ON SS. SIMPLICIUS AND CONSTANTINE, ABBOTS OF MONTE CASSINO, IN ITALY,
ABOUT THE YEAR 570.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
The memory, age and deeds of St. Simplicius. Some of his writings, from which it is not proved that the Rule of St. Benedict lay hidden until the times of St. Simplicius. Of his relics and their various findings and translation. Why the acts of St. Constantine, the first abbot of Cassino after St. Benedict, are added here.
Simplicius, abbot at Monte Cassino. (S.)
Constantine, abbot at Monte Cassino. (S.)
BY B. B.
St. Simplicius has been referred to this day from the 29th of March, where some Translation of his is mentioned. For the rest, in the printed Martyrologies or catalogues, whether of the Benedictines or of others, I have found no other day assigned to the holy Abbot. Why St. Simplicius is treated on this day The reason perhaps will be that, as Mabillon has it in his historical eulogy Acta SS. Ord. S. Benedicti, sæc. I, page 194., on what day or in what year St. Simplicius departed to heaven is unascertained. And again below Ibid. page 196.: "The day of the Finding, the 4th of the Kalends of April (29th of March), is entered in the Benedictine martyrology; but the ancient calendars do not give the day of his death." I suspect that our predecessors referred St. Simplicius to the present day from the calendar of the Saints of the order of our holy Father Benedict which existed in manuscript in the monastery of St. Michael of the Premonstratensian order, and was transcribed in the year 1668, and indeed by Papebroch himself, as at least one may conjecture from the handwriting. And in this calendar there is had thus: "XXII (of October): Of St. Simplicius, III abbot of Cassino after St. Benedict"; nor is anyone else mentioned there on the same day. The Reverend Fr. D. Sebastiano Kalefati also (of whom mention will often have to be made in what follows), prior of the cloister and prefect of the library of Cassino, testifies that he has found neither in the ms. breviaries (of which several of the 9th – 15th centuries are found in the cases of Monte Cassino), nor anywhere else, that an office was made of SS. Simplicius and Constantine, which accordingly he thinks never existed.
[2] third abbot of Cassino; Few things about him have come down to us. Odo, abbot of Glanfeuil, a writer of the ninth century, in the letter prefixed to the Acts of St. Maurus, asserts, as Mabillon Ibid. Likewise in the Annals, vol. I, page 130. and Gattola Historia abbatiæ Cassinensis, part I, page 9. Venice, 1733. testify, that he had seen a life of Simplicius; but, what is truly to be lamented, it has been lost. This is certain, that the holy Man was the third abbot of the monastery of Cassino,
as Paul the Deacon expressly has it: "After blessed Benedict," he says [De gestis Langobardorum, book IV, chap. 18. Muratori, Scriptores, vol. I, page 459.], "Constantine, after him Simplicius, after whom Vitalis, at the last Bonitus." So also Leo of Ostia Chronica Cassinensis, book I, chap. 2. Muratori, vol. IV, page 25.: "To the most holy Father (Benedict) succeeded in the rule of the monastery Constantine; and third from blessed Benedict Simplicius presided over the same congregation," etc. Peter the Deacon agrees [On the birth and death of the Just of the monastery of Cassino XII. In Ang. Mai, vol. VI. Scriptorum Veterum nova collectio, part II, page 250.]: "Simplicius, made abbot after Constantine, died in the same place at Cassino," etc. The same is shown from St. Gregory the Great, rightly interpreted; who, in the Prologue to the second book of the Dialogues, inscribed On the Life and miracles of St. Benedict, says [Works of St. Gregory the Great, vol. II, col. 208. Benedictine edition, Paris, 1705.]: "I have not learned all his deeds, but the few which I narrate I came to know from the report of four of his disciples: namely Constantine, a very reverend man, who succeeded him in the rule of the monastery; Valentinian also, who for many years presided over the monastery of the Lateran; Simplicius, who third after him ruled his congregation; Honoratus also, who still presides over his cell in which he had first lived." Baronius concludes from these words At the year 581. num. 10. Annal. vol. X, page 367. Lucca, 1741. that Simplicius was the third successor, not of St. Benedict in the rule of Cassino, but of Valentinian in that of the Lateran, thinking, as Pagi rightly notes Annal. ibid. page 368., that the relative pronouns "his" and "him" refer to Valentinian. But the passage of Gregory about Simplicius is to be understood in the same way as that about Honoratus, who then presided over his cell, namely St. Benedict's, who had first lived in the cell of Subiaco. Besides, after Valentinian the third abbot in the monastery of the Lateran was Theodore, as is plain from the Prologue of Faustus to the Life of St. Maurus. In like manner Mabillon had already touched on Gallonio agreeing with Baronius [Annal. Benedict. vol. I, page 130. Likewise Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. sæc. I, page 195.]: "Gallonio referred the pronoun 'his' to Valentinian, whereas it manifestly refers to St. Benedict"; and this is made altogether certain from Paul the Deacon, Leo of Ostia, and likewise Peter the Deacon, praised above. Compare Gattola Where cited above.. "The source of the error lies hidden in this, that they did not attend to the fact that two Simpliciuses, illustrious for holiness, lived at the same time at Cassino under the mastership of our holy Father Benedict; the one abbot of Cassino, the other the companion of St. Maurus into Gaul" Acta SS. ord. S. Bened. sæc. I, page 195.. Peter the Deacon distinguishes both duly in the little Work on the birth and death of the Just Mai, Veterum Scriptorum nova collectio, vol. IV, page 250.: he says that the former was made abbot at Cassino after Constantine and was buried there; but that the latter, after the death of blessed Maurus, having returned to Rome with Faustus, died and was buried at the monastery of the Lateran.
[3] his deeds and death. As regards the Life of the holy Abbot; the same Peter the Deacon, in the praised little Work on the illustrious men of Cassino, relates these things Muratori, Rerum Italic. scriptores, vol. VI, page 15.: "Simplicius, disciple of the most holy Benedict, and made abbot at Cassino after him, delivered the rule which his master had published to all the monks to be read publicly; he also wrote some verses on the same matter. And he was in the times of Justin the younger, and was buried at Cassino near the body of blessed Benedict." Further, Justin the younger reigned from the year 565 to the year 575 Art de vérifier les dates, page 360.. Again Peter the Deacon, in the other little Book on the birth and death of the Just of the monastery of Cassino, which Cardinal Mai first brought to light entire: "Simplicius," he says Mai, Veterum Scriptorum nova collectio, vol. IV, part II, page 250., "simple in name and deed, made abbot after Constantine, died in the same place at Cassino and was buried near father Benedict." Besides these things nothing has come down to us about the deeds of St. Simplicius. Giovanni Battista Mari adds, in the Notes on Peter the Deacon Muratori, vol. VI, col. 15., that he was a Man endowed with heavenly charisms, and illustrious with every testimony of holiness; which words Yepes amplifies more broadly in the general chronicle of the Order of St. Benedict, without, however, adding anything further [Coronica general de la Orden de San Benito, vol. I, centuria I, fol. 213 verso. Edition of the year 1609.]. Mabillon in the Acts Where cited above recites the words of Peter the Deacon on Illustrious Men, and adds nothing except that he did not have at hand the other little Work of the same Peter on the birth and death of the Just. According to Giovanni Battista Mari Muratori, vol. VI, col. 15., "Simplicius passed to the most auspicious place of unbounded beatitude about the year of the Lord 576, shining with miracles." In the same manner also Wion in the Lignum Vitæ, and in similar words Book I, chap. 3.. Yepes agrees Coronica general, centuria I, fol. recto 336., attaching the election of St. Vitalis to the same year. Mabillon puts the death of the holy Man six years earlier, namely about the year 570, relying on this reason: "After him (Simplicius)," he says Act. SS. Ord. S. Bened. sæc. I, page 195 and following., "until the disaster inflicted on Cassino by the Lombards about the year 580, Paul the Deacon teaches that two abbots presided over the monastery of Cassino, Vitalis and Bonitus; accordingly Simplicius does not seem to have passed the year of Christ 570." The reason may seem to some not sufficiently suitable; but whatever it be, he sets down the same year again in the Annals Vol. I, page 142., nay Pagi thinks that Simplicius scarcely reached the year 570 Baronius's annals, vol. X, page 569.. This being assumed, St. Simplicius presided for ten or sixteen years, since, as Mabillon reports Annal. Bened. vol. I, page 129., his predecessor Constantine, the first abbot of Cassino after St. Benedict, is believed to have presided over the holy Mount for seventeen years, and to have reached the sixtieth year of this century. These things being admitted, Nuceus rightly relates in the Notes on the chronicle of Leo of Ostia [Chron. Monasterii Casin. book III, chap. 29, note 6. Muratori, vol. IV, page 446.] that Simplicius sat at Cassino only seventeen years after Benedict.
[4] We saw above at num. 2, from Peter the Deacon, that St. Simplicius wrote some verses about the rule. Some verses of St. Simplicius, Gallonio dug these verses out of the Vatican library: and again Lucas Holstenius in the Codex Regularum Vol. I, page 112. Likewise Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened. sæc. I, page 195.. And they are of this kind:
Qui leni jugo Christi colla submittere cupis, Regulæ sponte da mentem, dulcia ut capias mella. Hic testamenti veteris novique mandata; Hic ordo divinus, hicque castissima vita. Hoc Benedictus pater constituit sacrum volumen, Suisque mandavit hæc servanda alumnis. Simplicius famulus Christique minister Magistri latens opus propagavit in omnes: Una tamen merces utrisque manet in ævum.
[Thou who desirest to submit thy neck to the gentle yoke of Christ, give thy mind willingly to the Rule, that thou mayest take sweet honey. Here are the commands of the old and the new testament; here the divine order, and here the most chaste life. This sacred volume father Benedict established, and commanded these things to be kept by his foster-sons. Simplicius, servant and minister of Christ, propagated to all the hidden work of the master: yet one reward awaits both for ever.]
"From these verses," adds Mabillon Ibid., "composed with limping Minerva, Gallonio produces two equally limping arguments; namely that St. Benedict, while he was still alive, did not publish his Rule (since it is called a hidden work by Simplicius); and that Gregory the Great was a stranger to the institute of St. Benedict, since Simplicius, who propagated the Rule of St. Benedict (as Gallonio tries to persuade from the verses), was not yet abbot of the Lateran when Gregory ceased to be a monk." Let it suffice to have touched these things; from impugning which, since they have already been refuted by many, we gladly refrain, and we likewise, nay the more gladly, because they bear only remotely on our matter. Compare our Acts, where in vol. II of March Papebroch, in the Life of St. Gregory the Great, is found to have remained in doubt about his Benedictine monkhood On the 12th day, page 123 and following.. This, however, I notice, that St. Simplicius is in vain called abbot of the Lateran by Gallonio. Compare num. 2. Then Mabillon published a singular dissertation on the monastic institute of Gregory the Great, where he contends that he was a Benedictine [Annales Ben. vol. I, page 604 and following. Compare Yepes, Coronica general at the year 576, chap. 7.], against Baronius, who would have it, against the most received opinion of the ancients, that Gregory was not of the Benedictine but of the Equitian institute Annal. Bened. Ibid. page 614..
[5] from which it is not proved that the rule of St. Benedict lay hidden; But as regards the "hidden work," Nuceus observes on chapter 29, book III of the chronicle of Cassino Muratori, vol. IV, page 447., that it is called hidden not because it had previously been altogether hidden (at least it was not hidden from Maurus, it was not hidden at Cassino); but because it had not yet been given to all throughout the world to be copied. And Mabillon: "That the rule of St. Benedict," he says Acta SS. Ord. Ben. sæc. I, page XVIII, Preface., "was promulgated and disseminated especially in Italy while he himself was living, no one before Gallonio, the patron of Cæsar Baronius, doubted." And a little lower Ibid. page XIX.: "Certainly no one can deny that not a few monasteries were raised by St. Benedict, and without doubt instructed with his own laws; since besides the twelve which he is read to have founded in the solitude of Subiaco, he caused the monastery of Terracina to be built, as Gregory testifies in book II of the Dialogues, chap. XXII. What? That he himself, when shortly to die, gave to his disciple Maurus, as he set out for Gaul, the Rule written with his own hand? Did he perhaps, out of grudging, withhold from his own countrymen what he kindly communicated to foreigners?" The same is again shown from the letter of the abbot of Fondi to St. Simplicius, which I subjoin here:
[6] "To the most reverend father of monks Simplicius, B., Abbot of the monastery at the city of Fondi, a certain letter given to him. the submission of obedience. It has been found by experience that the manners of many rulers have brought forth various norms of living in the monasteries. Hence it has come about that all the monasteries of Campania, Samnium, Valeria, Tuscany, Liguria and the other provinces of Italy have now decreed to keep the certain and right rule of living which the most holy and God-accepted Benedict, thy master, instituted; so that, living according to it, they may not presume to turn aside either to the right hand or to the left. This therefore I have proposed to be kept by this congregation, when lately it chose me, unworthy, as its abbot. Desiring to observe it inviolably in this monastery as in that of Cassino, we have decreed to send to your holiness religious men of the same congregation, Hugh and Paul our brethren, to be instructed according to the aforesaid holy Rule and observance in the holy congregation of Cassino;
whom, commended, we ask of thy paternity with humble obedience. Given in the monastery near the city of Fondi on the 7th of the Kalends of April," that is, the 26th of March. The year is not assigned; but Mabillon asserts that the Letter was written a little after the death of St. Benedict Where cited above., and accordingly towards the beginning of the government undertaken by St. Simplicius. And he was made abbot in the seventeenth year from the death of the holy Patriarch. See num. 5. Nuceus notes on chap. 29, book III of the Chronicle of Cassino Muratori, vol. IV, page 446.: "This is that letter which Caietanus and Laurito defend against Gallonio, who cavils chiefly at the names of Hugh and Bernard, not yet introduced into Italy in the age of the divine Gregory. But as regards the name of Bernard, the letter does not give the name at full length, but only B., by which might equally have been noted Basil, Benedict, Bede, Bartholomew or another such name received in use in Italy, beginning with that letter. Then, the names of Bernard and Hugh, when first they sounded in Italian ears, did they then first sound also to Germany and to the whole world? They were therefore imported into Italy from elsewhere. Could not, then, one or another from that province in which those names already obtained have been called by these names, and, travelling into Italy, have put on the monk at Fondi and not put off his name?" In like manner Mabillon Acta, sæc. I, page XIX.: "When Gallonio felt himself struck by this argument, he exclaimed that the names of Bernard and Hugh expressed in that Letter were unheard of in Italy in the age of Simplicius. But the Letter does not express the name of Bernard, but leaves the shortened word in doubt; nor does the name of Hugh alone suffice to lessen the authority of the Letter." Finally the praised Nuceus adds Muratori. Where cited above.: "At least to this Letter a man of the most acute nose and the most abundant erudition, Lucas Holstenius, did not refuse to set his approval with his own hand, when I myself showed it to him copied in the aforesaid codex in the year 1637, in which he turned aside to us (at Cassino) and inspected all the shelves of our library." Compare the Benedictine Annals Vol. I, page 129 and 130..
[7] The history of the finding of SS. Simplicius and Constantine St. Simplicius was first laid together with his predecessor St. Constantine under the high altar at the feet of the most holy father Benedict [Annales Benedictini, vol. I, page 142. Gattola, Historia Cassin. page 8. Acta SS. ord. S. Bened. sæc. 1, page 196. Wion. book I, chap. 3, and others.]; and there they remained until the end of the 17th century, when they were translated into the chapel of St. Bertharius Gattola, Hist. Cassin. page 8., and then at the beginning of the 18th century to the chapel of St. Gregory the Great. Meanwhile, however, several Findings of the holy Bodies were made, the history of which it is necessary to go through here from certain documents; this further is plainly intimately connected with those things which pertain to the relics of St. Benedict, since SS. Simplicius and Constantine rested at his feet for so many centuries. I pass over the famous translation of the holy Patriarch to the monastery of Fleury in Gaul, of which see us at the 21st of March Acta SS. vol. III of March, page 299 and following.; that I may weave the series of the Cassinese tradition alone (which I judge the truer), carried by our predecessors in the place cited not beyond the 11th century. St. Benedict was first buried in the church of St. John the Baptist at Cassino before the altar in the sepulchre which he had prepared for himself and his sister Wion. Lignum Vitæ, book III, page 81.; nor is there anyone who has anywhere called this into doubt. At the end of the 6th century, under abbot Bonitus, the Lombards, entering the monastery at night-time while the brethren were resting, plundered everything; and the brethren fleeing, having set out for Rome, built a monastery near the Lateran patriarchium Leo of Ostia, Chron. book I, chap. 2. Muratori, vol. IV, page 252., where they stayed for an entire century and more. (To this space of time, during which the monks were exiled from Cassino, is referred the mission of Aigulphus, who they will have it carried the bodies of SS. Benedict and Scholastica into Gaul Acta SS. vol. III of March, page 302..) About the year 720 Muratori, ibid. page 257. the abbot Petronax returned to Cassino, "and, dwellings having been fittingly built, and a congregation of many brethren having been established there, he strove to live under the teaching of the holy rule." So Leo of Ostia The same, ibid.. And below The same, ibid. page 258.: "In the church of St. Martin, which he (Petronax) found very small, he enlarged it by about sixteen cubits, and making an apse there ... he set up an altar in it." Pope Zachary consecrated the temple in the year 748 Wion. book I, chap. 5., at which time also he granted the celebrated privilege that the monastery of Cassino should be subject to the jurisdiction of none but of the Roman Pontiff alone Muratori. Vol. IV, page 262..
[8] from ancient documents, The Instrument is recited entire in Tosti Storia della Badia de Monte-Cassino. vol. I, page 82 – 87. Naples, 1842., in which in these set words Ibid. page 83.: "But perceiving how the pledges of the same Father (St. Benedict) and of his sister have been laid, and finding them inviolate, out of reverence for so great a Father we did not at all dare to touch them. And at the dedication of the same (church), when I was present together with thirteen archbishops and sixty-eight bishops," etc. And this was in the middle of the eighth century. And again after the middle of the eleventh century, namely in the year 1066, abbot Desiderius (who was afterwards Pope Victor III) undertook to overthrow from the foundations the church, unsuited both by its smallness and its deformity to so great a treasure (the relics of SS. Benedict and Scholastica) and to so great a congregation of brethren Leo of Ostia, in Muratori, vol. IV, page 437.. And after some words: "At length therefore, the whole Basilica except the aditus (read adytum, or apse, sanctuary See Muratori. Ibid. page 437 and 440. In the appendix of Onorio Santilli.) having been levelled with no small difficulty, and all necessary things having been most abundantly prepared ... he began the fabric of the same Basilica" Ibid. page 437.. From which words it is shown that the church erected by Petronax was levelled to the ground, and that only the apse or adytum remained, where the pledges of SS. Benedict and Scholastica were kept hidden. And in the month of October in the year 1071 Pope Alexander II came to Cassino, attended by a very numerous company of Cardinals (among whom Hildebrand, afterwards Gregory VII, and St. Peter Damian), archbishops and bishops, and consecrated the new basilica with unspeakable pomp Ibid. page 436 and following. Likewise Tosti, vol. I, page 338., and gave a bull, which Tosti was the first to draw into light entire Storia della badia, vol. I, page 408 and following..
[9] And in this the Pontiff speaks thus Ibid. page 408.: "When our most beloved son Desiderius was renovating the same Basilica, from the bull of Alexander II, and was arranging to level the aditus of the Basilica, when he had dug three whole ells on the right side of the altar, he found a brick containing the name of the same confessor (St. Benedict). And when the fragments of the altar had been removed, he found spread over the sepulchres a most white shroud, which, when it was touched, vanished. Made most certain of the vision, he commanded the tomb of the most holy Father to be unsealed. Which being done, finding the most holy bodies inviolate and undiminished, calling our messengers, and showing them the most precious bodies, he made both those present and those to come most certain and without doubt about the holy bodies."
[10] from the historical relation of Peter the Deacon, And this is the Finding whose feast, according to Wion Lignum Vitæ, book III, page 122., is celebrated on the 29th of March, and of which Peter the Deacon wrote a historical relation (which see with us Acta SS. vol. III of March, page 288 and following.), who flourished in the following, or twelfth, century, since, as Fabricius notes Bibliotheca latina, vol. III, page 251., he was in favour with Lothair about the year 1137. We cannot but write out here the following words of his: "And raising the stone they found two burial places, in which the relics had been placed in this order. There was a marble coffer on the right side of the sepulchres, four feet in length and almost two in breadth, in which the bones of the most holy Benedict and of his sister had been placed... But near their feet they found sepulchres in which Carloman and Constantine and Simplicius were resting" Act. SS. vol. III of March, page 288.. So Peter, a writer almost contemporary with this finding. Compare Gattola Historia Cassinensis, page 163 and following..
[11] from instruments of the year 1486, Another Finding again was made in the year 1484 under abbot John of Aragon, of which, two years later, an authentic instrument was drawn up, which the same Gattola recites in full Ibid. page 595 – 597.; of which let it suffice here to have excerpted certain chief things to our purpose. It begins in this manner: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In the year of His nativity one thousand four hundred and eighty-six ... on the eighteenth day of the month of November, of the fifth Indiction. In the holy monastery of Cassino. By the present public document we declare ... how, when the magnificent and excellent lord Giovanni Antonio Carafa, knight ... governor in the abbey of Cassino," (John de' Medici, the commendatory abbot, almost an infant, elected by Innocent VIII on the 14th day of March 1486, was absent; who thereafter became known to the whole world under the name of Pope Leo X Ibid. page 596 and following.) "had had a report from some faithful, upright and trustworthy persons fearing God, and most of all from experience, which is called the mistress of things, that the most glorious bodies of the most blessed father Benedict and of Scholastica his sister, and of Simplicius and Constantine, and of Carloman, king and monk of Cassino, had been laid away beneath the high altar, as true writing testifies in the manner written below, namely: because 'the coffer where the bodies of the Saints have been placed is of marble, on the right side of the sepulchres, four feet in length, almost two in breadth, in which the bones of the holy Father Benedict and of his sister have been placed... But near their feet sepulchres were found in which Carloman, king and monk, St. Constantine and Simplicius were resting.' And on the right side of the altar the most holy Father Benedict and Scholastica his sister were found. And because there was variety among persons, that the body of St. Benedict was not in the said place, formerly" (namely two years before) "John of Aragon, with Ludovico de Borsis, bishop of Aquila, his auditor, and with certain others, desiring to search out the truth ... changed or caused to be changed the said altar of the church, namely on the eighteenth day of the month of November in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and eighty-four, and caused the altar itself to be built beneath the greater tribune of the said church, where formerly was the altar of St. John the Baptist, and while the masters in
the art, skilled, had removed the said great altar, and had begun to dig a little beneath ... they found the said most holy bodies of the Saints, in that order indeed in which it is written above, and some of these bodies being removed, the sepulchres being opened, namely the body of the aforesaid Carloman and the bodies of Constantine and Simplicius, and these being placed in the sacristy with other holy relics, they went to the bodies of the most blessed father Benedict and of Scholastica" Gattola. Where cited above, page 595 and 596., which they did not move from their place. There follows a narration of many calamities which arose from the fact that they had uncovered the sacred pledges: John of Aragon and Ludovico de Borsis died; war blazed up between the Pontiff and the king; the monks were expelled from Cassino, etc. "These things therefore being attended to Ibid. page 596 and following., and others moving the mind of the aforesaid D. Giovanni Antonio (Carafa), and he himself doubting that all the aforesaid evils had come about ... on account of the removal of the said altar and the uncovering of the said bodies, and fearing worse things to come ... lest the said bodies should remain thus uncovered, he caused the said high altar to be rebuilt and constructed anew and restored to its former state; and the bodies of SS. Carloman, Constantine and Simplicius, which had been taken away thence and laid away in the sacristy, he caused to be placed in their former place and in their first burial places near the feet of the most blessed father Benedict and Scholastica, in leaden cases, with their own names written above in leaden letters, and to be laid away beneath the same altar, in that very month, day and hour in which they had been taken away, removed and uncovered thence (two years before)," etc. The Instrument is closed with the subscription of the witnesses and of the notary Cristoforo Perroni Gattola, page 597..
[12] in the year 1628, And again by a public and original instrument on parchment, drawn up on the 1st day of the month of October of the year 1628, in the presence of nine notaries of apostolic and royal authority, and of many trustworthy witnesses, subscribed and signed by three public notaries, which the Reverend Fr. D. Sebastiano Kalefati sent us in these days, a diligent and learned man, of whom some mention has already occurred above, who excerpted with his own hand these things from the aforesaid instrument, hitherto unpublished: "That when the aforesaid most reverend Abbot (D. Simplicio Caffarelli) had in the months just past commanded the dome and the high altar of the same greater cathedral church (of Cassino) to be adorned more honourably and more fittingly, in digging it out not only were the entire bodies of many Saints found with very many relics, but also at that time many things very wonderful took place, which, the natural course of things being considered, it was judged could not have taken place... But since he well knew that it had been holily decreed by the holy Council of Trent that neither the bodies and relics of the Saints should be proposed for public adoration, nor new miracles in these should be preached to the people, unless the diocesan pastor recognizes and approves them ... trusting in the faith ... of the aforesaid Most Reverend theologians and judges ... he committed it to their discretion and prudence, that having seen ... they betook themselves to forming a process thereupon concerning the said things, first ordering that the aforesaid bodies of the Saints be diligently guarded, the keys being juridically consigned to the prefect of the sacristy. And besides others, the most reverend Fr. Abbot himself, who, since he had been present at many things, wished also to submit himself to examination. There were examined also, of the monks, two abbots, three deans, four priests, and three commissioners, likewise another priest, a Capuchin, one knight, the architect of the work to be done, and various other workmen and servants of lower rank, and after a diligent examination the things written below were established, namely: that the sacred bodies found there were none other than those of SS. Constantine and Simplicius, disciples of the holy Patriarch Benedict and his successors in the see: of SS. Guinizo and Januarius, his disciples, monks: of St. Carloman, king and monk: and other bodies and relics of unnamed Saints, as appears both from the inscriptions..." "All these bodies of the Saints (the words are almost those of Fr. Sebastiano) being placed for a time in the sacristy, a process of the marvels performed by them at the time of this recognition is drawn up: which afterwards is carried to a fuller congregation of twenty-one theologians from various religious orders, on the 11th day of the month of March of the same year: by whom at length the process of the acts is approved, and the sentence passed by the judges is celebrated with one voice.
[13] in which the translation of the holy bodies was made, "And on the 1st day of October of the same year, in the morning, the aforesaid most reverend Fr. Abbot, vested pontifically, together with the above-mentioned, and the whole convent of religious, and a great concourse of people accompanying, taking away the aforesaid little cases of the Saints from the sacristy of the basilica, led them round in procession through the cloisters of the monastery in this order. The first, in which the relics of the holy Unnamed ones were covered, was carried by four deacons: the second, in which was the body of St. Carloman, king and monk, likewise by four deacons: the third, which held the bodies of SS. Januarius and Guinizo, by four priests: finally the fourth, which contained the bodies of SS. Constantine and Simplicius, was carried by four abbots. This solemn procession then being brought back into the basilica, the aforesaid holy bodies were placed again beneath the high altar, now more fittingly adorned and completed, where they had lain before. And the little case of SS. Constantine and Simplicius, laid back at the feet of the holy Patriarch, bore the document written below, for the perpetual memory of the matter: 'The bodies of the holy abbots Constantine and Simplicius, disciples and successors of the holy patriarch Benedict, placed at his feet, Simplicio Caffarelli, the II of this name, and CXXVIII abbot of this sacred monastery, while he was taking care to adorn the high altar, to his own and the monks' great joy, since streams of sacred nectar flowed from the dry bones, and having with most joyful feeling of his mind kissed and venerated the sacred remains of his predecessors, that they might be kept hereafter laid in a more honourable coffer, raised and laid back with solemn pomp. On the Kalends of October, in the year MDCXXVIII, in the VI year of the Pontificate of our Most Holy Lord Urban VIII, Philip IV, catholic King of the Spains, reigning.' Lastly a Mass was solemnly sung by the said most reverend Fr. Abbot, and after the indulgences had been given according to custom, D. Tiberio Pollicelli, notary by apostolic authority, drew up this public instrument, the apostolic protonotaries, the royal notaries, and the other witnesses present approving." And these things thus D. Sebastiano, from the original instrument of the archive of Cassino, case 35, bundle VI, num. 7. Compare Gattola Page 705..
[14] In the year 1637 From another public instrument likewise, on parchment, drawn up by the hand of the notary Antonio Pagliaro of San Germano on the 13th day of the month of January of the year 1637, it is had "that very many of the aforesaid witnesses, who had been present at this first translation or recognition, being asked anew, again publicly and juridically deposed upon the things established by them in that former recognition, made in the year 1628," as is had from the original instrument of the archive of Cassino, ibid., bundle 1, num. 1. Was perhaps on this occasion written the inscription which Tosti recites Vol. III, page 304., and which is couched in these words? "The bodies of the most holy father Benedict, patriarch of monks, and of St. Scholastica, virgin, his sister, which, after twice a hundred years, under abbot Petronax, St. Zachary I, pope, beholding, left inviolate as he found them. And after another three hundred years, under abbot Desiderius, the legates of the apostolic see being inspectors, Pope Alexander II, who also consecrated this Basilica, testified that they had been found untouched and undiminished; they rest buried beneath this one and the same sepulchre where they were first placed. At their feet are laid the bodies of his holy disciples Constantine and Simplicius, and of St. Carloman, king and monk, with many other bodies of holy Monks. Simplicio, abbot, who caused the altar and the dome to be adorned, set up this monument for posterity in the year MDCXXXVIII, and from the death of the most holy father Benedict MLXXXV." But it is well to be noted that the year 1085 from the death of the most holy Father Benedict by no means coincides with the common year 1638: for if the year of St. Benedict's death which the learned more commonly assume, namely 543, is added to the year from his death in the inscription, the year 1628 is had. For the rest, although there is not agreement among authors on what day, month and year the holy Patriarch departed to those above, yet all fix it between the forty-second or forty-third year of the sixth century, so that accordingly this controversy makes little or nothing to the present question. Besides, from Gattola Hist. Cassin. page 702. it is certain that Simplicio Caffarelli died in the month of December in the year 1628. Tosti therefore slips by an entire decade, when he writes that the form of the church was changed by him in the year 1637 Storia etc. vol. III, page 303.. Imbued with this error, he probably carried it over into the inscription. Compare the preceding number.
[15] In the year 1692. "Another," says D. Sebastiano, "public instrument again we have on parchment, drawn up by the hand of the notary Giuseppe Riccardi of San Germano on the 19th day of March of the year 1692, in which it is reported: That the most reverend Fr. D. Andrea of Naples, president of the whole Cassinese congregation, and abbot of the aforesaid holy and royal monastery of Monte Cassino, when he had undertaken the government of this monastery, already then, in sign of filial devotion towards the most holy patriarch Benedict, that care settled in his mind by which ... the temple also which receives the sacred ashes of the most holy Legislator should shine with most noble ornaments. Wherefore ..." (there follows, as D. Kalefati testifies, the history of the construction of the new chapels of the Basilica of Cassino, and of their adornment both of marbles and of paintings, in the manner in which it is still seen now). "But for the work of perfect beauty this one thing remained to be added, namely that each chapel should obtain its own urn, in which it should enclose the body of some Saint, as a certain heavenly treasure. Nor were such precious pledges to be sought from elsewhere, or brought from afar, since in that very place are kept the glorious bodies of several holy foster-sons of the aforesaid most holy Benedict, namely of Victor (Pope III), Apollinaris, abbot of Cassino, Guinizo and Januarius. That honour and veneration, therefore, might be given to these by all, he took care that they should be diligently laid with solemn pomp, both from the sacristy and from the older chapels, in their own chapels, now completed and most elegantly adorned. Thereupon with the same company the same Fr. Vicar (namely of the sacristy), going to the high altar, devoutly carried into the sacristy, with the same ceremonies and in the same manner, the ark which was placed beneath it, enclosing the bodies of SS. Guinizo and Januarius; and likewise the said Fr. Vicar, returning to the said high altar with the same company, by the same magnificent artificer Antonio Fontana there was taken away from that place of the above-said altar which corresponds to the Gospel horn the marble stone fixed there in the structure, and at once there appeared a leaden ark where rested the bodies of SS. Simplicius and Constantine, abbots of Cassino, disciples of the most holy Benedict; and this then the Fr. Vicar with the same pomp and ceremonies brought, namely, into the sacristy. At all the above-said, as they carried them, the most reverend Fr. Abbot himself was always present with many monks, we also being present, the royal judge
for contracts, the notary, the named witnesses, and others. And these things were carried out from earliest morning until the hour of the midday meal. After the meal they came again to the sacristy; and there the most illustrious and most reverend Fr. Abbot, accompanied by a very great crowd of monks, commissioners and others, in the presence of the above-said judge...
[16] in which the sacred bodies were translated into the chapel of St. Bertharius "Then a recognition was made of the sacred bodies of SS. Simplicius and Constantine kept in the leaden ark, which indeed was enclosed in another ark likewise of lead, and soon the same most illustrious and most reverend Fr. Abbot laid back part of the sacred bodies within a little leaden ark, at whose bottom and round the sides a veil of white silk was spread, and this enclosed in another larger case of cypress; and likewise it was disposed in the same way with the other half of the sacred bodies: and so the said leaden cases, now blessed, each sealed at the four corners with melted tin, the Fr. Vicar of the sacristy, vested in surplice and stole, with a company of monks, commissioners and seculars carrying lighted candles in their hands, the said judge, notary and witnesses being present, carried to the chapel of St. Bertharius, and laid one of them in an alabaster tomb at the side on the Gospel horn, and the other in a tomb on the Epistle horn, an inscription being placed upon a leaden plate: 'Of the bodies of SS. Simplicius and Constantine, abbots, which were formerly kept mixed in one tomb under the high altar, Andrea of Naples, abbot and President, laid back half here, on the 30th day of January 1692.' And at once the above-said tombs were closed." There follows then the relation of the solemn translation of the bodies of St. Victor, page 111, of St. Apollinaris, abbot of Cassino, and of SS. Guinizo and Januarius from the sacristy of Cassino into their own chapels. So from the original instrument in the archive, bundle ibid. 4, num. 10.
[17] and in the year 1710 into the chapel of St. Gregory. Finally, from the fourth (so many D. Kalefati sent) and last public instrument on parchment, of the 29th day of September of the year 1710, drawn up by the hand of the notary Giovanni Battista Barberio of San Germano, and signed by two protonotaries, by another notary, a royal judge, a doctor of physic, an apothecary and several other witnesses, we have the following: "The bodies of SS. Simplicius and Constantine, disciples of the blessed patriarch Benedict, and his successors in the government of the archmonastery of Cassino, formerly kept mixed together under the high altar, and by the most illustrious and most reverend Fr. D. Andrea Adeodati of Naples, abbot of Cassino for the second time, and president of the congregations, now archbishop of Rossano, thence divided into the chapel of St. Bertharius, abbot and martyr, at its sides, confused within two leaden cases, exposed to the prayers of the faithful, as is established from the instrument of translation (in the preceding number), to which reference may be had: carried again from the said chapel of St. Bertharius to the sacristy, a band and seal having first been fixed on both cases, the judge, notary and witnesses being present, and kept, etc..., as is established from the instrument drawn up by the Reverend D. Benedetto Lanno, notary by apostolic authority, on the 6th day of the month of May 1710. Today, on the above-said day, the most illustrious and most reverend Fr. D. Gregorio Galisio of Naples holding the prefecture of the said holy monastery, prolonged by apostolic indult for four years, and he being vested in the sacred vestments, all the monks going before with copes, chasubles and dalmatics, the novices in surplices attending round about, from the high altar, upon which they had previously been diligently brought from the sacristy, in the presence of us the aforesaid, the band being cut and the seal broken with which the cases had been sealed, being shown to the clergy and people, they were put, mixed together as before, into a little chest of brass placed beneath, adorned within with a white silk veil; the lid of which little chest is inscribed thus: 'The bodies of the holy abbots of Cassino Constantine and Simplicius, disciples of the holy patriarch Benedict, first laid mixed together beneath the high altar, thence both laid back together by halves at the sides of the chapel of St. Bertharius, martyr, on the 30th day of January 1692, this one urn encloses mixed again, Gregorio Galisio of Naples being abbot, on the 29th day of September 1710.' We, the notary, judge and witnesses looking on, it was secured all round with melted lead. These things done, to increase the solemnity a procession was instituted, and, the monks going before wearing sacred vestments and carrying torches, four of the deans carrying the aforesaid little chest on a litter, through the monastery with sacred canticles, thence to the church, and a return was made again to the high altar, and silence being made, an elegant sermon in the Latin idiom on the praises of the aforesaid Saints was delivered by the Reverend Fr. D. Giuseppe Maria Franchini of Padua, professed of Cassino. Lastly the same little chest containing the sacred pledges was brought to the chapel of the divine pope Gregory the Great, which meets those entering the temple on the right hand, by us, the aforesaid most illustrious and most reverend, and with the accompaniment of so many reverend fathers of the monks and of the people, within the altar of the same chapel into a marble coffer disposed for this purpose, to be kept for the glorious resurrection, the defence of melted lead being again applied at the joints of the lid ...," etc. From the original instrument in the archive, ibid., bundle VI, num. 9.
[18] The present state of the Relics. And from these things indeed we have full and authentic information about the relics of SS. Simplicius and Constantine, which, first laid beneath the altar of the basilica of Cassino at the feet of the most holy father Benedict, remained there until the year 1692, in which they were translated in the same basilica to the chapel of St. Bertharius, and thence in the year 1710 to the chapel of St. Gregory the Great. But because writers have not attended to this twofold translation, some confusion and contradiction is found in their narration. Gattola asserts Historia Cassin. page 8. that the bodies of both holy Abbots were translated towards the end of the 17th century into the chapel of St. Bertharius, and finally at the beginning of this our century (namely the 18th) buried under the altar of that chapel; the latter of which at any rate is established as false from what was said in the preceding number; but in the historical Description of Monte Cassino, published in Italian at Naples in the year 1775, it is rightly noted [Descrizione istorica del sacro real monistero di Monte Cassino, page 113 and 115.]: "The first chapel on the right is dedicated to SS. Gregory the Great, Simplicius and Constantine, but it is named from St. Gregory. Under the altar rest the bodies of the said SS. Simplicius and Constantine, disciples of St. Benedict and abbots after him, which at the beginning of this 18th century were translated thither by D. Ippolito Penna, abbot, from the high altar, under which they had been laid until then." (These last words are by no means accurate; the bodies of SS. Simplicius and Constantine had already been translated from the high altar from the year 1692. Compare num. 15 and 16. Nor in our Instruments praised above is mention made of D. Ippolito Penna, abbot.) Today the matter stands otherwise; nor is it known where those sacred pledges are, nay, whether they still exist at all. How this came about the praised D. Kalefati will give in his answer to our 2nd and 3rd questions, namely: What is the present state of those relics? In what year did the profanation of the sacristy of Cassino occur? The learned man, most kindly disposed towards us, answers: "In the year 1799, in the month of May, the army of the French, which was returning from this kingdom of Naples to France, invaded the holy monastery of Cassino and plundered it wholly. Their savage madness raged most of all against the relics and the bodies of the Saints kept and piously guarded for so many centuries in this basilica. For the sacred bodies laid beneath the altars of the church, their little chests being broken open, were scattered over the pavement. The sacristy of Cassino, formerly abundantly filled with sacred pledges of the Saints, enclosed in gold and silver cases, remained despoiled of all its precious furniture: so that afterwards our elders could scarcely collect the fragments and dust of the crushed bones, which had been thrown on the ground to be trampled by the feet of those passing. These being collected as well as they could, they arranged them decently in very many cases; but now one relic can by no means be distinguished from another; and so they are kept even now in the sacristy. In these cases we believe were united the bones which rested beneath the altars." Let it be permitted at the end of this treatise to render thanks by public testimony to the excellent and learned Fr. D. Sebastiano, to whose kindness and labour we gladly profess that we owe by far the greatest part of what we have discussed about the relics.
Of St. Constantine It will be manifest to anyone reading this commentary of ours that most of the things related here are common to both St. Simplicius and St. Constantine. The latter had formerly been referred from the 29th day of March to the 17th of October Acta SS. vol. III of March, page 768., where accordingly he would have had to be treated. And in very truth his Sylloge had been prepared, which by a chance accident, while we were printing volume VIII of October, perished. I shall add here, therefore, those few things which pertain specially to St. Constantine. "By the monks most sorrowful," says Gattola Historia Cassinens. page 8., "on account of the death of St. Benedict, St. Constantine was elected abbot of Cassino about the year 543; who is reported to have presided over the monastery seventeen years, namely to the year 560." Compare num. 3. Gregory the Great sufficiently proclaims his holiness, when in the Prologue to the life of St. Benedict he calls him "a very reverend man," by which title only men distinguished for piety and dignity were designated; and he testifies that he was one of those four disciples of St. Benedict from whom he learned the most illustrious and plainly admirable deeds of their master. Not the least indication of his holiness is also that he was buried beneath the high altar at the feet of St. Benedict. Wion adds Lignum Vitæ, vol. I, page 10.: "While he was governing, many monasteries of the order were founded in divers places, and especially in Spain and Gaul by St. Maurus." Leo of Ostia has nothing besides this Chron. book I, chap. 2. Muratori, vol. IV, page 251,: "To this most holy father (Benedict) succeeds in the rule of the monastery the most reverend man Constantine, disciple of the same holy Father." He is passed over in Peter the Deacon's little Work on the illustrious men of Cassino. Not so in the other little Book of the same Peter on the birth and death of the Just, where: "Constantine in name," he says Mai, Veterum scriptorum nova collectio, part II, page 250., "and Constantine in deed, made abbot after the passing of father Benedict, a very reverend man, died at Cassino and was buried near the body of blessed Benedict." For the rest, concerning his cult, finding, translation, see above