ON ST. QUADRAGESIMUS, SUBDEACON AND CONFESSOR, IN ITALY,
TOWARD THE END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Quadragesimus, subdeacon and confessor, in Italy. (S.)
BY B. B.
§ single. The name of St. Quadragesimus is not found in the sacred calendars before Baronius. Whether his body is preserved and his feast celebrated at Pavia, as Fr. Romualdus of St. Mary affirms. The time at which the holy Man flourished.
Before the Roman martyrology was corrected, about the end of the 16th century, no memorial of St. Quadragesimus occurred in the sacred calendars, either on this day or on any other; St. Quadragesimus first inserted in the martyrology by Baronius. as appears from Galesini and Maurolycus, who not long before had put together their martyrologies. Each of them is silent about St. Quadragesimus; likewise Pietro de' Natali; as also the older ones: Bede, Florus, Ado, Usuard, not only the pure one, but not even as enriched with the innumerable auctaria in Du Sollier; likewise Rabanus Maurus. The Hieronymian ones are likewise silent. But whence and for what reason the holy Subdeacon was inscribed in the Roman must be explained in a few words. It is known that at the order of Pope Gregory XIII eight men were commissioned (they are generally called the Roman correctors) to restore the martyrology to the new reckoning of the calendar and the truth of ecclesiastical history. Chastelain points out Martyrologe universel. Paris, 1709. Avertissement. that they, at the persuasion of Baronius, adopted many saints who had never had any cult anywhere, such as are many solitaries of Italy, whom St. Gregory mentions in the books of the Dialogues; to whom they judged they could assign a day at their pleasure, as names are usually fixed to the relics of saints found in the Roman cemeteries or catacombs. Of this number is St. Quadragesimus, and his name is read in the edition of the year 1583, a copy of which is in my hands; which edition, afterwards suppressed, Baronius teaches us in the Prolegomena Martyrologium Romanum, p. XX. Antwerp, 1613.: We think, he says, that it should be pointed out that of the Roman martyrology so far (so the learned cardinal wrote about the year 1586) a threefold edition has been made in the City; and that its first and second are faulty,
and not sufficiently worthy to be given again to the press; through whose fault this happened we more gladly pass over in silence. The third edition is purer and more genuine, made in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and eighty-four. This, illustrated with notations, the same Baronius shortly afterwards caused to be reprinted. And both in this and in that, St. Quadragesimus recurs at the 26th of October. And lest there be doubt whence he was taken, Baronius added in the Notes: Of his sanctity and miracles St. Gregory the pope writes, Dialogues, bk. 3, ch. 17. Nor does he indicate any other author or source. Which is certainly an indication that the blessed Subdeacon became known only from the dialogues of the holy pontiff; and not from the records of any church, or from any other monument whatever. Further the announcement is framed in these words: Likewise of St. Quadragesimus, subdeacon, who also raised a dead man. But since before St. Quadragesimus is indicated: At Pavia St. Fulcus, bishop, the same city certainly seems to be indicated by the word likewise. Chastelain uses the same words (but rendered in French), adding in the margin and shepherd of sheep, and pointing out that no indication of cult is had from tradition. And this perhaps is the reason why Ferrari in the catalogue of the saints of Italy passed over the holy Subdeacon. I should think a mistake has crept into the catalogue of Simon de Peyronnet, where St. Quadragesimus is assigned to the 27th day of October Catalogus Sanctorum et Sanctarum. Toulouse, 1706..
[2] His body is said to rest at Pavia; I have said that St. Quadragesimus seems to be announced at Pavia by Baronius. From what source is not clear to me: whether from fame or common rumour? Perhaps, but I am not one to say. Whether from written monuments? I for my part should not think so: for of more recent age is the book of Fr. Romualdus, in which it is reported both that the body of the holy Man rests at Pavia and that his name is inscribed in the records of the church of Ticinum; nor accordingly could Baronius have drawn his assertion, if indeed an assertion, from the aforesaid book. But it will be of use to hear Fr. Romualdus of St. Mary himself, of the family of the Discalced of St. Augustine, who in the work entitled Flavia Papia sacra and divided into four parts treats at length of St. Quadragesimus. In the first part is contained the Agiologium of Ticinum (Pavia was anciently called Ticinum), of the saints, namely, whose sacred bodies are preserved in the churches of the city of Pavia Papia Sacra, part I, p. 23. Ticinum Regium, 1699.; and there are indicated through the several months the birthdays occurring of the Saints resting at Ticinum, each under its own day … where also the churches in which they are laid are enumerated Ibid., p. 10.. So under the 26th day of October is announced: In the cathedral church the birthday … of St. Quadragesimus, subdeacon, who also raised a dead man. There is added below: Of him Baronius in the martyrology and annotation on this day. St. Gregory the pope, bk. 3 of the Dialogues, ch. 17. Again in the second part, entitled: Brief histories of the saints resting at Ticinum, arranged, as in the first part, by months and days. In this first, the words being changed here and there, there is recited the place from St. Gregory which we shall subjoin to the Commentary whole and accurate; then Fr. Romualdus adds on his own: Since, then, Quadragesimus was of such great merit, heaped with divine charisms he at length closed the last day of his mortality, called to those above on the seventh before the Kalends of November (the 26th of October), whose birthday is noted in the ecclesiastical records as to be celebrated at Ticinum on this very day. Fr. Romualdus does not say whence he knew the day of death, so distinctly asserted; nor from what time St. Quadragesimus was noted in the said records.
[3] but, as it seems, wrongly. I should not doubt that this was done after the Roman martyrology was published and annotated by Baronius: for he himself, as we saw in the preceding number, in no way invokes the records of Ticinum, but only St. Gregory; although he expressly cites them where he treats of St. Fulcus, to whom he immediately subjoins St. Quadragesimus; in this manner: At Pavia of St. Fulcus, bishop. Likewise of St. Quadragesimus etc. Moreover Giacomo Gualla in the Sanctuarium has no mention at all of the holy Subdeacon, although it was his purpose, as it was afterwards of Fr. Romualdus, to treat accurately of the Saints resting and invoked at Pavia … The Sanctuarium of Gualla came to light at Pavia, first by the press of Master Jacob of Borgofranco in the year 1505; it was then reprinted a second time in the same city in the year 1587, and so shortly after the Roman was published by Baronius. We have a copy of each edition; in each there is deep silence about St. Quadragesimus. From which, in my opinion, it is clearly established that Baronius borrowed nothing from the people of Ticinum; but that they rather received the feast of St. Quadragesimus from him. Moreover from what we have said it follows that what Fr. Romualdus reports, besides those things which he drew with Baronius from the Dialogues of St. Gregory, is very weak. But as to Fr. Romualdus' assertion that St. Quadragesimus is found inscribed in the ecclesiastical records (surely of a more recent age), let the credit again lie with him; since records of this kind are not at hand to me; indeed that the name of the holy Subdeacon has now at least been suppressed (if it was ever inscribed) is shown from the Calendar or order for reciting the divine office for the use of the city and diocese of Ticinum … for the year 1847, where on the 26th day of October we read: St. Fulcus, Bishop of Pavia, double …, 9 lessons and commemoration of St. Evaristus in Lauds and Mass. “Sacerdotes” in the cathedral, “Credo,” because the body is preserved. But of St. Quadragesimus there is no memorial either on this or on any other day of the year. It is usual in this Calendar to note diligently if any bodies of Saints or notable relics are found in one or another church of the city. Since neither of the feast nor of the relics nor indeed of the name of St. Quadragesimus is there the least word in the aforesaid order; by this silence the positions or assertions of Fr. Romualdus are not a little shaken. Moreover I should not think that anything else is found in the Calendars of Pavia published before or after the year 1847, which alone exists with us.
[4] The time at which the holy Man lived. Since St. Gregory writes that the things he narrates of St. Quadragesimus happened just in his own times and that he had heard them from the holy Subdeacon himself, it may be concluded that the holy Man flourished in the sixth century: for Gregory, born about the year 540 Acta SS., vol. III of March, p. 123., died in the year 604 Art de vérifier les Dates, pp. 257–59.. The Benedictine editors judge that the books of the Dialogues were written in the year 593 or 594 Migne, Patrologia lat., vol. LXXVII, col. 143.. Chastelain places in the margin the 6th century. In the copy of the Roman martyrology which is in our keeping, annotated by the hand of our predecessor Heribert Rosweyde, the year 570 is indicated, and whence the learned man had it we do not know.
[5] The Acts from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great. There occurs nothing else that we may add concerning St. Quadragesimus, except to subjoin the whole narrative of St. Gregory. For there is no other author, that I know of among the ancients, indeed before Baronius, from whom the holy Subdeacon became known to posterity. We use the text of the Benedictines, who edited the Works of the holy Pontiff, printed anew in the Migne Patrology. The editors observe that the Dialogues, as soon as they came to light, were received with the highest congratulation in the whole Christian world, and were turned from Latin into many tongues. The most celebrated among others is the Greek version, which for that reason they joined to the original text; but we pass it over, accustomed to abstain from Greek things, unless they are so far unedited, or at least not easily to be found. For the rest few are the things which Gregory narrates of St. Quadragesimus; he has more about the monk who lodged with the holy Subdeacon, to whom also he assigns far the principal part in the prodigy. Whence, as I shall state more fully in the Annotations, Baronius wrongly announces St. Quadragesimus who also raised a dead man, since St. Gregory expressly ascribes this raising to the aforesaid monk. Indeed there will not be lacking those who doubt whether that man was truly dead, who when he had been rubbed for some time, received his soul, yawned etc. However that may be, let us recall to memory what Pierre de Goussainville has generally proposed in the Vindiciae. Of the histories, he says Ibid., cols. 133 and 134., which are contained in the Dialogues, there is nothing that I should say, except that Gregory, in reporting them as he had learned them from others, has discharged his good faith. For few are those which he himself says he saw or at which he was present. He did what very many of the holy fathers did in many histories, which will indeed seem incredible, if they are weighed on the balance of human reason, … he thought one should stand by public reports etc.
THE ACTS OF ST. QUADRAGESIMUS, SUBDEACON,
From St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues, book III, ch. 17.
Works of St. Gregory, Benedictine edition, Paris, vol. II, cols. 319–21. Likewise Migne Patrology, vol. LXXVII, cols. 261–65.
Quadragesimus, subdeacon and confessor, in Italy. (S.)
BHL Number: 0000
BY B. B.
Of the monk from Monte Argentario, who raised a dead man a. Just in our times b a certain man, Quadragesimus by name, was subdeacon of the church of Buxentum c, who was accustomed to pasture d a flock of his sheep in the same parts of Aurelia e. By the narrative of this very truthful Man f a wonderful thing became known, which had been done in secret. For he, as we said before, while he was taking care of his flock in Aurelia, in his days there was a man from the Mountain called Argentarius [g], of venerable life, who fulfilled by his morals the monk's habit which he displayed in appearance. This man, then, was accustomed to come every year from the same Monte Argentario to the church of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and to turn aside for the sake of hospitality to this Quadragesimus the subdeacon whom I have mentioned, as he himself narrated h. Now on a certain day, when he had entered his lodging, which was not far from the church, the husband of a certain poor little woman died nearby. Having been washed according to custom, clothed in garments and bound with a shroud i, evening coming on, they could not bury him. So the widowed woman sat beside the body of the dead man, and passing the night in great weeping satisfied her grief with continual voices of lamentation. And as this went on for a long time and the woman in no way ceased to weep, the man of God who had been received in the lodging, moved, said to Quadragesimus the subdeacon: My soul has compassion on the grief of this woman; I pray you, arise and let us pray. So both went on to the neighbouring church, and gave themselves together to prayer. And when they had prayed for a long time, the servant of God asked Quadragesimus the subdeacon to complete the prayer k. When it was completed he gathered dust from the step of the altar, and went with the same Quadragesimus to the body of the dead man, and gave himself there to prayer and at once rose. And because he was carrying in his right hand the dust he had gathered, with his left he took away the cloth with which the face of the dead man was veiled. When the woman saw this being done, she began vehemently to oppose it and to wonder what he wished to do. So the cloth having been taken away,
for a long time he rubbed the face of the dead man with that dust which he had gathered. And when he had been rubbed for a long time l, he received his soul, yawned, opened his eyes, and raising himself sat up, and wondered what was being done to him, as if he had been awakened from a very heavy sleep. When the woman, wearied with lamentations, saw this, she began to weep the more for joy and to utter louder cries. The man of the Lord restrained her with a modest prohibition, saying: Be silent, be silent: but if anyone asks you how it was done, say only this: That the Lord Jesus Christ has done his works. He said this, and went out of his lodging. He immediately left Quadragesimus the subdeacon and appeared no more in the same place. For fleeing temporal honour, he so acted that by those by whom he had been seen in such great power he should never again be seen in this life.
ANNOTATIONS.
The Benedictines note: A Mountain in Tuscany running out between the harbour of Hercules and that of Telamon. Whence Rutilius:
“Monte Argentario pours itself into the midst of the waves.”
Hence we conjecture that “Aurelia” was in Tuscany. Compare above, letter e. Rutilius adds to the cited hexameter the following pentameter:
And with its two-headed ridge presses on the curved blue Poetæ Latini minores, vol. IV, p. 123. Lemaire edition. Paris, 1825..
There is added in the notes Ibid.: Monte Argentario, a chersonese running out into the sea. Strabo calls it the Silver Promontory, adhering to the continent by a narrow neck, in the manner of a peninsula. The sides of the neck or isthmus touch, on this side on the east the Harbour of Hercules, on that side on the west a sea-lagoon, λιμνοθαλαττα in Strabo. Compare Cellarius Notitia Orbis antiqui, vol. I, p. 576., likewise Repetti [Dizionario geografico della Toscana, under the word Talamone, vol. V, p. 496 and following. Florence, 1843.]. Compare letter e.