ON ST. SALARIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT LUNI IN ITALY,
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 7TH CENTURY.
SYLLOGE.
At what time St. Salarius flourished. An account of the see of Luni and its vicissitudes.
Salarius, bishop and martyr at Luni, in Italy. (S.)
BY B. B.
Ferrari notes Catalogus SS. Italiæ, 22 Oct. page 660. that the Acts are wanting, together with the time at which this holy Bishop was among the living. St. Salarius, bishop And he relates these things from the tables of the church of Sarzana: "Salarius or Solorius (for both are read written) was bishop of Luni, crowned with martyrdom; whose church with a village exists on the shore of the port of Luni, between Lerici and the castle of San Terenzo; in which place he is believed to have suffered martyrdom, and there he has chief veneration, although in the whole diocese of Sarzana his birthday is celebrated on this day." I find the same things in others, rendered a little differently. "In his honour," says Moroni Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica., "a church was erected between the castle of San Terenzo and Lerici, in the place where, as some relate, he shed his blood for the defence of the rights of the church." Castellan Martyrologe universel. 22 Oct. writes that the holy Prelate suffered about the year 600; following, I should think, the conjecture of our Papebroch in the Acts of St. Cechardus, also bishop of Luni, where these things are had: "The conjecture which refers the martyrdom of St. Cechardus to the year 600 is suspect to me; I should rather say that of St. Salarius" Acta SS. vol. III of June, page 143.. The reason why he so determines is this alone, that Cechardus is a Lombard name: "There are named," he says Ibid., "by Ughelli, down to Severus, who in the year 680 under Pope Agatho was present at the Roman synod, ten bishops of Luni... All (Cechardus excepted) with Latin or Greek names. After them come those with Lombard names." He therefore thinks Cechardus is to be struck out of the former class and placed in the latter, and indeed in the middle between Gualcherius, treacherously killed by Hasting, leader of the Danes or Normans, about the year 991, and Oedelbert, whom he conjectures Ibid. page 144. (from a light reason, however) was made bishop in the year 995 or the preceding one; and he adds: "But what space there is between this year and the year of the bishop Gualcherius killed by Hasting, I should think can be given to St. Cechardus." But Orlendi replies, and, as it seems to me, with full right Orbis sacer et profanus, part II, vol. II, page 1020. Florence, 1732.: "Since the cause of the conjecture is weak, I should by no means depart from the old catalogue of the bishops which the church of Luni keeps." And he adds: "Nor is the name of Cechardus Lombard, as neither are those of the others who occur down to Severus. And indeed this brief inscription carved on the sepulchre of St. Cechardus confirms this: Here lies the body of blessed Cechardus, bishop of Luni, who suffered martyrdom in the year DC."
[2] At what time, then, did St. Salarius sit? Standing on the old catalogue of Ughelli, at the beginning of the 7th century. I find that this happened in the 7th century, not much advanced. For St. Cechardus there Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 834. Venice, 1717. comes fifth in the order of succession among the bishops of Luni, and is said to have suffered in the year 660; but St. Salarius is reckoned eighth in order without any note of time added; tenth is put Lazarus, who lived in the year 640; there follow Thomas and Severus; of whom the former (who was wanting in Ughelli's first edition, which Papebroch used) was present at the Roman or Lateran council in the year 649, as is plain from the subscriptions Labbe, vol. VI, col. 363. Paris, 1671.; the latter at the council under Pope Agatho in the year 680, as Ughelli asserts; although I have not found Severus of Luni among the bishops of this council enumerated in Labbe Ibid. col. 579.. But whatever be the case with him, we have a certain epoch from the subscription of Thomas in the year 649. And so, it being supposed that St. Cechardus was slain in the year 600; since SS. Venantius and Basil succeeded him one after the other, and after these our St. Salarius, it is thence already plain that the 7th century had begun at least some years before when he ascended the chair of Luni: for it is probable that SS. Venantius and Basil presided for some space of time, and that the more because St. Basil is the Tutelary of the church of Luni Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 834.. It is to be noted besides that between St. Salarius and Thomas, who was present at the Roman council of 649, two other prelates of Luni are reckoned by Ughelli, namely Lucius and Lazarus. All which, taken together, indicate that St. Salarius flourished at Luni, as I have said, in the 7th century not much advanced, yet begun some years before, say ten or twenty.
[3] An account of the see of Luni Luni was a maritime city of Etruria founded near the mouths of the river Magra Orbis sacer et profanus, part II, vol. II, page 1012 and following.. Some of the ancients place it among the Ligurians, because it was situated on the border of Liguria, and its port and part of its territory belong to Liguria. "The first town of Etruria," says Pliny [Hist. book III, §8. Vol. I, page 319. Paris, 1685.], "is Luna, renowned for its port." Whence also Silius Italicus:
Distinguished for its port, than which no other more spacious Has received countless ships and enclosed the sea.
And more explicitly Strabo Book V, page 314. Oxford, 1807.: "Luna is a city and a port: the city indeed not great, but the port very great and also very beautiful, enclosing several ports, all near the shore," etc. It was a very ancient city; but now it lies destroyed, of which some traces appear near the sea Orbis sacer et prof. Where cited above, page 1016.; and the name of the surrounding territory is il Lunegiano; that of the port, or more truly the bay, the Golfo della Spezia, from the town which is set over against its innermost recess Pliny of Hardouin. Where cited above, note 9.. From of old there exists the episcopal see of Luni. Already in the 5th century its bishops are named Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 833 and 834.. But already towards the end of the 12th century Moroni, Dizionario. Under the word: Luni. Vol. XL, page 145., on account of the inclemency of the air, the bishop with the clergy deserted their church dedicated to St. Basil (formerly pontiff of Luni), betaking themselves now to Sarzana, now to other sacred edifices in the neighbourhood.
[4] and vicissitudes. Whence Innocent III, by bulls given in the years 1202 and 1204, granted that, the denomination being kept,
the title of Luni should be transferred from the church of St. Basil to Sarzana, to the church of St. Andrew, which he was erecting into a cathedral Ibid. Compare Ughelli. Where cited above, col. 850 and following.. Which, however, we find was not at once put into execution by the chapter Moroni ibid.. Then Pope Nicholas V (a native of Sarzana, who sat from the year 1447 to the year 1453) confirmed and amplified the constitution of Innocent III, willing that thenceforth the see should be called of Luni and Sarzana. Finally in the year 1465, on the 21st day of July, Pope Paul II gave a bull by which the formal translation of the see to Sarzana was made, with this reason added, that its clergy were wandering Ibid. vol. LXI page 223. Under the word: Sarzana.. And in very truth Antonio Parentucelli, a kinsman of Pope Nicholas V, created bishop by Paul II in the aforesaid year 1465, is the first who, as Moroni testifies Ibid., is read to have subscribed with this formula: "Bishop of Luni and Sarzana." The chair was then also transferred from the church of St. Andrew to the church of St. Mary Ibid.. At length Pius VII, on the 8th day of December 1820, by the bull "Sollicita quam pro apostolici muneris," united Ibid. page 224. the church of Brugnato with that of Sarzana; whence thereafter its titular, residing at Sarzana, has been called bishop of Luni-Sarzana and Brugnato; and by force of the same bull "Sollicita" he is immediately subject to the holy See, as is read it already was from of old. See Ughelli In the places cited.. These things I have thought should be set out somewhat more broadly from Moroni, because the things pertaining to the various vicissitudes of the see of Luni are rendered fairly confusedly, nay not exactly enough, both in Ughelli and in Orlendi.