ON SS. VINCENT AND COMPANIONS: VINCENT, SABINA, AND CHRISTETA, MARTYRS AT ÁVILA IN SPAIN,
PROBABLY THE YEAR 305
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Vincent, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
Sabina, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
Christeta, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
BY J. V. H.
§ I. The memory of the holy martyrs in the sacred Fasti and the liturgical Office, especially the Mozarabic; their native place, whether in Lusitania or Carpetania; an inquiry into the truth of the monument concerning Dacian, governor of the Spains.
The memory of the holy martyrs Vincent, Sabina and Christeta is celebrated in all the sacred Fasti, The saints are recorded in the sacred Fasti if you except the Hieronymian Martyrology of Fiorentini. And first of all there comes forward the Roman Martyrology commonly called the Little, in which is read at the 6th day before the Kalends of November: In the city of Abela, of Vincent, Sabina and Christete, Martyrs Giorgi, Martyrol. Adonis, page XXXVI.. This eulogy Ado, after his custom, sets out more broadly on this same day, saying: In the Spains, in the city of Abela, the birthday of Saints Vincent, Sabina and Christete, who were first stretched on the rack to such a degree that all the joints of their limbs were loosened; then their heads, placed under stones, were crushed with strong bars to the striking out of the brain; and so they completed their martyrdom, under the governor Dacian. The same things, a very few words of no moment excepted, are reported by Usuard, whom the present Roman Martyrology closely follows. Florus, deacon of Lyons, has the same in other words, namely Migne, Patrology, volume XCIV, column 1084.: On the same day (the 27th of October), the passion of Saints Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, who suffered in the city of Avila. Who were severally stretched up and down on the rack, with the joints of their limbs forced apart, and torn by blows. And when even so they did not fail, their necks being placed under stones, and their brains being dashed in with a club from above, consummated by such a martyrdom, they gave up their souls together. Of whom also Wandalbert
of Prüm sang at the same day:
Hence the sixth (before the Kalends of November) Vincent adorns, fighting as martyr:
To Christete this is brought forth, and the virgin Sabina triumphs.
[2] and in the liturgical Office; All these things show that the cult of these Martyrs was very ancient in the whole Latin Church; for the writers we have so far cited do not belong to the Spains. In Spain, however, their native soil, the Mozarabic rite has at the 27th day of October an office of six copes, that is, the most solemn of all, as is evident to anyone inspecting the Calendar prefixed to the Mozarabic liturgy Migne, Patrology, volume LXXXV, column 95.. In the Breviary and Missal all is said from the common of many Martyrs, except the following hymn Ibid. volume LXXXVI, column 1235.
Hither you, grateful and pious people, the Lord of Hosts
Calls together; bring your burning vows to the feast
In the courts of the witnesses:
May he set them in the inmost parts of the heavens.
Joined to the Martyrs, join your joys;
Let the pious voice hold fast the gifts of Vincent,
Let the heavenly letter sing again of Sabina,
And of Christete's good heavens.
These through hard gains spurn the miseries of the world
And the crafty griefs of men;
They are struck, through all their purpled necks,
O Christ the King, wearing their laurels for thee.
Thee, simple and threefold, O God, O unity,
We beseech by their prayers that thou mayest hear
What we ask: our burning hearts,
O boundless Good One, prolong.
Threefold Deity, and glory be to thee,
Who, one, holding all things, judgest
Generously the continuing ages forever:
And beyond them giving good success. Amen.
Although further this hymn has nothing special about our Saints, and indeed seems quite tangled, yet we did not wish to omit it, since it shows that the veneration of these Martyrs in Spain was very great.
[3] the authority of the Acts; Very ancient Acts of these Martyrs we do not have. Tamayo in his Spanish Martyrology publishes them, from Legendaries. For this reason our Sollerius says on the Usuard of this day: What I think of the Acts themselves, if you ask me, I prefer to suspend judgement for the moment rather than define anything rashly: although sufficient traces present themselves, which show clearly enough that they were fabricated, in imitation of other Acts, some centuries after their passion: so much so that Tamayo de Salazar, otherwise quite easy-going in scraping everything together, thought that no small part of them must be cut away. When Sollerius speaks of the part of the Acts cut away, he alludes to another copy of the same passion, formerly transcribed by Papebroch from a very old codex of Canon Joly at Paris. The judgement of Sollerius is also approved with his own vote by Domenico Giorgi in his Observations on the Martyrology of Ado. By good fortune there has been preserved for us among the Bollandian papers the apograph of Papebroch, which we have therefore been able to compare with the Tamayo copy. There are certainly in Papebroch some, as the saying is, commonplaces, omitted by Tamayo: but the narrative of the passion itself by no means agrees, whether we consider its opening, or its course and end, with what is commonly reported of other Martyrs. Whence I judge that a very ancient tradition underlies the narrative. Further, in editing the Acts from Tamayo, we shall annex the additions of Papebroch in the Annotations: in such a way the reader will be able to weigh both writings.
[4] the place of the saints' birth is disputed; Both copies have it that St. Vincent and his sisters inhabited the city of Ebora. And hence the question has arisen to which province the native city of the holy Martyrs should be attributed, some fighting for Ebora in the kingdom of Lusitania, others for another Ebora, among the Carpetani, today Talaveyra in the kingdom of Castile. We shall set out the arguments of both sides, such as Enrique Flórez presents them to us in his distinguished work, Hispania Sacra Espan. Sagr. volume XIV, page 27.. For Carpetanian Ebora there tells first of all the fact that this very name, at least in the Gothic time, in which the Acts of the Martyrs were for the most part composed, was given to the town of Talavera. In the Chronicle of Sampirus, bishop of Astorga about the year 1000, it is read at number 24 Ibid. page 454. that King Ramiro, having gathered an army, went on to Elbora, a city of the Agarenes, which is now called Talavera by the peoples. Then in the passion of St. Leocadia, whose Acts will be given at the day of her cult, the 9th of December, it is said Ibid. volume VI, page 317. that Dacian came from Toledo through Ebora to Merida: and to one inspecting any map whatever it becomes manifest that Carpetanian Ebora or Elbora lies midway between Toledo and Merida. And indeed the argument would be binding, if it rested on two supports, as it were: namely if the day of the passion of the Martyrs were correctly expressed in the Martyrologies, and then if the martyrdoms had taken place according to the order of the journey. But the passion of St. Leocadia is inscribed in the Martyrology on the 9th day of December, that of St. Eulalia of Merida on the 10th of the same month, and that of our Martyrs Vincent and his sisters on the 27th of October. It is further noted in the Acts of St. Leocadia, edited by Enrique Flórez Espan. Sagr. at the place cited., that she died at the time when the report of the killing of Eulalia and of Vincent and his sisters had run into the city of Toledo to Blessed Leocadia. If therefore the true day of martyrdom is indicated in the Martyrology, a whole year lies between the passion of SS. Eulalia and Leocadia: and accordingly the itinerary from Toledo to Merida through Ebora proves absolutely nothing, since it is certain that Dacian did not kill these Martyrs on one journey.
[5] whether Lusitanian Ebora or Carpetanian The opinion for Carpetanian Ebora is therefore shaky: but not much firmer are the reasons brought forward for Lusitanian Ebora. For that the name of Lusitanian Ebora is ancient has no great effect, since the same can be said of the Carpetanian one, for the name of Talavera is more recent Ibid. volume I, page 243.. Then that Dacian was at Lusitanian Ebora, there is no reason for me to doubt; for the city was too celebrated for Dacian to have passed it by, as he often ran through the Spains. But because Dacian stayed at Lusitanian Ebora, it by no means follows that he was not present among the Carpetani. Nor does it help much that Lusitanian Ebora was more celebrated than the Carpetanian: for certainly Dacian is presented to us as such a one that in whatever place he had found Christians, he would have wished them either idolaters or exterminated. And indeed Carpetanian Ebora was not so obscure, seeing that in its bounds even today Roman traces are found which, says the distinguished Pascual Madoz, give assurance that it was once a principal city, although Ptolemy makes no mention of it in his Geography Diccionnar. geogr. de Espan. under Talavera.. The arguments therefore are weighed in an equal balance, so that we cannot so far incline to either side.
[6] that Dacian was indeed in Lusitania is shown by We have said that it is undoubted for us that Dacian made some stay at Ebora in Lusitania. To confirm this most adduce a cubical stone whose ancient inscription is: DD. NN. ÆTERN. IMPP. C. AUR. VALERIO. JOVIO DIOCLETIANO. ET. M. AUR. VALERIO. HERCULEO. MAXIMINIANO. PIIS. FEL. SEMPER AUGG. TERMINUS. INTER PACENSES. ET. EBORENS. CURANTE. P. DATIANO. V. P. PRÆSIDE. H H. N. M. Q. EORUM. DEVOTISSIMO. [To our lords the eternal emperors Caesar Aurelius Valerius Jovius Diocletian and Marcus Aurelius Valerius Herculeus Maximinian, pious, fortunate, ever Augusti. Boundary between the people of Pax and those of Ebora, under the care of P. Datianus, of perfect rank, governor of the Spains, most devoted to their godhead and majesty.] On the right was inscribed: HEINC. EBORENSES Hence the people of Ebora; on the left HEINC PACENSES Hence the people of Pax. The distinguished Gams of the Order of St. Benedict, in his carefully worked Ecclesiastical History of Spain, written in the German language Kirchengeschichte v. Spanien, volume I, page 347, wonders that both Enrique Flórez and our Juan Masdeu Hist. crit. de Espan. volume V, page 503. have admitted without any censure an inscription which he himself holds as suspect. As the reason for his suspicion he brings forward a general canon which he lays down, namely that whenever some inscription stands alone, whether you consider the person or the matter, so often it is to be held as doubtful: and this is the only inscription which treats of Dacian, or which treats of defining boundaries between cities. According to this canon by far the greatest part of the Spanish inscriptions must be destroyed, which Juan Masdeu collected to the number of 1350: let one inspect, namely, index VI at the end of volume VI of the Critical History of the praised Masdeu, and at a glance it will be evident that scarcely a tenth part is not solitary, and so placed beyond all suspicion.
[7] an ancient stone, whose truth But the canon seems to us too severe, since it makes doubtful many inscriptions whose falsification was of no profit or moment. I confess indeed that there have been forgers of old monuments in the Spains, but the causes of fraud and deceit are in the open. Thus for the glory of the city of Granada there came forth to light, dug out of caves, lead plates and parchment books in which wonders were narrated about ecclesiastical antiquities. Rome smelled the fraud and condemned it, as our writers report at the 1st day of February in the Acts of St. Caecilius Acta SS. volume I of February, page 10.. In the same way too there emerged from the shadows, printed at Saragossa in the year 1619, Flavius Dexter, a true waggon-load of lies, lurking in some library of Germany, and at first received with the greatest applause Nicolás Antonio, Biblioth. Hispan. Vetus, volume I, page 205.. But that monuments of this kind contribute greatly to the praise of the nation, no one doubts: the cause of the falsity is therefore to be sought in vainglory. But in a wholly different way must judgement be made about the inscription of Dacian: for what advantage can it bring towards confirming or demolishing any opinion whatever, that Dacian, governor of the Spains, set a boundary between the people of Pax and those of Ebora? Perhaps so as to establish that Dacian truly administered the Spains? But this is proclaimed by the Acts of the Martyrs and by the poem of Prudentius, who flourished at the beginning of the 5th century. Further, what the boundaries between the people of Pax and those of Ebora were, if the stone lies, was of no moment in later centuries. Those regions were then divided up in another way; and without some usefulness monuments are not fabricated.
[8] is to some extent vindicated: The praised Gams then asks what the lateral inscriptions mean: Heinc Pacenses, Heinc Eborenses. These words, he says, make the whole monument suspect. For no one needed to be shown in which direction he should turn towards the people of Pax or of Ebora: it was by no means a matter of that, but the stone spoke of defining the boundaries of each province. If indeed the stone was a road-indicator, it would be better written Heinc AD Pacenses, Heinc AD Eborenses, but, I confess, it would have been superfluous. But in my opinion these words mean something else, namely that from here begin the territory of Pax, from here begin the territory of Ebora. Which sounds excellent in Latin; among the older authors of good Latinity I have selected him who speaks most often of the territories of peoples, Pliny the Elder. In book IV chapter V: Inde Eliorum ager, qui ante Epei vocabantur, incipit Thence begins the land of the Elians, who were formerly called Epei. Nor will he be greatly cavilling who attributes the same force to the particles hinc and inde, in so far as they indicate the situation of a place. In the same book too, chapter VIII: De hinc a Tænaro ager laconicus, liberæ gentis, id est, Spartanorum [From here, from Taenarum, the Laconian land, of a free nation, that is, of the Spartans]. Finally, not to labour the matter, chapter XXI: A Durio flumine Lusitania incipit From the river Douro Lusitania begins, and certainly one may substitute a pronoun for the noun, so that one may say: Hinc Lusitania incipit Hence Lusitania begins. These things abundantly suffice to show that the stone was duly inscribed, which on each side describes the boundaries of the regions, heinc and heinc. There is therefore no cause why this stone should be placed among monuments of uncertain faith. What has been said so far, however, is not so to be understood
as if I judged this stone to be certain in every respect; I wished only one thing, to refute the opposing reasons. But if anyone should prove the monument false or adulterated, I would gladly give up as beaten. I have already said above that there were forgers of monuments in the Spains, as is evident from the leads of Granada. And indeed Cyriacus of Ancona, who flourished in the 15th century, and who first brought our stone to light, is held up by many as a silly writer and a liar: nevertheless Girolamo Tiraboschi to some extent vindicates his trustworthiness Storia della Litteratura Italiana, volume VI, page 135.. Nor do I see what advantage he could have derived, whether we look to a religious or a political matter, from the stone adduced. Monuments can justly be suspect which treat, for example, of the destruction of the Christian superstition and things like that.
[9] The holy Martyrs were more probably born in Carpetania. But one argument remains, which I have not found among the disputants, and which seems to me to resolve the question to some extent. In the Acts, namely, it is said that St. Vincent with his sisters fled to Ávila by a swift departure on horseback: and that immediately, on the information of a certain sacrilegious man, a swifter cavalry being sent ahead, the most bloodthirsty persecutors overtook them. These words, so far as they are genuine, point rather to Carpetanian Ebora than to the Lusitanian. For Lusitanian Ebora is distant from Ávila, if you inspect the maps, about 325 kilometres, while the Carpetanian is separated from Ávila by only 135. And if the holy martyrs had reached Ávila from Lusitania, it is not sufficiently understood how by a swifter cavalry they did not forestall their arrival at Ávila and intercept them midway. Then the information of the sacrilegious man would have been difficult, when the Saints were setting out from Lusitania; on a protracted journey various roads would have presented themselves, open to the fugitives. But difficulties of this kind vanish for the most part, if we lay it down that the native soil of the Saints was Carpetanian Ebora. Although therefore the arguments brought forward by others are in equilibrium, those which we bring forward are of such weight that we incline to the opinion of those who stand for Carpetanian Ebora.
§ II. The chronology of the persecution of Diocletian is set in order, the time of the martyrdom is indicated; the translations of the holy martyrs are examined.
The four edicts of Diocletian In the Acts of the holy Martyrs, as we have them, nothing is indicated about the year in which they suffered. It is certain that they underwent martyrdom while the persecution of Diocletian was still raging, with Dacian in office in the Spains, and that SS. Vincent, Sabina and Christeta by no means belonged to the clergy: whence their passion followed the fourth edict against the Christians. For Diocletian issued four edicts: the first, by the witness of Eusebius in book VIII of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter II Migne, Greek Patrology, volume XX, column 746., in the nineteenth year of the empire of Diocletian, which coincides with the common year 303, in the month of Dystrus, which the Romans call March, as the feast day of the Lord's Passion drew near, imperial edicts were set up everywhere, by which the churches were ordered to be demolished to the ground, and the sacred books to be consumed by flames: and that those in honour should be marked with infamy, and the plebeians despoiled of their liberty, if they should persist in the profession of the Christian faith. And the first edict against us, continues Eusebius, was of this kind. But not much later (see the second edict) other letters came in turn, by which it was commanded that all prelates of the Churches everywhere should first be cast into chains, and then forced by all means to sacrifice to the gods. The first edict, Eusebius says, was given in the month of March as the feast day of the Lord's Passion drew near; which words are to be understood of the time at which it was brought into Palestine, namely in Lent: for Lactantius in On the Deaths of the Persecutors chapter XII Latin Patrology, volume VII, column 213. plainly says that a suitable and lucky day was sought for promulgating the edict, and that the Terminalia were chiefly selected, which fall on the seventh day before the Kalends of March (the 23rd of February): so that an end, as it were, might be placed upon this religion. The third edict, since certain men had tried to seize the empire in Armenia and Syria, was promulgated, that all prelates of the Churches everywhere should be bound and handed over to prison Greek Patrology, volume XX, column 1470..
[11] given against the Christians Finally the fourth edict was promulgated in the second year thereafter, says Eusebius in On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter III Ibid. at the column cited., and in his Chronicle Ibid. column 182., and capital punishment was inflicted on all Christians who would not deny Christ. In the second year thereafter, says Eusebius in On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter III Ibid. column 1470., when the fury of the persecution against us had grown more vehemently hot, … there were first sent letters of the emperor, by which it was commanded by a general precept that all men everywhere, in all places and nations, should publicly offer sacrifices and libations to the idols. After this edict, therefore, by which all of every condition and sex were forced to sacrifice to idols, our Martyrs underwent capital sentence. Thus having settled the year of this edict, we come as close as possible to the year of the martyrdom. Further the second year of the persecution, which for Eusebius began in the year 304 about the feast of Easter, as we said in the preceding number; thus if the day of martyrdom were likewise certain, namely the 27th of October, there would remain scarcely any doubt that the martyrs' contest belonged to this year. But a difficulty is raised by the Acts of St. Philip and his companions at Hadrianople in Thrace, which we have illustrated at the 22nd day of October. In these, namely, it is read Acta SS. volume IX of October, page 545. that as the day of the Epiphany was at hand, and thus at the beginning of January, Philip and his companions, namely Severus the presbyter and Hermes the deacon, were arraigned before the governor Bassus, who said to him Ibid. page 546.: You have heard the law of the emperor, commanding that Christians nowhere assemble, so that throughout the whole world the men of this sect should either be converted to the sacrifices or perish.
[12] they are examined, and the chronology of Eusebius is confirmed; According to this the fourth edict would already have been promulgated at the end of December; nor would the second year of Eusebius's persecution yet be reached. Tillemont tries to resolve the difficulty in his ecclesiastical Commentaries, saying Mém. pour serv. à l'hist. ecclés. volume V, page 607. either that the governor Bassus extended more widely the edicts of the emperors then promulgated, which affected only the clergy, or rather that Eusebius spoke not of the edict itself but of the greater atrocity practised on every kind of men. For my part, to say what I think, it seems to me that these things can be explained in another way. For though I fully agree that the Acts of St. Philip are genuine; yet, since they are not proconsular records Acta SS. volume IX of October, page 538., they do not accurately report all the questions and answers, just as they were written in the public archives: but witnesses, even contemporary ones, could be more or less deceived in writing, so that a thing said at one time may be better suited to a later one: thus Bassus, having left the Martyrs in prison for some time, could have uttered these things after the passing of a month or two, and thus Bassus truly said what is narrated, but in the month either of March or April. For that the Martyrs were in chains for quite a long time is evident from the Acts, which in numbers 6 and 7 Ibid. page 539. say that the saints, after a few days had been spent in prison, were then received as guests under guard in the house of a certain Pancratius; and that meanwhile a yearly successor, by name Justin, was given to the governor Bassus. Could not the narrator, however much an eye-witness, have erred in attributing the saying of one judge to the other and thus have erred about the time at which some saying was uttered? Some interval of time certainly existed between the first hearing and the final one, and certain small details could escape the narrator, or at least be retained in memory in disorder. We judge therefore that one must stand by the Eusebian chronology, and if indeed our Martyrs suffered on the 27th day of October, we very probably place their martyrdom about the year of Christ 305. Nor does it stand in the way that Diocletian and Maximian had already laid aside the purple on the Kalends of May 105 and substituted for themselves Constantius and Galerius Maximian Tillemont, Hist. des Emper. volume IV, page 249., and that the persecution then ceased and accordingly the martyrdom of our Saints must be referred to the year 304: for when the empire changed, the edicts of the emperors were not immediately abrogated. Although under Constantius Chlorus the persecution had ceased in the Gauls, it was still raging in the Spains Ibid. page 247.. And Eusebius in On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter III Migne, Greek Patrology, volume XX, column 1471. teaches that after the abdication of the two Augusti an implacable war blazed up among the Romans, during whose fury laws and edicts were held of the least account.
[13] from which he shows the time of the passion of St. Vincent and his sisters. Of the passion itself of our Saints we shall say nothing in this place, because what needs illustration will be unfolded in the Annotations. But what is passed around about the burial of the Martyrs is entangled in many difficulties. No one, indeed, doubts that the bodies of the Saints were laid to rest at Ávila: but in later centuries various cities of Spain boast as though they possessed the bodies of our champions. Rodrigo, archbishop of Toledo, who died in the year 1247, says in book VI of De Rebus Hispaniae, chapter XII Collect. Patt. Toletan. volume III, page 127.: Afterwards, when the city of Ávila had remained destroyed for a long time, King Ferdinand is said to have translated from it the bodies of the Holy Martyrs Vincent, Sabina and Christeta. But because some say that they are at Ávila, others in the monastery of St. Peter of Aslantia, others that the body of St. Vincent is at León, others the body of Christeta, I do not presume to assert what is doubtful as certain. Fernando or Ferdinand, who is treated of here, is the First of this name, who was at once king of Castile and León and reigned from the year 1035 to 1065. In that interval of time Ávila was occupied by the Saracens; it was only recovered by the Christians when Alfonso VI, king from the year 1065 to 1109, gave it to be governed in the year 1088 to his son-in-law Raymond, husband of his daughter Urraca Madoz, Dizion. Geogr. under Avila, folio 34, verso.. At the time, therefore, in which Ferdinand I held the sceptre, Ávila was deserted, and it will accordingly have been easy, whether by a temporary occupation or by the industry of Christians, to transfer to León the ill-guarded remains of the Saints, especially because there was no bishop at Ávila, the principal guardian of sacred things. For the first bishop of Ávila, after the Saracens were expelled, was Dominic about the year of Christ 1087 Ariz. Hist de Avila, folio 34 verso..
[14] the remains of St. Vincent at Ávila But because a translation of this kind of SS. Vincent and his sisters could have taken place, no one will say that it actually did take place. Our predecessors at the 4th day of April published the History of the translation of the holy Doctor Isidore from Seville to León: in which it is said Acta SS. volume I of April, page 358.: King Ferdinand after the arrival of the body of the kindly bishop Isidore (in the month of December 1063),.. translated the Body of St. Vincent, Martyr, brother of the Holy Martyrs Sabina and Christeta, from Ávila to León. Our predecessors judge that this History was written in the middle of the 13th century Ibid. page 328., and thus two centuries afterwards. There is further another History, which our predecessors call the original,
since the writer, from number 5 of his History, professes that he heard from those who were present Ibid. page 902.: but in this narrative the translation of our Martyrs is touched on by no word at all, although a fitting occasion offered itself. For when the writer had said that the catholic kings gradually extended the Christian realm, the Saracens being vanquished, he adds Ibid. page 901.: They renewed the ancient bishoprics, founded basilicas and enriched them with treasures, adorned them with gold, gems and books, and to the extent of their power spread abroad the glory of the Christian name. And if at the time when this original History was written the body of St. Vincent had been translated from Ávila to León, it would have flowed of its own accord that he should list this adornment too, added to the city of León. As it is, mention of his translation is made only two hundred years after.
[15] translated to León But in the contemporary Life of St. Dominic of Silos, who died in the year 1073, whose Acts will come up for illustration at the 20th day of December, it is reported by Tamayo at the same day Martyrol. Hispan. volume VI, page 511. that in the time of Fredelandus (Ferdinand), the glorious and most strenuous king of the Spains, there presided over the monastery of St. Peter of Arlanza Abbot Garsias, a man altogether of venerable life, and memorable for happy perseverance, to whom it was divinely revealed by a vision that he should translate from the city of Spain which is called Abela the bodies of the Holy Martyrs Vincent and his sisters Sabina and Christeta, laid there in neglect. Which was indeed done, with the grace of the Lord going before and the labour and industry of the aforesaid abbot administering it. This translation is narrated as celebrated with the greatest concourse of bishops, abbots, among whom was St. Dominic, of nobles and of the people of both sexes; and it is added that many asked that some of the Relics of the Holy Martyrs be given to them for a blessing. Which was done, St. Dominic alone asking nothing: whence, when he returned to his monastery, his monks were saddened because he had brought back none of the Relics. The holy man consoled them, promising that they would soon have a holy body. If this report were true in every respect, and accordingly written by a contemporary, the translation would be placed beyond all doubt. But at the same time it would be established that the sacred Relics had been distributed piecemeal; and thus that the whole bodies of the Saints rest nowhere.
[16] are said, but only a great part of them; But is full faith to be given to the Life which Tamayo has made public? Our predecessors doubt at the 4th day of April, speaking of the translation of the body of St. Isidore. Tamayo adds, they say Acta SS. volume I of April, page 358., that the same Life (of St. Dominic of Silos) together with 114 miracles is preserved, written in Gothic letters, in the archive of the monastery of Bl. Martin of Madrid: whence we strongly desire that both the one and the other be transcribed for us in full (for Tamayo scarcely ever faithfully retains the ancient style, and he omitted the miracles out of weariness at their prolixity), and we should gratefully acknowledge the favour. So our predecessors, who pressed with repeated letters that the Gothic manuscript should at least be communicated to them for transcribing. But in vain: for after long tergiversations they at last received the answer that that codex had been faithfully copied in the Martyrology of Tamayo. This indeed the good old man, formerly abbot of the monastery of Silos, brought forward from memory, perhaps a wavering one. This we have excerpted from the hagiographical Papers in the royal library under number 8980. But let it be so: let Tamayo have copied most faithfully. There remains another question: namely whether the contemporary Life was adorned by no little flowers in the course of time. For indeed it has sometimes happened that additions exist interwoven with contemporary writings. Of this thing we have a shining example in this very History of the translation of St. Isidore, so often sung over. For when our predecessors had given after the Life a History of the translation from a Toledo manuscript Acta SS. volume I of April, page 353.; they afterwards found the original History Ibid. page 900. and acknowledge that by the later writer the same words are for the greater part preserved, but pulled apart from one another by many additions and varied especially at the end. Who then would stand surety that such adulteration has not infected the original Life of St. Dominic of Silos? Certainly Rodrigo of Toledo, cited above at number 13, did not dare to settle the controversy, and would certainly have done so if in his time the contemporary life, as it now is, had been known.
[17] so that another part also remained at Ávila. The various opinions, however, seem to us capable of being reconciled, if we say that in the individual places remains of the holy Martyrs are preserved, but nowhere whole bodies. And first of all, if what we excerpted above from the Life of St. Dominic of Silos is true, namely that Garsias, abbot of St. Peter of Arlazan, divided among many the Relics which he had brought down from Ávila, it becomes altogether manifest that whole bodies are found in no church, but that greater or lesser parts are venerated in many: for Dominic alone among so many bishops, abbots and nobles returned home without any blessing, as it is called. Further, it is a frequent manner of speaking among writers that the part is taken for the whole, and so that a part of the body is put for the whole, as we have already noted at the 17th day of October in the Commentary on St. Lull, number 119. Finally, in the places which boast of Relics of our Saints, there is an ancient tradition, which is rashly accused of falsity unless the contrary is evidently clear: especially since there are so many remains of holy Martyrs in the Spains that there was no need to feign spurious Relics. It remains for us to treat of the individual places, in so far as they possess Relics of Vincent, Sabina and Christeta.
[18] Old monuments demonstrate both: first of all at León And indeed that from very ancient times the remains of St. Vincent were at León together with the body of St. Isidore of Seville, old monuments show. Ambrosio de Morales in his General Chronicle of Spain, book X, chapter XII Coronic. gen. de Espan. volume V, page 104 and following., reports that in the monastery of St. Isidore at León the body of St. Vincent is preserved, while others contend that it rests at Ávila: that beside the golden case of St. Isidore there is likewise another of gold and ivory, of ancient workmanship, of about half a Castilian rod, and thus of one and a half feet, on the top of which is written the verse: Arcula Sanctorum micat hæc honore duorum This little chest of the Saints gleams with the honour of two, and on the side: Era millena septana sub nonagena Era of a thousand, seven under ninety, that is, era 1097 or the year of Christ 1059. The two Saints enclosed in the case are our Vincent and John the Baptist, whose jawbone is laid up there. There is also another monument inscribed on stone, which stands in the vestibule of the chapel of the kings within the cloister, which we give with its solecisms, as it lies Ibid. page 107 and ibid. Hist. Ferd. volume XI, page 50.: Hanc quam cernis aulam Sancti Joannis Baptistæ, olim fuit luteam. Quam nuper excellentissimus Ferdinandus rex et Sancia regina edificaverunt lapideam. Tunc ab urbe Hispali adduxerunt ibi corpus Sancti Isidori episcopi, in dedicatione templi hujus, diem XII kal. januarii, era MCI. Deinde in era MCIII, VI id. maji adduxerunt ibi de urbe Abila corpus Sancti Vincentii frater Sabinæ Christetisque. Ipsius anno præfatus rex revertens de hoste ab urbe Valentia hinc ibi die sabb., obiit die tertia feria, sexto kal. januarii, era MCIII. Sancia regina Deo dicata peregit.
[19] from the golden chest of the kings Ferdinand I and Sancha I judge it fitting to interpret the inscription in customary words, namely: This hall or church, which you see, was once of mud: and the most excellent King Ferdinand and Queen Sancha built it of stone. Then there was brought here from the city of Seville the body of St. Isidore, bishop, at the dedication of this church, held on the 21st day of December in the year of Christ 1063. Then in the year 1065, on the 10th day of May, there was brought here from the city of Ávila the body of St. Vincent, brother of SS. Sabina and Christete. In the same year the aforesaid king, returning with his army from Valencia on the sabbath day, died on the third feria, the 27th of December of the year 1065. Queen Sancha, a nun, completed the monument. Some things in this inscription call for notice. First, it may seem quite surprising that the little chest destined to receive the remains of St. Vincent was prepared six years before their reception, namely in the year of Christ 1059, as we said in the preceding number, although they were brought in only in the year 1065, on the 10th day of May. Ambrosio de Morales resolves the difficulty by saying that the king already then had the plan of translating the body of St. Vincent, and for that reason prepared the little chest so long beforehand. But if what we reported at number 15 as narrated in the Life of St. Dominic of Silos is true, the king's wish is touched on there by no word; indeed the contrary is rather insinuated, since the Relics are said to have been distributed among those present. Let it be, then, that some part of the body of St. Vincent was carried off to León, and deposited in the little chest of St. John the Baptist: we shall conclude that the inscriptions listed were not made on account of the Relics of St. Vincent. For the rest, Ambrosio de Morales himself readily grants that not the whole body, but only a part of it rests at León Ibid. page 51..
[20] then of the widow and nun: There is also another thing worth noting: namely in the monument Queen Sancha is called dedicated to God, or a nun; because further marriages were forbidden to widowed queens. This was namely laid down, with the king's consent, in the XIII council of Toledo, celebrated in the year 683, chapter V De Aguirre, Conc. Hisp., volume IV, page 282.: It shall be lawful to no one to take a surviving queen in marriage, nor to stain her with sordid contacts; this shall not be lawful to succeeding kings, nor shall it be permitted to any man. And a little later in the III synod of Saragossa, celebrated in the year 691, the Toledan decree is renewed, and care is taken for the honour of the deceased and the modesty of the one left behind, by prescribing in chapter V Ibid. page 319. that henceforth the widow of a prince, chastely keeping with unblemished mind the above sentence (of the council of Toledo), immediately on the prince's being called from this world, should lay aside secular garb and with eager care assume the habit of Religion. And we judge that she should also be at once given over to a convent of virgins, so that, removed from every whirlwind of the world, no place at all be afforded to anyone, by which either insult be publicly offered to so great a power, or she appear to be subject to the people whose mistress she was long known to have been: but persisting with constant diligence within the cloister of the monastery and leading the life of a nun, she may by divine help deserve to pass from the temporal realm to the realm of eternity.
[21] then at Ávila on account of the rite On account of these monuments, therefore, I gladly admit that part of the body of St. Vincent is preserved at León: but no less firm and ancient is the tradition for the Relics of the same Martyr at Ávila. For the Saint's tomb was celebrated, as being that to which those came who wished to swear in the holiest manner. Because, however, in the lapse of time something either of rashness or of superstition had been mixed in, or even, as Tamayo says in his Martyrology at this day Ibid. volume V, page 660., they beheld the signs of so many frequent happenings and wonders, in order to avoid scandal the catholic sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella, by their
ever-valid sanction, issued in the Cortes of Toro, prohibited such oaths. Likewise we decree, I copy out Tamayo's Latin rendering, that henceforth no oath be taken, even at the command of a judge or the demand of a plaintiff, in the church of St. Vincent at Ávila or on the bar of St. Agatha or upon the altar or sacred body and Relics of the body of St. Isidore of León, nor in another church where it has been customary to swear; under the penalty of ten thousand maravedis (marapetini), to be applied to our treasury, as well for the one swearing as for the one commanding and demanding. There were therefore about the end of the 15th century in the Spains, besides the more celebrated ones listed here, other churches also which were called churches of swearing, Iglesia juradera swearing-church, and to which those flocked who wished to bind themselves by a solemn oath. But the law itself shows the very ancient tradition concerning the Relics of St. Vincent at Ávila Compare Ariz. Grandezas de Avila, folio 32 verso..
[22] the very celebrated rite of swearing at his tomb: The custom of swearing at the Relics of the Saints flourished not in Spain alone, but in most Christian regions. For hence come so many books of the Gospels whose covers were most splendidly adorned with sacred images and Relics; because, namely, upon books of this kind the faithful bound themselves by oath. From the most ancient centuries this custom had taken root. To omit the pagans, for example Virgil, book XII of the Aeneid, verse 201, who says: I touch the altar, and I call to witness the fires between and the godheads, St. Augustine clearly explains the ancient custom in letter LXXVIII (otherwise CXXXVII), in which the case is treated of a foul crime charged against the presbyter Boniface by a certain monk. Since the charge could neither be certainly proved nor certainly dismissed, the holy Doctor says Migne, Patrology, volume XXXIII, column 269: I chose a middle course, that by a fixed agreement they should both bind themselves to go on to a holy place, where the more awesome works of God might much more easily lay open the unsound conscience of either and compel him to confession either by punishment or by fear. God indeed is everywhere, and he who created all things is contained or enclosed by no place, and he must be adored by true adorers in spirit and truth, so that hearing in secret he may also in secret justify and crown. But as to those things which are visibly known to men, who can search out his counsel, why these miracles happen in some places, and do not happen in others? For the holiness of the place where the body of Blessed Felix of Nola is laid is very well known to many, and there I wished them to go; because from there it can more easily and more faithfully be written to us whatever may be divinely brought to light in either of them. For we too know that at Milan, at the memorial of the Saints, where demons confess in wonderful and terrible fashion, a certain thief, who had come to that place in order to deceive by swearing falsely, was compelled to confess the theft and to return what he had taken away. Is not Africa also full of the bodies of holy Martyrs? And yet we know of such things happening nowhere here. For just as, as the Apostle says XI Cor, XII, 30, not all Saints have the gift of healings, nor do all have the discernment of spirits; so neither at all memorials of the Saints did he will these things to happen, who divides to each one as he wills. In a similar way Gregory of Tours, in book II on the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter XXXIX Ibid. volume LXXI, column [ ], reports about perjurers punished at the Relics of St. Julian.
[23] The Relics of St. Sabina So much concerning St. Vincent of Ávila. Now we must treat of St. Sabina his sister, whose body or a part of it is preserved at Ager. Ageris (Spanish Ager) is a town in the diocese of Urgell, whose archpresbyter, head of the collegiate church, has the use of pontifical ornaments and exercises episcopal jurisdiction in the subject territory, truly, as it is said, nullius Madoz, Diccion. geogr. de Espan. under Ager.. For this church was formerly a monastery of canons regular of St. Augustine, which in the year 1592 Clement VIII secularized by instituting canons under an archpresbyter, having the same honours and jurisdiction as the abbots formerly Viaje litter. volume IX, page 119.. And hence it comes about that in the instruments to be adduced the provosts of the Church of Ager are called abbots. In the church of St. Peter of that town there is a reliquary casket of remarkable work, made of ebony and ivory, in which are laid the remains of St. Sabina, sister of St. Vincent. For Jaime Villanueva in his learned work of a Spanish journey there is no doubt that this Sabina is the sister and companion of the Martyrs of Ávila Ibid. page 135.. Tamayo nevertheless presents an altogether different Saint in his Martyrology at the following day, or the 28th of October, saying: In the basilica of St. Peter of Ager in the principality of Catalonia in Spain, the deposition of the sacred remains of St. Sabina, a citizen of Merida in Spain and Martyr at Agen in Gaul, where with St. Faith her fellow-citizen she was crowned with martyrdom for the name of Christ her spouse and the confession of him. Whose sacred pledges, at the instance of Arnaldo Miro, count of Pallars, were translated there and handed over to the canons regular of St. Augustine, and they rest in that place amid the veneration of all peoples and a multitude of miracles. It is surprising that Tamayo, who for the glory of his nation assigns so many foreign Saints to Spain, here as it were disowned a native Saint, and placed the arena of her martyrdom in Gaul: unless perhaps this exchange may be said to have been made so that some praise might be sprinkled on the name of this Sabina from the celebrity of St. Faith, Virgin and Martyr, whose cult was very frequent in our regions on this side of the Alps. But this association with St. Faith, Martyr of Agen, has already been exploded by our predecessors at the 6th day of October in the Acts of the same Virgin Acta SS. volume III of October, page 168., which may be consulted.
[24] were brought to Ager in Catalonia For the rest, in the Church of Ager St. Sabina never obtained veneration either as a citizen of Merida or as a companion of St. Faith, as is plainly evident from a synodal decree published by Jerónimo Cardona, abbot of Ager from the year 1566 to 1582, which runs thus Villanueva, Viaje, volume IX, page 139.. Since Mother Church has flourished with the heavenly dew and in her fruitfulness has brought forth many Saints for us, whence also our Church of Ager has obtained the custody of the venerable body, or relics, of the divine Virgin and Martyr Sabina, sister of Saint Christete and Saint Vincent, Martyrs, who gained the palm of martyrdom in the kindly city of Further Spain which the common people call Avila… We have indeed discovered that it was laid down by Vicente Segarra, abbot, our predecessor (year 1407 to 1433) Ibid. page 121., that on the Sunday next preceding the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, the feast of Saint Sabina should be celebrated in the church of Saint Peter of Ager: and thus the sister of Vincent was first venerated in our church by Vincent the abbot: but we etc. He orders that henceforth the feast of St. Sabina be celebrated with the same display as the feast of the body of Christ. From what has been said it is clear first of all that among the people of Ager there was no doubt that St. Sabina was the sister of the Martyrs of Ávila, and suffered at Ávila, not at Agen. The praised Villanueva judges that the confusion arose from the fact that the Relics of both Virgins were joined and that the name of the town of Ager easily took on the appearance of the city of Aquitaine, Agen Ibid. page 140.. Finally it must not be passed over that the cult of St. Sabina first began at Ager, as the decree has it, at the beginning of the 15th century under Abbot Vicente Segarra.
[25] [in the 11th century; the Relics of St. Christeta are said to be preserved at Plasencia.] Nevertheless the praised Jaime Villanueva judges that the Relics of St. Sabina were brought to Ager in the 11th century, namely at that time when, as we said above at number 13, they were translated from Ávila to Arlanza Ibid. page 135.. We have indeed seen that particles of the body were distributed among those present, whether bishops and abbots or nobles. But I greatly doubt whether before this century the Church of Ager obtained at least a notable part of the body of St. Sabina. For first of all the monastery of Ager had scarcely begun when Garsias of Arlanza had brought the Relics to his monastery: for in the year 1060, in the bull of Nicholas II, it is called a villa VERY RECENTLY divinely freed from the power of the pagans and the error of heathenism Ibid. pages 112 and 251.. Then the canons regular would have to be accused of the greatest negligence, who for almost four centuries left these remains without honour. For, as we saw in the preceding number, Vicente Segarra about the beginning of the 15th century first venerated the sister of St. Vincent in the Church of Ager. Indeed in the liturgical books earlier than Abbot Segarra nothing occurs about the cult of the holy Martyr Ibid. page 139.; and so before a more recent age the remains of St. Sabina do not seem to have been there. This is also confirmed by the very donation of the reliquary case, made in the opinion of Jaime Villanueva in the 16th century Ibid. page 138., which Lorenzo Perez, abbot of the place and bishop of Nicopolis, who died in the year 1542 Ibid. at the place cited., offered. These things are such that I judge uncertain the time at which the Relics of St. Sabina were brought to Ager. Of the Relics of St. Christeta I have scarcely anything to say: Ambrosio de Morales judges that they are preserved also at Arlanza and Plasencia Coronic. de Espan. volume V, page 105 and volume XI, page 52..
§ III. An inquiry whether the persecution of Diocletian began and was spread out of fear of rebellion.
Sometimes from slight causes The critical art is of great moment, in order that the true may be discerned from the false and that in historical matters truth may have its place. For we are wholly bent on this, when we illustrate and expound the Acts of the Saints, to give the certain as certain, the doubtful as doubtful and the false as false. But in these things too a measure must be held, beyond which what is right cannot stand, lest we strike on one or other rock, either of excessive simplicity or of scepticism. In our age, further, there are, if it may be so said, two historical schools which turn aside from the straight path. Some, indeed, embrace with their whole mind the ancient legends, teeming with the most manifest fables, and accuse of a certain impiety those who reject, or silently pass over, any fact whatever that is suited neither to the place, nor to the age or person. Men of this kind by their excessive credulity not rarely do the greatest harm to the cause they mean to patronize, as if the strength of our most holy Religion were to be sought in those wonders. Let mention be made of the legends, not in order that they be approved in every respect; but for the sake of elucidation, in so far as they explain and illustrate the monuments which antiquity has left. But on the other side there is also a school which, led by very slight arguments, shatters whatever constant tradition had made undoubted and firm and all the learned had approved with their vote, and undermines historical truth by certain cavils. Such men certainly undermine all the foundations of History. As therefore it is our purpose to set a bar against excessive credulity, so too we must disperse the inept cavils which sometimes with great display of erudition strive to obscure undoubted facts. For from both sides something is taken from truth, which
alone, so far as possible, ought to shed its clarity on things. The balance of History must be held with an even weight, which can be bent neither by certain learned trifles nor by silly fables.
[27] history is adulterated by certain critics: We have said these things beforehand because for some years now both schools have again gone forth into the battle line, and in our judgement both have inflicted wounds on historical truth. A specimen of exaggerated criticism has been given us by that very persecution under which our Martyrs suffered, the most cruel persecution of Diocletian, by which the Church of God was shaken towards the end of the 3rd century and at the beginning of the 4th. For Jacob Burckhardt in the year 1853 published at Basel a book on the Age of Constantine the Great (Die Zeit Constantin des Grossen), in which he reproaches the Christians for having utterly overwhelmed the name of Diocletian with curses. Burckhardt was seconded in the year 1857 by Albert Vogel, a doctor of non-Catholic theology at Jena, in a little work whose title is: The Emperor Diocletian. We regret indeed not to have either lucubration before us: but we are confident that Fr. Pius Gams, of the Order of St. Benedict, has sincerely reported, in his work on the ecclesiastical History of Spain written in German, the arguments of our adversaries, and has passed over in silence nothing that can conduce to elucidating the question. From this book therefore we draw our material. The praised Burckhardt, namely, will have it that the Christians suffered under Diocletian, not indeed on account of their faith, but on account of a conspiracy, spread through almost the whole world, by which, a Christian prince being raised to the empire, they should gain control of affairs Gams, Kirchengeschicht. Span. volume I, page 393.. Their number, repeatedly growing, dispersed everywhere and at the same time coalescing into one, gave them hope that in this way, within a short space of time, they would gain the supreme power of the whole empire. If these things are true, it follows that the Christians were justly punished; for by his own right Diocletian was assigning to a most deserved death those who were laying plots against his majesty, and indeed against his life. Vain therefore is the honour shown to the Martyrs by the Church, vain the boasting drawn from so great a cloud of witnesses striving even to blood: those who are venerated as Saints are criminal men, visited with just punishment.
[28] [thus the harrying of the Christians is attributed to their rebellion, which, from a Spanish stone,] But by what arguments, after all, is this pronouncement, so far unheard of among the learned, affirmed? First there is a Spanish monument, which is said to have been found at Clunia. In it the Spaniards congratulate the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian on the Roman empire enlarged and on the destruction of the name of the Christians, who were overturning the state Muratori, Inscriptt. volume III, page 1797.. Of a similar inscription we have already treated elsewhere at the 17th day of October, in so far as it concerned Nero, and we said that only negative arguments are opposed to its truth Acta SS. volume VIII of October, page 22.. There is one thing, however, which most inclines me to hold the monument as spurious, namely that the stone itself has been seen by no one. Nevertheless I am surprised that monuments of this sort have so far lain hidden: for it is certain that they existed. For in Eusebius is read, book IX chapter VII Migne, Greek Patrology, volume XX, column 110.: In the midst of the cities, what had never been done before, decrees of the cities against us and rescripts of the imperial constitutions, cut on bronze tablets, were set up. Boys likewise in the schools all day long had nothing else on their lips but Jesus and Pilate, and those Acts forged for insult. He then produces a letter of the emperor Maximinus, which, he says, against the Christians he says was copied from a bronze tablet at Tyre, ἀπο της ἐν Τυρῳ στηλης. For that reason I said that I wonder at the very great rarity of such inscriptions; and that the Spanish monument would deserve credit, if it were established either that it still exists or that it was at some time seen by suitable witnesses. Nor must it be passed over that this very letter cut in bronze, while it exhorts the Tyrians to persist in idolatry, attributes to the Christian religion all the public calamities, as having happened on account of the pestiferous error of the most empty vanity of those wicked men: for which reason he wishes the Christians exiled from the city of Tyre. For the rest, there is the deepest silence about a conspiracy, thought up only in the 19th century. Similarly, when the injustice of the persecution had to be disguised by whatever pretext could be sought, common crimes were held out as a screen. Thus in the same Eusebius, book IX chapter V Ibid. column 807., it is read that a certain commander in the city of Phoenicia, Damascus, having snatched from the forum I know not what impure women, by threatening to apply torture to them drove the wretched creatures to confess, by testimonies publicly delivered in the Acts, that they had formerly been Christians and privy to the shameful deeds done by Christians. And what are the shameful deeds charged against the faithful? The same that from the beginning of the Church had been on the lips of the pagans: namely that in their very sacred buildings they perpetrated certain obscene things and whatever else served to defame the religion. But of a conspiracy against princes and the state not a whit.
[29] which has no bearing on the matter, But let us return from this digression to the Spanish monument. Admitting the truth of the inscription, it does not seem that a valid argument can be made out for the opinion of the distinguished Burckhardt. For as often as any law whatever is trampled underfoot, so often it can be said that the state is overturned, since it consists in laws. Which is especially true when it is a matter of laws concerning religion. Further the connection of sacred and civil matters among the Romans was very intimate, and thus preachers of a new law, in so far as they contended with all labour and effort, spurning the ancient religion, to introduce a new one, were rightly said to overturn the state. Nor was it only in the third century that this crime was charged against the Christians; indeed Christ the Lord himself was accused of such things: This man, say the Jews to Pilate, Luke XXIII, 2, we found SUBVERTING our nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. In the Acts of the Apostles too, XXIV, 5, among many other things everywhere charged against the disciples, Tertullus the orator reproaches St. Paul with the overthrow of the nation: We have found this man a pestilent fellow and STIRRING UP SEDITIONS among all the Jews throughout the whole world, and author of the sedition of the sect of the Nazarenes. And the accusation which the Jews exercised against both Christ the Lord and his Apostles, they repeatedly practised against later Christians also. Not to be longer, I shall bring forward one example, taken from the second common century, namely that of St. Polycarp, brought forth into the theatre of Smyrna, against whom the crowd shouted Ruinart, Act. sinc. Martt, page 34.: This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the stubborn destroyer of our gods and violator of the temples; who taught that one must not sacrifice, nor adore the images of the gods. From these things, which we could amplify by many documents, since similar things are found in the Acts of almost all the Martyrs, it is clear that the accusation of overturning or subverting the state is very vague, and cannot afford a solid foundation for an opinion which teaches that the Christians suffered under Diocletian on account of a burning conspiracy against the emperors and the civil order.
[30] from the letter of Theonas, The second argument of the opinion, which is given out as if peremptory, the distinguished Burckhardt takes from the letter of Theonas, who the editors conjecture was bishop of Alexandria from the year 282 to 300 Migne, Greek Patrology, volume X, column 1570.: he was certainly a Greek, Ptolemy Philadelphus, he says, had the scriptures translated into OUR language. The letter is further addressed to Lucian, head of the chamberlains. But one must have eyes more than lynx-like to find in it even a shadow of conspiracy. For as it were on the very threshold he says: I do not therefore think or wish, my Lucian, that you should boast that many from the prince's palace have come through you to the knowledge of the truth, but thanks should rather be rendered to our God, who has made you a good instrument for a good purpose, and has raised you up with the prince, that you might spread abroad the odour of the Christian name for his glory and the salvation of many. For the more the prince himself, not yet enrolled in the Christian religion, has entrusted his life and body to be cared for by the Christians themselves as more faithful, the more it befits us to be more solicitous, and more diligent and more provident for his health and care, that through this the name of Christ may be most glorified and faith in him may be daily increased through you who cherish the prince: for because some former princes once thought us evildoers and filled with all shameful deeds, but now seeing your good works they can do nothing but glorify Christ himself. The writer then runs through various offices of the palace, and teaches each one accurate diligence and the highest fidelity in carrying them out.
[31] which indicates nothing of the kind In what corner then, someone will say, lies hidden the poison of conspiracy? The distinguished Burckhardt answers that it lurks with him who has the care of the books Gams, Kirchengeschicht. Span. volume I, page 394.. Now Theonas says: That man will be foremost among you and most diligent, to whom the prince shall entrust the keeping of the books; him he will choose for himself from proved knowledge, a grave man and apt for great matters, and ready to answer all questions, such as Philadelphus chose in this matter in Aristeas, his intimate chamberlain, and set over his most noble library, whom he sent as envoy to Eleazar with very great gifts for the translating of Sacred Scripture: this same man plainly wrote the history of the seventy translators. If therefore it should happen that one of those who believe in Christ is called to this very office, let him too not spurn secular letters and the talents of the gentiles, which delight the prince. The poets are to be praised for greatness of talent, for acuteness of invention, for propriety of expression and for the highest eloquence: the orators are to be praised, the philosophers are to be praised in their kind, the historians are to be praised, who explain to us the series of things done, the manners and institutions of our ancestors, who show the rule of living from the deeds of the ancients. Sometimes too he will try to praise the divine scriptures, which with wonderful diligence and very lavish expense Ptolemy Philadelphus had translated into our language. Meanwhile too the Gospel and the Apostle will be praised for their divine oracles: mention of Christ will be able to arise, his sole divinity will gradually be explained. All these things may come about with the help of Christ. To these are added admonitions about the care to be spent on the books, about their transcription and adornment and about the plan of reading those which are suited to usefulness more than merely to pleasure.
[32] and in vain rejecting the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors What smell of conspiracy anyone can catch in these words I plainly do not perceive: unless perhaps it be such as we read in the Acts of the Apostles XXVI, 28, where Agrippa says to Paul: In a little you persuade me to become a Christian. And Paul: I pray God that both in little and in much, not only you, but also all who hear today, may become such as I also am, except for these chains. Theonas, that is, wanted the domestics of the palace to use the same arts as the Apostle, whom no one would call a conspirator: unless someone should contend that all persuasion is a conspiracy of truth against error. The third support of his opinion the distinguished Burckhardt seeks in denying to Lactantius the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors; in so far as by such an attribution a very grave wound would be inflicted on his name; for in that work, he says, the literature and high learning of Lactantius are wanting. Certainly if the book is truly Lactantius's, there is shattered at its very foundations the writer's
opinion of ours: for we have a contemporary eye-witness, whose authority can be evaded by no artifice. On the author of the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors many lucubrations have appeared, a great part of which may be found in the Latin Patrology, volume VII. This however I shall say in general, that the remaining works of Lactantius which have come down to us were philosophical, and that the one book On the Persecutors is historical, in which accordingly the highest learning is not to be required. But let it be so: let the book not be a work of Lactantius. It will have to be admitted that, whoever the writer may be, he was present at the things he narrates: he reports them too accurately, by what are as it were fractions of days, for them to have been written by one absent; let chapter XII of the same book be an example.
[33] is proved; But with Lactantius eliminated, there remain very many Acts of Martyrs, which either Eusebius has preserved for us, or which have been published as genuine by the care of Thierry Ruinart. Nowhere, however, are judges found who hold an inquiry with the Christians about the political subversion of the state. They are held indeed as rebels, and therefore tortured and beheaded, but solely because they refuse to obey the edicts of the emperors prohibiting the Christian religion. The same calumnies are brought forward, the same accusations under the earlier emperors as under the later. Let the martyrdoms be read through, for example of St. Ignatius of Antioch under Trajan in the year of Christ 107 Ruinart, Acta sinc. page 8. and of Lucian, presbyter likewise of Antioch, under Diocletian in the year of Christ 307 Ibid. page 505., everywhere the alternative is presented to the Christians either of sacrificing to idols or of dying, without any word being charged of the crime of lese-majesty, in the sense that they wished to bring to ruin either the emperors themselves or the condition of the state. And if any crimes are calumniously cast up against them, they are private or common ones, and these may be read in the Octavius, written by Minucius Felix in the third century Migne, Patrology, volume III.. From that time the gentiles thought up nothing new against the Christians, but cast up the same calumnies here and there, as we read in some monuments. But if a crime, as one may say, of a political kind had lain hidden among the Christians, beyond doubt the emperors would have published it with enormous display, putting forward the most effective excuse of all for their cruelty.
[34] with various conjectures Then if there had been anything of truth in the opinion of the distinguished Burckhardt, it would not have been passed over in silence by the emperor Julian, for whom it was of the greatest consequence to vindicate his defection from the Christian faith and his persecution from detractors. The apostate indeed mocks the ecclesiastical rites, he takes pains, now by flatteries, now by threats and punishments, to make the Christians partners in his desertion, he tries to enfeeble Christian knowledge by interdicting the use of profane writers: but by no word does he touch on that great conspiracy, the publishing of which would have made the Christians hateful to all and the gentiles most devoted to him and most persuaded about abolishing the Christian cause. And if there was any crime among the Christians under Diocletian, it could not lie hidden from Julian, scarcely fifty years removed from him, who could and should have known the secrets, even the most deeply hidden, and whose interest it was to make public the conspiracies of the Christians, if there ever were any. And yet of a conspiracy of this kind not even the slightest trace is found in his writings. Indeed to the sophist Ecebalus, formerly his teacher, Julian writes in letter XLIII Julian's Works, volume II, page 196, Paris edition of 1630.: I for my part have determined so clemently and humanely concerning all the Galileans (the Christians), that no violence is to be done to anyone, nor is anyone to be dragged into a temple, nor to be visited with any insult on any other matter against his will. But if the apostate had known or even suspected that fifty years before a vast conspiracy had existed, spread through the whole empire, to subject the pagan princes to the Christian law or to exterminate them, he would certainly not have treated the Christians so clemently and humanely, but would have pursued them with fire and sword everywhere as disturbers of the public peace and guilty of treason: and all the more because, as successor of two Christian princes, a nearer ruin hung over him. The manner of acting of the emperor Julian with the Christians, therefore, moderate in appearance (for many underwent martyrdom under him), and his complete silence about a conspiracy of the Christians, are of such weight with me that they seem to me a very strong negative argument in this question.
[35] accumulated besides, Finally the distinguished Burckhardt tries to prop up the arguments so far discussed by certain conjectures, of which every sensible man will make very little. We shall give these as accurately as possible from the praised Pius Gams. First of all he judges that Christian soldiers were discharged for reasons which are commonly called political, namely that a military rebellion was feared; indeed a certain soldier had torn down the edict of the emperors posted at Nicomedia Gams, Kirchengeschicht. Span. volume I, page 394.. For the assertion, so far naked, to have any value, it would have been worth the trouble to point to some writer, contemporary with or next to the age of Diocletian, who even in a light word had indicated something similar: especially since Eusebius in book VIII, chapter IV Migne, Greek Patrology, volume XX, column 750. alleges an altogether different reason for discharging the Christian soldiery, namely that the beginning of the persecution was made from the soldiers, because the rest were believed to be conquerable without difficulty, if the persecutor should first have overcome these (soldiers) in the contest. He who is said to have torn up the edict, however, is in Eusebius, chapter V Ibid. at the place cited., called not a soldier, but a man by no means obscure, conspicuous above all for the prerogative of secular honours. But let it be so: what follows? Because one man commits an offence, is the whole army perjured? Deeds of this sort occur frequently in the Acts of the Martyrs, not indeed in contempt of due obedience, but because they held the thing as unjust, as Eusebius plainly says, that the edict was torn up as impious and wicked. Let us notice in passing that the discharge was not extended to the common soldiers: for Eusebius, speaking of the military persecution at the place cited, says: Very many soldiers of the kingdom of Jesus Christ preferred without any hesitation the confession of that name to the worldly glory and happiness which they enjoyed. One would not easily perceive the glory and happiness which a common soldier enjoys, but one will perceive it if the talk is of military prefects. But if only the prefects were dismissed, the strength of the army remained, and if any rebellion was to be feared, it was not to be tamed by so light a remedy. For this reason from this head too the conjecture cannot be sustained. The same must I say of those Martyrs who, as Eusebius says in chapter VI Ibid. column 751., were employed in the palace.
[36] which conflict with one another. The distinguished Burckhardt brings forward a second conjecture, namely that a conspiracy grew up among a very few officers of the court and the army Gams, volume I, page 395.. But, with that man's leave I would say, if the secret lay among a very few, what are the secret writings, recently discovered, which after the silence of thirteen centuries have disclosed the matter? Certainly there is nothing from ancient monuments that may be alleged. There remains therefore a conjecture destitute of its foundation. Then if the conspiracy grew up among a very few, there is no reason why the persecution should have been extended to the whole empire, which Eusebius then shows to have raged through the whole East. It is also mere conjecture that Galerius could have tracked down the conspiracy more deeply than Diocletian. He could indeed, if there was a conspiracy: but nothing at all is adduced from which it is evident that the Christians ever conspired. Indeed the Acts of the Martyrs of that age disclose entirely the contrary. I shall bring forward one example taken from the passion of St. Victor of Marseilles Ruinart, Acta Sinc. page 294 and Acta SS. volume V of July, page 144.. When the Saint was urged to obey the commands of the prince, knowing well how to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's, he answered: If it is a question of wrongs to Caesar and the state, I have never, he says, harmed Caesar, never the state, I have never taken anything from the honour of the empire, I have not withdrawn myself from its defence. But at the same time he held firm his profession of the Christian faith, for which after very many torments he was at length beheaded. There was therefore nothing of conspiracy or rebellion underlying the Martyrs of that age: they gave their blood for Christ alone and his Gospel. And let this be enough on the controversy. One thing we wonder at, that most learned men are so easily carried away by prejudiced opinions into an opinion which all ancient monuments spurn, and whose falsity they proclaim. But at length we return to SS. Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, whose Acts we append from the Spanish Martyrology of Juan Tamayo at the 27th day of October Ruinart, Acta Sinc, volume V, page 660.: they are not listed among the genuine ones, because they have been copied from Legendaries of lesser antiquity.
ACTS OF SS. VINCENT, SABINA AND CHRISTETA, SIBLINGS, MARTYRS OF ÁVILA IN SPAIN
From legendaries, compared with a manuscript of the Bollandian Collection.
Vincent, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
Sabina, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
Christeta, martyr at Ávila in Spain. (S.)
BHL Number: 8620
aSINGLE CHAPTER.
St. Vincent is cast into chains; his flight with his sisters to Ávila, where they suffer martyrdom; their burial and the basilica built.
St. Vincent, captured, Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, Spanish by nation, of Elbora in Carpetania by native place, b noble by lineage, true siblings by blood and catholic in religion and faith, while they were leading a virtuous life in their native city, serving God, there arose in Spain the monstrous persecution of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian against the followers of Christ, under the governor Dacian. For when he had crowned very many with martyrdom in the Gauls, and entering the Spains had at Barcelona, Saragossa, Toledo and elsewhere restored countless souls to glory through the straits of torments c, he came to Elbora of Carpetania, that he might order all the Christians he found to be presented to him. Here the attendants seized Vincent and set him in the governor's sight. Dacian seeing him, desiring to deceive him by flattery, said; Of what sect are you? Vincent, whose spirit was already clinging to heaven, answered: I worship Christ, from whose name I am called a Christian. The governor Dacian said: Do you worship that Christ whom the Jews crucified for his crimes? d Saint Vincent said: Be silent, devil e, and do not reproach him whom you ought to worship, if you were not a demon. Dacian, however, again * desiring to deceive him by flattery, said: I make allowance for your youth, because you have not come to the solid strength of prudence: yet it will be well for you, if you listen to me as a father and sacrifice to the gods. Vincent answering said: They lack solid understanding who, having abandoned the true and living God, who stretched out heaven with mighty hand and founded the earth, penetrated Tartarus, set a bound to the sea, worship stones and wood.
[2] is set before the governor Dacian, Dacian said: And who is God, who made all these things, if not Jupiter? St. Vincent answered: How useless Jupiter was, and how many debaucheries he committed, your books quite clearly set out. For our God is holy and immaculate: in essence one and three, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, whose power is eternal, whose goodness is boundless, and whose wonderful works testify to his divinity on every side f. It is he who covers the sky with clouds, and fittingly floods the dry earth with abundant dew of rains. By these and like words Dacian, filled with fury, said: Because you have not obeyed
my admonitions, it is beneath me to contend with you in words: for whatever you are going to say about your God, I have already heard from others, your unworthy, abandoned and cruelly slain companions. But you, have regard for your age and call back the example of others to true salvation, and sacrifice to the great god Jove. Then the holy Martyr said: You sacrifice to the most abandoned Jove, you who will perish and go with him into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his companions. Filled with indignation Dacian said in a huge voice to his attendants : Remove this most abominable man from my eyes: and recite the edict from the tablet , that he either sacrifice to the God Jove, or, in the same place where he refuses to sacrifice, condemn him, given over to various punishments, to a most shameful death.
[3] from whom he obtains a three days' respite: And as he was being led to sacrifice to Jove, when he came into one of the squares, suddenly the stone which lay under the sole of his foot was divinely * so softened that it was fully believed to be dust, and as the impression of any metal in wax, so that stone showed the seal of his foot. Which prodigy is seen to this day by those who look upon it. Terrified after this by so great a miracle, the soldiers say: The worshippers of our gods have done nothing like this: but it is evident that he is God whom Vincent worships, at whose command stones lose their strength. Hence they bring him back to his house to be guarded, and they said to Dacian: Lord, that young man asks three days' respite, that he may consider whether he wishes to die or sacrifice of his own will. And Dacian granted what was asked. In which space of days the Lord happily gained for himself many souls through the preaching of the most holy Martyr Vincent.
[4] he takes to flight with his sisters, Then, that they might bring some consolation to their weeping, Sabina and Christeta, his sisters, enter the cell of their brother's chains, and silence being kept, an opportunity found and no one standing by, they uttered with weeping such words as these: Spare, Lord, spare us. Already bereft of father and mother, you are lord to us, you father, you mother; to whom do you leave us to perish? Who do you think will be our lord , or who will not violate our virginity by barbarian right? And what unbridled wantonness will not pollute our souls and bodies? For a little while with appeased ear hear our lamentable suggestion: and let us take to flight together: so that if in flight we are overtaken by sinners, we may together, beheaded , give up our souls to God. But if we escape, the longer we shall lead with you a life with modesty, by so much holiness also will be heaped on us by God. Overcome at length by the weeping of his sisters, holy Vincent yielded, and together taking to flight by a swift departure on horseback they flee to Ávila. And immediately, on the information of a certain sacrilegious man sent ahead , the most bloodthirsty persecutors overtake them with a swifter cavalry.
[5] Finding them in the aforesaid city, they stripped them and cruelly bound them, and with them he is variously tortured, and leading them outside the gate, to the place which is now called Vastigia g, with the joints of their limbs severally stretched and forced apart up and down on the rack, they tore them with various blows, as they confessed God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and with their necks placed upon stones, a club being dashed down on their brains from above, the most holy siblings, consummated by such a martyrdom, together gave up their souls to the Lord. The soldiers, leaving the bodies unburied , return to Dacian with the greatest joy. And although they had left the bodies to be eaten by dogs, with no obstacle standing * in the way, and Christian pity itself did not dare approach the Martyrs at all h; suddenly by the nod of God there came out of the caverns of the earth a serpentine beast, which was accustomed to swallow living things, and with a sinuous bending of its body, its head raised high, it began to guard the dead Martyrs of Christ. A certain Jew, going along the road, was impelled by curiosity to view the bodies of the Martyrs.
[6] and at length, slain, he is miraculously buried. At once that serpent, raising its scaly neck, making a rolling attack, binding its body around him as with chains, stood so far above the top of the man's head as to raise its head on high. And he stood for the space of about one hour immovable, and, God inspiring him, raising his eyes upward, he uttered these words: Christ, defender of your servants, free me from this malign beast, that believing in you I may receive your seal, and may honourably bury the bodies of my lords, your friends; and I shall build a basilica in their name at my expense. As he said this, that serpent gradually loosed its twisting bonds with a very rapid stroke, and fleeing suddenly, appeared nowhere. He stood dazed and frozen, and when the space of another hour had passed, he began to turn over within himself, marvelling, so great a mystery. Straightway he enters the city, throws himself at the knees of the priests, asking that he might be found worthy to become a Christian, and that there be no delay in his purification, so that now a Christian he might bury the bodies of the Saints. He obtained what he had faithfully asked, and then, now born anew through the womb of the font , laying up the bodies of the saints in honourable sarcophagi, he built above them a basilica of wonderful work . In which if anyone prays with pure heart, with faithful devotion, from ready faith, what is asked comes at once unbidden and every infirmity is removed through him who crowns his saints through good confession, to whom is honour and glory, power and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
to investigate in what century the place, which today everywhere has its name from St. Vincent, was called Vastigia, because at that time the Acts were written: and thus we could indicate their age more nearly. But documents fail us.
* P. omits iterum
* P. officio
* P. recitavit
* P. omits divinitus
* P. Deus
* P. Trinitati
* P. te eminente
* P. eos, indicio cuidam sacrilego præmisso
* P. Vestigia
* P. adds et ne sepilirentur comminantes
* P. tegente
* P. parvo
* P. renatus
* P. novis
* P. adds decoratam