ON THE HOLY THREE TURIBII OF SPAIN, OF ASTORGA, PALENCIA, AND LIÉBANA, AND CONCERNING THEIR PROBABLY GENUINE LATER COMPANIONS SS. JUSTUS, PASTOR, CLEMENT, GERVASE AND WILLIAM, AND CONCERNING THE PSEUDONYMOUS SS. TOLOBÆUS, SYNOBIUS, EUSEBIUS, EUSOSTOMUS AND OFASUS,
A CRITICAL EXERCISE.
Turibius of Spain, of Astorga. (S.)
Turibius of Spain, of Palencia. (S.)
Turibius of Spain, of Liébana. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
[In the monastery of St. Turibius of Liébana, by far the most celebrated in Spain,] Liébana, which I have found called also Levana, Lebana and Libana, nine leagues long, four wide, was not long ago called a province, but now is part of the province of St. Andrew, commonly Santander, in the Asturias. It consists of four greater valleys, namely Valdeprado, Cereceda, Valdebaro and Cillorigo, and of many lesser ones. It contains fifty-six villages, over which the town of Potes, placed in the middle, presides. Formerly there were many monasteries there; but before the more recent disturbances only three, namely the convent of the Friars Preachers in the town of Potes, the Benedictine monastery at Piasca Naranzo, and the third, of St. Turibius, which, situated at Torena or Torenco, was half a league distant from Potes, greatly surpassing both those in celebrity and antiquity, as being numbered among the most ancient of the whole world. For it was held to have been founded in the sixth or seventh century, and never overthrown. For since that region is very mountainous, and is enclosed on almost every side by very high cliffs, and so bears the appearance of a funnel [Miñano, Diccionario geografico de España, volume V, page 215 and following; Madoz, Diccionario geografico de España, volume X, page 278, and volume XIII, page 176 and following; Rod. Mendez Sylva, Poblacion general de España, folio 52.], the Moors are said never to have penetrated into it; but the Christians (since they could nowhere else stand safely, or were compelled to live mixed with the Mahometans), if they wished to be free, are related to have gone to the refuge of Liébana, carrying with them the relics of the saints and whatever precious things they had [Yepes, Coronica general de la Orden de S. Benito, volume I, folio 97; Florez, España sagrada, volume XXXIV, page 378 and following. Compare Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, volume I, page 70, edition 1703.]. Certainly it is not numbered among the towns and villages which Alfonso I, also called the Catholic, snatched from the Saracens; but among the places from which the inhabitants had fled for fear of the Arabs, by the same Alfonso
brought back. At that time, says Sebastian, bishop of Salamanca, in the Chronicle which is commonly called that of Alfonso III In Florez, España sagrada, volume XIII, page 482., at that time, that is between the years 739 and 757, in which Alfonso the Catholic reigned, there are peopled, that is filled with inhabitants, Primorias, Lebana, Transmera, Supporta, Carranza, Bardulia, which is now called Castile, and the maritime part of Galicia, Burgi. For Alava, Vizcaya, Alaone and Urdunia are found always possessed by their own inhabitants, as Pampilonia, Degius is, and Perroza. And they hold that it was then that there was brought to the monastery of Liébana a whole arm of the cross on which Christ the Lord substituted Himself as a victim for us sinners; for the sake of venerating which innumerable pilgrims formerly came running continually [Morales, Viage a los reynos de Leon, y Galicia y principado de Asturias, page 59, Florez edition.], especially when the festival of St. Turibius coincided with a Sunday: for then, from the year 1515, by grant of Leo X, a plenary indulgence was offered for three days before and as many after, which in the Spanish manner they called a jubilee. But the revenues were not equal to so great a celebrity. Yet there were usually present, trusting in the bounty of the faithful, twelve monks (the lawful number of the inhabitants of the abbey), over whom no abbot presided, but a prior, since it had been made a priory of the monastery of St. Saviour of Oña in the year 1183 Yepes, volume I, folios 97 and 98..
[2] [many fictitious names of saints have been attributed by forgers; among which St. Ofasus.] We have prefixed this notice, such as it is, of the monastery of Liébana for this reason, that today in Schindel's supplement to the Menology of Bucelin we read these things: In Spain, in the monastery of St. Martin at the Liébana mountains in Asturias, of St. Ofarus, monk and confessor. Ofarus or Ofazo, a disciple of that great propagator of the Benedictine Order through Spain, St. Turibius, bishop of Tela or Palencia, one of the five who, aware of his secrets beyond the others, led a plainly angelic life in those mountains, excelled wonderfully in the pursuit of contemplation, and, bringing his body into servitude to the spirit, since in his master, and in his holy colleagues Tolobeus, Synobius, Eusebius and Eusostomus, he beheld nothing but prodigious signs of grace, being himself also admirable … entered rejoicing into the house of the Lord about the year of Christ 590. Among whom he heaped similar praises on Synobius at the 7th day of February, Eusostomus at the 21st of the same month, Tolobæus at the 3rd of July, Turibius at the 11th of November and Eusebius at the 22nd of December, following partly the example of Tamayo and other Spaniards, partly his own judgment. And in the Acta Sanctorum at the 3rd day of July, among the Passed Over, Tolobæus was briefly spoken of; since he seemed to have arisen from the Spanish apocrypha: and I indeed had at first thought of likewise passing over Ofasus (for this Latin form pleases more) in a few words; but since not all are fictions, and since at Liébana formerly, before the Higuerian wares were brought forth, besides St. Turibius five monks, said to be his disciples and buried there, were held for saints, the good seed must at some time be separated from the tares. Which it has seemed best to do in this place in an appendix, since in the Passed Over enough space is not granted, and among the Saints who are venerated today fictitious names are not to be mixed with true ones.
[3] [The testimonies of Morales and Marieta concerning the sacred treasure of Liébana.] Before all, however, Ambrosio de Morales is to be heard, in the journey which by order of Philip II, king of the Spains, in the year 1572, he undertook through the kingdoms of León and Galicia and the principality of the Asturias, to investigate the relics of the saints and the manuscript books in the monasteries and cathedral churches: The bishop of León, he says Viage, etc., page 59, Florez edition., having sent a visitor, had made a visitation of the monastery of St. Turibius of Liébana in the Asturias. From the report of the visitation it is understood that there exist there relics which have the testimony of antiquity and of veneration, which are visited by peoples from everywhere, many signs following: namely a great part of the cross of our Redeemer … the body of St. Turibius under a stone arch in a wooden coffin, with his five disciples, buried in this church … two rings of the saint (Turibius); at the head of the coffin of the saint (Turibius) two little chests, never opened, in which are many relics, most of them brought from the Holy Land, as is read in the Catalogue, according to the testimony of antiquity and tradition. This monastery follows the Rule of St. Benedict, and length of time has blotted out the memory of its foundation. It has no books. All of which it has pleased us to recite, so that the reader may afterwards be able to form a more certain judgment. Then, therefore, there were no books there, namely written by hand. One St. Turibius was known; and indeed Turibius had lived there and had had five disciples. To Ambrosio de Morales is added Juan Marieta, who in the year 1596 published a Treatise on the foundations of the cities of Spain, that is, the fifth part and summary of his ecclesiastical History of Spain, and handed down to memory these things about the monastery of Liébana, which he wrote was of the Order of St. Benedict, situated in the archbishopric of Burgos (for the diocese of St. Andrew was constituted by Benedict XIV) Historia eclesiastica de España, Tratado de las fundaciones, etc., folio 29.: There lies the body of the glorious confessor St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, founder of this ascetery, who died in the year 460, on the 16th day of April, on which his feast is kept in the church of Astorga. In the same monastery are the disciples of St. Turibius, Justus and Pastor, others, and the martyrs of Complutum, etc. Morales also mentions St. Pastor by name, where he comes to the neighbouring monastery of St. Mary of Piasca Naranzo: In a chest, he says Viage, etc., page 60., above the high altar are fragments of relics and the head of St. Pastor, not the martyr but the companion of St. Turibius. And these things again from the reports of the bishop of León.
[4] Writers deceived by the Higuerian fictions. But meanwhile Higuera had forged Maximus and other things of this kind, and in the year 1594 had begun to communicate parts of them or entire books, written out in his own hand and sometimes sealed with the seal of a public notary, to others, for example to Francisco Portocarrero, priest of the Society of Jesus, to Agustín de Jesús, archbishop of Braga, to García de Loaysa, who was preparing commentaries on the councils of Spain, to Diego Murillo, historian of the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Pillar at Saragossa Nic. Antonio, Censura de historias fabulosas, page 8 and following., and (to say nothing of others) above all to Prudencio de Sandoval, bishop of Tuy, who in a single paragraph Fundaciones de algunos monasterios, etc. adduces nine passages of Maximus concerning the Order of St. Benedict. Sandoval was either copied or followed by Yepes, who is called the father of Benedictine history; Felipe de la Gándara, called by his editor the Swan of the West [The title given to his ecclesiastical history of Galicia is this: El Cisne occidental canta las palmas y triunfos eclesiasticos de Galicia, ganados por sus hijos, etc. (The Swan of the West sings the palms and ecclesiastical triumphs of Galicia, won by her sons, etc.)]; Francisco Xavier Manuel de la Huerta y Vega, praised by his censors for his observance of all the laws of history; and others whom for brevity's sake I omit. To whom are added those who drank from those very turbid springs, such as Bivar, who wrote a commentary on Maximus, Argaiz, who filled all his books with Higuerian fables, and Tamayo, who, not content with these fictions, added his own with full hands.
[5] [The statements of the pseudepigraphers about St. Turibius of Astorga, about Turibius of Palencia and about Tolobæus.] So then, that we may distinguish the ancient traditions of Liébana, such as they are, from the newfangled fictions, these very things seem to need to be set out first. Pseudo-Maximus at the year 448 handed down these things about St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga M. Maximi, ep. Cæsaraug., Chronicon, with the commentaries of Bivar, page 148.: Pope St. Leo writes to the bishops of Spain, and especially to St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga. St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, legate of Pope St. Leo, presiding, who had been at Aquæ Celenæ, a town of Galicia, many bishops … and abbots assemble at Toledo in Spain. Of the same Pseudo-Liutprand [Argaiz, Poblacion ecclesiastica de España, volume IV, page 347. Works of Liutprand, page 462, Antwerp edition.]: Thuribius, notary of St. Leo, archdeacon of Tuy, succeeded Ceponius, bishop of Tuy. And he dies holily on the Kalends of November; whither he was translated in the era 528. He had however previously been bishop of Astorga, when he wrote to Idatius. Partly these things are repeated by Pseudo-Haubert, who also added at the year 448 In Argaiz, Poblacion, etc., volume III, page 338.: St. Thuribius, bishop of Astorga, translated the arm of the most holy cross, where the Saviour suffers, to his see. About Turibius of Palencia more things have been heaped up; for example about him Maximus at the year of Christ 534 Bivar's edition, page 391.: Turibius, a monk, to whom Montanus, pontiff of Toledo, wrote, from a Benedictine monk becomes bishop of Tela or Pallentia; and below Ibid., page 392.: Turibius, bishop of Pallentia, curses the heretics of Pallentia; then at the year 612 Ibid., page 718.: About these times on the mountain of Liébana of the Asturians there is held the celebrated memory of St. Tolobæus, bishop of Braga in Spain. The memory of St. Turibius, bishop of the see of Pallentia from a Benedictine monk, whose anniversary day is the 1st of November, is held celebrated on the mountain of Liébana, where lie the bodies of the most holy monk and bishop (of Palencia) and of the bishop (of Astorga) not a monk. Similar things are handed down by Pseudo-Julian Maximus, page 408.: Turibius, a monk, to whom in the year of the Lord 536 St. Benedict had given the habit, and coming to Spain founds monasteries: afterwards, made bishop of Pallentia, in this year he curses the people of Pallentia, infected with the heresy of the Priscillianists, and the river Nevis, commonly called the Carrión, overflowing, flooded the city itself. And below: Lucretius (who was bishop of Braga), out of love of pleasing solitude, deserts the see of Braga, and betook himself to the hermitage of Liébana, with companions, namely the archdeacon of Braga and Turibius, bishop of Pallentia; and at the year 593: In this year St. Turibius, bishop of Pallentia, dies, on the 2nd of November.
[6] What is true, what false, about St. Turibius of Astorga; In these things it is true that there existed two Turibii, the one bishop of Astorga, the other a priest of Palencia, and that the former lived in the middle of the fifth century, the latter 70 or 80 years later. But hear things a little more distinctly. In the times of St. Leo the Great, who held the supreme pontificate from the year 440 to 461, there lived St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, who sent a letter on the Priscillianists to Idatius and Ceponius, and who because of the same errors dispatched the deacon Pervincus to St. Leo the Great; by whom he was made notary of the apostolic see, and in the year 447 received a letter on the catholic faith. The feast of this St. Turibius is kept on the 16th day of April; at which it has been treated of him in our work: but afterwards the matter was very diligently discussed by
Nicolás Antonio Bibliotheca hispana vetus, volume I, page 261 and following. and Florez España sagrada, volume XVI, page 89 and following.. From the older lessons it can in no way be gathered that he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or withdrew to the Liébana mountains, or had anything in common with Turibius of Palencia. Nevertheless Lucio Marineo Siculo, who flourished at the end of the fifteenth century, in book V on the affairs of Spain (which Andreas Schott also published in the year 1603 in Hispania illustrata), seems not to distinguish the bishop of Astorga from Turibius of Palencia. For he speaks thus In And. Schott, Hispania illustrata, volume I, page 333.: On St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga. Saint Turibius was renowned for innumerable miracles, and helped the Christian religion and the catholic faith very greatly. For when as a young man he had gone to Jerusalem, there for almost five years he led a most holy life. But soon, warned by an angel, having returned to Spain with many relics of the saints and of God Best and Greatest, he exhorted to the faith of Christ many who were wavering because of a most savage persecution; whose honour is celebrated in the highest degree at Palencia. But then perhaps his feast was not even kept at Palencia; and afterwards (as is established for me from the Orders of the divine office) it was celebrated there only with double rite; whereas at Astorga with the rite of the first class, with an octave, as of the patron. But here there was no end of the additions. Bivar, in the Commentaries on the Chronicle of Pseudo-Maximus Pages 155 and 167; Florez, España sagrada, volume XVI, page 365., brought forward more recently the Breviary of Astorga, which is likewise called old, but in fact contains more recent errors in some part. It is related there that he brought sacred relics from Jerusalem into Spain; which he laid up partly in the chapel of St. Mary of the Holy Mountain, partly in the church of St. Saviour at Oviedo; then, having been created bishop of Astorga, that he cursed Palencia, infected with the heresy of Priscillian. He also suffered persecution — these are the words of the Breviary — from a certain archdeacon of Astorga, who had fastened on him a false charge of adultery. But he easily showed his innocence by carrying burning coals in a linen garment as far as the church, without any harm: the archdeacon, for this reason and because he had obscenely defiled his staff in insult, being cut off by sudden death. And having left his bishopric, so as to avoid the envy of the wicked, he withdrew into the solitude of Liébana, where he died in peace in the year 480, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of May: and his body was buried in the church which he himself had founded. The addition about the accusation of adultery and the purgation by carrying burning coals was excerpted from chapter III of the book of St. Ildephonsus on illustrious men; where, after the intercourse of Montanus, bishop of Toledo, with Turibius of Palencia has been narrated, Montanus himself is related to have washed away a charge of adultery by carrying burning coals. Which was wrongly transferred to Turibius of Palencia, and hence carried over to the one of Astorga, since the one of Palencia and the one of Astorga were held to be only one. Deceived therefore by this authority, or rather by that of Trujillo in the Thesaurus concionatorum, Baronius wrote at the 16th day of April in the Roman Martyrology: At Palencia, of St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, etc.
[7] likewise about Turibius of Palencia. Yet those two Turibii are easily distinguished Compare De Aguirre, Concilia Hispaniæ, volume III, page 159.. For the one of Astorga, as we have just seen, flourished about the year 450; the one of Palencia lived between the years 527 and 536 [Nic. Antonio, the cited work and volume, page 264; Florez, the cited works and volume, page 93.], since to him Montanus, bishop of Toledo, gave letters about the errors of the Priscillianists, about keeping the boundaries of dioceses and other things of that kind [De Aguirre, Concilia Hispaniæ, volume III, page 158, Catalani edition; Florez, España sagrada, volume V, page 415 and following. Compare St. Ildephonsus, de viris illustribus, chapter III.]: of whom at the era 565, the year of Christ 527, Flavius Marcus Dexter, who seemed genuine to Nicolás Antonio, wrote [Fragment of the Chronicle, in Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca vetus, volume II, page 417.]: Montanus succeeds Celsus in the see of Toledo, and at the era 574, the year of Christ 536 Ibid., page cited.: Julian succeeds the holy pontiff Montanus in the see of Toledo; who, like Celsus *, renowned for the fame of holiness, departs to heaven on the day before the Nones of April. Florez says that Turibius of Palencia was not a bishop [España sagrada, volume VIII, page 18 and following. Compare De Aguirre, Concilia Hispaniæ, volume III, page 159.], since he is called son by Montanus, archbishop of Toledo; and Mabillon asserts [Acta SS. Ordinis S. Benedicti, century I, page 188; Annales Benedictini, book III, number 29. Compare Gams, Kirchengeschichte von Spanien, volume II, part I, page 449.] that he was a monk (and indeed the founder of the monastery of Liébana), both for other reasons and because he is called a religious by St. Ildephonsus: but perhaps Montanus called him son because he was his suffragan; nor is it established that at that time only monks were called religious. But it is better to pass over these obscure arguments in this place. And just as St. Turibius of Astorga, before Higuera's wares were brought forth, was said to have withdrawn to the Liébana mountains and to have founded the house of St. Martin there, so after those errors were put forward Turibius of Palencia obtained the praise of having introduced the monastic life there, and indeed the Benedictine, and was also numbered among the saints by Tamayo and others entirely illegitimately Sainz de Baranda, Clave de la España sagrada, page 439..
[8] Sandoval mixes false things with true about the affairs of Liébana; To leave aside Tamayo, who built fictions upon fictions, and wrongly said that Turibius of Palencia, whom he inscribed on the roll of the saints, had formerly been venerated on the 11th day of November and was still to be venerated; hear Sandoval, deceived, not a deceiver: Turibius, he says [Fundaciones de los monasterios de san Benito, in Yepes, volume I, page 96 and following.], speaking of the one of Palencia, weary of life and of popular suspicions (for the historians then transferred the charge of adultery to him), since at that time the Benedictine Rule had begun to flourish through many holy monks sent into Spain by St. Benedict, resolved to take up the habit and the Rule. He associated with himself five companions, all monks and saints, Tolobæus, a bishop, who put on the habit, Synobius, a deacon, Eusebius, Eusostomus and Ofasus, with whom he withdrew to the Liébana mountains. Where, in a very rough place of the mountain, one league from the town of Potes, they founded a monastery, which they dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. But the blessed Turibius himself, leaving the monks there, like a veteran and practised soldier, wishing to fight alone with the enemy, climbed to the summit and in a most hidden part made himself a little cell, where by severe abstinence, continual discipline, prayer and tears he came to such perfection that he obtained singular favours from God and that angels very frequently came down to him, conversing and keeping company with him. And in the place where the angels came to him, that is not far from his cell, he made another, which to this day is called the Cell of the Angels… Nothing more has been written of him; nor has it been handed down to memory how many years he lived in that hermitage or in what year he died. Nothing is known either of his holy body, except that it is joined with the body of St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, and with the bodies of his companions. I have seen the cells and the place of his penance; which truly move one to great piety, so that the soul seems to feel something of the holiness of this place, whence that blessed monk set out for heaven. In which things the traditions of Liébana are mixed with the fictions of the pseudepigraphers.
[9] [The monks of Liébana themselves were deceived, and through them the historian of Galicia.] But the monks of Liébana, who thirty years before had no ancient books, but knew only St. Turibius the monk, who had lived there with five disciples and had been buried there, allowed themselves to be persuaded that the glory of their monastery was much greater. And so they admitted Tolobæus, Eusostomus and other fictitious saints, and inscribed them, once admitted, in a book which in the year 1733 seemed ancient to Francisco Xavier de la Huerta y Vega; and they also received a certain Crescentius, a new pseudepigrapher (who has escaped Nicolás Antonio, the keenest hunter of Spanish fables, and all bibliographers, as far as I have found), thinking him to be an ancient writer. But these things will be better understood from that Francisco Xavier de la Huerta y Vega, who about the year 1733 published his Annals of Galicia: In the province of Liébana, he says Anales de el reyno de Galicia, volume I, page 349., at the foot of very high mountains there opens with a narrow mouth a spacious cave, surrounded inside with seats of rock. The neighbouring inhabitants call the slope and the cave the Queen's, thinking that Europa was carried off thence by Jupiter. This is certain, that St. Turibius lived there with his companions before they founded the monastery of Liébana. In an ancient codex of the archive of Liébana the names of these disciples are read: Clement, Gervase, Tolobæus, Eusostomus, St. Justus, St. Pastor, St. William and St. Jofasus; where it is to be noticed that the four last are called saints, not so the former. Crescentius, an ancient author and worthy of belief, calls Tolobæus a saint. With whom he associates Sinobius, Eusebius, Turibius the Lesser and Ofacius. With these and other disciples St. Turibius completed the house he had planned; which he dedicated under the title of St. Martin of Tours, very well known in Galicia.
[10] [In a century (as it seems, the fifth) St. Turibius, distinct from the one of Astorga and the one of Palencia, lived with SS. Justus, Pastor and others in the solitude of Liébana.] And now it seems easy to separate the true from the false. Before the memory of men a certain St. Turibius led a solitary life in the Liébana mountains, with some companions, among whom were SS. Justus and Pastor. From this community arose the monastery under the title of St. Martin of Tours, whose relics (probably oil from a lamp, dust from the tomb, or linen cloths laid on the bier) were kept there. Which title, as is plain from diplomas of the ninth and tenth centuries Yepes, Coronica de la orden de S. Benito, volume I, folio 97., long remained. But since the body of the founder St. Turibius was present, there happened there what happened in almost all monasteries, that, the name of the first patron being laid aside, it came little by little to be commonly called after the holy man whose tomb the people venerated in the church. Further, because of the very large relics of the holy cross, the monastery of St. Turibius was celebrated in all northern Spain: what wonder therefore if, since the deeds of St. Turibius of Astorga, of Turibius of Palencia and of Turibius of Liébana were little known, one and the same Turibius was held, and so Turibius of Astorga was said to have been buried in the monastery of Liébana? But afterwards, when the three Turibii were distinguished from one another, there was not taken away the former
confusion of the burial, and all three continued to be said to be buried there. But neither Turibius of Astorga nor the one of Palencia seems to have rested there: the contrary tradition is newfangled, not older than the sixteenth century. Tolobæus, Synobius, Eusebius, Eusostomus and Ofasus are names brought forth by Higuera. Pastor and Justus have authority from the old traditions of Liébana; which authority would be greater had not the brothers of Complutum made the same names most celebrated throughout Spain by their martyrdom and veneration. Nor do Clement, Gervase and William seem to proceed from the Higuerian fictions; but since the name of Turibius betrays a Basque origin, and Justus, Pastor, Clement and Gervase a Latin one, William in their midst, Gothic or at least Germanic by origin, excites a certain wonder, yet not disbelief: for in the fifth century Basque, Latin and Gothic names could be associated in those parts. All these lived holily and with illustrious severity, as their surviving cells bear witness. They also obtained some ecclesiastical cult: which is manifest from the preservation of their relics: but the rest of their angelic life can be thought of rather than narrated. The Benedictines, the Canons regular and the Carmelites have each ascribed them to their own Order; but they seem to have lived at the time when there was only one monastic Order, not yet divided into various kinds and species.
Annotata* is called elsewhere.
* Ona
* Celsio succedens?