Fulcus

ON ST. FULCUS, CONFESSOR AMONG THE ITALIANS, IN THE TERRITORY OF BOLOGNA,

PERHAPS IN THE XI CENTURY OR THE FOLLOWING.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Fulcus, confessor and bishop, in the territory of Bologna. (Bl.)

BY B. B.

Sole §. The deeds of St. Fulcus are unknown. What is put about concerning him is partly openly false, partly very doubtful. His cult is demonstrated by sure testimonies. Concerning the body of the holy Man, and his translation.

We treat of St. Fulcus because he occurs on this day in Ferrari's catalogue of the saints of Italy, nor do we see in what other place we might more conveniently put him in our work. Why we treat of St. Fulcus today. His feast, as Melloni teaches and Ferrari himself also, is celebrated in the village of Saleto, on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in the month therefore of September; but his cult (of which, as will afterwards be plain, no doubt can be raised) remained for a long time circumscribed within the narrow bounds of the aforesaid one village. Hence he is not found marked even among the Passed Over by our predecessors. Did Ferrari perhaps choose this day,

that he might add the blessed Man to another Saint of the same name, namely the bishop of Pavia (whose acts we shall give in the following volume), of whom he had just made mention; and that all the more because the sees of the two were not so far removed from one another? For he calls our Fulcus bishop of Ravenna; with what right he affirms this we shall weigh below. For the rest, if you except the cult, there is scarcely anything that we may bring forward concerning the holy Confessor, even relying on a doubtful reason. Whence Ferrari in the Annotation to the eulogy: "The things narrated above are read commended in no writing, but rest only on the tradition of the inhabitants."

[2] Few things, and those very uncertain, are reported of St. Fulcus. For the rest, there are few things which we have committed to memory by writers concerning the life and deeds of St. Fulcus. Let us hear Ferrari in the place cited. He begins: "Of St. Fulcus, bishop of Ravenna, in the territory of Bologna." Then he adds: "Fulcus, bishop of Ravenna, at the time when the Goths were pressing Italy with war, above all Ravenna; fled to Modena, and thence betook himself to the territory of Bologna, to the village whose name is Saletum; and there for some time he led his life unknown… He shone after his death by miracles etc." Almost the same things Antonio Masini reports in Bologna Perlustrata, but a little more distinctly; namely that Fulcus (whom he calls Folco de' Folchi and says was a Bolognese by country), archbishop of Ravenna about the year 470; renounced his chair for fear of the barbarians, and withdrew to the village of Saletum, where he gave himself to a solitary life until about the year 510, in which he met his last day. But almost all these things, as Melloni rightly notes [Atti e memorie degli uomini illustri in santita nati e morti in Bologna. Class 2, vol. I, p. 57 and following. Bologna 1773.], rest on documents either none, or false, or at least not sufficiently proved. And first it is not established by even the lightest reason that he was a Bolognese by country. This is a mere assertion of Masini.

[3] Whether he was a bishop? And whether he is to be numbered among the bishops of Ravenna is at the least very doubtful. Ughelli does not mention him, nor any other writer, as Melloni testifies, who has most diligently and minutely collected what pertains to St. Fulcus. Jerome Fabri, canon theologian of the metropolis of Ravenna, in the Memorabilia sacra (Memorie sacre), judges it might have been that St. Fulcus was not inscribed in the lists for this reason, that he had left the see against the will of the clergy and people. But Melloni judges that this conjecture is to be rejected Ibid., p. 63., at least if the age marked by Masini and Ferrari is admitted, who, as is established from what has been said, would have it that St. Fulcus left Ravenna for fear of the barbarians, or, as Ferrari expresses it, at the time when the Goths were pressing Italy with war, in the fifth or sixth century therefore. Masini, on the testimony of Melloni, fixes still narrower limits, attaching the beginning of the episcopate to the year 470, the death to the year 510. But Melloni observes Ibid., p. 58. that the name of Fulcus, however much in use in other regions, is not to be found in Italy before the XI century. Whence Muratori, where he treats of Fulcus or Fulco the marquis, progenitor of the dukes of Este: "Since this name is Norman or Frankish, it was little used then (in the XI century) in Italy" Muratori, Antichita Est. part 1, chapter 27.. As the XI century advanced and in the following ones, the name of Fulcus occurs not infrequently, and not only among the magnates but also among the people. Moreover in the V and VI centuries no space is found in the catalogues, which Melloni judges complete and accurate Where cited above., which may prudently be attributed to the episcopate of St. Fulcus. And indeed the name of Fulcus is altogether lacking both in the Pontifical Book or Lives of the Bishops of Ravenna of Agnellus, who wrote in the XI century, and in the very many and very learned Dissertations and Observations with which Benedetto Bacchini illustrated Agnellus's book; which Muratori reprinted with the Pontifical Book in a new and enlarged impression in the Writers of Italian affairs Vol. II, part I, pp. 1 – 220.. Wherefore Melloni supposes Atti p. 60 and following. that the prelacy of St. Fulcus (if however any is to be admitted) and so his life also is more fittingly attached to the end of the XI century and the following. And so he suspects that Masini slipped, in that he badly interpreted a tradition, which can not absurdly be supposed to have obtained in his time; and that this reported that St. Fulcus died, not in the year of Christ 510 (as Masini has it) but five hundred and ten years before. Since therefore Masini was writing about the year 1640; by subtracting the aforesaid five hundred and ten years from this number, there is obtained the year of Christ 1130; and if this is supposed the year of the death of St. Fulcus, there certainly vanish the difficulties set down above, taken both from the name and from the catalogues of the bishops of Ravenna earlier than the XI and XII centuries. But among the prelates of that church St. Fulcus appears no more in the XII or XIII century than in the preceding and following ones. And from this head again his episcopate equally wavers. Melloni nevertheless judges that all access is not shut against another being introduced in the XI and XII centuries besides those named in the catalogues. Namely, at the close of the XI century, St. Gregory VII had excommunicated Wibert, archbishop of Ravenna, who was shamelessly supporting the party of the emperor Henry IV. Wibert, insolent in Cæsar's protection, in the conventicle of Brixen did not fear to pass a sentence of deposition against Gregory, and substituted himself in his place, taking the name of Clement III. Hence a schism, which lasted more or less forty years. "I do not doubt," infers Melloni Atti, p. 64., "but that in that whole space of time Gregory and his legitimate successors … named legitimate presidents to the see of Ravenna, to oppose to those elected by the rebel chapter. There were therefore then two bishops: the one legitimate, the other schismatic, although the latter alone is found inscribed in the catalogues: for this reason indeed, that the city together with the clergy stood for the emperor." Melloni notes moreover that recently, as is established from Muratori, charters have been discovered in which occur archbishops of Ravenna altogether unknown to Rossi and Ughelli; such as a certain Peter, Bernard, and likewise Sembald, each belonging to the XI century. Melloni concludes: "Behold for you, during the schism, a suitable time for the canonical election of St. Fulcus. And behold perhaps also the reason for which he more easily renounced the see (a man otherwise loving solitude), seeing himself hindered by the troubles from fulfilling the duties of a good pastor." Thus the things which pertain to the birth and episcopate of St. Fulcus rest on foundations of little solidity, or rather on none, except a certain vague tradition.

[4] He stays at Saletum. It is another matter with the cult in the village of Saletum: for this is proved by clear and undoubted monuments. Now Saletum, which in Latin is also found written Salectum and Salictum (probably from the Willows with which the place was planted), is a village of no mean standing in the county and diocese of Bologna, about ten miles distant from Bologna; which seems to have been cultivated and inhabited already from the first centuries of our era; which some judge to be gathered from an inscription, cut on a stone and not so long ago dug up. It appears to be pagan, and it favours the opinion of those who judge that St. Fulcus lived in the V and VI centuries. But in the Inscription there is no designation or mention of any place Melloni Atti, p. 69.. In another, which is certainly Christian but somewhat mutilated, there are read among other things the words: "of Leo … pope", whom Melloni thinks to be the eleventh of this name. Certainly from reliable documents Saletum becomes known from the XIV century. Thus in an instrument, which Melloni testifies he has seen, and which was drawn up on the 10th of June 1308, mention is made of the court of St. Mary in Donis and of Salictum: likewise in the manuscript book of benefices of Antonio de Paleottis of the XV century and the following, there is reviewed among the benefices with cure: "Of the parish of Salectum. The parish of St. Mary of Salectum." To that place therefore, if faith is given to tradition, St. Fulcus betook himself, that he might lead a solitary life; but how long he stayed there and when he met his last day are all unascertained. Melloni supposes that his death can be assigned to about the year 1130. Cf. n. 3. As regards his age; if it be supposed that the holy Man obtained the mitre at the beginning of the schism (which began in the year 1080), in which year therefore he was at least thirty years old (since it was not lawful by the canons to be ordained earlier); then if he truly departed from life in the year 1130, he must have passed to the Lord an octogenarian. But these are mere conjectures, as Melloni himself confesses.

[5] His burial, Of the first burial Masini writes, relying on popular tradition: "The holy Confessor having died, a contention arose among the neighbouring villages, each wishing the sacred pledges to be laid up in its own church; at length it was agreed among them that the body should be placed on a vehicle, which should be drawn by two untamed animals deprived of bridle to where it pleased God that the tomb should be. When it had come to the place in which Bl. Fulcus had spent his solitary life, the vehicle stopped, and there he was first laid up." So Masini in Melloni Pp. 72 and 73.. Soon, as tradition again reports, the tomb became renowned; wherefore the inhabitants erected a church or oratory, contiguous to the parish church; and that not so long after the death of St. Fulcus, on the authority of Masini; and it is probable that then took place the first elevation or translation of the sacred body.

[6] The oratory The occasion was given by the following prodigy P. 74.. On the borders of the villages of Saletum and San Marino there was by chance dug up a marble vessel of no despicable size, which, when the inhabitants of the latter village had undertaken to carry it over to their church, they could not advance beyond the limits of the former, although they joined other pairs of oxen to the wagon. Meanwhile there appeared St. Fulcus (who had died a few years before), bringing with him two heifers, which with the good leave of the ox-drivers he tied to the vehicle, ordering them to go where it most pleased God; and at once he vanished from their eyes. Thus not without a portent the vessel came to the church of Saletum; which even today is seen there, and has another vessel of smaller form placed on it, and is used as a baptistery. Further, all who were present readily recognized St. Fulcus; wherefore they dug up his body, laid it up in a marble chest, and in his name built an oratory, contiguous to the aforesaid church of St. Mary. Masini adds In Melloni, where cited above.: "A foreign writer, because he did not have the matter well enough examined, narrates it in a different way." Masini alludes to Ferrari, who in the Catalogue of the saints of Italy has thus at the present day: "St. Fulcus, Ravenna having been forsaken, led his life for some time unknown at Saletum, being held in honour among the inhabitants by this miracle, that when the inhabitants of the village of San Martino (rather of San Marino) had carried off by force a baptistery from the village of Saletum, it stood on the journey so immovable that it could by no means be moved. And when, Fulcus so advising, they had yoked two heifers to the wagon, that where they should stop with the wagon, there the baptistery should be left, and that place should be the parish of the neighbouring villages, at once

they of their own accord carried back the wagon with the baptistery into the church of Saletum, whence it had been taken. He shone also after his death by miracles, many having obtained health at his tomb. Whose feast day is accustomed to be kept on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary in that church." Melloni concludes In Melloni, p. 75.: "Whatever finally the reader shall judge of the aforesaid prodigies, this is certain, that in the XIII century and the following the name of Fulcus was not rarely given to the baptized in that tract; and that in the year 1331 there existed in the village of Saletum an oratory dedicated to St. Fulcus, since indeed a matron, by name Adelasea, by testament leaves twenty Bolognese shillings to the church of St. Fulcus in the land of Saletum."

[7] and church. The aforesaid oratory persisted until about the middle of the XVI century; then, when it was crumbling with age, it was levelled with the ground and united to the parish church, which itself also was renewed from the foundations. Let us hear Masini again Ibid., p. 76.. "There is to be seen in the church of St. Mary of Saletum a painted image of the Blessed Virgin. It is small, and was first fixed to a poplar tree; which, being withered, a farmer by name Matteo Rabetello cut down to be burned, taking no account of the image; which lay on the ground promiscuously among the fragments of the tree cut up. But behold, one day Dorothy, wife of Matteo, hears unexpectedly that she is called by her name; turning she sees a very beautiful matron clothed in a white garment, and receives in command that she should fix the image to an ash tree, and should notify of these things Bartolomeo Bernardi, the chaplain. Having said which the matron disappeared. These things happened about the year 1557. Thereafter the neighbouring inhabitants and other more remote faithful began to flock for the sake of piety to the said ash tree, so that in one day up to four thousand persons are reported to have come together; and no despicable alms were collected from a concourse of this kind; which the Most Reverend Lord Giovanni Campeggi, bishop of Bologna, wished to be kept for building a new parish church, since the old one was both small and ruinous. Campeggi having died in the year 1563, by order of St. Charles Borromeo, at that time legate of Bologna, half of the alms was granted to the begging poor; half was used for building the church, which was brought to its roof about the year 1567. And so in place of two buildings (the one sacred to the Blessed Virgin, the other to St. Fulcus) a single one rose up, under the title of St. Mary and St. Fulcus, and the aforesaid little panel, formerly fixed to the tree, was placed on the altar." So far Masini, whose narrative we have shortened. Mention of the new church occurs in the Book (written in Latin) of the apostolic visitation, undertaken by order of Gregory XIII in the city and diocese of Bologna by the Most Reverend prelate Ascanio Marchesini in the year 1573: "He (the visitor) came afterwards to the parish church of St. Mary and Fulcus of Saletum, of which the rector is the Rev. D. Lorenzo Butrigari, canon of the collegiate of St. Petronius, whom he found residing, but he also has a chaplain, D. Gabriele de Parianis" etc. Ibid., p. 77.. Melloni notes that the church has seven altars or chapels: the high one, properly sacred to no Saint, is destined for keeping the Holy Eucharist; the first at the Gospel side has its name from the Crucifix; the second from the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, where is seen the panel or image of which we have spoken; the third contains the baptistery. At the Epistle side, the first comes under the title of St. Fulcus, whose effigy of plaster is placed on the altar, almost seven feet high; the holy Confessor, clad in a cope, with a mitre on his head, bears a staff in his left hand, with his right he blesses the people; under the altar his body (of which discourse will return) is laid up; the second altar is dedicated to St. Martin, the third to the sorrowful Mother. Of old at the very front of the building there stood out a stone statue of St. Fulcus; probably the same which before stood at the altar or oratory, which we have seen levelled with the ground at the close of the XVI century. Today, adds Melloni P. 79., in place of the aforesaid statue, an iron cross is seen.

[8] Other testimonies of the cult, namely the feast, etc. Melloni reviews Pp. 79 and 80. other signs or testimonies proving the cult, besides the church of which we have spoken. Namely a Feast celebrated from of old, and long since fixed to the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Concerning the feast the following are recited in Melloni P. 313. from the manuscript book of Pietro Giacomo Facchini, archpriest of the church of Saletum when the XVIII century was closing and verging to its end: "In the archpresbyteral church of Saletum the feast of this Saint is celebrated, on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity of the B. V. M., but in a manner far more solemn than formerly: for in antiquity only a few masses were said; and nothing further. But a certain matron, by name Clemenza Leoni, since she had no heirs by blood, by testament left her goods to the College called "della S. Umilta," on this condition that the aforesaid college, at its own expense and not otherwise, should call to Saletum each year three priests of the Society of Jesus, who should hold there a three days' preaching to the people, namely on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday within the said octave; a beginning of these was made in the year 1700; from which time onward the feast also has been celebrated with greater pomp and the people have run together more numerously from neighbouring places. And after in the year 1755 the body, as is reported, of St. Fulcus was found and translated, the piety and devotion of the faithful toward the holy Patron greatly grew, and from then to this very day (about the year 1780) a more splendid adornment has been used for keeping the feast. Many priests are at hand for hearing confessions; very many masses are said, followed by one sung with solemn rite. After midday there is a public supplication, and a panegyric discourse is held." And so much for the feast. A lamp also burned before the altar from all memory of men; that altar was accustomed to be frequently visited, and not rarely the holy sacrifice of the Mass was offered there; many gifts also were bestowed by the faithful. The archpriest Facchini, rector of the church of Saletum, testified to Melloni that votive tablets were hung in great number on the altar; which, being corroded by age and misshapen, were given to the fire and gave place again to others. Mention is made of two in particular: one displays two men threatening each other with the sword; the other a priest praying before an image of St. Fulcus. There are recalled also benefits furnished to the people at large. Thus in the year 1748 a pestilent plague raged direly among the animals of the surrounding villages, but at Saletum scarcely one fell; in the year 1763 the neighbouring fields were laid waste by locusts, the land of Saletum again being safe; in the following year vineyards elsewhere burned up with blight here bore the wished-for fruits; the older inhabitants add that from all memory their vineyards have never been much harmed either by hail or by storms. Hence no one will wonder at the frequent recourse of that people to the protection of their holy Patron. From these things also arose the wishes of the inhabitants that at length the relics of St. Fulcus should be recognized, that they might be publicly exposed to their pious veneration.

[9] In the year 1755, on the 17th of January, Cardinal Malvezzi And to these wishes satisfaction was partly given at the beginning of the year 1755, as will be established from the following instrument, which we borrow from the often commended Melloni Where cited above in the Appendix, p. 309 and following., and transcribe here in full: "In the Name of God. Amen. Let it be plain and known to all everywhere, that in the year from the saving nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five, in the third Indiction, on Friday, the seventeenth day of the month of January, in the time of the pontificate of the most holy father in Christ and our lord, the lord Benedict XIV, by divine providence supreme Pontiff, on the occasion of the sacred pastoral visitation held by the most eminent and most reverend lord Vincent Malvezzi, cardinal priest of the H. R. C., archbishop of Bologna and prince of the Sacred Roman empire, in the place called Saletto of his diocese of Bologna, at the instance of the very reverend D. Antonio Squarcina, archpriest of the archpresbyteral church of Saints Mary and Fulcus of the said place, his Eminence being there together with the most illustrious and most reverend D. Rodrigo Zanchini, canon of the metropolitan church and co-visitor, and the very reverend pro-secretary of the aforesaid visitation written below, reverently setting forth that from ancient tradition, asserted also in the book entitled "Bologna perlustrata" of D. Masini, there is found in the said archpresbyteral church the body of St. Fulcus, confessor and bishop, under the altar dedicated to the same Saint, which is the first from the Epistle side of the high altar, and therefore reverently pressing that his most reverend Eminence should deign to order the necessary observations to be made for the purpose of recognizing whether a tradition of this sort stood, and to furnish his assistance at observations of this sort.

[10] gives his labour to searching out the relics of St. Fulcus: "To which instance his most reverend Eminence kindly adhering, and expressly so commanding, by Domenico Duosi, Bolognese master mason, dwelling in the Commune called San Pietro in Casale, of the county and diocese of Bologna, and with the continual presence and assistance of his most reverend Eminence, the front part of the said altar of St. Fulcus was opened; under which there was found a marble chest of the length of two feet and a quarter of an inch, and of the breadth of one foot, eight inches and a quarter, hollowed out within in a round form of the diameter of eighteen inches and three quarters, and of the depth of twelve inches, covered with a white stone likewise of marble, which laterally exceeds the breadth of the chest itself by five inches and a quarter on two sides of twenty inches and a quarter, of the breadth that the chest itself was; which was bound with four irons, commonly "fittole," fixed with lead in the cover and in the chest itself, namely two in the front part, and two in the back part of this chest, which, in view of a split existing in it, in the act of the removal of its said cover, in the back part, remained broken in various pieces, and also in some pieces in the front part, and inside it were found well arranged the skull and other bones of a human corpse.

[11] which, when found, he deposits in a small wooden chest; "And the back wall of the said altar being broken, corresponding to the sacristy of the said church, the aforesaid most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal, archbishop and prince, with a white stole, with his own hand drew out the skull and all the other said bones, and wrapping them in white linen cloth immediately replaced and put them inside a small wooden chest of the length of twenty-three inches and three quarters, the breadth of ten inches and a half, the height of seven inches and a half; and this, well closed, bound with a linen ribbon of red colour in the manner of a cross, he sealed with the proper seal of his most reverend Eminence, showing his arms, impressed in melted red wax in five places, so that it could not be opened without the removal of seals of this sort, and he then consigned it to the aforesaid lord Archpriest making the instance, for the purpose of keeping it in the said church, until it shall have been otherwise ordered by his most reverend Eminence.

[12] and an instrument is drawn up concerning these things. "From the report to me the notary (Giuseppe

Nanni) written below, chancellor of the sacred pastoral visitation, made by the very Rev. D. Giovanni Antonio de Cardinalibus, pro-secretary of the same sacred visitation, the aforesaid things were done in the manner and form above expressed and in the said archpresbyteral church of Saints Mary and Fulcus of Saletto, there being present there the very Rev. D. Giuseppe Cuppini, citizen and priest of Bologna, master of ceremonies of the aforesaid most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal archbishop, and the very rev. D. Giuseppe Favelli, priest of Modena, at present chaplain of the aforesaid lord Archpriest, as witnesses to the aforesaid things, etc. And these things on the aforesaid XVII day of January MDCCLV."

The matter remained in the same state until the following month of July, when Cardinal Malvezzi returned to the village of Saletum, and diligently recognized the relics formerly uncovered, and ordered them to be transferred into a new case, to be deposited at a suitable time under the altar of St. Fulcus. Nor however did he wish to determine whether or not they were the bones of the holy Man, but he only ordered these words to be inscribed on them: the body which is called of St. Fulcus. All which things will become clearer from the other part of the instrument, which we subjoin from the same Melloni Where cited above..

[13] In the month of July Cardinal Malvezzi returns to Saletum, "On Monday the 21st of the month of July of the same year 1755. The most eminent and most reverend lord Vincent Malvezzi, cardinal priest of the H. R. C., archbishop of Bologna and prince of the H. R. E., made access to the archpresbyteral church called of Saints Mary and Fulcus of Saletto, of his diocese of Bologna; where having arrived (sic), the very rev. D. Antonio Squarcina, present archpriest of the said church, reverently presented to his most reverend Eminence a small wooden chest well closed, bound with a linen ribbon of red colour in the manner of a cross, and fortified with the seal of his most reverend Eminence in five places, inside which under the 17th day of the month of January of the current year, at the instance of the same lord Archpriest, there were replaced by his most reverend Eminence the skull and all the bones found to exist within the marble chest, existing under the altar dedicated to St. Fulcus in the said archpresbyteral church, as in the document of the opening (which has been recited by us above in the preceding numbers) of the said marble chest, of the extraction of the said bones and of their immediate replacing within the small wooden chest described above, in the manner expressed above immediately sealed, and consigned to the said lord Archpriest to be guarded in the said church until a new order of his most reverend Eminence, to which document etc.

[14] he recognizes the Holy Relics, "And the aforesaid lord Archpriest pressed and asked that the said small wooden chest should be recognized by his most reverend Eminence, and then opened, and that the said skull and bones, which are said to be of St. Fulcus the bishop, to whom the altar is dedicated, under which they were found to exist, as in the document mentioned, should be declared to be the same skull and bones, drawn out as above, and placed within the said small wooden chest, and then drawn from it and placed within another more becoming reliquary chest of hexagonal form prepared for this purpose, painted in the colour of sea water, wrought of wood with ornaments elegantly carved and gilded, suitably fitted, compacted with a pane of crystal in the front part, and that this, for assuring the identity of the said bones, should be closed, and sealed with the seal of his most reverend Eminence. To which instance the aforesaid most eminent and most reverend lord Cardinal, archbishop and prince, kindly assenting, first received the said chest and attentively inspected it, and, it being found well closed and the seals with which it was fortified being altogether intact, he opened and recognized it, and declared that the skull and bones existing within it were and are the very same which by his most reverend Eminence under the said 17th day of January of the current year were drawn out from the said marble chest existing under the said altar of St. Fulcus in the said church, and were placed within the said small wooden chest and fortified with a seal, as in the document mentioned; and all and each of the said bones having been attentively observed by order of his most reverend Eminence by the most illustrious and most excellent D. Bartolomeo Beccari, doctor of philosophy and medicine, lecturer in the public archgymnasium of Bologna and professor of anatomy; and they having been recognized by the judgment of the same lord doctor Beccari and declared to be bones composing an entire skeleton, all these, by the ministry of the very Rev. D. Luigi Dardani, priest and mansionary of the most distinguished collegiate of St. Petronius of Bologna, in the presence of his most reverend Eminence, of the said lord doctor Beccari, of the witnesses written below, and of me the Notary, were becomingly fitted and suitably arranged within the said hexagonal reliquary chest, also becomingly adorned within with a cross above, of the height in all of fourteen inches, and of the length and at the angles of twenty inches. But since some small fragments of the said bones remained, these too, by the ministry and in the presence, as above, were placed within another wooden chest, fitting under the lower board of the same reliquary chest and joined to it.

[15] [and he transfers them to a new case to be replaced under the altar of St. Fulcus,] "These things being done, always in the presence as above, the same reliquary chest with the other joined under it as above, was sealed with the small seal of his most reverend Eminence, showing his family arms, impressed in red Spanish wax in eighteen places, not to be opened without breaking the seals, the following inscription being placed within it: THE BODY WHICH IS CALLED OF ST. FULCUS; so that by the aforesaid things there may be preserved * indeed the identity of the said bones, yet they may not be canonized as the bones of a holy body, nor may any doubt be introduced whether they are or are not such. Finally his most reverend Eminence consigned this reliquary chest with the other joined under it as above, closed in the manner expressed above and sealed, to the said very Rev. D. Archpriest for the purpose of replacing it under the said altar of St. Fulcus of his aforesaid church when and whenever a place of this sort shall have been made becomingly fit, and meanwhile, as is fitting, to be guarded with all etc.

[16] before witnesses. "At all which things done above in the said archpresbyteral church there were continually present both the aforesaid most illustrious lord doctor Beccari, and the most excellent very Rev. D. Giuseppe Vaccari, priest, citizen of Bologna and doctor of law, the very Rev. D. Giov. Antonio de Cardinalibus, citizen and priest of Bologna, mansionary of the metropolitan church of Bologna, and the very Rev. D. Luigi Dardani, mansionary of the most distinguished collegiate church of St. Petronius, witnesses etc." It was signed: Antonio Nanni, Notary. Melloni notes Where cited above, p. 83 that a stone vault was afterwards built under the table of the altar of St. Fulcus and that in it was deposited both the old marble chest and the new wooden one of which mention is made in the Instrument; and he adds that at the said translation some particles of the bones were taken away and given to various churches.

[17] Of the cult after the translation. The often commended Melloni had in his hands a little manuscript book composed by the archpriest of Saletum Pietro Giacomo Facchini about the year 1766, and so almost ten years after the aforesaid translation. Further, in that little book the church, the festivity of St. Fulcus, etc., are accurately described; there are reviewed very many benefits bestowed from heaven on the devout through the intercession of the holy Confessor Atti, p. 312 and following.. The author concludes in about these words Ibid., p. 314.: "Let it suffice to have noted that there is no day on which it is not made manifest how effective is the patronage of St. Fulcus for those who call on him; whence also the recourse of the faithful to his protection grows daily, and that not only at Saletum but also from distant regions"; and he testifies that he has written all these things relying on the tradition of the people or on approved authors or on the testimony of those on whom the benefits were bestowed.

* asseveretur?