Maximus

ON ST. MAXIMUS, MARTYR, AT CUMAE IN CAMPANIA FELIX,

BETWEEN THE YEARS 303 AND 305.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Maximus, martyr at Cumae in Italy. (S.)

§ I. The cult of St. Maximus in certain places of the Neapolitan tract.

That the cult of St. Maximus at Cumae was ancient and celebrated is attested first of all by that Peter Compare below, number 10. who at the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century wrote the Life of St. Juliana, The ancient cult of St. Maximus published by our forefathers at the 16th day of February. He describes the second translation of the relics of the holy martyr (after the first by which they were carried from Nicomedia into Campania) in these words Acta Sanctorum, volume II of February, page 882.: But afterwards, with pagan ferocity threatening (of the Lombards perhaps, who in the year 568 Compare Acta Sanctorum, volume cited, page 869 and following. invaded Italy and ravaged it widely), lest so great and such a treasure should be dishonoured, her body was translated to the city of Cumae, and there it is placed with glory in her basilica and that of Blessed Maximus, where it does not cease to grant very many benefits to those who ask, to the praise of the Lord, down to the present day. Thus far he. So in the eleventh century, indeed according to this author in the sixth century, or a little later, there existed at Cumae a basilica dedicated in the name of SS. Maximus and Juliana, or rather of St. Maximus alone, if we hold to the more probable reading of the codex used by Antonio Caracciolo, in which, after the words to the city of Cumae, these follow: placed with glory in the bishop's house itself and in the Basilica of Blessed Maximus, martyr [Antonio Caracciolo, De sacris Ecclesiae Neapolitanae monumentis, Naples, 1645, chapter XVI, page 161.]. The same basilica and the relics of the holy Martyr laid up in it are mentioned by an eyewitness of the translation of the bodies of SS. Maximus and Juliana to Naples in the year 1207, in which year the city of Cumae was overwhelmed by war and utterly overthrown: With whom, he says (Leo, bishop of Cumae, and some of his clergy), the venerable abbots of St. Peter ad Aram and St. Mary ad Capellam also went, with certain soldiers and upright men, to the church of Blessed Maximus, martyr, and entered a mausoleum made of marble, in which were the bones of Blessed Maximus, martyr, so ordered and composed as if they had been placed there on that same day. Beneath too they found no small amount of dust of those holy relics Acta Sanctorum, volume cited, page 883..

[2] in the churches of Cumae The day assigned for chiefly honouring their patron among the people of Cumae was the 30th of October. For that St. Maximus was treated on that day in the Breviary of Cumae is asserted by Decio Cardinal Carafa, archbishop of Naples, in his synodal Sanction [In Alessio Simmaco Mazzocchi, De Sanctorum Neapolitanae Ecclesiae Episcoporum cultu, Naples, 1753, volume I, page 68.], or rather by Antonio Caracciolo, who composed this sanction [Fr. Bolvito, in the Life of Antonio Caracciolo, prefixed to his posthumous work De sacris Ecclesiae Neapolitanae monumentis.]. Since the church of Cumae after the year 1207 was never restored, nor had any bishop of its own or any jurisdiction from that time Compare Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume VI, column 230., it is plain enough that this is to be understood of the order of the divine office which was in use at Cumae before the thirteenth century. Nor let anyone think here of the church of Novum Comum or Como in Insubria, which by some writers has wrongly been commonly called Cumana [Acta Sanctorum, volume XII of October, page 564, annotation g. Compare volume IX of October, page 414 and following; volume VII of September, pages 358 and 359.]: both because a confusion of this kind cannot rightly be supposed in the learned man Antonio Caracciolo, and because in the church of Como no chief honours have ever been paid to any St. Maximus: of which matter it is permissible to cite as clear enough a witness Luigi Tatti, who so diligently in the first books of his Annals D. Primo Luigi Tatti, Annali sacri della città di Como., reviewing the saints in whose patronage the city of Como glories, makes no mention of our saint.

[3] of Naples The same day was also long since sacred to St. Maximus at Naples. For in the marble Calendar of the ninth century, which was found at Naples in the year 1742 in the church of St. John, at the 30th of October there is announced: Nt. S. Max. et S. Marcia Birthday of St. Maximus and St. Marcia [Mai, Scriptores veteres, volume V, page 64. Mazzocchi, De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, page 296. Compare Mazzocchi, Diatriba on the age of this calendar, in volume I of the Commentary, page XVIII and following.]. Mazzocchi indeed first supposed that the martyrs here designated are none other than SS.

Maxima and Martian, Africans De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, page 298.; but afterwards he corrected his opinion Ibid., pages 320, 423 and 424., when he happened on another old calendar of the church of Naples, which, found among the papers of Camillo Tutini and thence called Tutinian, he first made public [Ibid., page 311 and following. Compare Parascandolo, Memorie storiche-critiche-diplomatiche della Chiesa di Napoli, volume III, Naples, 1849, page 223 and following.]. That calendar was prefixed to the Ritual of Giovanni Orsini, prelate of the same church from the year 1328 to 1358 [Chiocarelli, Antistitum Neapolitanorum Catalogus, Naples, 1643, page 220. Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume VI, Venice, 1720, page 125.]; and it is easily established that it was composed between the years 1170 and 1234: for at the 20th day of December it presents the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury, who fell a martyr in the year 1170, and was entered among the saints a little later; but it is silent about SS. Dominic and Francis, whose feasts were celebrated at Naples, if not at once from their canonization, then certainly after the monasteries of their Order were erected there in the years 1231 Chiocarelli, work cited, page 156. and 1234 Ughelli, volume I, column 490.. In the Tutinian Calendar, then, there is already more distinctly set forth at the 30th day of October the feast of Maximus, martyr of Cumae. Further, although it may rightly be supposed that that calendar was written after the translation of the body of St. Maximus from Cumae to Naples, yet from the very fact that before this translation the name of St. Maximus is found entered on the same 30th day of October in the monuments both of Cumae and of Naples, nor do any arguments present themselves why different saints should be thought to be indicated, it seems that it cannot be doubted that the same is treated in both. From this it may further be concluded, though not so certainly, that already in the sixth century our saint was in the greatest veneration at Naples, since we find mentioned in St. Gregory the Great a monastery of Saints Erasmus, Maximus and Juliana, which was founded at Naples by Alexandra, a woman of most illustrious memory [St. Gregory the Great, Register, book X, letter 13 (otherwise VIII, 14), in Migne, Patrologia Latina, volume LXXVII, column 1075.].

[4] of Pozzuoli, Now to write here the other monuments of the church of Naples where mention of our holy Martyr occurs, in the Sanction of Decio Carafa there is cited a certain old manuscript Neapolitan Martyrology, where at the 30th day of October is read, noted in red letters, St. Maximus, Martyr In Mazzocchi, De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, page 69.. There follow the Sanction itself of Decio Carafa, issued on the 3rd day of September 1619, and, at least such as we have been permitted to see, the Directory or ecclesiastical calendar of the year 1685, the Proper Offices of the diocese of Naples published at Naples in the year 1791, and the Directories of the years 1844, 1847, 1853 and 1857; in all of which the feast of St. Maximus is assigned to the same 30th day of October. To the church of Naples may be joined others too which together with it and under it form an ecclesiastical province, as Pozzuoli Ordo divini officii in the diocese of Pozzuoli, year 1845., Ischia Ordo divini officii in the diocese of Ischia, year 1842., and one which touches the borders of this province, Aversa Ordo divini officii in the diocese of Aversa, year 1847.: to this last, when Cumae was destroyed, the clergy and chapter of Cumae transferred themselves Ughelli, volume VI, column 270.. All these on the 30th day of October keep the memorial of St. Maximus the Levite or of Cumae. Yet that in Aversa this celebration is not so ancient is indicated by what Cassitto wrote in the year 1800 at the end of his composition on St. Maximus of Cumae (of which more fully below): I have learned, he says, that our St. Maximus has recently, with the indulgence of the Supreme Roman Pontiff, begun to be venerated at Giugliano, which is a town of the diocese of Aversa, not unequal even to the most crowded cities, because Giugliano, when Cumae was overthrown, having received the clergy of Cumae, succeeded also to the rights of Cumae Acta sincera S. Maximi, p. 159..

[5] of Capua, Much older certainly was the cult of St. Maximus at Capua, yet in such a way that its first traces do not seem to precede the thirteenth century and so the overthrow of Cumae. Both things are shown by the Calendars of Capua which Michele Monaco brought forward in part IV of the Sanctuarium Capuanum Naples edition, 1630.. The first of which was easily established to have been written between the years 1087 and 1170, since in it at the 9th day of May is announced the Translation of the body of Blessed Nicholas, archbishop of Myra, to Bari, and at the 29th of December no mention is made of St. Thomas of Canterbury. The others, four in number, were composed after the year 1235: for at the 5th day of August and at the 4th of October they report the names of SS. Dominic and Francis; but in the third calendar, and also, as it seems, in the second, the indication of the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas is written not by the same hand to which the rest of the writing is owed, but by a different one: whence, since the Angelic doctor was entered among the saints in the year 1323, and his feast began immediately after to be kept among the more celebrated and of precept, and especially at Capua Acta Sanctorum, volume I of March, page 656, n. 8., we have here another limit for defining their age: which as regards the third can be further narrowed: for in it at the 10th day of September there is read, noted in the margin, the death of Andrea Pannone, archbishop, who departed this life in the year 1313. In the fourth calendar there is indeed assigned to its day, the 7th of March, the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas; but nothing can be concluded from this indication as to the age of the whole document, because the folio containing the description of March and April does not seem to have belonged originally to the same codex with the rest, but taken from another torn one and sewn in. The fifth finally is manifestly more recent than all those cited so far: for it presents both St. Thomas Aquinas and not a few other saints who are wanting in the former ones. Now in the first of those calendars there appears no mention of our Maximus, but at the 30th day of October is read only: the deposition will be of St. Germanus, bishop of Capua Michele Monaco, Sanctuarium Capuanum, page 401.. But the others have written in the name of St. Maximus, Martyr, and the third indeed at the 31st day of October, the others at the 30th of the same month Ibid., pages 410, 420, 433, 548.; moreover in the third and fourth not only the title of martyr, but also of Levite accompanies the name, and three lessons to be recited are indicated. From these things then it is natural to conjecture that some part of the church of Cumae, or some relics from Cumae, were translated, as to Aversa, so also to Capua, which lies next to it: a conjecture which however cannot be confirmed by any authority or certain indication. There occurs also this other perhaps not improbable explanation, that Capua, at the time when St. Maximus suffered, as it was the civil metropolis of that part of Campania in which Cumae was situated [See Camillo Pellegrino, De Campania Felice, disputation I, chapter V, in Graevius and Burmann, Antiquitates Italicae, volume IX, part II, column 23.], so was also the head of the ecclesiastical province which was contained within the same boundaries, or was even the seat of the bishop to whom the people of Cumae were subject, over whom at that time no bishop of their own presided Compare below, annotation c..

[6] and of Gaeta. Gaeta lies too far distant from Cumae for the question to be solved in a similar way why our Maximus too is chiefly venerated there Ordo divini officii in the diocese of Gaeta, year 1841.. But perhaps someone may notice that the people of Minturnae took refuge first at Formia in the time of St. Gregory the Great and thence in the ninth century at Gaeta, carrying with them the body of St. Erasmus Ughelli, Italia sacra, volume I, pages 526, 527., who at Naples too, in the time of the same supreme pontiff Gregory the Great, was patron of a certain monastery together with St. Maximus Compare above, end of number 3., and so may seem to have had some kinship with our saint. From this one may then step to the untying of another knot no less difficult, namely how it came about that the office of St. Maximus was once recited in the house of Grottaferrata of the Order of St. Basil, near Tusculum (Frascati) in the Roman Campagna. As a witness of this we have a certain calendar of Grottaferrata from a codex of the eleventh century, entitled ἐκλογάδιον, recently published by the Reverend Father Teodoro Toscani, hieromonk of the same Order [Ad typica Graecorum, ac praesertim ad typicum Cryptoferratense S. Bartholomaei Abbatis Animadversiones, Rome, press of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, 1864.]. There at the 30th of October is marked: καὶ τοῦ ἁγ. Μαξίμου διακ. Work cited, page 80.; but this mention is exiled from the later calendars of the same monastery. And since a similar omission is noticed in these regarding other saints too, the distinguished Toscani points to this probable cause of this difference Ibid.: Before, he says, St. Bartholomew formed the Typicon (in which the order of offices of the monastery of Grottaferrata is described: and this St. Bartholomew seems to have composed Ibid., page 39., who died in the year 1065), the monks had to celebrate the feasts and memorials of the saints according to some calendar which was customary for other monks of the same Greek rite, which however, when a calendar proper to the monastery was composed, was shortly to be abolished. Now St. Nilus, founder of the house of Grottaferrata [Sciommari, Breve Notizia e Raccolta della vita di S. Bartolomeo, IV abate del monastero di Grotta Ferrata, Rome, 1728, note XVIII, page 97 and following.], had previously established a monastery near Gaeta Life of St. Nilus, number 87, Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of September, page 335., which was called Serperi Ibid., end of number 95., and had stayed in it for ten years, down to a decrepit age Ibid.. So in this monastery he could have written St. Maximus into a calendar which then was brought to that of Grottaferrata and was in use there for some time.

[7] He was passed over in several martyrologies. One church besides those just cited remains, in which we find St. Maximus honoured with chief devotion on the 30th day of October, that of Conza Ordo divini officii in the diocese of Conza and Campagna, year 1836.. And we would easily judge that this devotion is very old there, if full faith could be given to the reading of the Echternach or Antwerp codex of the Hieronymian Martyrology published by Fiorentini, which at the 30th day of October presents: And in Comsa, of Maximus… Fiorentini, page 939.. But since these words are wholly wanting in other codices used

by Fiorentini, and since the Echternach codex is very corrupt Compare G. B. de Rossi, Roma sotterranea, volume II, page XIV and following., it can probably be supposed both that they were added to the original writing, and that in that very addition one should read Cumis for Compsa. And I would hardly doubt this, if it were established that the cult of St. Maximus at Conza did not exist before that celebrated martyrology was published by Fiorentini. For the rest, if you except that one Echternach codex, you will find no mention at all of Maximus at this day in the universal martyrologies that preceded the present Roman one. Was it that he escaped the diligence of the martyrologists? I would hardly believe it, especially since his memorial was celebrated in the illustrious church of Naples, and at Cumae too a basilica was dedicated in his name. It is rather to be supposed that they feared lest this holy martyr be the same as others of the same name to whom their days had already been assigned. Indeed Ferrari, while weaving the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy Milan, 1613., admitted Maximus of Cumae into the index of the names of Saints, besides the one of L'Aquila and others venerated in various places, but then in the work itself reports nothing at all about him; and in the topographical index, or of the places of Italy in which the memory of Saints flourishes, he records St. Juliana as honoured at Cumae, passing over St. Maximus, and finally he did not think fit to write his name in the General Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Martyrology Venice, 1625. either. Likewise Michele Monaco, when he noted at the 30th of October that martyrologies treat of the Maximus praised on this day in the Capuan calendars Sanctuarium Capuanum, page 548., must have had before his eyes some other Maximus truly cited in them. And Baronius, where he found in the Roman Martyrology at the 30th of October Maximus who suffered at Apamea Of whom we shall have to treat below., led by I know not what reasoning, says that this same man is mentioned in the Greek menologies (and in the Roman Martyrology itself) at the 15th of September, killed at Hadrianople with two companions Notes on the Roman Martyrology at the 30th of October.. This opinion was copied by Chastelain and Saint-Allais. The same men, moreover, in the Index of Saints placed at the end of their Martyrology, confuse St. Maximus of Cumae with another Maximus, of whom the Roman Martyrology speaks at the 18th of February, who gained the palm of martyrdom at Ostia on the Tiber by the punishment of fire, with his brother Claudius and the latter's wife and two sons. This opinion, resting as it seems on no other foundation but that at the same time of Diocletian both the one of Cumae and the one of Ostia are read to have confessed the faith, and perhaps moreover that the martyrs of Ostia were ordered to be deported to the city of Comos Acta Sanctorum, volume III of February, page 64., can certainly in no way be proved; especially since no monuments of the churches that venerate the memory of St. Maximus, nor any Acts, join his name with the name of Claudius or of another martyr of Ostia, or show anything in common between him and them. For the rest we must examine more diligently that question, whether our Maximus is different from other martyrs of the same name, when we have discoursed on a few things about the Acts of the martyrdom, by which a way may be paved to solving it.

§ II. The Acts of St. Maximus and compendia of the Acts.

There exist Acts of St. Maximus Now of the Acts. We have three sets. Of these the most ancient seem to be those which Luigi Vincenzo Cassitto, O.P., master of Theology, published at Rome in the year 1800 from a manuscript Passionary of the church of Bovino (or Bibinum or Vibinum, if you prefer with Cassitto the older name by which this city of Apulia was called in Pliny), and which he entitled the Genuine Acts of St. Maximus. Of the codex itself Cassitto speaks in these words: That is the very codex from which Ottavio Gaetani, Bartolomeo Chiocarelli, Tria, Sarnelli, and indeed the Bollandist companions have drawn several most elegant monuments for illustrating the Acts of the Saints. It contains the Passionary of the holy cathedral church of Vibinum in Daunian Apulia, where I myself handled the book, and whatever unpublished thing I found I copied most faithfully, soon to send it out to the public use of the light, beginning with the Passion of St. Maximus, which seemed to me most beautiful and most worth reading. And not to proclaim anything more glorious about the codex, I think it enough to indicate that it was not written before the course of the twelfth century. It is an enormous parchment book, skilfully written in very large letters in that more polished script of the eleventh and twelfth centuries which approaches the more recent Roman. Further, to pass over other arguments, the antiquity of our codex is plain even from this, that it shows the body of St. Maximus resting at Cumae. But in the year 1207 Cumae had been overthrown, the relics translated to Naples. So the writing must precede the year 1207 Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 1 and following.. Cassitto found another copy of the same Acts in a certain Casanatense codex of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, as being one which recognizes the feast day of our holy Father Dominic Ibid., page 138.; but here they are very mutilated, so that of the twenty sections into which the editor divides the Bovino Acts, the Casanatense codex presents only the first eight entire and moreover the greater part of the ninth. Cassitto noted a few variant readings from it in his edition.

[9] both ancient, We had a copy of the same Acts among the documents collected by our forefathers and today preserved in the Royal Library of Brussels Manuscript Codex 8926.: it had been copied from volume 139 manuscript of the library of Monte Cassino. In the year 1877 this Passion was carefully printed Bibliotheca Casinensis, volume III, Florilegium Casinense, page 147., and indeed from the same codex CXXXIX, written, as is there stated Ibid., Bibliotheca Casinensis, page 253., in Lombard characters of the eleventh century. Now that codex is not a little more correct than the Bovino one, I will not say as to single words, which may easily be thought corrected by the copyist himself, but also as to very many senses which in our codex are entire and excellently suited to the context below, but in the Bovino are presented manifestly mutilated or corrupted. Besides, a twofold variation must chiefly be noted: one at the very opening of the Acts, regarding the name of the city where St. Maximus was brought to the governor, which the Bovino codex calls Cumae, the Cassino Apamea; the other in the last part of the Acts, where the Cassino omits that whole narrative of the revelation of the body of St. Maximus made to Juliana, a certain religious woman; yet no trace of any mutilation appears in that place. So the suspicion easily arises that this narrative was introduced into the original Acts by a sort of interpolation. From which finally, as also from the greater integrity of the text, it seems it can be concluded that our codex is purer and older than the Bovino one, or was copied from a purer and older exemplar. In order that a judgement may be made more safely about these things, since the Acts are not so long, and it will not be of greater labour, and certainly of less tedium for readers, to place them entire from each codex in view, so that a continuous comparison between them may easily be made, than if variant readings from one codex were noted to those published from the other; we shall subjoin them arranged according to that former method to this commentary.

[10] and more recent. Rightly and deservedly did Cassitto regard as more recent the Acts which he brought forward at the end of his little book from the Corsini codex 777, written in the middle or at the decline of the thirteenth century Compare Mazzocchi, De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, page 328 and following., wholly similar to the former as to the things themselves (they disagree however See below, number 25. in assigning the day of the passion) and as to the series of events, but written with a certain greater pomp and ornament of speech and interspersed with lengthy addresses, in which the writer addresses now the judge or the emperors, now his readers. Cassitto says that he found the same in two Vallicelliana codices, of which one is also written in Lombard letters, like the Corsini one; the other, a Notice placed at its front asserts, was written in the eleventh century Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 138.: but of what authority that notice is he discloses by no indication, nor did he give any variant readings from the Vallicelliana codices. We too have among the documents copied by our forefathers Burgundian or Royal Library of Brussels, Manuscript Codex 8914. a copy from a manuscript parchment Vallicelliana Legendary, which is without doubt the same as one of the codices which Cassitto saw, and another from Father Antonio Caracciolo's manuscript Collection, volume 1, Lives of Holy Confessors Ibid.. To the former are added variant readings from the Lombard Manuscript of St. Severinus in the possession of Don Costa, or the codex of the Cardinal of Santa Severina, which by right of inheritance came to Giuseppe Costa, and is not different from the Corsini Passionary just mentioned Mazzocchi, De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, p. 328 and following.. Of the latter, as we think, Caracciolo speaks, and at the same time of the writer of these Acts: A manuscript codex of our Library of the Holy Apostles, he says, narrating the passion of St. Maximus, shows no author. I judge however that this was Peter, subdeacon of the church of Naples, who is also said to have written the Translation of him and of the holy virgin Juliana from the city of Cumae to this city of ours. So he could from the brief Acts of the notaries have written this history more fully [Antonio Caracciolo, De sacris Ecclesiae Neapolitanae monumentis, chapter XVIII, section IV, page 173.]. And he makes the same Peter, subdeacon of Naples, the writer not only of the Acts of the translation of St. Juliana, but also of her Passion Ibid., page 162. Compare pages 159, 161, 173.. And indeed the writer of the Passion of St. Juliana in truth explicitly indicates that he is called Peter in his prologue Acta Sanctorum, volume II of February, page 878., but by no means attributes the title of subdeacon to himself. But it is credible that some were led to designate him by this name from the fact that in the Acts of the translation of SS. Juliana and Maximus to Naples it is reported that with Leo, the last bishop of Cumae, there came to Cumae Dom Peter Fictarolus, subdeacon of the church of Naples Ibid., page 883.. But since it has been well demonstrated Ibid., page 869; preliminary Commentary, nn. 9, 10. that the history of the passion of St. Juliana and of the translation of her body from Nicomedia into Campania was committed to writing between the years 1094 and 1106, and consequently that its writer is wholly different from him who narrated the translation of SS. Juliana and Maximus in the year 1207, there is now no reason why that Peter, writer of the former history, should be called a subdeacon, or why either the Acts of the later translation should be said to have been written, or the Passion of St. Maximus to have been composed or polished, by Peter the subdeacon. Nor have we thought that this Passion should be published here after those former Acts of which in number 9, since it is manifestly nothing other than an amplification of these Acts.

[11] Compendia of the Acts To a third kind of Acts

we refer some other much shorter pieces, or rather summaries taken from the former or the later ones of which we have spoken so far. Of which in the first place are to be put the lessons of the ancient Capuan Breviary (for today the memorial of St. Maximus is no longer celebrated at Capua) at the III Kalends of November, which Giulio Capaccio recited [Antiquitates et Historiae Campaniae, in Graevius and Burmann, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Italiae, volume IX, part III, chapter XX, column 188.]. There can be no doubt for anyone that they were derived from the former Acts. For the first and second, with the former part of the third, report almost word for word the opening of those Acts, down to the words which can in no way help their worshippers; except that the city, which the Bovino codex calls Cumae, the Cassino Apamea, the Capuan Breviary by a new and as it were intermediate manner of writing calls Campania: but it seemed superfluous to review more accurately the other things, and those very slight, in which it departs from the Cassino codex. The latter part of the third lesson presents the rest of the Acts contracted in these words: And when at these things the angry Fabian said and heard various things, he ordered his sides to be beaten with leaded whips, and him to be shut up from there in prison. After this, when he had overcome by the power of Christ burning coals, the rack, hanging with inverted head, kindled lamps and scourges, and would not sacrifice, he was at last beheaded on the III Kalends of November. No other lessons proper to any church that chiefly venerates St. Maximus among its patrons could I find. And it seems very probable that there are none of this kind. For in the calendars of the churches which we have reviewed above Numbers 4, 6, 7., the lessons to be recited in the second Nocturn of the Office of St. Maximus are indicated from the common of one martyr. Of the Pozzuoli church alone could some doubt arise, since in the Directory of the year 1845, the only document which we have in hand, there is announced at the 30th of October: Of St. Maximus, Martyr of Cumae, double, lesson 1st Nocturn. Antiochus from the 3rd feria preceding, the rest proper in the book of Pozzuoli. Yet I would not at once conclude from this that proper lessons on the passion of St. Maximus are recited at Pozzuoli: for elsewhere too it not rarely happens that in the Propers (as they say) of dioceses, lessons from the common are assigned to certain saints.

[12] most were drawn The remaining compendia of the history of St. Maximus are read in private writers, I mean Capaccio In the place cited., Antonio Caracciolo Ecclesiae Neapolitanae monumenta, in the place cited. and Ughelli Italia sacra, volume VI, page 227.. All of which, it is easily established, were excerpted from the later or more diffuse Acts, wrongly attributed to Peter the subdeacon, more clearly however as to the second. For Caracciolo recited the opening and conclusion Work cited, page 128 and page 168. of the Passion of St. Maximus as it stood in the codex he used: these again are read in as many words in the Corsini codex and others that report the later Acts, but not in the Bovino nor in the Cassino. So I cannot wonder enough how it could have come about that Cassitto should write this of the Caracciolo epitome: Now since the Acts which we shall soon give (the later ones, namely, published at the end of the little book: for the former he had already given above) are wholly silent about the prodigy of the cross, which appeared to the people of Cumae seeking the body of Blessed Maximus, and Caracciolo proclaims it, surely in the thirteenth century other Acts arose later from these Corsini and two Vallicelliana ones, more corrupt, which Caracciolo had and did not publish, even though they have the same beginning and end with them Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 139.. Who will bear such things? whereas on the contrary on the one side Caracciolo has made no mention at all of a cross shown to the people of Cumae, and on the other the Acts published by Cassitto from the Corsini codex most explicitly narrate that St. Maximus, appearing to Juliana in a vision, gave this sign by which his body should be found: Although, he says, that place is now very well known by frequent flashes of miracles, yet that it may be more evidently declared, the cross of the Lord's passion will be an indication for all who seek me; and soon the clergy and priests of Cumae are reported, with the people, to have gone out from the city and seeing the image of the Lord's cross, as that woman had foretold, to have given thanks to God; and finally digging under the indication of the life-giving cross they found the body of the holy martyr Ibid., page 158.. So there is nothing that by any reason suggests that Caracciolo used other Acts than those later ones.

[13] from the more recent Acts. The same Acts are pointed to in Ughelli by these few words copied from them and cited by Ughelli: The most blessed martyr suffered on the 3rd Kalends of October (note the error by which October is noted for November: which error also occurs in the Corsini codex Ibid., page 157. and in Caracciolo Ecclesiae Neapolitanae monumenta, page 168.), after whose death for nearly fifteen years after (or through) the harassment of Christians remained. Then when the peace of Christ was restored to the Church, the same martyr appeared, etc. Another indication can be taken from the fact that Ughelli, without hesitation, and relying on the authority of his Acts alone, brings forward Maxentius in the first place among the bishops of Cumae. And that he was bishop of Cumae the later Acts indicate clearly enough, where the Lord is read to have appeared to Maxentius the prelate, in hiding on account of the harassments threatened by the same governor Acta sincera, page 146.: which it is natural to understand of the bishop of that place. But the manner of speech of the former Acts certainly does not mean the same: for according to these the Lord appeared to a certain bishop by the name of Maxentius. So it is to be thought that Ughelli had under his eyes not these, but those. And the same judgement, it seems, should be passed on the summary of Capaccio. This indeed is not so clear as in both the others: yet sufficient argument is furnished by that part in which the three-month-old boy is treated, who is related to have testified before the governor to the truth of the Christian religion. For in these words that part is conceived in Capaccio: A boy of three months, before Fabian, divinely testified to the holiness of Maximus. Torn limb from limb for this reason, he also preceded Maximus in martyrdom. These things agree excellently with the later Acts, where the boy commends the truth of the highest religion, which the most devout servant of God, St. Maximus, has not ceased to make plain to you up to now Acta sincera, page 151., and a little later it is read that Fabian most foully killed the very tender boy, TWISTED LIMB BY LIMB. Both of which, I mean the praise of the blessed martyr uttered by the boy's mouth and that kind of punishment, the former Acts pass over in silence. Of the genuineness and authority of those Acts this now seems the place to inquire.

§ III. Whether the Acts of St. Maximus of Cumae are to be judged genuine.

Among the genuine Acts Four kinds of Acts of the Martyrs can be distinguished which are commonly held among scholars to be genuine or worthy of credit. The first is of those which we know certainly from external testimonies to have been written at the very time of the persecutions: such as some that are read in Eusebius of Caesarea. The other three kinds receive their authority from internal indications alone, but in differing degrees. For some, while they deal with every most minute thing and all those in which the mind of a forger is usually most easily detected, are shown nowhere, either as regards the facts themselves or as regards the manner of names and customs, either to be inconsistent with themselves or to report anything against the credit of known documents, indeed to agree so fully with all of these, even the most recondite, that it cannot but seem certain that the writer lived in those very times when those things took place. Others do not prove themselves so manifestly genuine; yet since in the manner of writing there appear that primitive simplicity and the other marks by which Acts certainly authentic are commonly distinguished, and nothing is censured in them by scholars that is foreign to the customs or events of the age to which they are attributed, they too are without controversy commonly reckoned among genuine Acts. The fourth kind, finally, is of Acts where some blemishes offend the eyes of scholars, but at the same time certain undoubted indications of genuineness are presented, so that they are rightly and deservedly thought corrupted rather than wholly spurious and invented. Moreover, in those very ones that appear plainly enough to be spurious, it should not at once be judged that nothing worthy of credit is contained. For it often happens that certain names, marks of time or other traces of ancient and genuine tradition are preserved through them, which can be of use to a keen mind for tracking down that ancient tradition itself and the truth of the matter, or for confirming it as drawn from other monuments.

[15] that Passion of St. Maximus is not to be reckoned We must now see whether the Acts of St. Maximus which we have called the former can be brought back to any kind of genuine Acts. Nor is it to be denied that at first sight not a few things are seen in them that make their credit very suspect. First of all they are written in so rude a style and so inelegantly that they are easily discovered to have been composed in those times when the cultivation of Latin letters had long since declined; and in that manner quite usual among the monks of the Middle Ages who composed histories Compare for example Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay, Historia Albigensis., sentences drawn from sacred Scripture are not only read very often uttered by the holy martyr, but are also intermingled with the narrative; indeed they are made up as used even by the idolatrous governor himself Acta sincera, numbers 2, 14.. Moreover, whatever prodigies occur in the genuine Acts of the martyrs (indeed not a few that are found in them nowhere) are so piled up here that a sort of continuous series of miracles of every kind seems to be woven. Thus when the judge in order orders the holy Martyr to be beaten with leaded whips, then to be finished off by starvation, afterwards to walk with bare feet over burning coals, to be racked on the equuleus, to be hung with head inverted for seven days, to have his sides burned with lamps, and finally to be torn with scourges, St. Maximus is related to have experienced in all these no sense of pain. Indeed, when he was being beaten, the hands of those beating him failed, and they said to the governor: "Truly, governor, we are tortured more than he Number 4." … When he was racked, the equuleus broke and the attendants withered Number 8.; after he had been hung for seven days with his head turned downwards, eighteen soldiers came to see the outcome of the martyr of Christ, and found him singing psalms and saying: "Lord, save me from the mouth of the lion, that I may declare your name to my brothers." At these words the soldiers were made blind Number 11.. When burning lamps had been applied to his sides, the flame leaping out burned up many of the attendants Number 13.. There are added apparitions and other things of this kind no less wondrous and manifold. When St. Maximus had been shut up in prison for already ten days, behold about the middle of the night an Angel

of the Lord opened the door of the prison, and there was a great earthquake, and the voice of those singing psalms was heard, and all bonds were loosed Number 5.. And when thereupon all who were bound in the prison, two hundred in number, had been converted to Christ and were asking for baptism, and no priest was present to wash them in the sacred font, at the prayer of St. Maximus, behold the Lord appeared to a certain bishop by the name of Maxentius Number 6.; by whom presently all were baptized before the doors of the prison, the guards, as it seems, in no way preventing it; yet none of them slipped away in flight. Again, while the holy martyr was being racked on the equuleus, the Lord appeared to him Number 8.; and when he had been beheaded, at once there was a great earthquake Number 17.; and finally in the fifteenth year after his death St. Maximus appeared to a certain religious woman Number 19., by the name of Juliana, to reveal the place of his burial. There are added also miracles of conversions. For, besides those two hundred who were held with St. Maximus in prison Number 5., and the eighteen soldiers who were made blind and afterwards healed Number 11., and many others who saw him unharmed while he was being burned with lamps Number 13., besides these, then, after his killing and the earthquake that immediately followed, all the people, when they saw these things, believed in the Lord … and all together with one mind were baptized … And the soldiers wondered … and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and were baptized …, Number 17. so that out of the whole city only Fabian the judge, I believe, was not converted to the Christian religion.

[16] into which the story of the three-month-old boy Nor is this the end of the prodigies. For we have yet omitted that wondrous history of the three-month-old infant who, at the request of St. Maximus, brought before the governor and divinely endowed with speech, demonstrated in a lengthy oration the truth of the Christian religion, and then by order of the governor died under torture Numbers 9, 10.. This little narrative, sewn with very rough thread to the rest of the Acts, is very similar to that which Th. Ruinart reported from Prudentius Hymn X, περὶ στεφάνων. among the genuine Acts of the Martyrs Amsterdam edition, 1713, page 360., about a certain boy who is said to have suffered at Antioch with St. Romanus: of whom also the Roman Martyrology at the 18th of November, where that boy is called Barulas; and Baronius, in the annotation at this day, points out that he is called not Barulas, but Theodulus in the ancient Breviary of Toledo. Cassitto, the editor and sharpest defender of the Acts of St. Maximus, does not deny that the same boy is treated in these Acts and in the Acts of St. Romanus in Prudentius; but he acknowledges it in such a way as to contend at the same time that Prudentius was deceived by an uncertain tradition, which transferred the true history from the Passion of St. Maximus to the Passion of St. Romanus. In demonstration of this, besides negative arguments by which it is established that nothing of this kind happened in the martyrdom of St. Romanus, he brings forward certain other internal indications to show that the narrative of Prudentius has no credit. It will help here to have heard him himself. It is known, he says Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 104., that Prudentius in this matter used poetry rather freely, and did not narrate wholly credible things. Who would believe that the governor Asclepiades ordered before the tribunal the little boy to be lifted up on high so that his buttocks might be struck by hand? This he says in verses 696, 697. But come, let us concede it. But in no way can it be conceded that a suckling boy (verses 667 and 700) was shut up in prison (verse 794). Prudentius himself acknowledges at verse 677 that force could not by law be brought to bear on innocent tender age, and it is indeed enacted in law 1, § impuberi, ff. de S. C. Syllan.; wherefore Anulinus held it enough to terrify the boy St. Hilarian with threats (in the Acts of St. Saturninus). Who moreover would believe that the governor dictated that sentence (verse 823)?

Let the sword cut off the vile head of the hardly human infant: let the avenging flame burn this one Romanus up.

Who would believe that the mother, a mean little woman (verse 691), spoke at very great length and most learnedly to her suckling infant boy about Isaac and the Maccabees, and about the innocents of Bethlehem (verses 721 to 790), the governor tolerating it? Finally who would believe that the mother herself carried the condemned infant in her bosom, gave him to the demanding executioner, received the severed head in her lap (verses 827, 831, 845)?

[17] was transferred from the Acts of St. Romanus, Thus far Cassitto, and not badly, but showing at the same time how much the weight of a prejudged opinion can do to blunt the edge of certain minds. For that spirited theologian does not notice that all the weapons with which he strives to pierce Prudentius can be turned back with greater force against himself and against the Acts which he so tooth and nail defends. Unless perhaps someone judges that it was less forbidden by the Roman laws that a boy be shut in prison and racked on the equuleus than that he be beaten with the hand or rods (and yet in the Acts of St. Maximus he is also read to have been beaten first). Moreover, in these Acts too does not the mother mention the innocents of Bethlehem and show herself skilled in the sacred Scriptures? Does not she too exult with joy over the glorious death of her little son? What then Cassitto can rightly censure in Prudentius, who contends that the story of the infant in the Acts of St. Maximus is beyond doubt genuine and true, I for my part do not see. This at least is established, that besides all those things that seem so suspect to him in the narrative of Prudentius, certain others are added in the Acts of St. Maximus that make this story more portentous. For whereas St. Romanus is said to have asked that a boy of about seven years or less be brought (verse 656), and there was brought one little one of the crowd of infants, not long since weaned from milk (verses 662–663) (not suckling, as Cassitto supposes, in order to show the narrative of Prudentius more incredible), so that there was no need of an outstanding miracle for him to speak; and whereas his speech is very brief and candid, such as can not so absurdly be expected from a boy who to some extent has the use of reason and is excellently instructed by a Christian mother; on the contrary St. Maximus definitely wishes an infant of three months to be brought, who, at once found and carried in, delivers a declamation worthy of a rhetorician; and whereas each is reported to have been asked who taught him such things, that companion of St. Romanus simply points to his mother, but the other again with a vivid and magnificent oration shows that he has spoken by divine power, although the same a little later among the tortures, as though he could not lose the speech divinely received, even when returned to his natural senses, said to his mother: "Mother, give me water to drink." From all these things then, if we follow that rule which has already been sufficiently proved by experience, namely that where it is a question of popular traditions recorded in monuments of the Middle Ages, those are judged more recent which, other things being equal, are adorned in a more stupendous way and crammed with miracles, no one will doubt that the tradition about the infant that is found in the Acts of St. Maximus followed another similar one, and did not precede it.

[18] and several others from the Acts of St. Pontian. As from the Acts of St. Romanus the story of the infant, so many other things from the Legend of St. Pontian, martyr of Spoleto, the writer of the Passion of St. Maximus drew. First of all, that the one is the source of the other no one who has run even hastily through both will deny. It will be enough to recall here some things from the Acts of St. Pontian to show this. Their opening is conceived in these words: In the times of the emperor Antoninus there was a persecution of the Christians, that they should sacrifice to idols. The unbelievers plotted against the faithful, and shuddered at the Christian name as at a kind of pollution. So by order of the emperor Antoninus Fabian the judge was directed to the city of Spoleto, to compel Christian people there to the worship of idols. And when he had arrived in that city, he sat on the tribunal, and ordered all the people to be called together. When all the people had thus been gathered to him, he began to them in these words, saying: "The most pious emperor Antoninus has directed me to this city, that if anyone does not keep his precept, to sacrifice to the almighty gods, he be punished by capital sentence." And many of the people agreed to sacrifice to idols [Acts of St. Pontian, n. 1, Acta Sanctorum, volume I of January, pages 933 and 934. Compare the Acts of St. Maximus to be published below, nn. 1, 2.]. And a little below Acts of St. Pontian, n. 3.: Then Fabian the judge, angry at his insults, ordered St. Pontian to be stripped and beaten with rods, and not to be released, until his blood should be seen flowing like a river to the ground. And when the attendants ceased, St. Pontian said to Fabian: "O horrible of face and abominable, are you not ashamed with your gods? Do you see that I do not feel the punishments you have brought on me? For I believe in my Lord Jesus Christ, that he will confound you, as he is accustomed to confound your father the devil." Then Fabian the judge, angry, ordered him to walk on coals with bare feet; and he set before him two judgements, saying: "Either put incense on these coals, or walk over them with bare soles." But St. Pontian made the sign of Christ on his forehead, and began to walk on those burning coals with bare feet, and said: "Behold I in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ walk over burning coals; do you too, if you can, in the name of your Jupiter put your hand in hot water, and let your Jupiter free you." Fabian the judge, angry, ordered a rack to be prepared for him, and iron teeth to be made of the length of three fingers, and the saint of God to be hung there. When this was done, the attendants failed, and cried out saying: "Woe to us, because we are tortured more than this detestable man. Our hands have now failed, and the hooks are broken. We can do nothing Compare the Acts of St. Maximus, nn. 15, 7, 8, 4.." Finally Acts of St. Pontian, n. 5.: Then Fabian, seeing a riot arise among the people, ordered him (Pontian) to be thrust back again in prison, and to be left there for twelve days, until, worn out by hunger, he should breathe out his spirit. And when he had been shut up in prison, behold about the middle of the night an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the depth of the prison with heavenly foods, and comforted him, saying: "Be of strong spirit and act manfully." After twelve days the attendants came to take away his body: for they thought that he was dead from excess of hunger; and they found him singing psalms, and saying: "In the Lord I trust, I will not fear what man may do to me Compare the Acts of St. Maximus, nn. 5, 11.." Cassitto confesses that these similarities between the two Acts are too great to be by chance, and not from the excessive

licence of copying the monuments of others which the one writer assumed for himself. But since he had deeply fixed in his mind that the antiquity and genuineness of the Passion of Maximus, his domestic saint, were to be defended with all effort, he did not hesitate to accuse the author of the Acts of Spoleto of plagiarism and fraud. But that the Acts of St. Maximus are older than the Acts of St. Pontian he will not easily concede who has considered that these are already reported in summary in the ancient martyrologies [Compare the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Pontian, Acta Sanctorum, volume I of January, page 933.], but that no trace of the Acts of Maximus appears before the thirteenth century, and moreover that they are much more remarkable than those for diffuseness of speech and abundance of prodigies.

[19] [Cassitto's arguments for the genuineness of the Acts published by him achieve nothing.] But Cassitto replies that he has assigned in the Acts of St. Maximus such marks as establish their highest credit on every side. If these are collected together, there will be made up no less than fifty indications, indeed demonstrations, as far as is permitted in this matter, most evident for the genuineness of the History of Cumae Cassitto, Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 137., which he pronounces to have been written both before the middle of the fourth century and more definitely in the year 347. But from this the prudent reader may already judge how great is the moment of those most evident demonstrations, in that among them is brought forward as the prize argument Ibid. that story of the infant, which we have seen was most probably taken from the Passion of St. Romanus Above, number 16.. In what way at all any argument can be made out of it Cassitto neither indicates, nor can I perceive, unless perhaps because, as he himself affirms, but few, I believe, will agree, the native simplicity of the style smells of ingenuous truthfulness Cassitto, page 103.. But let us place under the eyes some other arguments of Cassitto by way of specimen. First of all, then, he thought he had found in the Acts of St. Maximus ten expressions so familiar and proper to the Constantinian age that there exist from them as many proofs by which the Acts are shown to have been written in that same age Cassitto, page 137.. The first of these is the very title of the Acts, Passion of St. Maximus, Martyr! Then the writer, describing the force of the persecution: so far, he says, the devil had spread out his hair, that… Acts, n. 1.: which, says Cassitto In the annotation on this place, page 81., is a very rare and almost singular expression, yet it smacks of antiquity. A third passage is brought forward, where Maximus is called a holy man and worthy of God Acts, n. 3., which words also seem to Cassitto to carry a certain savour of the Constantinian age. Moreover Ibid. St. Maximus is presented arming his forehead with the trophy of the cross, an expression which, he says Cassitto, p. 90., you will confess flourished only in Constantinian times, and therefore excellently vindicates the antiquity of our Acts. Fifthly, in the address of our Martyr Acts, n. 7. those words are by no means to be passed over: Let your Jove free you, since they assert not a little the antiquity of the Acts Cassitto, page 101.. Sixthly, when the governor Fabian says: I fear the god Asclepius Acts, n. 14., again the indication shines out that the praesidial Acts are copied by our author. For well and according to the custom of the century Fabian, speaking in the Greek way, pronounces Asclepius, whom he would have brought forth as Aesculapius in Latin Cassitto, page 114.. Seventhly, the word Palatium used by the judge Acts, n. 15. is to Cassitto Page 118. a usual and worn word of that age. Eighthly, in the capital sentence pronounced against the holy Martyr, the judge condemns him as a rebel against the gods and blasphemer of the Emperors Acts, n. 16.. Which word (blasphemy) the Christians of these times transferred from the pagans to sacred things Cassitto, page 121.. Ninthly, at the end of the Acts the whole body of St. Maximus is designated by the name of relics Acts, n. 19.: of which Cassitto Page 127.: This expression is not to be passed over by us without care, since it most evidently presents a mark of a better age. Finally, tenthly, there is added another mark of antiquity no less clear in those words: I am Maximus, Confessor of God Acts, n. 19.; he meant to say martyr Cassitto, page 128.. Behold with what arguments the first series of Cassitto's demonstrations is made up. It is irksome to refute them seriously. Nor shall I bring forward the rest here, which are of no greater moment; yet some I shall indicate from time to time below among the annotations. Meanwhile it may now be concluded that the Acts of St. Maximus, which Cassitto entitled genuine, are not only of doubtful and suspect credit, but of credit wholly given up for lost, so that besides the time of the martyrdom Compare below, n. 23. hardly anything certain may be fished out of them.

§ IV. Whether St. Maximus of Cumae is to be judged different from other martyrs of the same name.

Among the indications by which martyrs of the same name are distinguished, There follows another question principally to be examined in the present matter, whether St. Maximus of Cumae is different from the martyrs of the same name who are announced in such numbers in the martyrologies. Nor however is it necessary to review these one by one, which would not be free of tedium, since in the Hieronymian copies more than forty times, and not so rarely in the other martyrologies, a name of this kind occurs. For most of them are read to have been part of some band of martyrs who suffered in Africa or in another distant region, and have nothing in common with our saint besides the name. So the question seems to be restricted to the Saints Maximus of Asia, of whom our forefathers treated at the 30th of April Acta Sanctorum, volume III of April, page 732., of Istria or Venice, of whom it has been spoken at the 29th of May Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of May, page 14., of L'Aquila, who is venerated on the 19th or 20th of October Acta Sanctorum, volume VIII of October, page 400 and following., and of Apamea, to whom the present day, the 30th of October, is assigned in the Roman Martyrology. We omit, that is, the one of Amiens, who it is sufficiently established was substituted by an error of du Saussay, which he perhaps drew from a faulty reading of a codex of Saint-Germain-des-Prés Ruinart, Acta sincera, Amsterdam, 1713), page 155., for St. Maximus of Avia or L'Aquila, and wrongly entered in the Gallican Martyrology Acta Sanctorum, volume VIII of October, page 813 A.. Nor does it seem that we should dwell further on refuting Chastelain's conjecture about the identity of St. Maximus of Cumae with the one of Ostia See above, end of number 7.. Of Maximus of Apamea we shall speak chiefly in the Appendix. It remains therefore for us to compare in this place only the three former with the martyr of Cumae. Now since martyrs of the same name are proved different chiefly from three or four heads, either because the same Acts of the passion cannot be attributed to them, or at least certain things noted in them that do not seem unworthy of credit; or because their memorial is celebrated in different places or days, so that no reason can be assigned why this celebration was transferred from this to that day or place; or finally because the kind of relics that are established to have been adorned with their name and kept with honour of old is such that they cannot be thought to have belonged to the same sacred body: it is fair to examine all these things a little more diligently regarding our martyrs.

[21] The Acts themselves do not here cut off suspicion of identity, And first indeed, as regards the Acts, besides those of Cumae, of which we spoke in the preceding §, only one other kind exists. For to the two martyrs of Asia and of Venice are attributed those same Acts [Acta Sanctorum, volumes cited, and Flaminio Corner, Ecclesiae Venetae antiquis monumentis… illustratae, volume II, page 206 and following.] which have been published in Ruinart Amsterdam, 1713, page 156. and twice in the preceding Volumes of the Acta Sanctorum At the 30th of April and the 19th of October.. Of the martyr of L'Aquila other Acts have been brought forward from a manuscript Breviary of this church Acta Sanctorum, volume VIII of October, page 417., more diffuse indeed, but, as regards the sum of events, so similar to those just cited that it cannot be doubted that the same saint is treated in both Compare volume cited, page 404. Preliminary Commentary, numbers 15, 16.. That these more diffuse ones are the original, and the briefer of a later age and contracted from them, was the opinion of our colleague who commented at the 19th day of October on St. Maximus of L'Aquila. But in matters of this kind we are permitted to disagree amicably with one another. I for my part judge that the briefer were not contracted from the more diffuse, but on the contrary that the latter were made fuller from the former, and so rewritten that (as had already been modestly indicated in the preliminary Commentary to them End of number 22.) they rather plainly show the hand of a forger. For first of all it is plain from the very opening of the more diffuse Acts that their writer lived at a time when the city of Avia had long since lain in ruins, indeed when no trace of it any longer existed. But from the fact that in the Peutinger Tables Aveia is noted as a convenient halting-place for soldiers [Compare Marcus Welser, Prooemium on the Peutinger Tables, among his Works (Nuremberg, 1682), page 709 and following.], it follows that it was flourishing about the middle of the fourth century (and those tables are certainly not older than that age). So our writer was very far removed from the times at which St. Maximus of L'Aquila suffered. By what reasoning then could he know what the emperor Decius promised and threatened to the governors whom he was sending into the provinces? These things certainly are not set forth by edict. By what reasoning does he recite the harangue of the governor who came to Avia, and other rather minute things, which surely cannot be supposed either to have been committed to writing at the very time when they happened or to have been preserved by oral tradition, and which therefore are to be judged to have been added by the more recent author of his own? Then what does that province of Habia mean, of which no writer has ever made mention, although it is asserted by the same author to have been called by this name among the ancients? I know that some examples are brought forward from the letters of St. Gregory the Great, from which it may seem that in his time the word province was used in common speech to designate some region surrounding a town from which it drew its name. But, though we concede this (and we concede it indeed willingly; for the examples are plain, and expressions of this kind can be brought forward from our own time as well: thus for example the word pagus in French canton properly designates some certain smaller part of a region, but in common speech is used in that same broader and less defined sense in which province is in Gregory), yet I cannot persuade myself that a writer not contemporary, indeed of a much later age, when what had once been the city of Avia was wholly unknown to common people, used an expression of this kind to define better the site of that very city. For that would be both insipid and of no advantage: for what at all does it help the geographical knowledge of some town to say

that it was situated in a region which once obtained its name among the common people from the name of that very town? But it is easily understood that that corrupter who interpolated the briefer Acts of St. Maximus, wishing to accommodate them to his Maximus of L'Aquila, and finding in these Acts the province of Asia indicated, and knowing of a plain near L'Aquila, where the town of Avia once stood, which still retained the name of this town; it is easily understood, I say, that he thought Avia should be read, not Asia, and then wished in some way to explain to himself and his readers that designation of the province of Avia, wholly unheard of by them, but how ineptly! Besides these things, how incredible is that too, that the governor offered as wife, to a man wholly unknown to him and accused, his daughter, very beautiful and fair, with her girls. How foreign to Christian language is that answer of Maximus: I have an immortal spouse, namely holy Church. Finally, to omit other blemishes, since Usuard relates that St. Maximus, who was venerated at Avia or L'Aquila, was overwhelmed (with stones), who will judge that to his authority should be preferred the authority of our unknown writer, who says that he was thrown down from a high rock?

[22] since the common origin of all is held in the Acts of St. Maximus of Asia. None of all these things nor anything else offends the eyes of scholars, however severe, in the briefer Acts, which both for their kind of language and for other internal indications of genuineness have deservedly been counted by Baronius and Ruinart among monuments of the best stamp. From which it seems it must now further be concluded that that St. Maximus who is presented in them was in truth a martyr of Asia. For this is testified with unanimous consent by the manuscript codices used by the editors of the Acts, where twice in Asia, and indeed in the latter place in the province of Asia, St. Maximus is read to have suffered: for which word only by rather gratuitous conjecture might you substitute Avia or Assisi Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of May, page 15., especially since the designation of province stands in the way, which can by no means be fitted to those towns. Moreover Optimus the proconsul, under whom as judge St. Maximus underwent martyrdom, is read to have been distinguished with the same name and title in the Acts of SS. Peter and companions, who themselves too under the emperor Decius fell as martyrs of Christ at Lampsacus in the province of Asia: to these Acts too Henschenius At the 15th of May. and Ruinart Acta sincera, page 158. have given a place among the genuine. Finally the kind of punishment brings back Eastern customs, and by the same the martyrs of Lampsacus are read to have been killed; but in the West no martyr (unless I am mistaken) or other person was ever afflicted with a punishment of this kind in lawful judgement. So we have the source from which the legends (as they say) of our martyrs were derived, namely the genuine Acts of St. Maximus of Asia. These were first accommodated to the martyr of Emona or Istria, without any change of any moment, except that the city of Asia was substituted for the province of Asia. But some arranger of Acts of martyrs of L'Aquila, or rather an adulterator, of whom not a few existed in the times of the Middle Ages See certain cited examples in Cassitto, Acta sincera S. Maximi, page 15., polished and adorned them, as it seemed to him. And finally another, of Cumae or Naples, from the same, either genuine, or more probably already adulterated (for in those of Cumae too not a few things very similar to the Acts of L'Aquila can be assigned), and from the Acts of St. Pontian and of St. Barulas or Theodulus the boy Compare below, annotation g., some popular matters or his own fabrications being added besides, wove that portentous history of St. Maximus of Cumae which we are here about to publish. And I do not doubt that from the Acts of L'Aquila too there arose the tradition which makes the martyr of Cumae a deacon or levite: which indeed was not received into his Acts, but appears in the eclogadion of Grottaferrata See above, number 6., in the Capuan Calendar of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century See above, number 5. and in later calendars.

[23] [The notation of time suffices to distinguish St. Maximus of Cumae from the one of Asia,] Further, although from what has been discussed so far only the Acts of St. Maximus of Asia seem authentic, yet from a comparison of them with the Acts of St. Maximus of Cumae it can now most probably be gathered that the latter is different from the former. For the one of Asia suffered under the emperor Decius; but his Acts report that the one of Cumae was killed under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Acts, however, though spurious, are commonly wont to preserve what pertains to notations of time of this kind more accurately than anything else. And in the present matter the greater faith can be given to the writer of the Acts of Cumae in that, although he manifestly used for composing them the Acts of St. Maximus of Asia, who is read to have suffered under Decius, and of St. Pontian, under Antoninus, and certainly took no great care not to incur the mark of a plagiarist among learned readers, yet he departed from those Acts in assigning the time of the martyrdom; indeed, when he took his opening almost word for word from the Acts of St. Pontian Compare above, number 18., and it was there indicated that Pontian fell in illustrious martyrdom under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Fabian, he retained those names indeed, but to accommodate his narrative to the times of Diocletian, he made Antoninus prefect of the City: whence, as it seems, there is held a not uncertain indication of an ancient tradition which held that the martyr of Cumae was illustrious at the beginning of the fourth century: namely, he is reported to have met death at the time when Diocletian and Maximian were harassing the Christians generally. Since these promulgated the edict of persecution in the month of February of the year 303, and in the month of December of the year 305 left the throne, it follows, if we stand by the Acts, that the martyrdom of St. Maximus is to be referred to the year 303, or 304 or 305.

[24] but not from the others; nor do the Relics achieve this, But nothing of this kind can be brought forward as regards the martyrs of Emona or Venice and of L'Aquila. For of these it is not established that any memory proper to them was transferred into their Acts; but rather, because none any longer remained, the Acts of the martyr of Asia, either pure or interpolated, were accommodated to them. So we must investigate whether they can be determined to be different from the one of Asia and the one of Cumae from another source, and now we must speak of the relics. The bones of St. Maximus of Asia are nowhere reported to be preserved. But the body of St. Maximus of Cumae, and that entire, the church of Cumae once gloried in having resting with it, and from then down to our times, that of Naples See above, number 9.. But the entire body of St. Maximus of Emona too has been shown since the year 1146 among its sacred treasures by the church of Venice [Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of May, page 15, and Flaminio Corner, work cited, volume II, page 205.]. So since each tradition is ancient, and in no part suspect, this is sufficient argument, besides the distance of the places, for judging that different saints are honoured there. The people of L'Aquila on the contrary had of old of their martyr only the chief bone of the arm and one rib among the relics laid up in their cathedral church, and in the middle of the eighteenth century they found only a tiny part of a certain bone Acta Sanctorum, volume VIII of October, page 417.. These could surely have been long since separated from the body of St. Maximus of Cumae, without its ceasing to be thought to be laid up entire at Cumae or Naples. Whence neither from this head may St. Maximus of Cumae be pronounced different from the one of L'Aquila.

[25] nor does the variety of days on which they are venerated. It remains that this difference be established from the fact that a different day is attributed to the memorial of each. But neither has the same day always been sacred to the martyr of L'Aquila himself. For from the 20th day of October, on which he was first venerated and is still announced in the Roman Martyrology, his feast was transferred to the 10th of May, and a little later to the 10th of June, and finally again appointed in the month of October, but on the 19th day Ibid., page 406.. To the martyr of Cumae we find no other day sacred than the 30th of October: under which day he is already noted in the Echternach Martyrology See above, number 7. and in the marble Calendar of the ninth century See above, number 3.. On the same day too he is read to have been struck with the sword in the codex of Antonio Caracciolo [Of that codex, as also of the others that are mentioned here, we have spoken above, number 11 and following.] and in the ancient lessons of the Capuan Breviary published by Capaccio. But on the previous day, or the IV Kalends of November, the Bovino Codex reports him beheaded. But the Codex of St. Severinus, and the Corsini, and the Acts which Ughelli read, say that he died on the III Kalends of October. And finally the Vallicelliana Codex, copied by our forefathers, assigns his death to the XIV Kalends of November, or the 19th of October; while in the Cassino codex mention of this kind is omitted. From these variations of the Acts someone may perhaps hesitate whether the 30th day of October was assigned to the memorial of St. Maximus of Cumae because on this day he completed his martyrdom by a glorious death, or rather perhaps to recall some translation of his relics. That the latter is more true can be confirmed from the marble Calendar of the ninth century, often and recently published in the Monumenta Neapolitana [Monumenta ad Neapolitani ducatus historiam pertinentia, volume I, page 335 and following, Naples, 1881.]; where at the 30th of October is marked N T. S. Maximi, if only Mazzocchi is believed, according to whom in that calendar In his Commentary on this calendar, volume III, page 930. the mark Natalis is hardly and with difficulty placed before any other than saints venerated on a day not their own; but before the names of those who are venerated on the very anniversary of their death is usually written DEPositio or PASsio. This at least can be said, that the word Natalis has long since been commonly used not only of the day of birth, or, where saints are treated, of death, but also of an anniversary day of any kind. And since a similar doubt can be raised regarding the day which the church of L'Aquila was accustomed to celebrate for its patron, it would follow that no wholly and certainly effective argument for establishing the distinction of the two martyrs can be taken from the difference of those days. But I would have these things proposed not so that St. Maximus of Cumae should thence be judged the same as the one of L'Aquila, or as though my mind inclined to think so; but, as is our duty, in order to indicate that the opinion which makes one of the two is not refuted by such firm arguments that any stubborn person, who has fixed it in his mind and undertaken to defend it, could easily be forced to abandon it Compare also the Appendix below, number 2..

§ V. On the relics of St. Maximus of Cumae. The translation of his body.

The body of St. Maximus near Cumae is raised from burial. From the briefer Acts published by Cassitto we learn that the body of St. Maximus was placed in a place

which is called the Horse Road, or in the field of Innocent, and found fifteen years after his death. After fifteen years, the writer reports, the relics of the most blessed Maximus lay hidden … Then, a revelation being made to a most pious woman Juliana, the whole city went out, singing psalms and blessing the Lord, having torches in their hands. And digging they found the body of the most blessed Maximus after fifteen years entire, and white as snow, and laid it up with spices. The other fortunes of the body of St. Maximus down to the beginning of the twelfth century are unknown to us. At this time, Cumae being destroyed, the sacred remains of SS. Maximus and Juliana were translated from the basilica of St. Maximus to Naples, to the churches of St. Januarius and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since the history of this solemnity, composed by a contemporary author, has already been inserted in our Work by our predecessors, it is superfluous at present to copy it out entire. So it will be enough to report what concerns St. Maximus.

[27] In the year 1207 he is transferred to the church of St. Januarius. In the year, says the anonymous writer, from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand two hundred and seven, on the fifth day before the Kalends of March, in the tenth Indiction, when the city of Cumae, which on account of the malice of its inhabitants had lost the name of city, and had become a haunt of robbers and a sink of all evils, was too hostile both to the city of Naples and to Aversa … the place itself … was utterly overthrown. Afterwards, lest, the place being destroyed, the relics of the aforesaid holy martyrs should be carried off by strangers, a plan being formed, the archbishop with religious men to the place itself which was rich in those holy relics, by the counsel also of the lady abbess of St. Mary of Donna Aromata, who had the greatest devotion for obtaining the relics of the holy virgin and martyr Juliana; there were sent by the will and command of the religious men, Leo, bishop of Cumae, Dom John, abbot of St. Mary at Piedigrotta, and Dom Peter Fictarolus, subdeacon of the church of Naples. With whom the venerable abbots of St. Peter ad Aram and St. Mary ad Capellam also went, with certain soldiers and upright men, to the church of Blessed Maximus, martyr, and entered a mausoleum made of marble, in which were the bones of Blessed Maximus, martyr, so ordered and composed as if they had been placed there on that same day. Beneath too they found no small amount of dust of those holy relics. And behold suddenly so great a fragrance breathed out that it refreshed the nostrils and hearts of all those standing around, as if balsam and all perfumes were giving forth scent there. And having lifted up the holy pledges, they dug lower, and found another mausoleum, in which were the relics of the holy boy, whom, having only three months, Blessed Maximus had made to speak before Fabian the prefect. These things done, digging beneath they found a coffin made of marble, in which were the relics of the same virgin Juliana. Afterwards he describes how the relics of St. Juliana were found and solemnly translated to the abbey of St. Mary Donnaromita.

[28] Finally he adds: Then the other holy relics of the martyr and levite Maximus, and of the disciple of the martyr of Christ himself, which had been laid up with him, coming with honour and the greatest joy to the principal church, you placed very devoutly and honourably … I confess that I have never perceived so great a fragrance and so great a scent as I, a sinner and unworthy, perceived from the fragrance of those holy relics … [Acta Sanctorum, volume II of February, page 882 and following; compare Chiocarelli, Antistitum Neapolitanorum Catalogus, page 144 and following.].

[29] That the whole body of the holy martyr was carried from Cumae to Naples the writer of the translation clearly reports. Nor does memory of any other translation from there or of any distribution of relics occur. Indeed Ughelli expressly asserts Italia sacra, volume VI, page 14. that the entire body is preserved in the cathedral church at Naples, and the same is confirmed by recent Neapolitan Directories Years 1841, 1844, 1847, 1853., when, announcing that at the 30th of October the office of St. Maximus is celebrated in the metropolitan church, they add these words: Whose sacred body is in the same metropolitan. Yet long since the head of the martyr has been separated from the rest of the body and laid up in the chapel of the Treasury, as Decio Cardinal Carafa attests in his synodal sanction In Mazzocchi, De Sanctis Episcopis Neapolitanis, page 68.. On which passage Mazzocchi notes Ibid.: It seems to be laid up in the silver statue of St. Maximus, which is preserved in the sacristy of the cathedral and is exposed to veneration every year on the return of his feast day. And that this custom still flourishes is shown by the sacred diary for the year 1855, published at Naples by the Archiepiscopal Press in the vernacular language, where at the 30th day of October these words are read: Of St. Maximus, Levite of Cumae, Martyr. His relic is exposed in a silver statue on the high altar of the metropolitan church. Another statue moreover (to note this here in passing), with eight others of the patrons of the city of Naples, sculpted by the hand of an excellent artist, was set up to St. Maximus of Cumae by Decio Carafa in the choir of the same church Chiocarelli, Antistitum Neapolitanorum Catalogus, page 367.. Now let us place under the readers' eyes the Acts themselves of the martyr of Cumae or Apamea See below, the Appendix on St. Maximus of Apamea. from the Bovino Codex published by Cassitto and at the same time from the Cassino Codex See preliminary Commentary, n. 9., a few annotations of ours being added.

PASSION OF ST. MAXIMUS, MARTYR, PUBLISHED BY CASSITTO

from the Bovino codex.

Maximus, martyr at Cumae in Italy. (S.)

BHL Number: 5846

FROM THE BOVINO CODEX.

Under the emperor Diocletian. In the times of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, under Antoninus the Prefect ^a, there was such a persecution of the Christians that idols were set up around the house ^b, the streets, around the fountains; so that if anyone wished to buy, or sell, and to draw water, he should sacrifice to the idols. For so far had the devil spread out his hair that he might blot out the faith of Christ from all the ends of the earth. The unbelievers plotted against the faithful, and shuddered at them as at something unclean. Then men and women were dragged off to die by various punishments for the name of Christ.

[2] and Fabian being governor Meanwhile Fabian the Governor was directed to the city of Cumae ^c, to provoke all there to sacrilege. And when he came there, and sat on the tribunal, he ordered all the people to be gathered to him. And when all the people were gathered, he spoke to them thus, saying: "You know that the most invincible Emperors Diocletian and Maximian have directed me to this city, that I may kill and give life, humble * and exalt. And therefore I have been directed, that you all may adore the immortal gods. But if you will not, you shall die afflicted with various punishments." Hearing this the whole people, falling to the ground, adored the deaf and dumb idols, and abandoned the living God.

[3] St. Maximus, seized on account of religion, There was then in the same city a holy man and worthy of God, by the name of Maximus, modest in religion and firm in chastity. Arming his forehead with the trophy of the cross, he presented himself to the face of the Governor saying: "Hear, Governor, my words, because you will not escape the judgement of God. You who provoke men to adore deaf and dumb idols, which cannot free their worshippers?" Then Fabian in anger began to him thus, saying: "By whose patronage do you think yourself fortified, or of what condition are you, that you answer so?". Then Blessed Maximus said confidently to him: "This is my condition, that I reject idols made by hand, and believe in Christ." Fabian the Governor said: "Have you not heard that the most invincible Emperors Diocletian and Maximian have handed over to me this Province in my power, that those who will not sacrifice to the immortal gods be tortured with various punishments?" St. Maximus answered: "Be silent, unhappy man, and do not do this injury in my ears."

[4] he is beaten with leaded whips. Then Fabian in anger ordered his sides to be beaten with leaded whips, until he should give up his spirit. But when he was being beaten, the hands of those beating him failed, and they said to the Governor: "Truly, Governor, we are tortured more than he." Then the Governor ordered Blessed Maximus to be shut up in custody, until they should come from various cities.

[5] In prison two hundred men St. Maximus, shut up for ten days, took neither food nor water; but he was comforted in the Lord. And behold, about the middle of the night, an Angel of the Lord opened the door of the prison, and there was a great earthquake, and the voice of those singing psalms was heard, and all bonds were loosed. And there were in the prison about two hundred. All these fell down at the feet of Blessed Maximus, saying: "Help us, servant of God, that we too may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps our sins may be forgiven us, that what we formerly worshipped through ignorance, now abandoning vanity, we may adore the living God." Hearing these things the most blessed Maximus gave thanks to the Lord saying: "I bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, who have deigned to have me as your servant. Grant therefore and provide a priest, by whom those who desire to believe in you may wash away their sins." For the priests were scattered because of the plots of the most impious Fabian.

[6] he has them baptized. And behold the Lord appeared to a certain Bishop by the name of Maxentius, saying to him: "Maxentius, my servant, you do not lose your reward. Rise quickly, and go to the prison, where my servant Maximus sits bound for my name; for there are souls there who believe in me, and desire to be baptized." Hearing these things Maxentius went quickly, having with him the mysteries ^d; and he stood before the doors of the prison, and crying out said: "If anyone desires to be baptized, let him come; for I am a priest of my Lord Jesus Christ." And when he had said this, all fell down at his feet, and asked him that they might receive the baptism of Christ. Then he baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ^e, and went back to his place.

[7] Neither by burning coals, On another day it was reported to the Governor that all those bound had believed in Christ. Then Fabian the Governor, lest error should arise among the people, ordered all those bound to remain in prison, but St. Maximus to be presented to his sight. Then Fabian the Governor said to him: "Have you considered your safety, so as to sacrifice to the gods, and escape many torments?" St. Maximus answered: "This is what I have often told you, that I do not abandon my Lord Jesus Christ, and adore idols made by hand." Fabian the Governor ordered coals of fire to be placed before him ^f so that he might choose one of two things for himself, either to be roasted on them, or to walk over them with bare soles. But St. Maximus, arming his forehead with the trophy of the Cross, walking with bare soles over the burning coals, said to the Governor: "Behold I in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ walk over burning coals, and I feel no harm. Put your hand on the coals in the name of your god Jove, and let Jove your god free you, if he can." Fabian spoke thus to him, saying: "Where did you learn the skill of sorcery?" St. Maximus

answered: "I indeed know no sorcery: for my Lord Jesus Christ works his power in me." Fabian the Governor said: "Take thought for yourself, and sacrifice to the gods, that you may escape many torments." St. Maximus answered: "I indeed am ready to die for the name of Christ."

[8] nor is he hurt by the rack Then Fabian ordered him to be hung on the equuleus, and his limbs to be torn. And when he was in the punishment, he prayed to the Lord, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, help your servant, and give me the unfading crown." When he had said this, the Lord appeared to him, saying: "Do not fear, servant of God, Maximus: I am with you in all things, to the end, and I confound all your enemies, and fulfil your desire." So when he was being racked, the equuleus broke, and the attendants withered: Maximus stood unharmed.

[9] At his order a three-month-old infant speaks of the faith of Christ, But the impious Fabian believed it done not by the power of Christ, but by magic arts; and he said to him: "Why do you practise such great sorceries, that you do not feel the penalty, and torment the attendants with pains?" Blessed Maximus answered: "It has never been said that a sorcerer at any time could not feel the penalty. But that the faith of my Lord Jesus Christ may be made manifest to you, have an infant of three months brought from the street ^g, and we ought to follow according to his opinion." Then the Governor directed the attendants to bring an infant. And when the attendants had gone out, they found an infant in the arms of his mother, and brought him. His mother followed them wailing. Then they brought the infant into the praetorium before the sight of the Governor. Fabian said: "Behold, Maximus, the infant has been brought, as you said." St. Maximus answering said to the infant: "To you, infant … by the wisdom of God, who opened the mouth of the dumb, and makes the tongues of infants eloquent, that you may tell the Governor all the truth about the faith of Christ, and about the worship of idols." Then the infant answering said: "Hear, Governor, my words, and do not doubt anything about me, since I am an infant. God almighty speaks through my mouth, for he is everlasting and true. He made the ages, and he redeemed us by his Passion; whence we have merited to be called by the name of Christian. He gives rains in season; he rules kingdoms, empires; he is to be adored, not idols made by hand, that is, of wood and stone, gold and silver, marble and clay, which can neither see nor hear, which cannot free their worshippers. And since it is a stone, it is put together by man; he bends his knees before the image, saying: You are my god, save me; and do you not know, unhappy one, that God is in heaven, and has power over every creature? Now therefore hear me, and believe in Christ, who has given me confidence to speak, lest perhaps with your gods you be plunged into hell."

[10] put to death for this reason. Hearing these things, the Governor was thrown into trembling, and lest there be a riot among the people, he ordered the infant to be beaten, saying to him: "Who taught you to speak these words?" The boy answering said to the Governor: "Unhappy and wretched man, do you not perceive the works of Christ, since I am an infant of three months, whom my age does not yet befit to speak? Which of the masters could teach me or could I have learned from? Or what doctor polished my tongue, but God almighty, who gives shrewdness to the innocent, and to the younger boy understanding and thought?" When the Governor had heard these things, he ordered the infant to be tortured; and when he was being tortured, he said to his mother: "Mother, give me water to drink." His mother said to him: "Son, do not now drink this water, but drink that heavenly water, where all the souls of the innocents are, who have suffered for the name of Christ. And I ask you, my lord, who have merited the crown of martyrdom, that when you come into the kingdom of the Lord your God, you may remember me. For I believe in Christ Jesus, that through you my sins are forgiven me." The infant, hearing these things, breathed out his spirit in peace. And his mother took him rejoicing, because she had merited to offer to the Lord of her fruit an innocent victim.

[11] St. Maximus, performing miracles, joins soldiers to Christ; Fabian trembling said: "Maximus, how long will you practise sorceries, and not sacrifice to the gods?" St. Maximus answered: "I give thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ that he has crowned the infant; for you, Governor, seek nothing; for I always sacrifice to my Lord." When Fabian had heard this, he ordered him to be hung with head turned downward for seven days, until blood dripped from his nostrils to the ground. And after seven days there came eighteen soldiers to see the outcome of the Martyr of Christ, and they found him singing psalms and saying: "Lord, save me from the mouth of the lion, that I may declare your name to my brothers." At these words the soldiers were made blind. Then Blessed Maximus said to them, saying: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and at once your eyes will be enlightened." And they, hearing, fell on their faces, saying: "Servant of God, pray for us; for we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." And when they named Jesus Christ, at once their eyes were opened, and he baptized them ^h in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and they professed that they would die with him.

[12] whom Fabian condemns to death. This was reported to Fabian the Governor, and he ordered that those two hundred who had believed in prison, and the soldiers, should all together undergo capital sentence. And they were led rejoicing to the execution. All together they were beheaded for the name of Christ, and their bodies lay in the street for many days, and were touched neither by dogs nor by birds. Then the Christians buried their bodies with great diligence, and placed them excellently. St. Maximus giving thanks to the Lord. Fabian the Governor said to the Martyr of Christ: "How long will you remain in your malice? Sacrifice now, that you may have the greatest honour from our Emperor." St. Maximus answered: "I always sacrifice to my God; for I do not adore idols made by hand, with whose images the streets are paved, and which are sculpted in vain. They are deaf indeed, and all who believe in them."

[13] In vain with punishments Then Fabian ordered burning lamps to be placed on his sides. And when this had been done, the flame leaping out burned up many of the attendants. St. Maximus stood unharmed, and many seeing it believed in Christ Jesus. The Governor ordered him to be sent again to prison. St. Maximus sang psalms saying: "God, do not keep silent my praise, because the mouth of the deceitful and the sinner is opened over me. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and fought against me without cause. Help me, Lord my God, that the enemy may not glory over me."

[14] and with promises On another day the most impious Fabian ordered him to be brought out of prison. And when he had been brought out, Fabian said to him: "Maximus, what have you considered about your safety? Behold the most invincible Princes have directed that you be honoured. But if you choose to refuse, gladiators will strike you, and give your flesh to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth. See then; think what you are going to do, that you may escape many torments." St. Maximus answered: "May the gifts of your Emperors be with them to perdition. For I adore the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives me better things; for what you promise me is iniquity." Fabian the Governor said: "I bear with you much. For I fear the god Asclepius, and give him glory. So adore those who have given you body and soul." St. Maximus answered: "You are mad, Fabian: why do you speak blasphemy?"

[15] he attacks St. Maximus. Fabian ordered him to be beaten with scourges, until he should see a river of his blood remaining on the ground, and he ordered his blood to remain on the ground. But the earth did not take up the blood of the Martyr of Christ. Then he said to the Governor: "Look, Fabian, and see that this blood will be in testimony, when the Lord comes to judge the earth, who has prepared for you burning and unquenchable fire, where the penalty will not be lessened, and the worm will not die. For the wounds which you have brought on me have brought me not weakness but strength." Hearing this, Fabian, thrown into trembling, instructed that he be lifted from the beating, and said: "Behold, how many evils I have shown you. You do not feel the penalty: by sorceries you have made an infant speak: you have turned my people to you: you have separated the soldiers. What else will you do, but lay aside your unbelief, and adore the Gods, that you may have great honour in the palace of Diocletian and Maximian?" St. Maximus answered: "Be ashamed, impious Fabian. Your sacrilegious Emperors will not be able to free you from eternal punishment. Do whatever you can."

[16] He being condemned Then Fabian, seeing the constancy of the most blessed Martyr, decreed saying: "For if he lives, he will separate many by his sorceries from the worship of the gods." And before him he dictated the sentence, saying: "The impious Maximus, rebel against the gods, and blasphemer of our Emperors, because he would not sacrifice to the gods, we order to undergo capital sentence, and his body to be given to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth."

[17] and an earthquake having occurred, many are baptized. Then the soldiers came, and cast him forth outside the city two miles, to behead him there. St. Maximus sang psalms on the way, saying: "Often have they fought against me from my youth, and they have not prevailed against me; but the Lord has helped me in all things." And again: "To me Christ is life, and to die gain." And when he had come to the place prepared where he was to be beheaded, all the people followed to see the outcome of the most blessed Maximus. And when St. Maximus of God bent his knees, he poured out a prayer to the Lord, saying: "Lord God almighty, who made all things by your word, and by your wisdom established man; now therefore, Lord, hear my prayer, and open the eyes of the heart of these, that they may know that you are God to be adored and worshipped, because there is no other besides you." And when he had finished the prayer, one of the soldiers standing there approached, and beheaded him. And at once there was a great earthquake. All the people, when they saw these things, believed in the Lord, and glorified him, because he is great, and they feared the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and all together with one mind were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and all paid veneration in the faith, and said, shaken with fear: "Truly one is the God of the Christians. We believe in him. We return a hymn to Christ." For they were rejoicing and exulting in the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom they showed themselves to be servants. And the soldiers wondered, because they saw the wonders, and that an earthquake had occurred, and they believed

in the Lord Jesus Christ, and were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, confessing their sins, and withdrawing from their worship.

[18] At his tomb miracles are frequent. Then all who believed in Christ buried the body of the most blessed Maximus with great diligence, and placed it excellently in the place which is called the Horse Road ⁱ, in which place he shows many benefits to this day; the blind are enlightened, lepers are cleansed, demons are driven out, the weak receive strength, and Gentiles ^k come to the faith.

[19] St. Maximus, showing himself to a certain Juliana, Meanwhile all the priests were presented to the Churches of God, for they had been scattered through fear of persecution. After fifteen years, however, the relics of the most blessed Maximus lay hidden. For it is written: A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. And again: The time will come when the bodies of the Saints will be moved from their places. St. Maximus appeared to a certain religious woman ^l who feared the Lord, saying: "Juliana, rise quickly, and tell the priests to take up the relics of my body. For I am Maximus, confessor of God, who suffered for the name of Christ in this city, and my body has remained in a field, it is today fifteen years." And she, thrown into trembling, said: "We do not know the place where we should seek you." He answering said to her: "In the field of Innocent, where you see a Cross, seek there."

[20] The woman, rising, told the priests. Then the whole city went out, singing psalms and blessing the Lord, he orders his body to be raised. having torches in their hands. And digging they found the body of the most blessed Maximus after fifteen years entire, and white as snow, and they laid it up with spices, and all gave glory to God the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who crowns his saints. The most blessed Maximus suffered on the fourth day before the Kalends of November, in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory, and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

* codex humilem

PASSION OF ST. MAXIMUS, MARTYR, PUBLISHED

from the Cassino codex 139.

Maximus, martyr at Cumae in Italy. (S.)

BHL Number: 5845

FROM THE CASSINO CODEX.

Under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian there was an enormous persecution of the Christians, so that around houses, around streets, around fountains idols were set up; so that if anyone wished to buy anything or sell, or to draw water from the fountains, he should first sacrifice to the idols. For so far had the rage of the devil grown that he trusted he could expel the faith of Christ from all lands. The unbelievers plotted against the faithful, and shuddered at their doctrines as at something unclean. Men and women too were dragged off, and wasted by various punishments for the name of Christ.

[2] Meanwhile Fabian the governor was directed to the city of Apamea, to provoke all there to sacrilege. And when he came there and sat on the tribunal, he ordered all the people to be gathered to him. And when all the people had been gathered, he spoke to them thus, saying: "Know all that the most invincible emperors Diocletian and Maximian have directed me to this city, that I may kill and give life, humble and exalt; and therefore I have been directed, that you may adore the immortal gods. But if you will not, you shall die afflicted with various punishments." Hearing these things the whole people, falling down to the ground, adored the deaf and dumb idols, and abandoned the living God.

[3] There was then in the same city a holy man and worthy of God, by the name of Maximus, renowned in family, pious in religion, and modest in chastity. He, therefore, arming his forehead with the trophy of the cross, presented himself to the face of the governor, saying: "Hear, governor, my words, because you will not escape the judgement of God. Why do you provoke men to adore deaf and dumb idols, which can in no way help their worshippers?" Then Fabian the governor in anger spoke thus to him, saying: "By whose patronage do you think yourself fortified, or of what condition are you, that you answer so?" Blessed Maximus, firm in the faith of Christ, said to him: "This is my condition, that I reject idols made by hand and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." Fabian the governor said: "Have you not heard that the most invincible emperors Diocletian and Maximian have handed over to me this province in my power, that those who will not sacrifice to the immortal gods be wasted by various punishments?" Blessed Maximus said: "I have heard, and have laughed." Fabian said: "Think of your safety, and adore the immortal gods." St. Maximus said: "Be silent, unhappy man, and do not do this injury to the creator in my ears."

[4] Then Fabian in anger ordered his sides to be beaten with leaded whips. But when the blessed Martyr was being beaten, the hands of those beating him failed, and they said to the Governor: "Truly, governor, we are tortured worse than he." Then the governor ordered Blessed Maximus to be shut up in custody, until the other Christians should come from various cities to be martyred.

[5] St. Maximus, shut up for ten days, took neither food nor water, but was only comforted in the Lord. And behold about the middle of the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and there was a great earthquake, and the voice of those singing psalms was heard, and the bonds of all who were in that custody were loosed. For there were in the prison about two hundred souls. All these fell down at the feet of Blessed Maximus saying: "Help us, servant of God, and instruct us, that we too may believe in the Lord your God. Perhaps he will forgive us our sins, and we who until now have through ignorance worshipped idols, now, the error of vanity being abandoned, may adore the living God who reigns in heaven." Hearing these things Blessed Maximus gave thanks to the Lord saying: "I bless you, Lord Jesus Christ, who have deigned to have me as a servant. Grant and provide a priest, by whom those who have believed in you may wash away their sins." For the priests of the Christians were scattered because of the plots of the most impious Fabian.

[6] And behold the Lord appeared to a certain bishop, Maxentius by name, saying to him: "Maxentius, my servant, rise quickly and go to the prison, where my servant Maximus sits bound for my name. For there are souls there who believe in me, and need to be baptized: for you will not lose your reward." Hearing these things Maxentius went quickly, bringing with him ministers, and stood before the doors of the prison, saying: "If anyone desires the baptism of God, let him come. For I am a priest of the Most High." And when he had said this, all fell down at his feet, and at once he baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and went away to his place.

[7] On another day it was reported to the governor that all those bound had believed in Christ. Then Fabian, lest error should arise among the people, ordered all those bound to remain in prison, but St. Maximus to be presented to his sight. It was stated by the office: "Maximus stands here." The governor said to him: "Have you considered your safety, so as to sacrifice to the gods and escape many torments?" St. Maximus said: "This is what I have often told you, that I do not abandon the living Lord and adore idols made by hand." Fabian ordered coals of fire to be placed before him, so that he might choose one of two things for himself, either to put incense on them, or to walk over them with bare soles. But St. Maximus, arming his forehead with the trophy of the cross, entering with bare soles upon the burning coals, said to the governor: "Behold I in the name of the Lord my God Jesus Christ walk over these burning coals, and I feel no harm; but you, if you speak the truth, put your hand on these coals in the name of your Jove, and let your Jove free you, if he can." Fabian said: "Where did you learn the skill of sorcery?" St. Maximus said: "I indeed know no sorcery, but my Lord Jesus Christ himself works his power in me." Fabian the governor said: "Take thought for yourself and sacrifice to the gods, that you may escape many torments." St. Maximus said: "I am ready to die for the faith of Christ."

[8] Fabian the governor ordered him to be hung on the equuleus, and all his limbs to be torn. And when Blessed Maximus was in the punishment, he prayed to the Lord, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, help your servant, and give me the unfading crown." And when he had said these things, the Lord appeared to him saying: "Do not fear, my servant Maximus. I will be with you to the end, and I confound all your enemies, and fulfil all your desire." When the saint was being racked, the equuleus broke, and the attendants withered, and the holy martyr stood unharmed.

[9] But the impious Fabian, believing it done not by the power of Christ, but by magic arts, said to him: "Maximus, why do you practise such great sorceries that you do not feel the penalties and wither the attendants?" Blessed Maximus said: "It has never been said that a sorcerer at any time could fail to feel the penalty. But that it may be made manifest to you how great is the power of the faith of Jesus Christ, have an infant of three months brought from the street, and let us act according to his opinion." Then the governor directed the attendants to bring an infant. And when the attendants had gone out, they found an infant in the arms of his mother, and brought him to the governor. His mother followed them wailing. Then they brought the infant into the praetorium before the sight of the governor. And the governor said to St. Maximus: "Maximus, behold the infant has been brought, as you had said." St. Maximus said to the little infant: "To you I speak, infant, I adjure you by the wisdom of God, who opened the dumb mouth and made the tongues of infants eloquent: that you may speak to the governor the truth about the faith of Christ and about the worship of idols." Then the infant answered and said: "Hear, governor, my words, and do not doubt anything about me, since I am an infant. For God almighty speaks through my mouth, because the Lord Jesus Christ himself is everlasting and true God, now and always and for ages, and he redeemed us by his passion; whence we have merited to be called Christians from his glorious name, * he rules kingdoms and empires, he is to be adored and worshipped, not idols made by hand, that is, of wood and stone, gold and silver, marble and clay; which can neither see, nor hear, and cannot free their worshippers. Now therefore, governor, hear me, and believe in Christ, who has given me confidence to speak to you; lest perhaps you too with your gods be plunged into hell."

[10] Hearing these things, the governor was thrown into trembling, and lest a riot should be stirred up among the people, he ordered the infant to be flogged, saying to him: "Who taught you to speak these things?" The infant answered: "Unhappy and wretched man, do you not perceive the works of Christ? For since I am an infant of three months, whom my age does not yet befit to speak, which of the masters could teach me, or who is the doctor who has instructed my tongue but God almighty, who gives shrewdness to the innocent, and to the younger boy understanding and modest thought?" When the governor had heard these things, he ordered him to be tortured. And while the infant was being tortured, he said to his mother: "Mother, give me water to drink." His mother said to him: "Son, do not now desire this water, but drink that heavenly water which gives drink to all who come to it. And remember me, son, when you come into the kingdom of your God. For I believe in Christ Jesus, that because of you he will forgive me my sins." The infant, hearing these things, breathed out his spirit in peace; and his mother took him, rejoicing that she had thus merited to offer to God of her fruit an innocent victim.

[11] Fabian, thrown into trembling, said to Maximus: "How long will you practise sorceries, and not sacrifice to the gods?" St. Maximus answered: "Why do you question me about this? I indeed give thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ, who has deigned to crown an infant believing and announcing the truth. For you, governor, labour in vain; for I sacrifice to my God with cheerful face and mind." When Fabian had heard these things, he ordered him to be hung with head turned downward, until all his blood dripped from his nostrils to the ground. And after seven days, eighteen soldiers came to see the outcome of the martyr, and they found him singing psalms and saying: "Lord, save me from the mouth of the lion, that I may declare your name to my brothers." At these words the soldiers were made blind. Then Blessed Maximus said to them: "Believe in my Lord Jesus Christ, and at once your eyes are enlightened." They, hearing these things, fell down on their faces before him, saying: "Servant of God, pray for us; for we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." And when they had named the Lord Jesus Christ, their eyes were opened, and at once they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and they professed that they wished to die with him for the name of Christ.

[12] These things were reported to Fabian, and he ordered that those two hundred who had believed in prison, and the soldiers, should all together undergo capital sentence. So they were led rejoicing to the execution, and all together they were beheaded for the faith of Christ. And when their bodies had lain in the street for many days, and were defiled neither by dogs nor by birds, the Christians, snatching them away, buried them with great diligence in excellent places. Fabian said to the martyr: "How long will you remain in your malice? Sacrifice now to the gods, that you may have the greatest honour from our emperors." Blessed Maximus said: "I always sacrifice to my God; but idols made by hand I never adore: for they are deaf, and demons dwell in them."

[13] Then Fabian, moved with anger, ordered burning lamps to be placed on his sides. And when this had been done, the Lord helping his servant, the lamps were extinguished, and they set fire to those who were torturing him. He stood unharmed, and many, seeing it, believed in Christ. The governor, seeing these things, ordered him to be taken back into prison, saying to him: "Think of your safety, Maximus: behold I give you

time for thinking." St. Maximus sang psalms saying: "God, do not keep silent my praise, because the mouth of the sinner and the deceitful is opened over me. They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and fought against me without cause. Help me *, my God, that the enemy may not glory over me."

[14] On another day the most impious Fabian ordered him to be brought out of prison. And when he had been brought out, Fabian said to him: "Maximus, what have you considered about your safety? Behold the most invincible princes have directed me that if you consent to sacrifice, you be honoured: but if you will not, gladiators will strike you, and give your flesh to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth. See then, and think what you may do, that you may escape many torments." St. Maximus answered: "May the honours of your emperors be with them in destruction. But I adore the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives me an unfading crown and eternal life; for your promises are vain and your gifts useless." Fabian the governor said: "I bear with you through many things. For I fear the god Asclepius, and give him glory. So adore the gods, who have given you body and soul." St. Maximus answered: "You are mad, Fabian; why do you speak blasphemies?"

[15] Fabian ordered him to be beaten with scourges, until he should see a river of his blood running down to the ground. And when he was being beaten, his blood was seen to flow to the ground; but the earth did not take up the blood of the martyr. Then St. Maximus said to Fabian: "Look back, Fabian, and see that this blood will be in testimony, when the Lord comes to judge the earth; who has prepared for you burning and unquenchable fire, where your penalty will not be lessened, and the worm will not die. For the wounds which you have brought on me furnish me not weakness, but strength." At this Fabian was terrified, and instructed that he be relieved of the beating, and said to him: "Behold, as I see, you deride the torments that are heaped on you, through your sorceries. You have made an infant speak, you have turned my soldiers to you and separated them from me. By the safety of the emperors, unless you sacrifice to the immortal gods, you will perish by various penalties and tortures. But if, laying aside your obstinacy, you adore the gods whom the emperor and all adore, you will have great honour with them." St. Maximus said: "Why do you rage, most insane man? The torments which you threaten to bring on me are my crown *. The gods you worship are demons, and can profit you nothing: nor have they power in the future to free you from the torments which are to torture you strongly. So do whatever you can."

[16] Then Fabian, seeing the constancy of Blessed Maximus, said to those standing by: "If this contumacious man and rebel against the gods lives long, he will separate many by his sorceries from the worship of the gods." Thereupon before all he dictated the sentence, saying: "The impious Maximus, rebel against the gods and blasphemer of our emperors, because he would not sacrifice to the gods, I order to undergo capital sentence, and his body to be given to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth."

[17] Then the soldiers came, and cast him forth outside the city to two miles, to behead him there, and all the people followed him, to see his outcome. The saint of God sang psalms on the way, saying: "Often have they fought against me from my youth; and they have not prevailed against me. For the Lord has helped in all things." And again: "To me Christ is life and to die gain." And when he had come to the place prepared where he was to be beheaded, bending his knees, he poured out a prayer to the Lord, saying: "Lord God almighty, who made all things by your word, and by your wisdom established man, hear my prayer, and open the eyes of the heart of these, that all may know that you are the Lord to be adored and worshipped, and that there is no other Lord besides you." And when he had finished the prayer, one of the soldiers standing there approached, and beheaded him. And at once there was a great earthquake. All the people and soldiers, when they saw these things, believed in God, and praised and glorified him, because he is great; and all together were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[18] And they buried the body of the most blessed Maximus with great diligence in an excellent place. In which the holy martyr himself shows many benefits to this day, through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God for ages of ages. Amen.

* our copy adds He gives rains in season

* our copy adds Lord

* our copy adds the promises of the emperors are winds.

APPENDIX.

On St. Maximus who is reported to be venerated at Apamea.

Maximus, martyr at Cumae in Italy. (S.)

[Apamea, where a certain St. Maximus, martyr, is placed by the Roman Martyrology on this day,] In the Roman Martyrology at this day, the 30th of October, is announced: At Apamea, of St. Maximus, martyr, under the same Diocletian. This mention occurs in no older martyrology, nor is it found in the first edition of the Roman Rome, from the Press of Domenico Basa, 1583.. It is found in the Venetian edition By Giovanni Varisco and partners, 1584., which was prepared according to the third Roman (of this Roman edition itself, as also of the second, we have had no copy): and this first obtained the approval of the Holy See through the bull of Gregory XIII, Supreme Pontiff, given on the 14th day of January 1584. Baronius had not yet put his hand to amending the Martyrology then. So we do not know by what author or indication that martyr of Apamea was inserted. Baronius himself did not indeed take away his name, but seems to have been ignorant which saint it signified. For in his notes he says only: The Greeks treat of the same on the XVII Kalends of October in the Menology, that is the Sirletan, the only one Baronius used. But the Sirletan Menology has nothing of St. Maximus at that day beyond these words: Of the holy martyr Maximus, consummated by the sword [Canisius, Thesaurus (Basnage edition, Amsterdam, 1725), volume III, part I, page 467.], the place and time of his passion being omitted. Nor do other Eastern monuments supply anything, where there is deep silence about St. Maximus who suffered at Apamea in Asia or in another city of the East. So that most distinguished father of the ecclesiastical annals seems to have noted that by guessing, since he was wholly ignorant what that Maximus of Apamea meant. Otherwise, I suppose, he would have written, if he had known that there exist Latin Acts of a certain Maximus who is reported to have suffered on the 30th day of October and indeed, according to a manuscript codex, at Apamea, and that in the Neapolitan dominion there is found a certain village which was once called Apamea, near Pescina, in Further Abruzzo, on the eastern side of the Fucine lake, where today both relics of St. Maximus are preserved and on this very 30th day of October his memorial is observed.

[2] is found in Italy. Of these things we have as first author Paolo Marso of Cese, in his Commentary on Ovid's Fasti Herwagen, Basel, 1550., when interpreting the fable of Marsyas: But, he says Book VI, page 378., since a history of his deeds is not to be had, because he lived long before the Trojan war, the native region is a great argument to me that he was a great king in Asia, and that, driven from his kingdom, he brought with him many Asiatics of various places: and when he divided among these the lands which he had occupied in Italy, five, they named the village or town which they had built from the name of their former country. For Celaenae in Phrygia was under the dominion of King Marsyas, and now there is a town of the same name in the region of the Marsi (today a province of the Abruzzo in the kingdom of Naples) six thousand paces from our municipality. And Pliny Natural History, book V, chapter XXIX. reports that Celaenae was first (in Phrygia, that is), and afterwards called Apamea. And there is now a village, once a town, a thousand paces distant from the same municipality, that is, from our native Pescina, whose name is Apamia. This village is also indicated by Muzio Febonio in his History of the Marsi [Naples, 1678, and in Graevius and Burmann, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Italiae, volume IX, part IV.], but in such a way that he seems to have seen no trace of it now, but to define its site from the authority of Paolo of Cese. Yet he cites a document of the early fourteenth century, in which the village of Apamea was named. For he thus writes in book III, chapter VIII (where he speaks of the city of Valeria, long since destroyed): Valeria destroyed either by hostile fire or by some other misfortune of affairs wrapped in the mist of time, fell; and the citizens, withdrawing here and there through the fields, began to inhabit some villages, which, feeling their fate, have hardly transmitted their names to us. Of these one, better known than another, Apinianum … Another called Apamea, on the same road from Pescina, according to Paolo Marso in his review of the Fasti, … and the sharing of all with Pescina formed a single corporation, as is fully established in the instrument of exemption from public burdens granted to Giovanni de Maso and Petruccia, his wife, already from the year MCCCIII; a transcript of which, lest the volume grow, we leave aside [Muzio Febonio, Historia Marsorum, page 271; in Graevius and Burmann, volume cited, column 200.]. Apamea and those other villages are mentioned also by Pietro Corsignani Reggia Marsicana, Naples, 1738, volume I, page 700.; but whatever he reports he drew from Febonio's history, and he brought no new indication.

[3] [St. Maximus of Apamea does not differ from St. Maximus of whom in the Cassino Codex; indeed again the mind foretells that he does not differ from St. Maximus of L'Aquila.] Of Pescina and the cult of St. Maximus observed there, Febonio in the same place: But Pescina, he says, which is called a villa in the Life of St. Berard, the head of these, by the gathering of the others grew into a town; under happy auspices indeed, that it should take the place of Valeria as the seat of bishops, both in possession of the land and of the chair. Then a little below, where he speaks of the sacred monuments of that town: Within the enclosure of the walls there exists a monastery of the Nuns of St. Clare, of rough building, but polished by regular observance … In their church an arm of St. Maximus, crowned with martyrdom under the savage persecution of Diocletian, is venerated, and his annual solemnity is commemorated on the III Kalends of November; and we think that he who suffered at Apamea, as is asserted in the sacred Roman Martyrology, the village, as we have said, from which Pescina grew, is different from him whom the Greeks place in the Menology on the XVII Not XVIII, as is read in Burmann. Kalends of October, and from that place of martyrdom (but the Sirletan Menology does not indicate the place of martyrdom of that saint) the Most Eminent Baronius in his notes (to whom knowledge of our Apamea did not come), makes him one and the same *, suspecting that there was no other Apamea than that in Asia by Strabo, book

XII, Ptolemy in tables IV and V of Asia, and Livy, books XXXV and XXXVIII; and since we hold the place of the martyrdom and the day, there is no need to hesitate, although the sisters lament the lost acts, which, if they existed, the truth would shine forth Muzio Febonio, page 273; in Graevius and Burmann, column 202.. But those Acts exist, not authentic however, and not so much accommodated as transferred from St. Maximus of Cumae to the one of Apamea, or vice versa. And he who has considered that the things in the documents of Cumae that are more worthy of credit, namely under what Emperors the holy Martyr suffered and on what day his birthday memorial was kept in antiquity, are the same things that the people of Pescina report as received by tradition of their St. Maximus, will surely easily persuade himself that not two are pointed to by these, but one, whom, as has often happened, various cities each claim for themselves. But someone may perhaps think that he should go further here. For the people of L'Aquila too once gloried in possessing the chief bone of the arm of their St. Maximus See above, number 24.: whence a suspicion can arise that the cult of the same St. Maximus with a particle of the relics passed from Pescina to L'Aquila, to a church quite near, or from L'Aquila to Pescina, although another day was assigned at L'Aquila, perhaps because on this day the relics of the holy Martyr reached there which were granted to the church of L'Aquila. These things however would be said only by mere conjecture.

* perhaps one and the same