ON BL. ANTONY RUBEUS, CONFESSOR, NOT A BISHOP, OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR, AT SULMONA IN THE FORMER KINGDOM OF NAPLES,
BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Antony Rubeus, confessor, not a bishop, of the Order of Friars Minor, at Sulmona in Italy. (Bl.)
BY V. D. B.
§ Sole. The homeland of Bl. Antony and the convent of St. Nicholas. Bl. Philip of L'Aquila. The time of the death of Bl. Antony. His tomb and cult.
Sulmo in the land of the Paeligni, now in Abruzzo Citeriore, a province of the Kingdom of Naples, which was the homeland of Ovid, [In the convent of St. Nicholas at Sulmona, which shortly before Bl. Philip of L'Aquila had filled with the odor of his virtues,] is known even to schoolboys. It sits on the road by which one goes from Naples to L'Aquila and Chieti *, distant from the first city 69 miles, from the second 26, from the third 26. Its antiquity and praises I should not wish to pursue; these indeed will be given by Ferdinando Ughelli Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 1358 ff., Coleti edition., Lorenzo Giustiniani Dizionario geografico-ragionato del Regno di Napoli, vol. IX, p. 64 ff., Francesco Sacco Dizionario geografico-istorico del Regno di Napoli, vol. III, p. 427 ff., and Gaetano Moroni Dizionario di erudizione, vol. LXXI, p. 35 ff.. This one thing I shall note, that the inhabitants are about eight thousand, and that in the city besides the cathedral church there exist eight parish buildings, and three convents of men with two houses of nuns; which things we wrote before these refuges of piety were closed and destroyed by a deadly law. Outside the city in the year 1443 a convent of Friars Minor was built under the title of St. Nicholas; which convent was soon illustrated by the virtues of Bl. Philip of L'Aquila, a most keen pursuer of vices and a most diligent emulator of the better charisms, for a long time master of novices and a distinguished guardian, and immediately after his death, which he met on the 4th day of May of the year 1456, illustrious for miracles [Gonzaga, De origine seraphicæ religionis, p. 413, and Wadding, Annales Minorum, at the year 1443, no. 14.]. But see his Life at his birthday, the 5th of May Acta SS. vol. I of May, p. 548 ff..
[2] [Bl. Antony Rubeus professed the religious life, having died, not in the year 1530,] When Bl. Antony Rubeus put on the religious habit there has been to me somewhat ambiguous, since the testimonies do not agree on when he departed from the living. Mark of Lisbon Chronicle of the Minors, part III, book IX, ch. 47., who seems to be the first of all to mention him, and whom Arthur du Moustier Martyrologium Franciscanum, at the 15th of Oct., Fortunat Hueber Menologium Franciscanum, at the 15th of Oct., and Benedetto Mazzara or Pietro Antonio of Venice Leggendario Francescano, vol. X, p. 358, edition of Antonio of Venice. closely follow, narrates at the year 1530 that he was a pupil of the province of St. Bernardine; a man notable for humility and religion; that he long discharged the office of master of novices with the highest diligence; that he gave himself assiduously to prayer, and that St. Francis very often came to him to his greatest comfort; that a little before his death he arose from his bed and expired prostrate on the ground and praying to God. And so Mazzara, or rather Pietro Antonio of Venice Loc. cit., and according to him a certain anonymous writer Hagiologium italicum, vol. II, p. 261., who published Ferrari's Catalogue of the Saints of Italy enlarged in the year 1773, recorded that he died in the year 1530: while as for Hueber's having the year 1550, it is a typographical slip.
[3] but before the beginning of the sixteenth century. But he must have died before the beginning of the sixteenth century. For his name is read in the Series and number of the provinces and places of the regular observance, collected by an Italian Observant Friar Minor and offered by the vicar general of the Observants to the general chapter of Rome in the year 1506 In Wadding, Annales Minorum, at the year 1506, no. 10, vol. XV, p. 317.. Of which writing the author notes these things at the end Ibid., p. 341.: I have inserted in the catalogues of convents the names and a brief memorial of the Brethren illustrious in piety and holiness of life who rest in the convents of this family. And so, reviewing the convents of the province of St. Bernardine, at no. 18, he records this Ibid., p. 333.: St. Nicholas near Sulmona; where Philip of L'Aquila, formerly in the world Ambrose, archpriest of L'Aquila, and also Antony of Sulmona, a man of profound humility, who a little before his death leaped from his bed, and kneeling on the ground breathed out his spirit. It is necessary, then, that in the year 1506 Bl. Antony had long since died, and that Mark of Lisbon, before whom these words plainly shone, referred by an imprudent conjecture to about the year 1530 what he had found without indication of time.
[4] [He died on the 28th day of October, and his body was so placed under the altar, once and again, as to lie open to the veneration of the people.] Let it be certain, then, that the servant of God departed to a better life not about the year 1530, but before the beginning of the sixteenth century; although the time cannot be designated more accurately, except that he died after Bl. Philip of L'Aquila, with whom he probably lived for some time. Of the day we have better information. Arthur, Mazzara, and Hueber, not having attained the day of his death, had commemorated Bl. Antony of Sulmona at the 15th day of October; but Pietro Antonio of Venice, who saw to the third edition of Mazzara, received from the people of Sulmona records from which he learned that the birthday of the most holy man is the 28th of October. He could also hand down these things, by which his cult is made manifest: The body of Bl. Antony of Sulmona was honorably stored under the altar, a little window being set before it, and iron bars in the middle, that the reliquary might be seen from the front part of the altar, and two angels painted at the sides of the little window, holding a shield, on which were inscribed these words: TO THE BLESSED FATHER BROTHER ANTONY RUBEUS OF SULMONA OF THE ORDER OF MINORS OF THE REGULAR OBSERVANCE. And this body to this day has been preserved with veneration for about two hundred years (now more than three hundred sixty). But when the church was renovated about the year 1680 Compare Acta SS. vol. I of May, p. 548., it was stored by order of the bishop under the altar in the chapel of St. Francis, in the same form in which until that time it had been kept under the other altar, with the tolerance of the deceased bishops. Since then for many more than a hundred years before 1634 the remains of Bl. Antony were exposed to public veneration, the author of the Hagiologium Italicum did not hesitate to give the holy man a place in his work; than which however none is severer or more diligent in observing the decrees of Pope Urban VIII. The brief Life published by him is a synopsis of the encomium which Pietro Antonio of Venice inserted in the Legendary of Mazzara; which encomium is excellently written, except that, in keeping with the more recent temper of the nation, it is rather wordy. The brevity of the hagiologist pleases more.
Annotata* Chieti
BRIEF LIFE OF BL. ANTONY RUBEUS OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR
taken from the Hagiologium Italicum.
Antony Rubeus, confessor, not a bishop, of the Order of Friars Minor, at Sulmona in Italy. (Bl.)
[The severe and humble life, distinguished mastership of novices, and holy death of Bl. Antony.] At Sulmona a, of the noble family de Rubeis b, was born Bl. Antony; who, leaving the pomps of the world, in his youth took the habit of the seraphic institute among the Friars Minor whom they call Observants, then flourishing with a wonderful fervor of discipline. All virtues, but especially humility, he zealously cultivated; and when he had become a perfect pattern of a religious man, he was appointed master of novices c; which office exercising excellently for many years, he instructed in the best way the young men committed to his care in the observance of the rule and the cultivation of the virtues. Whatever time remained from his office, he spent it all in assiduous contemplation; in which he very often saw St. Francis appearing to him and merited to enjoy conversation with him. Consumed at last by austerity of life and labors, he fell into a grave illness; and when he recognized that he was now near the last moment, rising from his little bed, though with weak strength, he fell on his knees d, and fervently commending himself to God gave up his soul on the 28th day of October, in the year 1530 e. His body was placed under the altar with this inscription: To the blessed father Brother Antony Rubeus of Sulmona of the Order of Minors of the regular Observance f.