Eusebia

ON ST. EUSEBIA, VIRGIN, VENERATED AS A MARTYR, AT BERGAMO IN ITALY,

PERHAPS IN THE 7TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Eusebia, virgin and martyr, at Bergamo in Italy. (S.)

BY V. D. B.

§ Sole section. The cemetery basilica of St. Andrew; the discovery of the bodies of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia; why they appear to have flourished after the death of the persecutors; why they are called martyrs; memory in the calendars; chosen as patrons of Bergamo; consecration of a new church and solemn translation; the Claudia family, also called Zoppi, said to be of the kindred of the three saints.

That it was formerly not the custom for corpses to be laid up within the walls of cities, both because the ancient Roman laws opposed it, In the suburban basilica of St. Andrew at Bergamo, long preserved from enemies, and because Theodosius by a new law had removed the contrary custom which was spreading, we have quite often pointed out in this work and also in this very volume, p. 359. For this reason, since the faithful loved to rest either near the tombs of martyrs or not far from the eucharistic altars, as soon as it was permitted, there were built around the towns sacred buildings, commonly called basilicas, which all or nearly all were cemeterial. Bergamo could not lack this kind of building, enclosed indeed like nearly all fortified places within a narrow circuit of walls, but the most ancient place of Venetia, from the borders of Pannonia, as Paul the Deacon speaks

On the deeds of the Lombards, book II, chapter 14., extended as far as the river Adda, a municipium [Cato in Pliny, Natural History, book III, chapter 17; Zanchi, de Cenoman. situ ac Bergomi rebus antiquis, book III, in Grævius, Thesaurus Italiæ, vol. III, col. 834 and following; Fr. Bellafino, de Urbis Bergomi origine et temporibus, in Grævius, Thes. Ital. vol. IX, part VII; Barth. Farina, de Bergomi origine et fatis, in the same.]. And indeed in a diploma of Aistulf [In Mario Lupo, Codex diplom. civitatis et ecclesiæ Bergomatis, vol. I, col. 437 and 438.], given in the year 755, I find the basilica of the most blessed levite and martyr of Christ Lawrence, situated outside the walls of the fortress of Bergamo; and, what pertains more nearly to our matter, in a monument on the payment of the price of a vineyard Ibid., col. 599 and 600., drawn up in the reign of our lords Charles and Pepin, true most excellent kings of the Lombards in Italy, in the twelfth year, of Christ 785, and on the fifth day, the fifth entering of the month of May, in the eighth indiction, … Gaidoald, dwelling outside near the citizens of Bergamo, near the basilica of St. Andrew. At which place Lupo observes: You see now that the church of St. Andrew was situated outside the city, and that near the same church houses had been built, in one of which the man who is listed in this charter lived. There thus appear the beginnings of that suburb, which later was called St. Andrew's and extended further. This building could easily stand there in the most difficult times. For although the upper part of Italy was trampled by nearly all the barbarians, and although the people of Bergamo have let themselves be persuaded by their historians [Barth. Farina, de Bergomi origine et fatis, p. 5 and following, Grævius's edition.] that their city was devastated by Attila, destroyed by Genseric, overturned by Igor, violated by Odoacer, plundered by Totila and the Goths, and cruelly handled by the Lombards, yet it stood so unharmed that in the 8th century this was held a singular benefit of God, granted on account of the purity of the faith. Wherefore in the rhymed poem which in the year 707 Master Moses wrote to Justinian II, the Byzantine emperor, on the praises of Bergamo, he asks God to continue to watch over this city, using this reasoning In Muratori, Scriptt. Italiæ, vol. V, p. 529.:

For this people, by cherishing Thy laws and rights,

Has not deserted Thee by following a foreign dogma.

Hence indeed, having often obtained a great reward,

It was safe from peril in the midst of enemies.

For the neighbourhood was often demolished by foreign war,

This stood, frightened in no part.

[2] [In the year 1401 the relics of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia, and also of SS. Alexander, Narnus, and Viator, seemed to have been found.] But the fortunes of this basilica, to which the discourse will return below, are not to be recounted in this place. Whatever therefore may have been the changes of the times, however great the perils which this building underwent, it was still standing in the year 1401; in which year a new celebrity came to it. Hear an eyewitness, Castello de Castello, notary of Bergamo Ibid., vol. XVI, col. 925.: In the year 1401, on Sunday, the 24th of July, in the morning, a sarcophagus was opened, being in the church of St. Andrew, under the high altar of the said church, by the whole clergy of Bergamo: in which sarcophagus were found three bodies of martyrs, namely of Domino and Domnonus and Eusebia, both grandchildren of the said Domno of Bergamo, as appeared by a writing upon a squared stone found in the said sarcophagus: and which bodies I Castello saw, and I read the said writing; and the said sarcophagus was opened that it might rain, because there was then a very great drought, so that trees, vines, and fruits were drying up; and after a few days it rained. And on the first day of August of the said year the said sarcophagus was closed. And on the 27th day of the said month of July two sarcophagi were found under two altars, being in the Holy Bodies of divine Alexander; under one of the said altars was found the body of the lord St. Narnus, bishop, and from the skull of the same saint Orcebati of most clear water; and nearly all the people of Bergamo caused some little of that water to be received with the greatest solemnity; which altar is on the morning side of the said church, and under the other altar was found the body of St. Viator, bishop, and which is on the evening side of the said church, in the Holy Bodies. And a very great solemnity was held by the whole clergy of Bergamo, and by the greatest part of the people of Bergamo. And on the last Sunday of July a solemn mass was celebrated beside the gate of St. Alexander, inside, under the Elm, and there was preaching on the discovery of the said bodies; and it was determined that the said sarcophagi, which had then been broken by making a hole in the said sarcophagi so large that a man could have put in two fists with his arms, the said two holes should be well closed, so that no one might take away anything of the said bodies. And this was done because of the very great drought of waters, and that the Lord God might make it rain. And on the day following the said discovery it rained in the city and elsewhere in its district; and it stormed moderately; and on the last day of the said month it rained and stormed.*

[3] [The inscription found on the sepulchre of the former; the other inscription does not pertain to them.] It appeared therefore by a writing upon a squared stone, found in the sarcophagus or stone burial-chest, that three bodies of martyrs had been found, namely of Domino, rather Domnio, and of Domno, and of Eusebia, both grandchildren of the said Domnio of Bergamo. This stone still survives, whose inscription according to an accurate (as is asserted) copy Finazzi, Cenni sulla dedicazione del nuovo tempio di S. Andrea, p. 26. we produce in this place:

HIC REQVIESCVNT

IN PA' B' M' DOMNIO

CVM NEPOTIBVS SVIS

EVSEBIA ET DOMNONE

DEP' DOMNO AVVS XVII

K' AVGVS' EVSEBIA IIII

NOVENB' DOMNIO

NON' IAN'

[Here rest in peace, of good memory, Domnio with his grandchildren Eusebia and Domno. Deposited: Domno the grandfather on the 17th before the kalends of August; Eusebia on the 4th before November; Domnio on the nones of January.]

But although these are said to have been copied not carelessly, I do not doubt that they have been wrongly printed, and so are to be corrected according to other copies and according to several writings about these bodies, in this manner:

HIC REQVIESCVNT

IN PA' B' M' DOMNIO

CVM NEPOTIBVS SVIS

EVSEBIA ET DOMNONE

DEP' DOMNIO AVVS XVII

K' AVGVS' EVSEBIA IIII

NOVENB' DOMNIO

K' NON' IAN'

[Here rest in peace, of good memory, Domnio with his grandchildren Eusebia and Domno. Deposited: Domnio the grandfather on the 17th before the kalends of August; Eusebia on the 4th before November; Domnio on the day before the nones of January, as K' NON' IAN' reads.]

Muzio Sacra istoria di Bergamo, p. 139. and Celestino In Finazzi, p. 28. hold that there was also found in the coffin at that time another stone, inscribed in Gothic character with these words:

Anno dni mcc

lxxxxv. die

kalendarū iunii.

tūc lapsa nona fu

it hic inventa coro

na coclear et si

phus que sūt arg

eutea dōa

[In the year of the Lord 1295, on the day of the kalends of June, the ninth hour being then past, there was found here a crown, a spoon, and a cup, which are silver gifts.]

But those things are reported without authority. This one thing is established, that in the year 1295 there were found in the church a crown, a spoon, and a cup of silver, which were accustomed to be parts of the sacred ministry, and that in memory of this thing that stone was placed.

[4] [Others contend that the bodies found were not of martyrs, first because those martyrs were not known before;] The former monument therefore ought alone to detain us. But, as is understood from the writing of Finazzi, who last of all published a commentary on the affairs of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia, several among the people of Bergamo appear to doubt whether at the beginning of the 15th century their fathers rightly decided that bodies of martyrs had been found by them. Their arguments I have seen proposed nowhere; but they can easily be divined. These then I shall endeavour to set forth briefly. The first is that before that discovery those holy martyrs were plainly unknown; that their names do not come in the Hieronymian Martyrology, nor in the Little Roman, that of Ado, of Rabanus, of Wandalbert, of Notker, and of Usuard, or in any additions to the same; similarly that their names are not read in the calendars of Bergamo of the 11th and 12th century, formerly copied by Lupo Ibid., p. 38.; that no Passion of the same, older than that discovery, has ever been found at Bergamo or elsewhere Ibid., p. 43 and following.. To this others reply that similarly in ancient documents and calendars no mention is made of St. John, bishop and martyr, of St. James, martyr, of St. Projectitius, martyr, and of St. Estheria, virgin and martyr. Are these names too then to be struck from the roll of martyrs? Were the people of Bergamo similarly deceived, when in the year 1291, in the middle of the church of St. Alexander, they uncovered their four corpses? For, as is read in an old parchment codex Ibid., p. 34., it was not known by the people where they lay hidden, or that they were among us, or who they were, nor how great benefits they had conferred on us. That the people of Bergamo were then deceived Muratori affirms in the Annals of Italy at the year 659 [Annals of Italy, vol. IV, p. 117. Compare Ronchetti, Memorie storiche di Bergamo, vol. I, p. 63 and following.]; indeed to Zanetti Del regno de' Longobardi, book IV, p. 469. it seemed una pretta impostura a sheer imposture. Mario Lupo answered Muratori and Zanetti copiously and learnedly Codex diplomaticus Bergomas, vol. I, prodr. col. 335 and following.; but there are lacking in his disputation documents older than the year 1291, and a refutation of the opposing arguments.

[5] [Second, because the names, especially Domno, do not smack of the opening 4th century, but rather of later times;] The second argument is that the names Domno and Domnio were scarcely or not even scarcely in use at the beginning of the 4th century. In these names several things are to be considered. Under the free republic the appellation of lord was odious: but under the rule of the emperors it gradually prevailed, and it was even carried over to common life, so that friends on meeting called one another in greeting by the word lord, so that the husband called his wife, the wife her husband, a brother his brother, sons their parents, and even parents their sons, lords, for the sake of veneration or love: of which custom traces survive on stones [Compare de Phialis rubricatis, pp. 28 and 29; Edm. Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes des Gaules, no. 202, vol. I, p. 279 and following.]. Meanwhile, as the power of the accent grew [Weil and Benloew, Théorie générale de l'accentuation latine, p. 176 and following.], the first syllable of the word became as it were long, and the next following so much the shorter, and soon suppressed: whence arose domnus. At first this appellation was common, like that now in use in French, monsieur; but gradually it became a proper name among Christians: so that at the end of the 3rd century and the beginning of the following, among the martyrs and the Nicene fathers, especially Easterners, some few are found called by the proper name Domnus, and

a woman called Domna. It was the next step that from this Domnio should be formed; for when Latin letters were flourishing, there had already crept in, in imitation of the Greeks, the diminutive or rather ὑποκοριστικα form in -io, not only in common nouns, for instance pusio, homuncio, senecio, but also in proper names, for example Tyrannio, Dorio, Olympio, Acanthio, Glabrio, Turpio, Asellio, Ephestio, Felicio, Publio, Rufio, Secundio, Communio, Ofellio, Ursio, Quartio, Chrestio, Porphyrio, Lupio, Malcio, Primio, Helenio, Sextio, Agathio, Peccio, Athenio, etc. Marini, Gli atti e monumenti de' fratelli Arvali, p. 249 and following.. But Domnio is a rare name; for by it was called no bishop who is read to have been present at councils; which you would seek in vain in class XX of Reinesius's Syntagma, containing Christian monuments; and which is also absent from the Christian inscriptions which Muratori published in the New Thesaurus of inscriptions, and from others which Marini collected and Mai published in volume V of the Veterum scriptorum, or which Marini himself inserted in his Acts of the Arval brethren. Yet a certain Domnio, a bishop, and another, a chamberlain, are venerated among the martyrs on the 11th of April at Salona in Dalmatia; but since their Passion is not free of fabulousness, their age cannot be established Acta SS. vol. II of April, p. 5 and following.. Whence it comes about that that name does not certainly occur to me before the year 363; to which year belongs the following Veronese inscription Maffei, Museum Veronense, p. CCCX, no. 5.:

DOMNIONI. BENEMERENTI

QVI VIXIT. ANN. XL. MEN. VIII

V. IDVS. OCT. IVLIANO. IIII. ET. SALLVSTIO

COSS

[To the well-deserving Domnio, who lived 40 years, 8 months; on the 5th before the ides of October, Julian for the fourth time and Sallust being consuls.]

But in Domno there is a more certain indication of newness. For this name is the same as Domnus; and, as in the Commentary on St. Fulcus in this very volume we saw that the same man was called indiscriminately Fulcus and Fulco, so we detect Domnus in Domno. But these forms are very different; nor could Domno be introduced except when the Latin language was much corrupted. In very truth pavus and pavo were known to the ancient Romans, and some few other words of this kind, whose double ending goes back to the very origin of the language. But Domno has another cause. When the Latin language began to be wholly corrupted, the difference of cases was neglected and gradually the oblique cases prevailed, especially the accusative. Hence in place of meus was said meum or meon, whence mon; cardus became cardum, cardon, chardon; sulcus, sulcum, sulcon, sillon; limus, limum, limon; radius, radium, rayon [De Chevallet, Origine et formation de la langue française, part II, vol. II, p. 17.]. Which change pervaded not only the Gauls, but also Italy and Spain; except that in Italy names did not end in -on, but in -o or -one. Domno therefore comes from the accusative Domnum or (if it be preferred) from the ablative Domno. Which form, when it was received by use into vulgar Latin, was at first indeclinable, and so in all cases with the invariable ending -o there occur in Gallic inscriptions of the 6th and 7th century Ursiniano, Gallo, Fidencio, Miro, and Servilio [Compare Edm. Le Blant, Inscriptions, no. 293, vol. I, p. 396; no. 378, vol. II, p. 14; no. 609, §52, p. 442; no. 650, B, p. 529.]. But the necessity of declining nouns in the Latin language gradually caused that in the genitive case there came about Domnonis, Ursinianonis, Gallonis, etc., the accent (which however is moved from its place only with difficulty) being transferred from the first to the second syllable [Compare Diez, Grammatik der romanischen Sprachen, vol. II, p. 220 and following; Weil and Benloew, Théorie générale de l'accentuation latine, p. 272 and following.]. Now who would believe that in the 6th and 7th century names in -o were still so recent in the Gauls that no declined one is found there at that time, and that at the beginning of the 4th century the Latin language was so corrupted at Bergamo that through the abolition of the cases new nominatives had arisen, and these with a new manner of declining, and that this corruption should appear in inscriptions otherwise diligently and accurately drawn up? No one, surely, who has given any attention to linguistics. And if it be preferred to explain the word Domnonis by the common law, according to which in the neo-Romance languages words, lengthened by the diminutive ending -ion or -ione or the augmentative -on or -one, have been substituted for innumerable simple words, without the meaning being changed, the conclusion will be the same, since at the opening of the 4th century almost no traces of this depravation occur, which before the 6th century appear only very rarely in proper names.

[6] [Third, because the inscription has the form of inscriptions of the 6th and 7th century;] The third argument is sought from these words of the epitaph: HIC REQUIESCIT IN PA. B. M. etc., which without controversy are to be interpreted thus: Hic requiescit in pace bonæ memoriæ, etc. This whole formula Edmond Le Blant Inscriptions chrétiennes des Gaules, preface, p. IX. did not find inscribed on sepulchral stones in the Gauls before the year 488; but thereafter in the 6th century it was in much use. The individual parts are somewhat older, yet not much. The oldest Roman inscription which begins Hic requiescit was written in the year 396; which formula was not received in the Gauls before the opening of the 5th century Ibid., p. VIII.. Bonæ memoriæ I have not found in Roman inscriptions before the year 342 De Rossi, Inscriptiones christianæ, p. 51.; in the Gauls the same formula appears from the year 473 to 689 Compare Le Blant, p. X.. The expression in pace is very ancient; but Hic requiescit in pace is not seen in the Gauls before the year 469 Compare Le Blant, p. IX., nor at Rome before the year 401 Ibid., p. 215, no. 501.. But to what archæologists will the people of Bergamo persuade that among them first existed one who was called Domno; that at Bergamo there was first inscribed on an inscription Hic requiescit; first Hic requiescit in pace; first Bonæ memoriæ, and indeed with the sigla B. M., as if indications understood by all; and finally that all these things were first gathered together at Bergamo in one inscription? A great mass, surely. But there survives an example of a Bergamo inscription in which both a certain year is written and which begins with these solemn words: HIC REQUIESCIT IN PACE B. M. For it is the very inscription of St. John, bishop, from whom the people of Bergamo fashioned a martyr and who flourished, on the testimony of Paul the Deacon and others, at the end of the 7th century [Compare Muratori, Annals of Italy, vol. IV, p. 117; Ronchetti, Memorie, vol. I, p. 63 and following.]. Take this inscription, whose form comes very near to the epitaph of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia [In Muratori, loc. cit.; in Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. IV, col. 413, Venice edition.]:

HIC REQVIESCIT IN PACE B. M. IOANNES

EPS. QVI VIXIT ANN. Ī. M. XXII.

DP. SV * K. D. IND. IIII IMPER.

IVSTINIANO.

[Here rests in peace, of good memory, John, bishop, who lived years Ī, months 22. Deposited SV * K. D., indiction 4, Justinian being emperor.]

Now in the reign of Justinian II, the Constantinopolitan fourth indiction in the month of November or December coincided with the year 690; so that all things tend to this, that SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia do not appear to have suffered martyrdom under Maximian Herculius, but to have lived much later, perhaps in the 7th century.

[7] [Fourth, because the Sardinians and the people of Nola similarly let themselves be deceived.] The fourth argument finally is that others have been deluded by a similar error. At the opening of the 17th century, when the inhabitants of Sardinia came upon inscriptions, a great part of which had the sigla B. M., that is BONÆ or BEATÆ MEMORIÆ, they took it into their minds that they had among them a cemetery of blessed martyrs; they brought out three hundred bodies; they gave twenty to the people of Piacenza with ninety other relics; and, Bonfant's Triumpho being published Triumpho de los santos del regno de Cerdeña., they communicated their joy to the whole world. But the error of the Sardinians has long been recognized by all [Compare the Acts of St. Lucifer of Cagliari, Acta SS. vol. V of May, p. 219*; Muratori, Antiq. Italiæ, vol. V, col. 17.]. Similarly the people of Nola, when two hundred years ago they uncovered this inscription Remondini, della Nolana eccl. storia, vol. I, p. 510.:

† DPS. SANC. M. DMN

AVRELIANI EPISC. IN PACE

QVI BIXIT. ANNS

PL, M, LXXX

SEDIT. ANN, XXXVIII

DP. ES OCTABV KAL AVG

[Deposition of holy memory of the Lord Aurelian, bishop, in peace, who lived 80 years more or less, sat 38 years; he was deposited on the eighth before the kalends of August.]

and this other, set up in the year 553 Ibid., vol. I, p. 510, and vol. III, p. 74.:

DEP. SANCTE. M. REPARATI

DIAC. DPS. D. XIIII. KAL. NOVEMB.

XII. P. C. BASILI V. C.

[Deposition of holy memory of Reparatus, deacon; deposited on the 14th day before the kalends of November, in the 12th year after the consulate of Basil, of clarissimus rank.]

The people of Nola, I say, having misread the inscriptions, and not knowing that of holy and blessed memory is an honorific appellation by which deceased bishops, presbyters, and deacons were formerly named Compare Acta SS. vol. IX of October, p. 305., did not doubt that they had uncovered the sepulchres of two holy martyrs; and they sent the latter inscription, copied in the following manner, to Ughelli Italia sacra, vol. VI, col. 253, Venice edition., from whom others also received it Hagiologium Ital. vol. II, p. 269.:

DEP. SANCTI MARTYRIS

REPARATI DIACONI

AN. DXII KAL. NOV. XII IN

PACE. RAS. NIVI seu NIVC

[Deposition of the holy martyr Reparatus, deacon, in the year 512, kalends of November, 12, in peace. RAS. NIVI or NIVC.]

These things (if I am not mistaken) the opponents can propose.

[8] [Others contend that they are martyrs, alleging the writing of Benaglio on their discovery,] But those who think otherwise do not consider themselves vanquished. They bring first of all the passage of Castello, the eyewitness, which I recited above. To which they subjoin this other of Michele A. of Carrara, who was nearly contemporary with the discovery and who doubted no more than Castello. These are his words Annals of Italy, book CL and last, in Finazzi, p. 25.: In the year of our redemption 1401 there were found the bodies of our saints Donneo, Domno, and Eusebia the virgin, citizens of Bergamo, in the church of divine Andrew. To these they subjoin also this passage of Marcantonio Benaglio [De antiquitate et gestis divorum Bergomatum, book VI, chapter 6, in Finazzi, p. 36.]: *History of the discovery of the bodies of the holy martyrs Domneo, Domno, and Eusebia, citizens of Bergamo. In the year of the nativity of Christ 1401, on the 24th of July, which was a Sunday, when a very great drought of the air had preceded and continued, … the people of Bergamo were pressed by anguish of mind: for not only were the fruits of the earth fit for food seen to wither, but also the trees and vines. When therefore they judged that divine help was to be invoked, they went to the bishop of the city of Bergamo, Francis by name, newly elected; from whom they asked the manner of supplication, and he answered that he had read in a certain old schedule that three bodies of martyrs had been buried of old in the sacred building of divine Andrew. Thinking

indeed that, if these were found, it would rain, they decided upon and assembled the order of a procession, of which the bishop offered himself as leader; and with the Reverend Lord John, the 18th abbot of Astino, with his monks and with the whole clergy, when they had arrived there most devoutly, they opened a certain monument, existing under the high altar of the aforesaid church, and there were found those three bodies of blessed martyrs. A few days after, rain fell abundantly from heaven; and on the first day of August of the same year they closed the said monument… These things we have had from the memorial book of Castello of Bergamo and from the 150th and last book of the Annals of Italy of Michele of Carrara.*

[9] Swarming with errors. But, that judgment may be passed on these things, it must first be known that Marcantonio Benaglio flourished about the year 1530 and is the same whose writings on the saints of Bergamo Antonio Guarnerio abridged and published at Bergamo in the year 1583. The passage recited has thus been taken from a manuscript book of Benaglio, which showed the way to the editor Guarnerio. Next it must necessarily be observed that neither Castello nor the man of Carrara says a word of Bishop Francis and of an old schedule read by him; so that from their writings Benaglio could not have drawn what he reported to have been done by Bishop Francis. And indeed he appears to have said all this by divining; but he divined very badly. For at that time Francesco de Lantis was not even bishop of Bergamo. Ludovico Bonetto, namely, had been installed in the see of Bergamo in the year 1399; but, being a curial man, he appears never to have come to Bergamo, and in the year 1401 he gave up this chair, having been created archbishop of Pisa Compare Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. IV, col. 481.. The see was still vacant two months after the discovery of the relics; for on the 24th of September of the year 1401 Mordino de Bottanuco, the elected capitular vicar, granted to Biagio de Cluxiano, bishop of Beirut, the exercise of pontifical functions Ibid., note 2.. Indeed only on Sunday, the 26th of the month of November of the same year 1401, as Castello, the eyewitness, reports Chronicle of Bergamo, in Muratori, vol. V, col. 927., the reverend father the lord Francesco de Landis of Pisa, bishop designated by apostolic letters of the 4th of August of the same year [Vinc. Coronelli, Rer. et temp. ecclesiæ Bergomensis synopsis, p. 24, Grævius's edition; Ronchetti, Memorie della città e Chiesa di Bergamo, vol. VI, p. 10.], honourably entered Bergamo as bishop, namely with adorned vestments and those due for making the entry… And on Thursday, the 19th of November 1406, the aforesaid lord bishop departed from Bergamo, and returned to Cremona as bishop, as he had been before his coming. The clerics then, not the bishop, carried out this whole business. Nor are they said by Castello to have sought the remains of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia, of whom indeed no one knew anything, and of whom no documents survived; but they appear to have known that relics of holy martyrs lay in the church of St. Andrew; and in fact they found there the bodies of SS. Alexander, Narnus, and Viator: for he who is called St. Orcebatus appears to have been fashioned by the printers from the word scaturiebat.

[10] How much the argument avails that blessed martyrs were buried under altars. But the bodies of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia were found under an altar, which was the seat of the martyrs from the first times. So St. John before the end of the first century Apoc. VI, 9.: I saw under the altar the souls of those slain for the word of God; so in the Liber pontificalis Bianchini's edition, vol. I, p. 27. it is reported that Pope St. Felix I, who suffered martyrdom in the year 284, established that masses be celebrated over the sepulchres of the martyrs; so St. Optatus of Milevis Against Parmenian, Works, Migne's edition, col. 1065. called the altars built over the sepulchres of martyrs the seat of the body and blood of Christ; so St. Prudentius in the Peristephanon Hymn XI, v. 171 and following, Migne's edition, col. 549. on the sepulchral altar of St. Hippolytus:

To such recesses the body of Hippolytus is committed,

Close by which an altar dedicated to God has been set.

That table, giver of the sacrament, and at the same time

Set as faithful guardian of its martyr,

Keeps his bones in the sepulchre for the hope of the eternal Judge,

And likewise feeds the Tiber-dwellers with holy banquets.

Many other passages, which are commonly recited by archæologists, I omit. And certainly it is beyond controversy that altars were placed over the bodies of martyrs, if they were to be had; but if they were not to be had, the construction of altars was not for that reason omitted. But this was at all times the care of Christians, that their bodies after death should be laid in the holiest places, and so that they should be associated with the sepulchres of holy martyrs Compare Edm. Le Blant, Inscriptions, vol. I, p. 471 and following. or be laid in their oratories and basilicas Ibid., vol. II, p. 219 and following.. To set a limit to these things, emperors, councils, and bishops passed many laws; but popular ardour always won. An exceptional regard however was always had for the founders of churches, to whom was permitted what was denied to others. Hence on a broken stone, formerly dug up at Arles, is read Ibid., p. 273.:

…

EXTRVCTOR TEM

PLI. QVO. CORPORIS. ARTOS

ORNA. SEPVLCHRALIS

RETINET. CVM PACE

PERENNI. QVIQUE…

…

[… builder of the temple, in which the sepulchral adornment holds the limbs of his body with perpetual peace, and who …]

For this reason St. Ambrose, when he had built the Ambrosian basilica, chose for himself a place under the altar; which he afterwards yielded to SS. Gervase and Protase. But, as St. Ambrose himself speaks Letter XXII, no. 13, Works, vol. III, col. 1023., he had destined this place for himself, because it is fitting that a priest rest there where he has been accustomed to offer. So it is; but when it pleased him to lay up the holy martyrs there, he did not lack a reason: Let the triumphal victims, he says, come into the place where Christ is the host. Nor were bishops or martyrs alone buried under altars; for in the testament of St. Ephrem the deacon Acta SS. vol. I of February, p. 61. we read this: If anyone by fallacious reasonings shall dare to place me under the altar, may such a one never see the supernal and heavenly altar. For it is not fitting that a worm, swarming with rottenness, be laid up in the temple and sanctuary of the Lord; but do not permit me to be placed in any other place of the temple. But these were not the sentiments of all; so that the bishops had continually to struggle lest churches and all their parts be filled with sepulchres. It will not therefore be easily persuaded to all that all the bodies which are found buried under altars in ancient basilicas are those of martyrs. Yet it did not happen by accident that SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia attained so signal an honour; nor is the conjecture absurd of Mario Muzio Sacra istoria di Bergamo, part III, p. 23., who assigns to them the building of the basilica of St. Andrew.

[11] [Since those saints are entered in the Roman Martyrology, this business is left to the sacred congregation of rites.] And these are the things which are either proposed or can be proposed on both sides; but concerning which I plainly do not wish to declare my opinion. After the discovery had been made, namely, the people of Bergamo established the keeping of the birthday of each, nine lessons being composed in honour of St. Domneo (rather Domnio) and as many in honour of St. Domnio (rather Domno); which Finazzi has recently published Cenni, p. 44 and following.. Nor do I doubt that the same honour was done to St. Eusebia, although lessons about her are not found in the same Lectionary from which those were drawn Ibid., loc. cit.. The names of the three saints were thus received into the calendars of Bergamo. In the Diurnal of the year 1505 this order was enjoined Ibid., p. 38.: ON THE NONES OF JANUARY: of Domnio, martyr of Bergamo, minor double. — ON THE 17TH BEFORE THE KALENDS OF AUGUST: of Domnio martyr, double. — ON THE 4TH BEFORE THE KALENDS OF NOVEMBER: of St. Eusebia, virgin and martyr, double. And Peregrino, in the calendar inserted in the second part of his Vinea, which in the year 1532 he offered to and approved for the cathedral chapter, wrote this Cenni, p. 39.: On the nones of January (5 January) the vigil of Epiphany, and of Domnio, martyr, citizen of Bergamo, whose body rests in the parish church of St. Andrew under the high altar; and of his relics there are some in the church of St. Vincent under the crypt altar. — On the 17th before the kalends of August (16 July) of Domno, martyr, citizen of Bergamo; whose body rests in the church of St. Andrew under the high altar. — On the 4th before the kalends of November (29 October) of Eusebia, virgin and martyr, citizen of Bergamo; whose body rests in the church of St. Andrew.* Galesini in the manuscript Sanctuary of Bergamo, which he is reported to have composed in the year 1552 (?) at the order of St. Charles Borromeo, records SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia, martyrs, according to Guarnerio, by whom we said that Benaglio's writings were abridged and in the year 1584 published; but also the same Galesini, in the Martyrology accommodated to the use of the Holy Roman church and published in the year 1578, at the days 5 January, 16 July, and 29 October makes memory of the same saints, following (as he professes in the annotations) the tables or liturgical calendar of the church of Bergamo. Which announcements and annotations Baronius transferred unchanged into his Roman Martyrology; where they have been preserved the same until now. I know indeed that our predecessors and other learned men were not once praised by Benedict XIV, because they had modestly suggested that some names should be deleted from the Roman Martyrology, others inserted into it, certain places changed, certain ones explained. But I do not dare to seek this praise; and therefore I said a little above that I do not wish to declare my opinion on the discovery, the martyrdom, and the claim of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia, because I should prefer to leave this business entire to the sacred congregation of rites, if ever the Roman Martyrology, corrected in innumerable places in the pontificate of Gregory XIII, then revised by the authority of Urban VIII and Clement X, and finally chastened with new cares by Benedict XIV himself, should seem to have to be subjected anew to the rod of the censors.

[12] The Life and offices of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia. The cult of the three saints has persevered and grown at Bergamo down to this day. The offices, written by Canon Guarnerio, were approved by Pope Sixtus V in the year 1587 and differ in few words from the very brief Passion which that same Guarnerio inserted in the Commentaries on the life and deeds of the saints of Bergamo, published in the year 1584, and which our predecessors took care to have printed anew, partly at the 5th of January, partly at the 16th of July. There would remain to be printed in this place the part which concerns St. Eusebia; but since this same part exists in Ferrari's Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and in the Italian Hagiology, books not rare, it is better to omit it, and another a little older, never printed, and sent to us by the Venerable Man Giovanni Finazzi, canon theologian of Bergamo, at the end of this Commentary

to submit to the press. Up to now, as is established for us from the Proper Offices and calendars of Bergamo published in the years 1614, 1707, 1817, and 1854, the birthday of St. Eusebia has been celebrated on the present day, formerly with a semidouble rite, now with a double. But in the year 1849 there appeared at Bergamo at the bishop's expense Offices which the holy church of Bergamo would either substitute for or add to its proper Offices, if our most holy lord Pope Pius IX should assent. In these the feast of SS. Domneo, Eusebia, and Domno was enjoined for the 18th of July, with a lesson taken from the passage of Benaglio which we recited at no. 8; but since the birthdays of the saints had been changed everywhere far too much and disputes were arising among the clergy, Cardinal Lambruschini, prefect of the sacred congregation of rites, replied on the 10th of July of the year 1851 that this attempt could not be approved by the holy see. Wherefore the former institutions were preserved.

[13] In the year 1725 they are elected as patrons of Bergamo. At the end of the year 1725 St. Eusebia and both her companions were by public decree adopted among the patrons of the city on certain conditions. The form of the decree was this Ibid., p. 9.: The 29th of December 1725. In the council chamber. — Omissions. — Likewise there was read a writing of the lord deputies of the neighbourhood of St. Andrew of this city, of the tenor as in it; upon which, well weighed, there was put by the magnificent lord deputies and elders a motion of the following tenor: "Having read the modest writing offered by the lord deputies of the neighbourhood of St. Andrew of this city, by which they signify that it is in their wishes to celebrate with the greatest splendour the festival of the glorious heavenly ones, Domno, Domneo, and Eusebia, celebrated citizens of this town, imploring for that reason the benevolent aid of the senate that they be inscribed on the roll of patrons, the customary formulas being observed (as shall seem better to the senate); the magnificent lord deputies and elders, to whom it is clear that the protection and happiness of the people are to be obtained from God through the intercession of the holy patrons, wishing to show every possible veneration toward their holy fellow-countrymen, illustrious by celebrated miracles, have deliberated whether it was pleasing that there be chosen as patrons of this city the glorious saints Domno, Domneo, and Eusebia, who may deign to help this their native land powerfully and continually in its affairs and necessities; so that the bells should be rung according to custom and that it should be the duty of the magnificent lord deputies and elders, on one of the three festivals to be appointed, to betake themselves to the church of St. Andrew, where the precious relics of those glorious heavenly ones are preserved, and to hear and cause to be sung a solemn mass with musical measures in honour of the same saints, but in the first year only;" which motion, balloted, what is to be observed being observed according to custom, obtained eighty-eight favourable votes, and one contrary; and thus it was carried and published. The middle part, marked with little strokes at the beginning and end, we have turned from Italian into Latin.

[14] [The church of St. Andrew twice rebuilt; its recent dedication and the solemn translation of the relics.] Public honour was accorded to the same saints when in the year 1848 the rebuilt church of St. Andrew was dedicated with solemn rites. But it is better to go back a little further in the fortunes of this church. We saw at the beginning that this church existed in the 8th century; and from what we have disputed here and there it seems that it can be gathered that it was founded about the year 600, if SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia lived at those times. When their bodies were found at the beginning of the 15th century, this building does not appear yet to have changed its place. It appears to have stood until the end of the 16th century. For when at that time the circuit of the city was changed, so many injuries were done to the old basilica of St. Andrew that it collapsed [Muzio, Sacra istoria di Bergamo, part I, p. 140; part III, p. 22; Maironi, Dizionario odeporico della provincia Bergamesca, vol. I, p. 83.]. It was held as a miracle that the coffin of the saints suffered nothing from the rubble. The church was splendidly rebuilt in the year 1592. The high altar was consecrated to God in honour of the tutelary saints. In the middle there was placed about the year 1600 (Mairone wrongly indicates the year 1630) a most beautiful panel painted by Alessandro Bonvicino, also called Moretto of Brescia; in which there appears the Blessed Mary, bearing the child Jesus in her arms, and having on the right St. Andrew and St. Eusebia, on the left SS. Domnio and Domno. In the year 1610 this panel, struck by lightning, was not burned to ash, but scarcely smoked: which again was held as a sort of prodigy. In the year 1612 the bones of the three saints were translated from the old urn into a new coffin, surrounded by most beautiful gilded gratings, by the care of the rector Giuseppe Arrigoni. A little more than twenty years ago the church was rebuilt and it was completed in the year 1847. And so on the 27th of November, which was a Saturday, Carlo Gritti Morlacchi, bishop of Bergamo, made the beginning of the solemn office of dedication; which was accomplished the following day. On the second weekday the relics of the three saints were translated from the church of Pozzo Bianco into the new building with incredible celebration: there were present the bishop and the whole clergy, both secular and regular; there were present the civil and military magistrates; there were present the chief confraternity and other colleges; and four canons and four other presbyters bore the sacred pledges on their shoulders. On which occasion an exposition of the relics was made in the cathedral church; and on the following day, on the feast of St. Andrew, another in the church of this holy apostle Cenni etc., p. 5 and following..

[15] [The Zoppi house, also the Claudia, said to be of the kindred of SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia.] We have already observed more than once that in Italy, especially in Lombardy, it has been received by usage that saints are referred by genealogists to certain families. So SS. Domnio, Domno, and Eusebia are held to be of the most noble house of the Zoppi, which is also said to be the same as that of the Claudii. Hence Achille Muzio in the second part of his Theatrum sang this Ibid., p. 49.:

And the offspring of Zoppi, to whom the inept crowd gave the surname,

Is to be held among the illustrious houses.

It numbers its knights in long order, who have

Well deserved of sacred and pious places.

And it recounts the names of the saints Domneus and Domnus,

And of the virgin Eusebia, among its forefathers.

And in book 1 these other verses:

The Claudian lineage sent forth saint Domneus,

Who merited the palm and the glory of martyrdom.

Eusebia and Domnus, his blood, could not be drawn

To burn vain incense to the idols of the god.

Hence their purple gore flows, their golden mind

Makes for heaven; they have the gifts of faithful labour.

And Domnus here carried his severed head a long distance

Up to the tomb with his own hand.

This had Dionysius done long before, renowned

In the whole world, who was a nursling of Mars's hill.

Their relics are preserved in the consecrated church

Of Andrew, nor does the altar lack pious vows.

* scaturiebat?

* otherwise XII.

* Domnonis

FICTITIOUS LIFE AND PASSION OF BLESSED EUSEBIA, CITIZEN OF BERGAMO,

from Bartholomew de Peregrinis.

Eusebia, virgin and martyr, at Bergamo in Italy. (S.)

St. Eusebia, after a life spent in Christian fashion, Let us run through in a compendium of succinct speech the beginnings of the sacred life, the progress, and the martyrdom of the venerable virgin and martyr Eusebia. Sprung then from distinguished and noble parents, after receiving the splendour of supreme grace, she shone not only at Bergamo, but also gleamed everywhere in all Italy. While she was a girl, stealing away secretly from the house of her parents , she took refuge very early in the morning at the church of St. Andrew, situated a stone's throw outside the walls of Bergamo; and, hidden in a more secret corner, she poured out to Christ the prayers taught her by her mother. In the whole course of her girlhood she never mingled with other girls playing together. Often rising in the dead of night, she prayed to the Lord. By no means sparing the flesh, nor giving the hours due to rest, she gave herself, macerating, to the spirit. The riches left by her parents, now deceased, she distributed to the poor for the love of God. She received guests kindly, she visited the sick daily, and brought help to their need (as a girl could ). Washing their feet too, she willingly stretched out a hand filled with piety to the poor; and that she might offer her sacrifice more acceptably, taking food from her own little body and sending it by messengers, she refreshed the limbs of orphans and widows squalid with hunger. Under soft and precious garments she also wore a rough haircloth hidden. At that time another noble virgin, Hesteria ^b, outwardly flowering, inwardly putting on Christ, feigning for the future a marital union, commended her virginity to the Lord.

[2] Is reported to have suffered martyrdom under Maximian Herculius. And when the vicar of the emperor Maximian, who ruled Bergamo, had learned that she was a Christian, he ordered her to be brought before him. Questioned, she answered that she was the handmaid of Christ. And the judge or vicar, angered at her, threatened that no light torments would have to be endured by her. To whom Eusebia: "I do not fear, because there will be given to me as the reward of those things an eternal crown." Moved the more by anger he ordered her to be brought before the statue of Apollo, that she might sacrifice. But she exclaimed: "I am a Christian, and I do not sacrifice to demons. I do not adore these gods, deaf and mute alike." She was afterwards led to prison; and, brought out from there not long after, she was beheaded by the order of the wicked vicar. Her blessed body certain most pious faithful of Christ buried secretly by night beside the corpses of her grandfather and brother. She suffered on the 29th of October, in the year of the Lord 307 ^c.

ANNOTATIONS.

* subentrahens in the ms.

* Non in the ms.

* et in the ms.

* poterant in the ms.

* gratias in the ms.

* Et in the ms.

* rinatus in the ms.

* særia in the ms.

* illos in the ms.