ON SS. MAXIMUS AND COMPANIONS: MAXIMUS, VENANTIUS, LUCIAN, COMITIUS, AND DONATUS, MARTYRS IN FURTHER ABRUZZO,
IN THE 1ST AND 4TH CENTURIES.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Maximus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Venantius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Lucian, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Donatus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Comitius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
BY R. D. B.
§ Single. The cult at Pinna in Further Abruzzo of the holy martyrs Maximus, Venantius, Lucian, Comitius and Donatus. Why they are little known.
Pinna (in the vernacular Citta di Penna), whose origins have been briefly set out by Ughelli Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume I, column 1110. (Coleti's edition)., Lucenzi Lucenzi, Italia sacra, volume I, column 1428 and following., At Pinna, which is a town of Further Abruzzo, once distinguished, now lowly, Sacco Sacco, Dizionario geografico etc. del regno di Napoli, volume I, page 319., and Moroni [Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione ecclesiastica, volume LII, page 53 and following.], is a very ancient town of the Kingdom of Naples in Further Abruzzo, five leagues distant from Chieti; which once also held the first place among the Vestini. No small number of its inhabitants are said to have given their names to the Christian religion at the preaching of St. Patra, one (as they report) of the seventy disciples of Christ and first bishop of Pinna Ughelli and Lucenzi, Sacco and Moroni, at the places cited.: which however is not so easily proved from genuine historical monuments, since the archive of the early church of Pinna perished entirely either by the calamity of war or by other disasters: so that hardly anything certain seems able to be brought forward about its antiquities before the 9th century. At that time indeed, about the year 800, Charlemagne declared Pina the civil metropolis of the province and gave it with very many forts and villages to the church of Pinna, or subjected it to the fullest right of the bishop. This largess the emperors and kings, successors of Charlemagne, confirmed. Hence through a long series of years Pinna flourished in riches and power: but at length, when Italy was disturbed by wars and the kingdom of Naples rent on every side, the dominion of the bishop of Pinna collapsed: then in the year 1252 Innocent IV Ughelli, at the place cited., when he had erected the church of Atri into a cathedral, united it with that of Pinna, and laid down that the bishop should be called of Pinna and Atri. Add that Clement VII, in the year 1526 converting the episcopal church of Chieti into a metropolitan one, willed that the churches of Pinna and Atri should be its suffragans [Ibid. volume I, column 1138; Cantelius, Metropolitanarum Urbium historia, Part III, Dissertation III, chapter II, page 399.]. But Paul III, since the people of Pinna were ill content to be subject to Chieti, in the year 1539 subjected them immediately to the Roman see Ibid. volume VI, column 755; Lucenzi, column 1431..
[2] [there are venerated and rest SS. Maximus, Venantius, Comitius and Donatus, martyrs;] Further, from the remotest times St. Maximus was adopted as the principal patron of the church of Pinna, and SS. Venantius, Lucian, Comitius and Donatus as secondary ones. Of these Comitius first, after him Donatus, who built a church above the tomb of St. Comitius when Nero Claudius was emperor, and finally Maximus, Venantius and Lucian, at the beginning of the 4th century, on the island of Piscaria Lubin, Abbatiarum Italiæ notitia, page 291., at the mouths of the river Aternus, fourteen miles from Chieti, completed their glorious contest. Concerning these holy martyrs our predecessors ought to have spoken either at the 7th day of May, on which SS. Maximus, Venantius and Lucian suffered, or at the 11th of the same month, on which the birthday of SS. Venantius, Lucian, Comitius and Donatus is kept Ordo divini officii Pinnensis et Adriensis for the year 1807, page 51.; but when they came to the notice of these saints, they did not know, as Papebroch says in a surviving slip of paper, whether they were venerated separately or jointly, and on what day or days. Afterwards, however, Ughelli had sent to them the lessons of a certain breviary and a hymn on St. Maximus and his companions, composed by Battista Cantalicio, bishop of Pinna. If we now treat of St. Maximus and the other patrons of Pinna at the 27th day of October, the reason is that on this day, in the year 868, Giraldus or Grimaldus, bishop of Pinna, translated their bones from the church of St. Comitius on the island of Piscaria to the cathedral church of Pinna with more august pomp, and placed them with greater honour under the high altar: which church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Maximus, is of very ancient construction (perhaps the very one which appears in public instruments of the years 968, 1059, 1112, 1123 and 1140 Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume I, columns 1115, 1116, 1117, 1118, 1119.), which is served, said Lucenzi at the beginning of the 18th century Italia sacra, column 1429., by ten canons and three dignitaries, the archdeacon, archpresbyter and primicerius, and each dignity, annexed to another canonry, receives an annual income of a hundred scudi of that coinage; the income of the canons is fifty ducats. Six other beneficed priests are enumerated, and about twenty-five clerics or inferior presbyters. This institution, however, seems to have undergone some change: for the chapter of Pinna, as Moroni writes Moroni, volume LII, page 81., consists of three men eminent in dignity, namely the archdeacon, archpresbyter and primicerius: then of twelve canons, among whom are the theologian and the penitentiary: and of six beneficed men, and several other clerics. In which church, where the bodies of the holy patrons rest even today Moroni, at the place cited., special cult is shown to St. Maximus and the other martyrs. And indeed there, every year on the first Sunday of May, the feast of St. Maximus is held under the rite of a double of the I class, since he is the chief patron of the city: yet so that the ecclesiastical office is from the common in the I place of one martyr, and the Mass Protexisti. But the feast of the holy martyrs Comitius, Donatus, Venantius and Lucian, the less principal patrons of the city of Pinna, is held on the 11th day of May, under the rite of a greater double, and the whole ecclesiastical office is from the common of several Martyrs in Paschal time Ordo divini Officii Pinnensis, pages 20 and 31..
[3] [who, since ancient writers scarcely mention them, chiefly from a diploma of the year 1169] But it is to be lamented that the old writers who devoted effort to illustrating the affairs of Pinna scarcely spoke of St. Maximus and the other holy martyrs; and, if they made mention of St. Maximus, were silent about his companions and also about SS. Comitius and Donatus. Hence, having diligently searched through the historical monuments of Italy, I have found no older document which expresses the names of the five martyrs than the diploma of Odorisius, bishop of Pinna in the year 1169. By this public instrument, which on account of its antiquity seems fit to be recited for the present, Oderisius confirms the donations made by Gozalinus, count of Loreto, to the monastery of St. Mary of Liciano in these words: We, Odorisius, by the Grace of God bishop of Pinna. With our whole chapter, at the request of Lord Gozalinus, count of Loreto, concerning all things contained in this privilege, we have made such an excommunication, that whoever shall attempt to break or to contravene all these things which the noble man Gozalinus, count of Loreto, has granted to the monastery of St. Mary of Liziano, on behalf of almighty God, and of the Blessed Mary his mother, and of his Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of the blessed martyrs Maximus, Comitius, Donatus, Venantius and Lucian, our patrons, we curse them, and excommunicate them, and subject them to perpetual anathema, unless they swiftly correct themselves, and take care to expiate so great a crime by worthy penance, amendment and restitution to the said monastery. Amen. Amen. In the year of the Lord 1169. I, Master Betraimus, judge and canon of the church of Pinna, by the mandate of Lord Count Gozalinus, signed this privilege with my own hand Ughelli, volume I, column 1120..
[4] are known. From this dearth of instruments, therefore, it has come about that we scarcely dare to bring forward anything of the family, profession, age and passion of St. Comitius: we know only from the lessons of an old breviary that a little chapel was erected above his tomb by St. Donatus, presbyter, in the times of the emperor Nero Claudius. Likewise in the same lessons St. Donatus is called a presbyter, and by popular tradition he is said to have sprung from Ortona, a seaside town of that tract: but under what emperor, whether Nero or his successor, he ended his life, is entirely hidden from me. St. Maximus, however, by the authority of two diplomas, one of the 11th century, the other of the 12th Ibid, columns 1116, 1119., and by the tradition of the church of Pinna Ordo divini officii Pinnensis, page 20. they will have to have been a levite or deacon: but in the lessons of the breviary and in the hymn to be recited below we read that he, no differently from SS. Venantius and Lucian, wore the military belt to the end of his life: it is added in the hymn also that he first saw the light on the island of Piscaria, where afterwards, namely in the year 306, under Maximian Herculeus, whom Diocletian had made partner of the empire in the year 303, after many and dreadful torments overcome, he together with SS. Venantius and Lucian laid down his life in testimony of the Christian religion. It remains, since the genuine Passion no longer survives, for us to bring to light these lessons and the hymn, from which we at least learn this, what was handed down in later times concerning the contest of those champions by the clerics of the church of Pinna.
PASSION
of SS. Maximus and his companions and of SS. Comitius and Donatus, from the ancient Lectionary of Pinna.
Maximus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Venantius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Lucian, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Donatus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Comitius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
[SS. Maximus, Venantius and Lucian, for having preached the faith on the island of Piscaria,] Lesson I. In about the three hundred and sixth year from the incarnation of the Lord there arose a most impious and most cruel king a, by name Cerso, in the region of Chieti, who compelled all Christians to the sacrifices of idols: and those who would not sacrifice he killed with various tortures. At the same time three noble soldiers, most Christian men, namely Maximus, Venantius and Lucian, were lying hidden with many other worshippers of Christ on the island
of Piscaria b in the church of St. Comitius, which blessed Donatus the presbyter had once built in the time of the emperor Claudius c, and there they boldly preached the faith of Christ; day and night they gave themselves to fasting and prayer.
[2] slain by Cerso with dreadful thongs, Lesson II. Hearing this King Cersus ordered them to be seized and brought into his presence, and when he asked them where they were from, they answered spiritedly that they were soldiers of Christ from that country, and they declared themselves to be Christians. When he had said: "You have heard what penalty has been set against those who are of such a religion," they said: "We have heard, we have laughed it to scorn, and we have judged your command to be null and vile." Hearing this the king was troubled, and he had their mouths bruised with stones, and had them beaten for a long time with hard thongs. Yet there was no hurt in them.
[3] they are hung on a beam; Lesson III. Then the king ordered them to be put in custody in one prison, bound with a great weight of iron, saying to them: "Write down your names." They said: "It is no concern of yours what our names are." Then the king said to the people: "What do you think of these men?" Some said that their doctrine was good, but others not. Then the king ordered them to be hung on a beam, and their flesh to be torn with iron claws, and to be cruelly beaten, so that their ribs were laid bare. But the saints, struck with nothing, feared nothing, but only gave glory and praises to God.
[4] and tortured with other torments, Lesson IV. After this the king said to the saints: "Do you wish to be with us, or with your Christ?" They said: "We have always been with Christ, we are and we shall be." The king therefore, angered, ordered them to be stretched on the ground and sharply beaten with rods, but they blessed the Lord Jesus Christ. The king seeing their constancy, greatly angered, ordered them to be bound to a stake, and sharp nails to be driven into their hands and feet: saying to them: "You shall stand here fixed so long until you render to the gods the honour due." But they constantly and joyfully gave thanks to God. Then the furious king made them remain thus suspended on the wood for three days and nights without food and drink, and after three days he had them taken down, beaten with scourges, and shut up in prison.
[5] they are plunged into the river of Pescara. Lesson V. But the king, seeing that the endurance of the holy martyrs could not be overcome by torments, and because many believed in the Lord Jesus Christ on their account, gave sentence against them that same night, that stones of huge weight should be bound to their necks and they should be sunk in the river of Pescara. Where thus in the good confession of our Lord Jesus Christ they rendered up their spirit to God. And the holy martyrs of Christ suffered under Cersus, the first king d, on the day of the Nones of May, in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom they were devoted and for whose name they suffered.
[6] from the church of SS. Comitius and Donatus, where they had been buried, Lesson VI. And Christians drew near and came, and took up their most sacred bodies from the aforesaid river with the greatest reverence, and in the church of St. Comitius, near Pescara, which Donatus, presbyter of Ortona, had built, they buried him with lights and praises beside the bodies of Saints Comitius and of that same Donatus the presbyter, and there they rested in peace, where God worked many miracles through them. For the blind received light, lepers were cleansed, paralytics cured, the possessed freed, the lame healed, and those held by various infirmities were restored by their merits to their former health.
[7] the people of Chieti tried in vain to carry them off. Lesson VII. After a long time, then, religious men, stirred by zeal for Christ, coming by night and secretly to that place from the city of Chieti, wished to dig up their bodies, and to translate them from their place as a most precious treasure to the city of Chieti. But the saints who had been publicly punished for the faith of Christ did not permit themselves to be carried off secretly: and those men withdrew.
[8] [Afterwards, however, Geraldus, bishop of Pinna, translated them together with the bodies of SS. Comitius and Donatus to Pinna,] Lesson VIII. As the Christian faith gradually increased, there came together the bishop of Pinna, by name Geraldus e, the presbyters, the religious, the nuns and the whole people of the same city, and, admonished by an angelic voice through a revelation, they came to the said church of St. Comitius, and digging they found those most sacred bodies, namely of Comitius, Donatus, Maximus, Venantius and Lucian, whole and white as snow; and taking them up from there, they laid them away in spices, and with hymns and canticles they carried them to the city of Pinna with great devotion and honour.
[9] where they shine with miracles. Lesson IX. And there was a great concourse of peoples on every side from the surrounding parts, and they carried that great and most glorious treasure into the greater church of Pinna, built under the title of the blessed virgin Mary and of blessed Maximus, levite and martyr, which is the episcopal see, on the sixth day before the Kalends of November. Then the said bishop, presbyters and nuns with many other Christians venerated them until evening in psalms and hymns, and offered sacrifice to the Lord. And the bodies of the aforesaid saints were placed there with many pomps and many solemnities. Through whom God bestows many benefits on that people of Pinna, and they are protected from their adversities by their merits.
ANNOTATIONS.
HYMN
in honour of SS. Maximus and his companions according to the true history, by Giovanni Battista Cantalicio, bishop of Pinna and Atri.
Maximus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Venantius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Lucian, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Donatus, martyr at Rome. (S.)
Comitius, martyr at Rome. (S.)
a[St. Maximus with SS. Venantius and Lucian, having confessed the faith, by order of the governor Cersus,] Among the crowns of martyrs
Let us sing the praises of Maximus,
Under whose patronage
Our city rejoices.
Who, born of Piscaria,
A town neighbouring us,
In the waves of the river Aternus
Endured martyrdom.
He, joined with Venantius
And Lucian as companions,
While he confesses the Lord,
Is given to harsh punishments;
When Cersus, most savage king,
Through the peoples of Abruzzo
Plying his wild rage
Was killing the soldiers of Christ.
Whom, wheresoever among the peoples
They were found, he gave to death,
Having first afflicted them
With various kinds of torments.
[2] [after many torments he is fixed to a stake, afflicted with hunger for three days and finally cast headlong into the river.] O cruel heart of the king,
By whom bodies so holy
Were cruelly consumed
By so faithless a tyrant.
Who, while blessed Maximus
Constantly preaches Christ,
Tries to turn him
By terror, threats and the lash.
Whom when the impious one could not
Slay, he fixed a stake,
To which he orders the martyr bound
With cruel scourges;
And with his two companions
To suffer hunger for three days,
And to be beaten with hard clubs
With blows beyond number.
But when the blessed martyrs
With yet more constant heart
Professed the Lord,
The king gives sentence of death.
Then with the weight of stones
Encircling the martyrs' necks,
He ordered to be sunk in the river
The three bodies of the saints.
[3] [He is buried in the church of St. Comitius, built by St. Donatus, and shines with miracles.] Which afterwards a most pious crowd
Of Christians coming
Buried together
With great reverence
In the church which for Saint Comitius
Blessed Donatus the presbyter
Had built before,
Most excellent minister of Christ.
By whose glorious merits
Miracles thereafter shone:
For the blind their sight
Received freely;
Lepers clean bodies,
The deaf their lost hearing,
The limping a free step,
And the citizens paralysed.
[4] Thence Bishop Geraldus translates the bodies of the saints to Pinna. Soon the distinguished Geraldus,
Then bishop of Pinna,
Admonished by an angel,
Uncovered the holy martyrs.
For having gathered his clergy,
With the nuns
He bore hither from Piscaria
The five bodies of the saints.
Which, laid beneath the altar,
This our church possesses,
All lying together
Now with blessed Maximus.
Grant, we beseech thee, O Trinity,
That the feasts which we keep
May bring at last to heavenly things
The people of Pinna.
Amen.