ON SS. CLAUDIUS AND COMPANIONS: CLAUDIUS, LUPERCUS, AND VICTORICUS, MARTYRS OF LEÓN IN SPAIN,
IN THE YEAR 303 OR 304.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Claudius, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Lupercus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Victoricus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
BY R. D. B.
§ Sole. The cult and relics of the holy martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus. The time of the martyrdom and the Acts.
In the Calendar of the monastery of Silos, in the Spanish diocese of Burgos, of about the year 1045, whose name is Martyrum Legium, The cult of St. Claudius and companions at the 31st day of October is set the feast of SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus *, martyrs of Christ. Likewise in the Mozarabic Calendar, often enlarged and certainly completed after the thirteenth century, which Cardinal Ximénez ordered to be prefixed to the Mozarabic Missal of the year 1500, the feast of St. Claudius and his companions is indicated at the 30th day of October Acta Sanctorum, volume VI of July, Liturgia Hispanica, page 87.. On which day in the Missal the Mozarabic priests are ordered to celebrate Mass and recite the divine Office from the Common of several martyrs, in their honour [Liturgia Mozarabica, volume I, columns 13, 102 and 892; volume II, column 1343, Migne edition.]. Likewise we read in the Roman Martyrology at the same day: At León in Spain, of the holy martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victorius, sons of St. Marcellus the centurion; who in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, under the governor Diogenian, were ordered to be beheaded. The correctors of that book add in the notes subjoined to this day that they have borrowed their knowledge of the holy champions from the Breviary of Évora in Vasaeus, and from the Flos Sanctorum of the Spaniards. Indeed Tamayo adds that their contest is celebrated in the ancient breviaries of León, Compostela, Seville and Segovia, at the 30th day of October Martyrologium Hispanicum, volume V, page 677.. Nor does Tamayo's credit in this place seem to be called in question, since, in the year 1658 in which he was writing his Spanish Martyrology, those liturgical books were still set before everyone's eyes. At Palencia indeed their feast was kept on the 24th day of October España sagrada, volume XXXIV, p. 357.. But, if you except only the city of León and the whole diocese, where it is kept under double rite, it seems it must be said that their feast has been suppressed in those churches, since they occur nowhere either in the Proper Offices of Compostela of the year 1641 or of Seville of the year 1641, or in the orders of the divine Office of Compostela and Segovia of the year 1718 Ordo recitandi officium divinum generaliter in Hispania anno 1718.. But that the feast of St. Claudius and companions was also celebrated in Portugal is plain both from the Breviary of Évora of the year 1548, where on the 31st day of October the clergy of this diocese recited an office of nine lessons in their honour, and also from the Breviary of Braga, probably of the year 1634, in which at the 30th day of October a prayer to the same holy martyrs is set out.
[2] is very ancient in Galicia. But how ancient and how celebrated the cult of the three martyrs was at León and in old Galicia is understood from this, that two monasteries were sacred to them from very remote times. The former, in León itself, is so old that its beginnings are hidden from the people of the country, and they judge that it was built in the sixth century [Yepes, Coronica general de la orden de S. Benito, first century, page 175 and following; Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, century I, p. 304, edition of 1668; Annales Ordinis S. Benedicti, volume I, at the year 584, page 187, Paris edition, 1703; Acta Sanctorum, volume II of March, p. 60.]. For among the Spaniards there flourishes a tradition, recorded in several Breviaries, that the abbot of this monastery, St. Vincent, and the prior, St. Ramirus, together with twelve monks, were slaughtered for the sake of the Catholic religion by the Arian Sueves about the year 555, or, as others prefer, about the year 584. But other monks, as Mabillon attests, taking thought for themselves by flight, betook themselves into Galicia; and founded in the diocese of Orense another house likewise of St. Claudius Mabillon, Annales O.S.B., volume I, at the year 584, number 27, p. 187.. Manrique however refers its origin to the year 928, adding that it was once sacred to SS. Martin, Sixtus, Lawrence and Claudius, but was gradually called by the name of SS. Martin and Claudius alone [Annales Cistercienses, volume III, at the year 1182, chapter 6, page 128 and following; Flórez, España sagrada, volume XVII, page 30; Yepes, Coronica de san Benito, volume IV, page 412; Leopold Janauschek, Originum Cisterciensium, volume I, page 228.]. The monastery of León, but not that of Orense, is mentioned by Pascual Madoz Diccionario geografico, volume X, p. 185., who however describes a village founded around this latter abbey and called San Clodio [Ibid., volume XIII, page 468. Compare Miñano, Diccionario geográfico, volume XI, page 463.]. The same author subjoins that the monastery of León is wholly extinct. This disaster is the more to be lamented in that there, through several centuries, the monks had given their effort to preserving and venerating the bodies of St. Claudius and companions, as will be plain from what is to be related. There was also a certain parish church of the town of Valderas in the diocese of León dedicated to St. Claudius. Moreover, as the most illustrious present bishop of León has written to me, there existed under the patronage of the martyrs SS. Claudius, Lupercius and Victoricus a confraternity, instituted in the year 1206 by the association of moneyers of the Spanish kingdoms of León, Castile, Navarre and Aragon.
[3] Their relics in the church of St. Claudius That the cult of SS. Claudius and companions should not be effaced was much helped by the fact that men of the Christian Religion, as is written in the Leonese Acts to be discussed below, took their bodies after the martyrdom and with honour buried them … in one place, … where … under their invocation there was built a church of (Benedictine) monks. And since God, through the intercession of the Saints, had bestowed there not a few benefits on men, it came about that their name became as glorious as possible in the kingdom of León. This did not escape Ferdinand the Great, king of Castile and León;
who, burning with zeal for exalting the church of St. John the Baptist at León [Sandoval, Historia de Castilla y de Leon, volume I, page 51, Madrid edition, 1792.], which he made of stone from mud, laid in it the body of St. Isidore of Seville, carried from that city to León, adding also an almost innumerable multitude of relics of many saints, among them some of the bones of SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus Acta Sanctorum, volume I of April, page 359.. Some time later John, bishop of León from the year 1139 to about the year 1181, together with the abbot of St. Claudius and the priors of St. Isidore and St. Mark, in order to obtain from God the end of a drought and scarcity, instituted a public procession in the town of León, in which were carried most honourably the bodies of St. Isidore and other saints. And the abbot of St. Claudius, says the writer, perhaps Lucas of Tuy, took up the bodies of SS. Claudius, Lupercius and Victoricus Ibid., p. 361.. I judge however that the cult of St. Claudius and his companions took on much increase from the time when their bodies, in the year 1211 of the Spanish era, or 1173 of Christ, were translated from a lowlier place to the high altar of the church sacred to them by Cardinal Hyacinth, papal legate in Spain, afterwards Celestine III, in the presence of seven archbishops and bishops, twelve abbots and many clerics and laymen. An ancient enough document of this solemnity, together with an inscription, which the reader will rightly judge to have been composed at the beginning of the twelfth century, we are going to publish below.
[4] and they are venerated in other places. But since the year 1834, when the church of St. Claudius at León was done away with, the remains of the three holy Martyrs rest in the church of St. Marcellus of the same town. So the most illustrious bishop of León has written to me in reply. Eighteen years after the translation which I have mentioned above, that is, in the year of Christ 1191, parts of the relics of SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus were laid up, together with relics of other saints, in the altar of the Holy Trinity of the chapel of St. Martin in the monastery of St. Isidore at León. Of this we are made certain by an inscription which Manuel Risco transferred to the Hispania Sacra, affirming that it is preserved in the said chapel of St. Martin. It is conceived in these words:
These are the names of the Saints whose relics are laid up in the altar of the holy Trinity, namely of the holy Saviour, of the Wood of the Lord, of the sepulchre of the Lord, of Blessed Mary ever Virgin, of St. Anne her mother, of the head of St. John the Baptist, of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, of St. Vincent the levite, of the holy martyr Claudius, of Lupercus and Victoricus, of St. Vincent, martyr, of St. Agnes, of St. Dorothy, of St. Engratia, of the holm-oak under which Abraham stood, and of very many other Saints. Era MCCXXVIIII España sagrada, volume XXXV, page 371..
We read moreover in Ambrosio de Morales Viage a los reynos de Leon etc., page 131. that an arm, as is believed, of St. Claudius was once honoured in the monastery of St. Pelagius in Galicia.
[5] The office approved by the Roman pontiff. To increase this cult of SS. Claudius and his companions a great help was the office approved by Clement VIII, Roman pontiff. Since the fourth lesson of the second Nocturn briefly comprises their deeds, it is good to write it here: Claudius, Lupercius and Victorius, sons of St. Marcellus the centurion, seized on account of the holy faith of Christ which they professed, were brought before the governor Dignianus: and being asked by him why contrary to the emperor's edict they scorned to adore the gods, they answered that they ought to worship no other gods but the Lord Jesus Christ, creator of all things. Persevering in this confession of faith, their heads being cut off, they attained the palm of martyrdom, under the emperor Diocletian. Their bodies were buried at León, where they had confessed the Lord with glorious voice. Now they rest in the same city in the church of St. Claudius.
[6] Among their manifold Acts Four passions of the three martyrs we have in hand: of which the first, excerpted by Nicolás Antonio from a parchment manuscript codex of the metropolitan church of Toledo, marked Sanctorale or Histories of the Martyrs, and copied from his papers at Madrid by our predecessor Willem Cuper, is now preserved in the royal library of Brussels at number 8927. The second was woven by Resende into the Breviary of Évora of the year 1548 at the 31st day of October, and comprises the lessons of the first and second Nocturns. The third passion was copied from an ancient Breviary of León by Manuel Risco España sagrada, volume XXXIV, page 407. and inserted in the Hispania Sacra. The fourth Tamayo drew from the ancient breviaries of Compostela, Seville, Segovia and León. Of these writings none is to be called genuine; rather all are either changed in style or interpolated, in such a way however that the Toledo one seems older than the three others and much purer, as we shall now show, employing conjectures. Nor can any path be entered but that of conjecture, since the most ancient writers are silent not only about the Acts but also about the three martyrs, and in the older and genuine surviving documents mention is made not of their struggle, but only of the translation of their bodies. In order to advance with surer step on this rough road (just as our Sollerius did, separating the purer Usuard from other editions of the same book), we shall consider as original those relations which are common to all copies, and on the other hand as added those which are lacking in some copies. This being posited, there appears to us more ancient and purer, as we have pointed out, the passion taken from the Toledo codex.
[7] the Toledo one is to be preferred And first indeed no one will deny that the four writings have a common origin. For in them are discovered the same place of the contest, the same martyrs, the same profession of the Holy Trinity, most of the same questions and answers word for word: likewise in the same Acts (except the Tamayan) there is no statement from which it may be gathered under what consuls or emperors they became martyrs. Nor are differences lacking: for the Leonese Acts bring forward the governor Aurelius Agriculanus, the Tamayan Diogenian, the Toledo none. Similarly in the Leonese and Tamayan Acts we read that the three martyrs were sons of St. Marcellus: on which matter there is rightly and deservedly nothing in the Toledo Acts, in which it is also passed over by what kind of death St. Claudius and companions died. But in the Leonese Acts they are reported to have been beheaded.
[8] to all the others, But besides these Acts others too seem to have existed: for Padilla and Vasaeus, recounting the contest of St. Claudius and his companions, affirm, the former that Diogenian was the assistant of Dacian, the latter, his legate. Indeed Lucius Marineus Siculus relates that they suffered martyrdom with their father Martiel and eight brothers on one day. Likewise Huerta says that Claudius and his companions were the younger sons of St. Marcellus the centurion. These things show well enough that other Acts too lit the way for these writers. But of these circumstances in another place.
[9] even the Évora ones. Of the Évora Acts little need be said, since they have lost their original form. For the author of the Breviary, treating in the preface of the lessons composed in praise of the saints, says: The histories of the saints, the monuments of old writers such as exist having been consulted, have been reduced to an epitome in such a way that they nevertheless seem to remain whole, not truncated and scattered, as before. These Évora Acts agree nearly everywhere with the Toledo ones, if not in words, certainly in substance. We read however in them that the three martyrs were not only brothers, but also legionary soldiers: a condition not mentioned by most other writers. As for the circumstances which are especially displeasing in the Leonese and Tamayan Acts, they are absent from the Évora Acts. For in them you would look in vain for the name of the governor Aurelius Agriculanus, Diogenian or Dacian: names which seem to have been added in the other reviewed writings to fill out the Acts. Of these men, that the adulteration of the Leonese, Tamayan and other Acts may be the clearer, we must briefly discuss.
[10] From the mention of Dacian; of Diogenian, From the mention of the governors we are of opinion that hardly anything certain can be gathered at present. For long ago Papebroch, meeting Dacian many times in the Acts, suspected that it was familiar to the Spaniards to use the name of Dacian for any governor who persecuted the Christians: as the Sicilian biographers use Quintian, the Milanese Anulinus Acta Sanctorum, volume II of June, page 788.. These seem to have been imitated by the northern French, attributing to Rictius Varus, and the Sardinians, to Barbarus, probably with the same right, the killing of very many martyrs of those tracts. Hence the name of Dacian is of little help to us in this place. The same may be said of Diogenian, who is reported by Vasaeus to have been the legate of Dacian, and by Tamayo and others governor of the Province. Villegas and Tamayo think that Diogenian, prefect of the province of Galicia, succeeded Fortunatus. This opinion I suspect has arisen from the comparison of two periods. For they saw, as I suppose, that Fortunatus, according to the interpolated Acts of St. Marcellus the centurion, in the consulship of Faustus and Gallus, that is, in the year 298, was prefect of the town of León, but that Diogenian about the year 303, according to the interpolated Acts of St. Claudius and companions, was prefect of the province of Galicia, within whose boundaries León was at one time contained. So the statement of Villegas and Tamayo seems weak to us. Whether Spain ever had any Diogenian as governor or assistant of the governor of the province, there is cause to doubt; since no mention of him is found either in ancient writings, as in the Acts of Ruinart and the Bollandists, or in the most excellent books of inscriptions [Hübner, Inscriptiones Hispaniae Christianae, Inscriptiones Britanniae Christianae, at the end.]. These things being seen, we rightly think that in this darkness the mention of Diogenian brings us no light.
[11] and of Aurelius hardly anything can be gathered. The third of those who are reported to have condemned St. Claudius and his companions to death has the name of Aurelius Agriculanus. He occurs in the genuine Acts of St. Marcellus the centurion; from which he passed into the Leonese Acts of the same martyr, as also into the passion of his fictitious sons SS. Claudius and companions. There is however a difference. For in the genuine Acts of St. Marcellus he is called acting as deputy of the praetorian prefects, in the interpolated ones praetorian prefect, and in the adulterated Acts of St. Claudius and companions prefect over León itself. That he was about the year 298 deputy of the praetorian prefect can only be called in doubt rashly, since in the genuine Acts of St. Marcellus he is read to have been graced with this dignity, and a magistrate of this kind is related to have governed public affairs in Spain under the emperor Diocletian [Compare Works of Lactantius, volume II, De Mortibus persecutorum, chapter VII, column 205, Migne edition. Compare Acta Sanctorum, volume X of October, page 30 and following.]. Wherefore if someone supposed that Aurelius, deputy of the praetorian prefect, punished St. Claudius and companions with death, he would be championing no absurd opinion. But it is not credible that Aurelius in that age was praetorian prefect in Spain, since a magistrate of this kind had not yet been created for those parts. For to the two praetorian prefects, having their seat in Italy, Constantine the Great first added two others, of whom one for Gaul
and Spain sat at Trier Becker-Marquardt, Röm. Alterthümer, part II, volume III, page 291.. Nor is it more credible that Aurelius, as prefect of the town of León, passed sentence against St. Claudius and companions: since, if the matter stood so, that same Aurelius, previously deputy of the praetorian prefect, would several years later have undertaken a much inferior office, namely the prefecture of some town: which is less probable. So the writer of León, if he had been contemporary and honest, would not have said that: nor, as we have pointed out, did the writer of Toledo say it; who probably, out of love of truth, since he was ignorant of the matter, was unwilling to use conjecture or to think out which prefect or governor condemned the holy martyrs. He acted most rightly too in nowhere making St. Claudius and companions sons of St. Marcellus the centurion: which we have censured above in the Leonese and Tamayan Acts.
[12] The Toledo Passion There is however in the Toledo writing itself, as in the others, something that causes hesitation. Namely, since it explicitly presents the mystery of the Holy Trinity, some writers interpret the matter as if SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus were said to have been accused and condemned for having adored the Trinity. This is certainly not very credible. For besides the fact that that mystery belonged to the discipline of the secret Schelstrate, De disciplina arcani, chapter II., no martyr is read in the Acts of the Martyrs published by Ruinart to have been either accused or questioned regarding the express profession of it, using the name of the Holy Trinity. Christians were indeed usually charged with spurning idols and pagan rites, with disregarding the edicts of the emperors: many of them, however, freely professed that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are God: indeed St. Euplus used the very name of the Trinity in answering the judge Ruinart, Acta Martyrum, page 407, Amsterdam, 1713.; which also occurs in the genuine Passion of SS. Fructuosus and his companions of Tarragona of the year 259 [Ibid., page 221. Compare Honoré de Sainte Marie, Réflexions sur les règles de la critique, volume II, page 68 and following.]. But I have found no martyr who was accused in express words of having adored the Holy Trinity. Since Villegas omits these circumstances, he is to be judged either to have called them in doubt, or not to have found them in the Passion which he used.
[13] it seems to have been written after the fifth century, As far as I attain by conjecture, the writer of the Toledo Passion or his guide did not live before the fifth century, but after the Priscillianists [Orosius, Commonitorium, in Works of St. Augustine, volume VIII, page 665 and following. St. Augustine to Orosius, ibid., column 670 and following. Book on heresies, chapter LXX, column 23, Migne edition.], renewing the errors of Sabellius, made such a tumult in Spain that this heresy long effaced all others. Indeed another suspicion, at first sight, occurs, namely that SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus underwent martyrdom at the time of the Priscillianist heresy: a view from which the Passion-writer of León did not seem wholly averse, saying that they desired to suffer for the Trinity. But it was not permitted to go along with this opinion, both for other reasons and because Sulpicius Severus Sacred History, volume II, book II, page 249, Verona edition, 1754., who explained at length the beginnings and fortunes of the Priscillianists, nowhere reports that Catholics, although much harassed for the defence of the Holy Trinity, perished by the sword of those heretics. Wherefore we think we should stand by the Spanish tradition, which with one voice reports that the holy martyrs suffered under Diocletian and Maximian. In what year, however, it is hard to say. In the Tamayan Acts indeed the year 303 is indicated. But who will not hold suspect this manner of noting time, used only after several centuries? Nor, as we have said before, do the names of Diogenian, Aurelius Fortunatus and Dacian help in defining the time of the martyrdom, as being uncertain. Nevertheless, since those men are related to have carried out Diocletian's edict against the Christians in Spain, the martyrdom, if we follow the Iberian tradition, is to be referred to that persecution, which, begun in the year 303, had its end in Spain in the year 304 or 305. But the Passion of SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus was written long after, and in such a way that its author, intending to say that those saints died for religion, indicated only its chief mystery: a mystery which had long since met with many and most hostile enemies in those parts. So, genuine Acts being lacking, we have judged that the Toledo Acts, which though interpolated are superior to the other surviving ones, are to be communicated to the reader, the blunders with which they teem not being taken away.
[14] But the Translation after the year 1173. To these we have subjoined the relation of the Translation of SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus performed in the year 1173, then the history of the attack on the monastery of León and of the miracles which God performed to increase the glory of the three martyrs. The history of the Translation, which a genuine inscription, preserved for several centuries in the church of St. Claudius at León, handed down to the memory of men, Tamayo made public from a relation copied at the end of the Acts of the three martyrs in a manuscript Legendary of Segovia. This Tamayo had received from Diego Colmenares, a man of the highest integrity and learning [Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana nova, volume I, page 275; Tamayo, Martyrologium Hispanicum, volume II, page 360.], historiographer of that city. It is to be judged that this document was composed many years after the translation itself, unless you say that its author was little informed of the things to be narrated: for there occur in it some faults, to be indicated by us in the Annotations, which show the writer to be somewhat careless. The narrative of the miracles, written after the year 1173 and drawn from an ancient Breviary of León, was inserted in the Hispania Sacra by Manuel Risco. The reader, running through it, will easily see that the author, besides several very probable miracles, reports some that smell of a credulous man, and that are less apt to gain belief.
Annotatum* otherwise Victorius
PASSION OF THE HOLY MARTYRS CLAUDIUS, LUPERCUS AND VICTORICUS
from the Toledo manuscript codex.
Claudius, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Lupercus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Victoricus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
BHL Number: 1831
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
SOLE CHAPTER.
At León in Spain SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus accused of the Christian religion. Their martyrdom.
At León SS. Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus When the prefect of the province had arrived at the Seventh Gemina a Legio, it was reported to him that, in the likeness of Babylon, three men were set forth in the Trinity b, so that they wished to please God rather than men. Then, on hearing this, the prefect said to the people: "I hear that there are among you those who take on themselves something other than the precepts which our lords the emperors have decreed. I instruct that those who act so be presented to me through the office c at the audience-court." But because the prefect was savage, he said: "Do you not also remain together with them in one purpose?" Then Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus d, who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and wished to suffer for Christ, with one voice, and as if with one mouth, said: "Why do you instruct that we be presented at the audience-court? The three servants of God are ready for the threefold majesty e. But whatever you are going to ask us, you will have us ready for answer, because we know that it is written: He is of age, let him speak for himself. As for us, he in whom we have confidence will give us at the hour what we ought to answer when questioned by you." Then the prefect said: "Whereas thousands of Romans obey the precepts of the Lords the emperors, and you alone, by whose boldness, as is reported to us, wish to resist?" Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus answered: "We have in the law: Seeing they will not see, and hearing they will not hear: and therefore you, whereas a judge of thousands of Romans, and do not see this wondrous multitude of angels, from whom you will now prove yourself separated. Say what you think is to be furnished in us or furnished to you through us." The prefect said: "I seek nothing that is to be furnished me by you, but this only I wish to know, with whom you say you agree, or in whom you have confidence?" Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus answered: "In whom we have confidence, if you wish to know, we can instruct you. We have confidence in the Father, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that are in them, and in the only Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, and the Holy Spirit, who in the Trinity itself are one; so we too, believing, are soldiers proved for one passion, and your emperors, and you who have been ordained by them, we, set in the struggle, have conquered."
[2] they are condemned to death for the faith of Christ. Then the prefect said: "Our patience has done us greater insult and invites many to the perversity of these men." Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus answered: "In you is perversity, who deny God the maker of all, and sin by loving the thing made; but we do not fear him who kills the body, but him who kills body and soul; your emperors can kill this wretched body that is seen, made of earth; but the soul and spirit, which God gave, they do not have in their power. But why do you do towards these things whatever your father the devil urges on you: we believe in the name of the Lord that we shall suffer for Christ, who will make you and your emperors go into the gehenna of fire." Then Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus, not fleeing the praise which they had merited, but showing the place of prayer, in each of the places glorifying God, because they had been judged in the name of the passion, gave up their spirit to the Lord. But because they desired to suffer for the Trinity, so they were also buried together in one tomb f in the Lord, to whom be honour and power for ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* factorum codex.
* singuli codex.
HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS OF SS. CLAUDIUS, LUPERCUS AND VICTORICUS
from the Legendary of Segovia.
Claudius, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Lupercus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Victoricus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
BHL Number: 1835
aFROM THE PRINTED TEXT.
In the reign of Vermudo II, Almanzor While Veremundus b, son of King Ordoño, was reigning at León, in the era MXXXIII there was at Córdoba, the seat of the kings of the Arabs, a certain King who was called Alhagib c, a prudent man, vigorous, cheerful and generous, so that he drew the Christians to himself, and preferred them to the Arabs. Alhagib is interpreted Eyebrow, because as the eyebrow is the defence or shade of the eyes, so he too was called the defence of the peoples. He determined to be named Almanzor, which is interpreted defended, because, glorious in many victories, he vigorously defended himself and his own. This tyrant then God decreed to raise up, to correct the sins of Christian princes, which, by the example of the vicious king Veremundus, had so grown that they experienced the times of Witiza d, and worse. For this obscene king had two noble concubines, and they were sisters, forgetting the law of the Lord; and he had two wives still living, of whom he put away one; and not content with incest, he coupled another to himself in adulterous concubinage. The Lord, determining to punish so many insolences of sin with an iron rod, disposed the spirit of Almanzor to draw up a very powerful army, with which he began to lay waste the provinces of León, Castile and Navarre, so that he plundered everything from the Douro, which was the boundary between Christians and Arabs, as far as the river Esla , on whose bank he pitched his tents. Hearing this, Veremundus hastened with his army, and making an assault on Almanzor's tents, killed many of his army. But since Almanzor was great-souled and constant, leaping down from his own throne, taking off the golden cap which he wore for a crown, he sat down on the ground according to the custom of the princes of his nation. The army, which loved him from the heart, unable to bear this confusion, restored the battle, and having put the soldiers of Veremundus to flight, they reached the gates of León. But with the winter rains pressing, Almanzor returned to his own country.
[2] he lays waste León, only the house of St. Claudius being preserved. So when the spring season came, Almanzor again gathered an army, and coming to León, besieged it and attacked it firmly e. Veremundus betook himself to Oviedo *, hindered by a disease of gout. Almanzor, pressing fervently on the capture of León, having attacked it for nearly the circuit of a year, made the first breach at the western gate. On the fourth day after this, the second breach near the southern gate. Then Guillelmus Gonsalvi, count of Galicia, who had come for the defence, was gravely ill; but hearing that the wall was broken, he instructed that he be carried armed to the place of danger, that he might see death before the destruction of the city. And as the Arabs rushed in, the same count was killed, and the city was occupied, and Almanzor had the gates of the city, built in marble work, and the chief citadel of the eastern gate, the wall, and the other towers destroyed from the foundations; one only being left, to be for posterity in memory that he had cut down such walls and such great towers. The churches of the city and all sacred things the impious and cruel king profaned, and when he went to destroy the house of SS. Claudius, Lupertius and Victoricus, where the bodies of those martyrs lay in a lowly place, sitting on a horse of Baetica he came to the doors of the church, spurring the horse to enter through the doors unchecked, but by the will of God and the prayer of the holy martyrs, at the first step of the church the horse burst in the middle, and threw Almanzor to the ground. Thoroughly terrified by this miracle, the Arab not only abandoned the profanation he had planned, but forbade the boldness of his soldiers under penalty of death; so that the basilica, the house and the monks alone were exempted from the fury of him and his soldiers. And that this miracle and his piety might be remembered in the future, he generously granted to that house a blue back-hanging woven with silver, and made in Arabic work. This is at once shown to pilgrims gathering in future ages at the tomb of the holy Martyrs for the sake of a vow. Afterwards, when Almanzor had been taken from among the living, his son Abimelech came to León with a powerful band of soldiers, and whatever had survived in the royal city, walls, houses and towers, he levelled to the ground, not daring to touch the house, so that by the mercy of God and the help of the holy martyrs, that house of holiness was not profaned.
[3] Alfonso V restores León. When Veremundus the gouty had died, there succeeded him in the kingdom Alfonso f (who, still a little boy, had been under the governance of the count of Galicia Menendo González by his father's will), a man pious, noble, cheerful and lovable, who as soon as he reached his twentieth year, or a little more, restored at great expense the city of León, the seat of the kingdom, which had been reduced by the outrage of the Moors to tiny huts. He built the church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, though put together of mud and brick, and performed other works of piety: among which he assembled the celebrated council g, which is held in great esteem by Historiographers *; where he applied a remedy to ecclesiastical and secular business by the safeguard of laws. To him the monks reported the miracle of the holy martyrs resting in the house, performed with Almanzor, begging of him that he would deign to raise their relics to a higher place. But although Alfonso had set his mind to their requests, he could not complete the work, either hindered by the disturbance of the kingdom, or turned from his purpose by the will of God. What the monks could not attain, although nothing was more important in their hearts, lasted until the era one thousand two hundred and eleven, in which this translation was accomplished thus.
[4] His son Ferdinand, from Cardinal Hyacinth When Hadrian h, the Roman pope, had learned of controversies among the bishops of the churches of Spain, he determined to send his legate, who, after hearing the reasons of each prelate, should arrange to settle them and direct the state of the Church. With this office of legation there came to Toledo Hyacinth, cardinal in Cosmedin, who afterwards was Roman pope, by the name of Celestine, and he settled the controversies and ordered the state of things. These things being finished, Ferdinand i, king of León, invited the legate to his city, and after the legate had entered the city and experienced the love of the king, he rested there for some time, until, with the king's consent, he visited the whole province of León and Galicia, and having learned of the holiness and miracles of St. Rosendo k, whose body lay in the monastery of Celanova l, in the territory of Orense in Galicia, he placed him among the names of the saints, and canonized him: which he afterwards, when he was Roman pope, confirmed.
[5] obtains the translation of St. Claudius and companions. While these things were being done in Galicia, the bishop of León was John m, a man renowned for virtues and family; and in the house where the bodies of the holy martyrs Claudius and companions were, there was a certain abbot Pelagius by name, a very great zealot for religion and observer of monastic discipline. He approached the prelate John, and recounting to him the miracles performed at the tomb of the holy martyrs, with a shower of tears he demanded of him the elevation of the sacred bodies from a lowly to a higher place; and in order that this might be done more easily and solemnly, he proposed that the authority of the legate, soon to return to León, be awaited. Bishop John assented, and taking the abbot with him, went to the palace, where he found King Ferdinand: to whom he reported everything that had been treated between him and the abbot, humbly begging of him that when the legate came he would deal effectively with him about the translation of the sacred bodies and their elevation to a higher place. When the king heard this, moved by a stroke of devotion, he decreed that golden caskets be wrought, in which the body of each martyr should be enclosed, to be set on the high altar. So when everything had been brought to completion, on the arrival of the legate, the king disclosed to Hyacinth what he had decreed; who, with the presence of the king, the concourse of nobles and people, and with Peter of Compostela, John of Braga, Gonzalo of Oviedo, … of Astorga, Stephen of Zamora, Navarnne of Salamanca, and John of Lugo, and many abbots standing by, visited the place of the tomb; he examined the bodies; he approved the miracles, and carried out the other things which he knew were necessary for completion; and a day being assigned for the solemnity of the translation, which was the X Kalends of April, era M.CC.XI., with the acclamation of all, the elevation was completed by the legate himself. In memory of which, on a marble tablet next to the high altar, an epitaph of this kind is found written n.
† ERA M: CC: XI: X: KALENDAS: MAI *: JACINTUS **: LEGACIONIS:
SUE: AD LEGIONENSEM: URBEM: VENIENS: AD
PRECES: REGIS: ILLUSTRIS MEMORIE: FREDENANDI *: ET
IOHANNIS LEGIONENSIS: EPISCOPI: ET PELAGII: ABBATIS: SANCTI
CLAUDII: ET LEGIONENSIS: POPULI: CORPORA: SANCTORUM
MARTYRUM: CLAUDII: LUPERCI *: ET VICTORICI: DE HUMILI:
LOCO *: QUO CONDITA: FUERANT COMPOSTELLANO:
ARCHIEPISCOPO: ET BRACARENSI: OVETENSI: EPISCOPO ASTORICENSI
ZAMORENSI SALMANTINO * ET LUCENSI PRESENTIBUS:
ET *: XIIm **: ABBATIBUS ET MULTA ***: QUOQUE *: CLERICORUM: ET LAICORUM: TURBA: CIRCUM:
STANTE: SUPER: ALTARE: EJUSDEM ECCLESIE: DEVOTE:
REPOSUIT: CUNTIS: IBIDEM: DONA: SUA: OFFERENTIBUS:
INDULGENCIA: XL *: DIERUM CONCESSA: ET SIMILI:
MODO: OPERE ECCLESIE BENEFACIENTIBUS: SIMILI MERCEDE: CONSTITUTA
QUAM LARGICIONEM PIETATIS: PREDICTUS: LEGATUS: SUMMUM
PONTIFICATUM: ADEPTUS: PROPRIO
SCRIPTO *: CONFIRMAVIT o.
[Era 1211, the 10th before the Kalends of May, Hyacinth, coming to the city of León on his legation, at the prayers of King Ferdinand of illustrious memory, and of John, bishop of León, and Pelagius, abbot of St. Claudius, and the people of León, the archbishop of Compostela and those of Braga, the bishop of Oviedo, and those of Astorga, Zamora, Salamanca and Lugo being present, and twelve abbots, and a great crowd also of clergy and laity standing round, devoutly set the bodies of the holy martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus from the lowly place in which they had been laid, upon the altar of the same church, an indulgence of 40 days being granted to all who there offered their gifts, and a like reward being appointed to those who in like manner did good to the work of the church; which grant of piety the aforesaid legate, having attained the supreme pontificate, confirmed by his own writing.]
ANNOTATIONS.
* the year of Christ 995
* Elsa
* Oviedo
* in the edition Histriographis.
* X Kal. M. omitted D.
tempore added D. H. T. Y.
* Ferdinandi D. Y.
* Lupertii D. Lupercii H. Y.
* corde H
* Salmantim H. Y. Salamantino D.
* omitted D.
Duodecim D. H. Y.
* multaque H. Y.
* omitted D. H. Y.
* quadraginta D. H. Y.
* rescripto T.
THE MONASTERY OF ST. CLAUDIUS IN THE STORMING OF THE TOWN OF LEÓN
From the ancient Breviary of León in the España sagrada, volume XXXIV.
Claudius, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Lupercus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Victoricus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
BHL Number: 1833
FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.
IN THE REIGN OF VEREMUNDUS II ALMANZOR COMES TO LEÓN. THE DISASTER OF THIS TOWN. GOD PROTECTS THE RELICS OF ST. CLAUDIUS AND COMPANIONS.
In the reign of Veremundus, Among those exercises of this passing life, which according to the variety of things, the succession of times, the failing of mortal days, antiquity hides, the obscurity of oblivion covers over, and the very fragility of mortal nature easily buries, so that they cannot long be recalled, the demand of reason requires that what pertains to the perpetuity of souls, the never-failing vividness of letters should present to the memory of survivors by continual observance; since, that the ignorant may be instructed, that those who understand may be admonished, and that all who hear may be divinely stirred more and more to the love of him who is established as praiseworthy in his saints, we have taken care to designate with the pen, in our office, the miracles of the blessed martyrs of Christ, Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus, worthy of recollection, by which the church of monks, situated in the suburb of the city of León in the name of God under their invocation, shines forth, arranging in order on the page the series of miracles according to the series of the times. So when King Veremundus a was ruling far and wide over the Spaniards, of little strength in the virtue of a royal life, greatly polluting the power of reigning by the madness of his vices, he had besprinkled the whole kingdom, by living abominably, with the examples of his depravity and corruption.
[2] the monastery of St. Claudius is occupied by Almanzor; By the demand of his crimes the people subject to him felt God offended. For a certain king of the Saracens, by name Almanzor b, had free entry into the kingdom of the Christians, no one resisting: ranging everywhere over the boundaries of the Christians with sword and flame, he did not cease to give cities to slaughter, believers to death, the property of the Church to ashes, everything to consumption. In this memorable storm, coming to León, he desired utterly to overthrow it, because it is asserted to be the head of the kingdom. He presumed to besiege the monastery of St. Claudius, where the outstanding cultivation of religion and holiness is proved to have been pre-eminent from of old. In this same monastery, because of confidence in the suffrages of the holy martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus, the people of León were accustomed to contract marriages. To carry out this rite twelve noble men, with their ladies, endowed with equal nobility, had come together with one devotion to the aforesaid monastery. These Almanzor, driven by canine rage, proposed to tear from the church with the violence of arms, and to consign to his chains. But divine mercy, through the merits of the holy martyrs, rendered so abominable a purpose void. From the moment when that raging dog Almanzor touched the forecourt of the cemetery at his first entry, he was vehemently stunned to see the horse on which he was sitting seized by sudden death in sudden fashion c.
[3] who for this reason is chastised by God. As soon as he learned from the report of the crowd pouring around the holiness of the place and the reverence of the blessed martyrs, he feared to advance further. A matter no less worthy of commemoration than of wonder. What he had begun to presume unlawfully, he now strove, though unwilling, to complete becomingly. He had come greedy for the capture of nobles. In placating nobler ones he became prodigal of his own property. For in order that the aforesaid martyrs might mitigate the punishments he had deserved, the said tyrant saw to it that he offered to their church, with what devotion he could, his tent with those insignia which today are seen raised at the top of the tower of St. Claudius, and twelve copes of precious cloth. The most gentle glorious martyrs of God, imitating the mercy of the heavenly Father, who although he judges just things yet patiently tolerates, and makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust, though provoked by an unbeliever to take worthy vengeance, calmed the bitterness of the punishments with pious kindness. And that contumacious man departed, frustrated in his hope and confounded. And though it was permitted him to attack other churches of León with violent assaults, he could touch the monastery of St. Claudius with no harm.
ANNOTATIONS.
MIRACLES OF ST. CLAUDIUS AND COMPANIONS
From the ancient Breviary of the Church of León in the España sagrada, volume XXXIV.
Claudius, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Lupercus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
Victoricus, martyr at León in Spain. (S.)
BHL Number: 1834
FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.
SOLE CHAPTER.
Translation of the holy Martyrs. Much desired rain pours forth. The sick healed. A dead mule is restored to life. Those possessed by demons freed.
HERE BEGIN THE MIRACLES OF THE HOLY MARTYRS CLAUDIUS, LUPERCUS AND VICTORIUS AT THE TRANSLATION.
The bodies of St. Claudius and companions Since whatever is paid in pious devotion to the sons is praise of the father, therefore the father of mercies, who, by no merits of ours demanding it, but by his own grace alone calling, endowed the offspring of mother Church with the name of sons, is, according to the prophecy of David, to be praised in his saints, and to be honoured in manifold ways with united voice of mind and body. And since there are many sons, not just any sons, but according to the word of the apostle Paul, in which he says: "Be imitators of me as dearest sons," we call those dearest sons who, not content merely with the letter of the law, but as very strong contestants with their blood poured out, were imitators of the heavenly king. While the whole world rejoices in their patronage, among the other provinces after that heavenly star, which shines in the twelve-fold number of the apostles, namely James the apostle, while Spain rejoices in its many patrons; among the other cities of that province the city of León is ennobled by the glorious blood of its martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus. How they dyed their robes in the blood of the lamb, and how they received from the Lord the crowns of reward sprinkled with the rosy blood of martyrdom, is clearer than light to nearly all the inhabitants of that city.
[2] were translated in the year 1173. While their bodies had not for very many times been held in due veneration, in the era M.CC.XI., in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred
and seventy-three, Ferdinand reigning as king of the Spains, John the bishop presiding over the church of León, and Pelagius the abbot over the monastery of the holy martyrs, divine providence so disposing, in the presence of Hyacinth, cardinal legate of the holy Roman Church, they were honourably translated a. And since God, wondrous in his saints, is accustomed to work magnificent things to declare the merits of his saints, on the very day of the translation of the aforesaid martyrs, two women in the darkness of blindness went to the places for the support of the aforesaid holy martyrs: and when with most inward devotion they implored the suffrages of the same martyrs, they felt through the effect of signs that the help of the holy martyrs was at hand for them. For at once the orbs of their eyes began to be opened: and their pupils, clear, received the sight long denied them. On seeing this sign, Hyacinth the cardinal, and the solemn assembly of bishops as well as of abbots and clerics, began to pay to God worthy praises for the veneration of the saints.
[3] On the day of the translation a desired rain pours down; At the same times, when the region of Spain, with its fertile soil, had brought forth manifold shoots necessary for the uses of men, from long drought everything began to dry up, and those over whose growth all had been glad were exceedingly saddened at their failure. Whence the divine mercy began to be implored by all, that what he had kindly given he might preserve by the gift of his mercy. But because it is written: Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner; therefore their prayer was not heard, which the defilement of human frailty did not admit to the divine ears. So on the very day of the translation of the often-mentioned witnesses of Christ, when through the foregoing miracles all felt that their patronage was present, they began to implore their merits for the common need. So he who in ancient times opened the heavens that were shut from rain at the prayers of his servant Elijah, he himself through the magnificent merits of his martyrs, without violence of winds and terror of lightnings and bellowing of thunders, poured down most abundant rains, so that the rough earth rebounded with crops and flowers, and returned to its cultivator a better hope.
[4] two blind men are healed, On the same day too two men, humbled by long blindness, rejoiced in light restored by the merits of the same martyrs. As the power of such signs was making itself known on all sides by swift report, both inhabitants and strangers, a very great multitude of whom for the sake of devotion were seeking with the pilgrim's staff the suffrages of the most blessed apostle James, began to go to the city of León and seek the threshold of the holy martyrs there, and first to commend themselves most earnestly to their patronage. Among these they brought with them to the courts of the holy martyrs a certain man of the same province who neither spoke words nor perceived anyone's words, that is, dumb and deaf. While they were praying suppliantly for him, he suddenly by the benefits of the martyrs broke out into the organs of voice, and sound in every part, he heard others speaking and glorifying God and the victorious saints of God for his recovery.
[5] and two other sick people. A certain Frank too, having an eye swollen out with excessive tumour and useless for sight, while he was seeking for this trouble the help of the precious martyrs, was wondrously heard, and his eye was joined to the other eye both in equality and in function. When the son of certain people, from contraction of one hand and foot, was laborious to himself and pitiable not only to his parents but also to others, they, perceiving the benefits which the divine mercy deigned to work through the merits of his saints, brought that same son with them, and with tearful prayers placed him before the altar of the precious martyrs. There the emptied veins soon began to be filled with blood, and with a kind of crashing sound the boy, now healed, began to stretch his limbs. A wonderful thing: he who a little before had been brought by the help of his parents, now, swifter than his parents, gave glad leaps, and stretched out mobile arms to any tasks.
[6] By the help of the holy martyrs The composition of the divine Scriptures, like spices, the more it is ground, the more fragrant it is rendered. And because the carnal man does not perceive the things of the spirit, but with a bent mind, equal to a beast, gapes after earthly things and disdains spiritual ones, therefore you who are Lovers of Christ and pant for heavenly things, and who suffer an insatiable hunger for the word of God, listen intently to the wonders that pertain to the praise of Christ and the holy martyrs, that the spiritual vigour may be increased in you all the more, the more eagerly you take in the sweetness of heavenly love.
[7] a mule is called back to life. A certain pilgrim, setting out from Gaul, when he had come to the city of León, heard the celebrated fame of the holy martyrs Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus. Reflecting with religious mind that it would not be profitable if he should omit to implore the patronage of such great martyrs, he went to their church, and asked them to be supporters of his journey and of all his needs. How far his prayer was heard the effect of a wonderful sign afterwards declared. For when he had paid the vow which he had vowed to St. James, desiring to return to his country, he was turning about with the bridle the mule on which he sat. It collapsed, its strength failing, and expired under his very feet. Left without a mount, since on foot he could not follow his companions on horseback, he stood sorrowful, and with downcast mind did not know what best to do. Suddenly there came to his mind the memory of the martyrs, whom earlier, as we have said, he had called by prayers to his assistance. Not knowing their names, with eyes wet with drops of tears raised to heaven, he began thus to say: "You, holy martyrs of God, whose manifold miracles flourish, hear me in my misery, and put an end to this great calamity of mine by the prayers of your grace." His voice was broken off by sobs, and as he turned back to the mule his eyes clouded with showers of tears, behold she rose up alive again. And he, seeing that he had been heard with such unhoped-for swiftness of the divine mercy, began to weep the more, and with the shouts of his companions to glorify God and his martyrs. So returning again to their church, in certification of the sign he brought a wax mule, and with the testimony of his companions set forth to all the course of the miracle. This the Brothers hung over their altar, that the presence of the sign might be made known to all who seek the suffrages of the holy martyrs.
[8] Earth in which the saints had been buried, Of the earth too where their precious bodies had been entombed, a certain man, carrying some with him, gave it mixed in drink to his brother, who for seven years of sickness had been pressing his bed. Having drunk it, the sick man felt a saving antidote, and came forth healed from the bed made hateful by infirmity.
[9] and flowers of their altar heal the sick. Two brothers, soldiers, fearing greater dangers from the violence of their sickness, went to the church of the same holy martyrs, and spent the night watching b with prayers before their altar. It happened that they were soon overcome by sleep: behold, they saw standing present before them those whose mercy they were imploring. The one in the middle, with a lovable face and affable voice, said thus to them: "Behold we are present to your sight, whose ashes and bones this sacred earth contains. Know then that an end has been put to your sicknesses, if you carry out what I shall order. There are flowers placed under our altar; take them as food, and so, helped by our merits, go away healed." Awakening, they at once began to chew the flowers, as had been ordered, and released from all sickness they departed unharmed.
[10] A sick woman and a man possessed by a demon are freed. A certain cleric carried relics of the same precious martyrs into his diocese. There a woman, worn out by long sickness, had despaired of health, and was awaiting only the hour of death. Feeling for her, the aforesaid cleric washed the relics which he had brought, and from this gave the sick woman drink. She, at once cured of all trouble, gave to all an evident sign of how much the merits of the saints can do with God. It is horrible to tell that the ancient enemy is so permitted to dominate the human creature as to possess human bodies and vex them with manifold madness. But if we consider with intent attention, it is not surprising if he dominates the bodies of those who, while they had the use of free will, took him into their breasts by profane works. One of these, full of a demon, carried to the church of the holy martyrs, was laid before their altar. From him the wicked spirit began with dreadful outcry to pour forth words of this sort: "O you precious martyrs of God, Claudius, Lupercus and Victoricus, why do you rage against us, and bring fire and scourges? I cannot bear your presence, and therefore I must abandon the vessel on which I sit." Having spoken thus, he went out, and the man he had possessed was rendered clean.
[11] A woman is punished for not observing the feast day. It is of human nature that those whom we embrace with sincere love, their glory we aim at with a more ardent spirit. So let the glory of the fathers be the joy of the sons, and let them not be weary of hearing the miracles of those by whose intercessions they desire to attain eternal joys. As report ran about, when a very great multitude were coming together to the translation of the holy martyrs, among the others a certain woman, leaving her husband at home and taking her sons in her company, went to the place of so great a solemnity. Meanwhile the husband left at home wished to provide things necessary for the house, and began to urge his daughter by orders to make loaves, which on that day had been unlawful. For even if that had not been the day of the translation of the martyrs, nevertheless the third Sunday of the Paschal season, dedicated to rest, was at hand. Obedient to her father's words she took flour, and with a skilled hand pouring in water, wished to make loaves. And behold two demons, in appearance like crows, but surpassing them in blackness and size, sat down on each of her shoulders, and began to peck her with their very sharp beaks. Struck by their terror and bites she fell, and left unfinished the work she had wrongly begun. Her mother, coming back, seeing her daughter, whom a little before she had left well, undone in all her limbs, wondering at the swiftness of so unhoped-for a sickness, began to inquire by what event this had happened. So the cause being clearly learned, taking up her daughter on a vehicle she went back along the road she had already left, and returned to the sacred places, and there, keeping redoubled vigils, she prayed for her daughter's recovery. She was at length heard through the merits of the martyrs, and her daughter was restored to health. Having been healed, she went back home, and forbade her to presume any work thereafter on sacred days.