ON ST. SEURESIUS, MARTYR, AT CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA,
SYLLOGE.
From the Hieronymian and other calendars.
Seurisius, M. at Caesarea in Cappadocia. (S.)
V. D. B.
[St. Seuresius, known only from the Hieronymian and similar calendars; the form of the name.] In his Lucca codices of the Hieronymian Martyrology Fiorentini found very few names at this day: namely Severus and Dorotheus, martyrs of Adrianople, of whom we have just spoken; and after these the following commemoration: And at Caesarea of Cappadocia, of Seuresius. St. Seuresius is likewise praised in the Antwerp, or rather Echternach, codex, where he is called Seuresius and, just as in the Gellone D'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, page 35., the Labbe Acta Sanctorum, after the volumes of June, page 28. and the St. Germain of Auxerre Martène, Thesaurus Anecdotorum, volume III, column 1561. calendars, is associated with St. Longinus; of whom in the Passed-over; while in the very ancient Corbie calendar, published by D'Achery Spicilegium, volume II, page 20., he is mentioned together with SS. Magnus and Justus, whom we have similarly relegated among the Passed-over; but in the Augsburg calendar Acta Sanctorum, after the volumes of June, page 22. he comes alone, the place of his contest not being indicated, which is also lacking in the Gellone, Labbe and Auxerre calendars. In many others he is omitted, yet sometimes leaving a trace of himself, namely the place of his passion, Caesarea of Cappadocia: but it is not worth the labour to follow these things with more curiosity. From the Hieronymian calendars the name of St. Seuresius flowed into the codices of the Martyrologies of Bede and Usuard. So in the Barberini codex of Bede Acta Sanctorum, volume II of March, page XXV. one reads at this day: At Caesarea of Cappadocia, of St. Sereusus and elsewhere of St. Longinus; which memory has been dislocated in many and various ways in other codices. In the Usuard codices, or rather additions, it nowhere occurs correctly: in the Rosweyde one Du Sollier, Martyrology of Usuard, page 621.: At Caesarea of Cappadocia, of Severus, bishop and confessor; and in Greven Ibid., page 623.: At Caesarea of Cappadocia, of Saint Severus, bishop. That the title of bishop is to be removed from these rivulets, since it is not found in the Hieronymian source, is manifest; and similarly that of confessor, it is no less evident, since scarcely one or two confessors are found in the same book. And indeed in the first centuries of the Church the cult of confessors was very rare, unless on account of labours endured and persecutions borne they could be made equal to the martyrs. That St. Seuresius was a soldier Fiorentini hints; but so in passing that this conjecture scarcely needs to be noticed, wholly destitute as it is of any foundation. The form of the name Seuresius, although quite unusual, seems to be kept;
for it is found in the best and in most codices; next, the other forms Suversius, Seversius, Senresius are met with only in isolated manuscript books, nor are they found to have been in use formerly more than the form Seuresius, from which, moreover, their very appearance shows that they took their origin. Certainly the form Severus would be more pleasing, as being in common use, if it were read in any ancient book; but it is not so: and so, just as it is natural for scribes to change strange and little-used names into similar common names, so it is not easily to be supposed that they converted the name Severus, once given to so many men, into Seuresius, a wholly unusual name. I should think that the blessed man underwent martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian, seeing that by far the greatest part of the saints who are inscribed in the Hieronymian lists contended for the faith at that time.