most celebrated patron of Naples, and crept in here from the preceding days by an error of the copyists. But only one name occurs that is the same as St. Januarius'; all the rest are different, namely Sosius, Festus, Proculus, Desiderius, Eutyches and Acutius; and then, where there is such agreement among the most diverse codices, what room is there for accusing copyists? Further, as regards the time of the martyrdom, I should call it probable that the holy band of Pozzuoli suffered at about the same time as the most celebrated SS. Januarius and Companions, namely about the year 305, if any mention were made of them in the Acts of the latter; but they are entirely passed over there; nor are the people of Pozzuoli accustomed to associate them with the wonder-worker of Naples; nay rather, Ferrari did not know them, as Florentini observed; nor is there any mention of them in Ughelli and Orlendi, if you except St. Zosimus. Moreover, the Nicomedian martyrs precede them in the calendars, who are more probably to be referred to the year 303, no differently from the other Nicomedian martyrs of whom we treated at the 17th day of this month See above, p. 37.. For the rest, besides the names and the arena, and, on account of the promises of Christ, a certain glory in heaven, all else is uncertain.
[4] a twofold band of Nicomedian Martyrs seems to be distinguished; On the Nicomedian martyrs Florentini comments thus: The Antwerp Ms. brings forward only four Nicomedian martyrs, with the place of veneration or of contest suppressed: our codices seven; the Corbie Ms. eight, in which Julius is added as the last of the second order, not without suspicion, to confess candidly, of a vain addition. For Julius is likewise added to the martyrs of Axiopolis on the preceding day, and of others we have given warning elsewhere. It must plainly be agreed that Julius has been intruded, being unknown to the other martyrologists at this day. Florentini goes on: The holy Nicomedian athletes are divided into two orders; four are listed in the first choir under the leader Eutychius, or Eusticius, as the Corbie Ms. reads, namely Promachius, Lucius, Berniacus or Bermiacus. In the second order Sussimus and Januarius are other than the Sussimus and Januarius of Campania, unless those are here repeated in error, as the silence of the Antwerp Martyrology raises a suspicion. I should more readily grant this if the Antwerp codex were less dislocated at this day, and if the particle "likewise" were not added in the codices of Florentini and of Corbie; which is the sign not of a yawning but of an attentive mind: yet I should dare to define nothing.
[5] it is doubtful whether some of them were venerated at Toulouse; Du Saussay at this day, in the supplement to the Gallican Martyrology Page 1183., records three of these Saints: On the same day, the natal day of the saints Eutychius, Lucius and Marcellianus, written in the ancient diptychs of the church of Toulouse. But the cult of these Saints seems long since to have perished among the people of Toulouse, if indeed it ever truly existed, and we do not rather have here before us some Hieronymian codex, of the kind we have already cited several of.
[6] their names. That the names are not everywhere written in the same way strikes the eyes of all: he who is called Euticius, Eusticius, Euticis seems to have had the name Eutychius, to which form the Labbe Martyrology comes closer; the second, called Promacus, Promasus, Promasius, Primasius, seems better written Promachus in the Corbie codex; about Lucius no controversy can arise, since it is admitted that in the genitive case Luci is written for Lucl or Lucii. Marcellinus is called Marcellina in the codices of Augsburg and of Labbe; but one must stand with the stronger part. Bermiacus, omitted by several, is called Berniacus in the Corbie codex, in that of Echternach (as I understand from a manuscript note of Henschen) Vermacus; we have retained Bermiacus. Of the second Nicomedian band there is nothing that we may add further.