ON ST. SATURNINUS, MARTYR OF CAGLIARI IN SARDINIA,
IN THE YEAR 303.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Saturninus, martyr at Cagliari in Sardinia. (S.)
BHL Number: 7491
BY R. D. B.
§ I. Several SS. Saturninus suffered in the year 303. The Acts of St. Saturninus of Cagliari.
In the year 303, in the persecution of Diocletian, several holy men by the name of Saturninus are said to have borne martyrdom for Christ. Of St. Saturninus of Cagliari For there are St. Saturninus the old man at Rome, who is venerated on the day
29th of November Annals of Baronius, at the year 303, number CVIII., St. Saturninus of Abitina and his son, also Saturninus, who died for Christ at Carthage, and whose memorial is celebrated on the 11th day of February [Acta Sanctorum, volume II of February, page 515. Compare Morcelli, Africa christiana, volume II, page 187 and following.]; likewise the four martyrs of Zaragoza in Spain, who in some martyrologies are called Saturninus, and whose feast is kept on the 16th day of April Acta Sanctorum, volume II of April, page 406 and following.. To these add St. Saturninus who at Cagliari on the island of Sardinia, in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian and in his eighth consulship, for the religion of Christ, his head being cut off, fell a martyr. Since his feast, as we shall see below, is kept on the 30th day of October, we must treat of him in this place. But at the head of this Commentary we would have it declared that of the holy martyr of Cagliari, though certain ancient documents survive, none contemporary or almost contemporary has come down to posterity. Nor has any historical monument older been found so far than the Life of St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe, composed by a disciple in the sixth century, where it is related that the holy prelate, when he was in exile in Sardinia, built a monastery for himself and his brothers next to the basilica of St. Saturninus, martyr Ibid., volume I of January, page 42..
[2] The Acts published by Mombritius Three Passions of St. Saturninus of Cagliari have become known to us: of which Mombritius published one, Giovanni Arca another. The third, which has not yet ever seen the light, we shall now for the first time make public. We must discourse on each. Mombritius [Compare Bibliotheca Mediolanensium scriptorum, volume II, column 939 and following.], as is agreed among all, copied the Acts of the Saints from an ancient Passionary, a parchment manuscript preserved in the Lateran archive Macri, Hierolexicon, volume I, under Birrus, page 136, Bologna edition, 1765., and so faithfully indeed that he did not even correct the errors of writing, which usually make the reading less pleasant Acta Sanctorum, volume I of January, page XXI.. These Acts he entitled Sanctuarium, and published them between about the years 1470 and 1480 [Compare Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura italiana, volume VI, part I, page 238 and following, page 15 and following; Oudin, Commentarius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, volume III, column 2660.]. Now in this work, which has already become very rare, there exists a Passion of St. Saturninus, certainly not wholly genuine. For there in the opening we read that St. Saturninus bore martyrdom in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian and Maximian and in their second consulship. On the other hand in the Acts which Baronius mentions Roman Martyrology, at the 30th day of October, in the notes and in those which Giovanni de Arca published, the same martyrdom is referred to the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian and his eighth consulship. But these designations of time certainly do not agree among themselves. In all the consular calendars indeed Diocletian is reported to have held his eighth consulship in the twentieth year of his reign, which was the eighteenth year of the reign of Maximian and his seventh consulship. Hence it is plain that the first words of the Mombritian Passion are to be corrected. A little below the writer errs again, saying that Diocletian lived at Milan and Maximian at Nicomedia; whereas on the contrary Diocletian had his residence at Nicomedia and Maximian at Milan. Likewise where he writes that the emperors Diocletian and Maximian in the twentieth year of their reign, that is, in the year 303, seeking private life, withdrew from the empire, although they did this in the year 305, as is wholly clear from the consular calendars and other historical documents.
[3] not wholly The writer proceeds in this way: Wherefore the Lord granted a moderate rest to the holy churches and to the worshippers of the Christian religion: a sentence which in no way agrees either with the one just above, or with the one just following, of which these are the words: So a certain man, Barbarus by name, born of the island of Corsica, earned from the Roman Empire the administration of the governorship of both Sardinia and the said Corsica: which he carried on in both islands at one time, until the Roman empire passed from the said islands. But the author is mistaken in thinking that the Roman empire passed at that time from Sardinia and Corsica, since this happened only in the middle of the fifth century, with the invasion of the Vandals. Then, the statement that Barbarus was governor of Sardinia and Corsica at once may cast doubt on someone. In the beginning indeed both islands were administered by one and the same man; for, as Sextus Rufus, a writer of the fourth century, reports, Metellus conquered Sardinia and Corsica. And he also triumphed over the Sardinians, who often rebelled. The administration of these islands had been joined: afterwards each had its own praetors. But Rufus adds: Now they are governed severally by their own governors [Scriptores Historiae Romanae latini veteres illustrati a Klettenberg et Wildeck, volume II, page 162.]. We are of opinion that this division had not yet been made in the time of the emperor Augustus, because Sardinia and Corsica, in the Notitia of the same Augustus, are numbered as one province among the provinces subject to the senate and Roman people Compare Schelstrate, Antiquitas Ecclesiae, volume II, p. 222.. Nor does Dio Cassius Roman History, book LIII, page 503, Hanau edition, 1606., a writer of the third century, disagree, who, weaving the same catalogue, names Sardinia and passes over Corsica in silence, because, beyond doubt, both islands were only one praetorian province, called Sardinia.
[4] genuine, But in the Notitia dignitatum of the empire, published at the beginning of the fifth century, Sardinia and Corsica are marked as two different provinces [Schelstrate, Work cited, volume II, pages 232 and 633; Otto Seeck, Notitia dignitatum, pages 106, 109, 149, 163; compare pages 250, 255; Berlin, 1876.]; likewise in the Notitia which seems to have been composed about the time of the Council of Chalcedon Schelstrate, volume II, page 651., and in another which our countryman Emmanuel Schelstrate copied from a Vatican codex of the eleventh century, and on whose first folio there is: "This codex was written from that authentic one which the Lord Adrian, the Apostolic, gave to the most glorious Charles, king of the Franks and Lombards, and patrician of the Romans, when he was at Rome Ibid., page 643.." But Onofrio Panvinio, judging the separation of Sardinia from Corsica to be much older, attributes it to Hadrian himself, Roman emperor from the year 117 to 138 [Onofrio Panvinio, in Graevius, Antiquitates Romanae, volume I, column 447; compare Schelstrate, volume II, page 221.]. If this is so, the author of the Mombritian Passion will have erred, who imagines that Barbarus governed both islands at the same time. On the other hand he is free of blame if Sardinia was separated from Corsica not before Constantine (which is the common opinion) [Marquardt, Handbuch der Röm. Alterthümer, part III, volume I, page 77 and following, 233, 240.].
[5] from the Passions It is also manifest that the same writer used, as Tillemont notes Mémoires ecclés., volume V, page 144 and following, edition of 1702., two Passions, of which the one, which is of St. Saturninus of Toulouse, was made public by Surius Vitae Sanctorum, volume XI of November, page 650. and Ruinart Acta Martyrum sincera, page 128, Amsterdam edition, 1713.; the other, of St. Sergius, at the 24th day of February, by Henschenius Acta Sanctorum, volume III of February, page 462.. Now the Passion of St. Sergius of Cappadocia, with the names changed, if you except only the questioning itself and the death, is almost word for word the same as the Passion of St. Saturninus of Cagliari. This likewise is very similar to the Acts of St. Saturninus of Toulouse: for in these one reads: By the faith of Saturninus and the virtue of those who were worshipped in the same city, the oracles of the demons began to cease, their fabrications to be stripped bare, their arts to be uncovered, and all their power among the pagans, and all their deceit, as the faith of the Christians grew, to dwindle. And when the aforesaid bishop was going frequently to and fro to a church, little at that time, near the Capitol … the deceitful crowd of demons could not bear the presence of the holy man: and as they were dumb images …, they began to remain in silence at the sacrilegious services and the anxious prayers of those consulting them. So all the priests of the sacrilegious superstition, moved by so great a novelty, began to ask among themselves whence so long an unaccustomed taciturnity had come upon their deities … They hear from a certain enemy of our religion that a new sect, I know not what, had arisen, hostile to the pagan superstition, which was called Christian, and was striving for the destruction of their gods. That of this faith too was Saturninus the bishop, by whose frequent passing near the Capitol the mouths of their gods, terrified at the sight of the man, had fallen silent, and could not easily be unsealed, unless a speedy death should take that bishop away. Then it is related how St. Saturninus of Toulouse was cruelly slaughtered.
[6] of SS. Sergius and Saturninus of Toulouse taken nearly entire. Now these things agree not a little with the Mombritian Passion of St. Saturninus of Cagliari, of which the author says: The crowd of the faithful grew from day to day and the crowns of the just were multiplied with God. It happened in those days that to most abominable Jupiter … annual sacrifices were made on the capitol … to which the crowds of the wicked ran together with unclean victims … And while they were doing these things, a certain young man by the name of Saturninus, instructed in the Christian faith by his parents, and already made a faithful servant of Christ the Lord, although by reason of his unequal years he did not seem fit to undertake martyrdom, yet in mind seemed very strong for overcoming the devil or his ministers. He, at the hour at which that sacrilegious priest of idols was entreating his accomplices with certain magic words on the said capitol, where there is passage for all, was coming to the place: which was necessary for him. So God, wishing to show the greatness of his wonders even to unbelieving peoples, that they might know that the power of idols fails in the presence of the servants of God, merely by the passing of Saturninus, the most blessed martyr, made the action of the wicked priest vanish as if nothing, so that the unlucky minister of idols receiving no answer from them … Angry for this reason, abandoning their sacrifices … he suspected not vainly either that some Christian was present among the people standing by, or certainly that one was passing from there rather. This he was taking care to inquire into more strictly, asserting that what he was doing had been destroyed and confounded by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that contrary to the accustomed custom he went away unconsulted from the sacrifice which he was offering. And when, according to the intention of the wicked priest, inquiry was made whether any of the Christians had been present, it was said that a certain Christian had been able to pass by from there a short while ago. And following him, all the people who had been assembled for sacrificing seized that same Saturninus very soon, near the lake which is called Apollo's. While they were asking him why he did not come to the Capitol according to the command of the emperors, or took no part in the sacrifice, Blessed Saturninus answered them confidently: "I, already signed with the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, am fortified with his heavenly power, there is no need
for me to serve vain idols of stone, or to be polluted by the sacrifices of unclean Jupiter: whose images, made by yourselves, you most thoughtlessly venerate against yourselves." On hearing this, by one of the crowd or by that most wicked priest himself, the aforesaid most blessed martyr Saturninus was gravely wounded with a sword, and confessing Christ the Lord, shedding his blood, gave up his spirit, joined to the choirs of his blessed fellow martyrs on the third day before the Kalends of November. Moreover the style of the Mombritian Passion of St. Saturninus smells of the iron age, and of an author no more skilled in Latin letters than in history. Nor was Henschenius's opinion different regarding the Acts of St. Sergius, which seemed to him to have been written by an unskilled man Acta Sanctorum, volume III of February, page 461.. For these reasons we judge that nothing of that Life of St. Saturninus should be published in our Work beyond the words recited.
[7] Better is the Passion published by Arca The second Passion of St. Saturninus of Cagliari was sent to press in the year 1598 by Giovanni Arca, priest of the town of Bitti De Sanctis Sardiniae, at the beginning., of the diocese of Galtellì, then extinct since the year 1495 and united to the archdiocese of Cagliari Fr. Mattei, Sardinia sacra, page 280 and following.: which diocese, restored in the year 1779, was suppressed again in the year 1828 Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia, volume XIII, page 95 and following.. Now how much labour Giovanni Arca spent in writing his three books De Sanctis Sardiniae can be gathered from the very words of the Preface: We shall hold to this manner in writing, he says, that we shall not depart even by a word from the codices and writings of the ancients, lest we be judged to set down anything of our own. In which I cannot indeed deny with how much labour and sweat of the brow I have gathered this little work, unrolling long since many writers and old codices, in order to call back this truth from the densest darkness into the clearest light. I have so sweated, striking the steel of labour against the very hard flint of old writers, that we might at last draw out some sparks of this truth, which in so obscure a night of oblivion might give forth some light, to shine more clearly. But although Giovanni Arca used diligence not to depart a finger's breadth from the truth, yet it is to be lamented that he did not everywhere keep the original reading. For, as he says in the Prologue, he added this of himself, that he gave a new order to the things narrated and a new manner of speaking, so that the illustrious glory of the saints might grow sweet to the most eager reader.
[8] published, Nevertheless the composition of Giovanni Arca is of the greatest value, because in it you will find Lives of Saints which you would look for elsewhere in vain. This Papebroch understood, when, with his companion Henschenius, he was diligently working at Rome on collecting the Lives of the Saints. There, not being able to acquire any copy of it for ready money, he desired to transcribe the one that was before his eyes. But, if you except the Life of St. George, bishop of Suelli, which he afterwards published at the 23rd day of April, he was prevented. And this is the reason why Bolland and our other predecessors, treating the Acts of SS. Potitus and Ephysius at the 13th day of January, of St. Simplicius at the 15th day of May, of St. Symmachus, Pope, at the 19th day of July, of SS. Luxorius, Cisellus and Camerinus at the 21st day of August, of St. Hilary, Pope, at the 10th day of September, abstained from publishing those Lives which had been printed in the year 1598 through the care of Giovanni Arca. Now the copy which is preserved in our museum once belonged to Giuseppe Brocchi, the very celebrated Florentine hagiographer, and on it is this inscription: This book is very rare, and perhaps unique at Florence, bought by me, Giuseppe Brocchi, at Pisa in the year 1745. Only one other codex is preserved in the Vatican, from which were taken those things which were eaten away at the end of this book, and are now there written by pen. So it is not surprising that our predecessors, for whom this hagiographic source was wanting, were so modest in treating the deeds of the Sardinian saints. We, more fortunate, can excerpt from the little book of Giovanni Arca the Acts of St. Saturninus of Cagliari.
[9] although similar to the Acts of St. Saturninus of Toulouse. This writing, to which the editor, as is manifest, added a Preface of his own, is far superior to the Mombritian Passion. In it no contradiction is found, nor historical error. St. Saturninus is said there to have been punished with death on the III Kalends of November, when Diocletian was in the twentieth year of his reign and his eighth consulship. This Passion also differs from the Mombritian in that it makes Barbarus not governor of both islands, but of Sardinia alone. Yet, besides being more diffuse, it shows St. Saturninus of Cagliari seized in nearly the same conditions as St. Saturninus of Toulouse. Wherefore it is beyond doubt that one author used the writing of the other. But it has often happened in hagiographic matters that the Acts of some more celebrated saint, or a part of them, were transferred to a less celebrated saint. Thus, to touch only on the more recent volumes, the Acts of St. Symphorian of Autun were attached to St. Silvanus of Ahun Acta Sanctorum, volume VII of October, page 823. and St. Caprasius of Agen Ibid., volume VIII of October, page 816.; those of St. Justus the boy to St. Justin of Louvres or of Paris Ibid., p. 324.; those of St. Apollinaris of Ravenna to St. Veranus of Pisa Ibid., volume XI, page 787.. On this subject, moreover, after Papebroch Ibid., volume V of May, page 63; volume VII of May, page 825. one of our colleagues has written, adding: for all of us it is most difficult to avoid this rock, since it is not permitted either to have read everything, or to comprehend everything with the keenness of the mind Ibid., volume VIII of October, page 323 and following.. It should also be noted that St. Saturninus of Toulouse and St. Saturninus of Cagliari have several things in common. For first the translation of St. Saturninus of Toulouse is mentioned at the 30th day of October in the augmented Usuard of Reims and in the Greven one of the years 1515 and 1521. Then the feast of the same St. Saturninus, which is everywhere celebrated on the 29th day of November, in the augmented Usuard of Antwerp, the Maximum-Lübeck one, of Victorinus, and several others Sollerius, Martyrology of Usuard, at the 30th day of October., and in the Martyrology of Maurolycus, is inscribed at the 30th day of October, in these words: At Toulouse, of St. Saturninus. This Sollerius explains, adding that in all these auctaria there is treated only the Translation of St. Saturninus of Toulouse, whose birthday, he says, is placed in Usuard at the 29th of November Ibid.: which is not absurd, since festum frequently means the same as translation. But whether in this way a confusion of the two Passions has been made, let the more skilled demonstrate.
[10] The same must be said of the Acts of the episcopal curia of Cagliari. The third Passion of St. Saturninus, martyr, known to us, which we consider has not yet been published anywhere, exists in the episcopal curia of Cagliari, and was written after the year 1441, in which Eugene IV, Roman pontiff, united the church and priory of St. Saturninus to the archbishopric of Cagliari. This is manifest from this inscription of the Passion: Here begins the legend of St. Saturninus, martyr of Cagliari, whose church and priory were united to the archbishopric of Cagliari by the most holy lord Pope. Its anonymous author evidently used an ancient codex, which the author of the Passion published by Giovanni Arca also handled. The Legend, to which a brief Preface is prefixed, is divided into eight lessons: whence it is easily gathered that it was once read or sung in choir. More recent lessons of the breviary on St. Saturninus were in great part drawn from it. The author has described not only the struggle of St. Saturninus, but also those of other chief Sardinian martyrs, namely Protus, Januarius, Gavinus and Simplicius the bishop, all of whom Barbarus, governor of Sardinia, slaughtered out of hatred of Christ [Gazano, La storia della Sardegna, volume I, page 126; Acta Sanctorum, volume XI of October, page 541; Arca, book II, page 1 and following, page 9 and following.]. We judge these Acts should be published below all the more because our predecessors, treating of St. Simplicius Acta Sanctorum, volume III of May, page 456., having no Passion of this saint in hand, inserted in their Work only a brief notice composed by Ferrari. This Passion of St. Saturninus differs from the Acts which J. Arca published in that it presents Barbarus as governor of Sardinia and Corsica at once; and that it refers the martyrdom to the IX Kalends of December, in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian and Maximian.
[11] The Acts attributed to SS. Fulgentius of Ruspe and Fortunatus are apocryphal. But besides the Acts of St. Saturninus made public by Mombritius and Giovanni Arca, Dionisio Bonfant [Triumpho de los santos del reyno de Cerdeña, book XII, chapter IV, page 355 and following.] mentions two other Lives of the same holy martyr, one written in verse by St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, the other in prose by St. Fortunatus, and recites certain passages of each writing, without however indicating any owner of the books. And this is the more to be regretted because scholars, such as Papebroch [Compare Acta Sanctorum, volume V of May, page 216* and following, volume III of May, page 272.], Muratori [Antiquitates Italicae, volume V, Dissertation on veneration of the saints, column 17.], Mattei Sardinia sacra, page XI, chapter III, page 40 and following. and others, have no great faith in Bonfant. Moreover the chief writers who have devoted their effort to publishing the books of SS. Fulgentius and Fortunatus, or to weaving an index of them, by no means support him [La Bigne, Bibliotheca Maxima, volume IX, page 4, Lyon edition, 1677; Migne, Patrologia Latina, volume LXV, column 1019; volume LXXXVIII, column 12 and following; Oudin, Commentarius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, volume I, column 1373 and following; Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés et ecclés., volume XVI, page 18 and following; Dupin, Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Auteurs ecclés., volume V, pages 20 and 87, Mons edition, 1691; Rivet, Histoire littéraire de la France, volume III, page 464.]; for they bring forward not so much as a word about a Life of St. Saturninus written by them: indeed the most diligent Giovanni Arca is silent about them. Wherefore if Bonfant really handled two Lives of St. Saturninus, unknown to learned men, we judge that these are to be attributed to others than SS. Fulgentius and Fortunatus. Nor do we think that what he affirms he excerpted from the writings of each saint should be set before the reader, because, besides seeming mere fabrications, they contribute nothing to illustrating the deeds of St. Saturninus.
[12] Barbarus, governor of Sardinia Since in all the Passions we have mentioned, indeed in the Acts of the chief martyrs of Sardinia, there occurs Barbarus, governor of the island, and since he, for harassing the Christians more sharply, ordered all goods for sale to be defiled by those buying and selling them with impious libations, it is good to treat briefly of that man. Barbarus, as is said in the Mombritian Acts, born of the island of Corsica, earned from the Roman empire the governorship of both Sardinia and the said Corsica
administration: which he carried on in both islands at one time. That Barbarus governed Sardinia is certainly agreed among all: but that he also held Corsica we learn from the Acts (surely not very genuine) of St. Devota, who on this island was condemned to death by him [Acta Sanctorum, volume II of January, page 770. Compare Gazano, La storia della Sardegna, volume I, page 159 and following.]. And if anyone judges that he could not at that time have governed both islands together, let him say that he was first governor of Corsica, then of Sardinia. For a few days after the martyrdom of St. Simplicius, bishop of Gallura in Sardinia, as we read in the other Passion to be published below, Barbarus, returning from Sardinia to his native land, was drowned in the sea, and so he ordered St. Devota to be killed and governed Corsica before his arrival in Sardinia.
[13] most cruel, Although he stayed in Sardinia for a short time, he showed himself so cruel that Giovanni Arca, a most diligent searcher of the Acts of the Sardinian martyrs, did not hesitate to say of him Book II, page 31 and following.: We find that it is inborn in the elephant to be most roused to battle when, about to engage, it has tasted fresh blood. The most savage governor Barbarus, made much more savage by shedding and drinking up the blood of Christians, staying a short time in Sardinia, committed very long cruelties and enormities. He had sated himself at Porto Torres with the blood of Christians, he had filled himself at Cagliari, but as if he had touched slaughter with the tips of his lips, he burned up so roused that by slaughters he overturned things divine and human. With this zeal alone he was aflame, as though appointed for this alone, not for the administration of the province, to which he ought to apply himself. Inflamed by this ardour, entering the city of Fausina, he, with no other attendants, no ministers employed, with his own furious hand ran through Simplicius, the servant of God and venerable bishop, as he stood before him. So he thinks he will satisfy his insatiable thirst, if he exercises that office which executioners have taken as their own.
[14] he orders all goods for sale to be defiled with pagan rites. The cruelty of Barbarus was not a little helped by the persecution arisen against the Christians under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian; which was such, as the writer of the other Passion reports, that it was not permitted for anyone to buy, or to sell, unless he first sacrificed to the false gods. The same author subjoins: So as the impious decrees ran through the world, and especially in the western parts, Christians were afflicted with various tortures, and those who did not consent were beheaded. No ancient persecutor of our religion seems to have laid subtler snares for the Christians. Already from the apostolic time it had come into dispute whether it was lawful for Christians to eat food offered to idols. But since after the answers of St. Paul and very many Fathers Christians were nevertheless distressed in mind, and this had become known, the persecutors of the Church, in order to harass them more harshly, did not allow the sellers to use sacrilegious libations at their discretion, but instructed that all things necessary for life be contaminated with impious rites. Thus Maximin, made emperor in the year 305, proclaimed to all magistrates that they should compel all, men as well as women, together with their little slaves and very infants, to sacrifice and pour libations to the immortal gods, and to eat the sacrificed flesh of victims; and that all goods for sale in the forum should be defiled with the libations of sacrifices; and that guards should be stationed before the public baths, as if in ambush, to stain with execrable sacrifices the people washing there and cleaning the dirt from their bodies [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter IX, page 695, Laemmer edition.]. Likewise Julian the Apostate polluted the fountains that were in the city and at Daphne with detestable sacrifices, so that those who used the waters should share in the abomination. Then he filled with defilement what was offered in the forum. For loaves, and meats, and fruits, and vegetables, and all other edibles were sprinkled. When those who have been given their name by the Saviour saw these things, they groaned indeed and lamented, detesting such things; they ate however, obeying the apostolic law: Eat all that is sold in the meat-market, asking nothing for conscience' sake [Works of Theodoret, volume III, Ecclesiastical History, book III, chapter XI, column 1103, recension of Johann Schulze, Migne edition.]. Barbarus seems indeed to have advanced further than the others, since he himself commanded not only that all goods for sale be sprinkled with libations of the pagans, but also that it should not be permitted for anyone to buy, or to sell. UNLESS HE FIRST SACRIFICED TO THE FALSE GODS: which was indeed a sin, and never permitted by the Apostle [Compare Mamachi, Origines et Antiquitates christianae, volume III, page 356 and following; Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, verse 25.]. Harassment of this kind is set out again in the Acts of St. Maximus, of whom we shall have to speak afterwards.
[15] St. Saturninus died in the year 303. One thing remains for us to ask in this §, namely in what year, on what day St. Saturninus attained the palm of martyrdom. In the three Passions he is reported to have been struck with the sword in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian: which year began on the 17th day of September of the year of Christ 303. Add that in the Passions published by Mombritius and Giovanni Arca he is reported to have been slain on the 30th day of October, and in the third, to be published by us below, on the 23rd day of November. Although the church of Cagliari today celebrates the birthday of St. Saturninus on the 30th day of October (which it perhaps does because on that day he was entered in the Roman Martyrology), it seems however at one time to have preferred the 23rd day of November, as can be gathered from the Calendar of the Saints proper to Sardinia published in the year 1598 by Giovanni Arca De Sanctis Sardiniae, book III, page 74.. The same day seems to have pleased the writer of the Passion of St. Simplicius Ibid., book II, page 33.: who relates that the governor Barbarus slaughtered first at Porto Torres SS. Gavinus, Protus and Januarius: then at Cagliari St. Saturninus, and finally St. Simplicius, bishop of the province of Gallura: which series of events fully agrees with one of the Passions which we shall publish below.
§ II. On the very ancient cult of St. Saturninus. Lessons in his honour. On his discovery and translation.
St. Saturninus, whose cult is very ancient, Immediately after the death of Blessed Saturninus the Christians collected his blood as most precious relics of the martyr, and laid his remains in a crypt with great reverence. When St. Saturninus had been killed, says the author of the Mombritian Passion, the Christians taking up his body placed it, in the place nearest to where he was slain, with the honour due to burial. The blood of his that clung to a stone remains to this day: where also an oratory has been built for Christians. So when night came on and silence had fallen in the city, the body of the most blessed martyr Saturninus was secretly carried by the Christians from the place where it was slain outside the city, and laid with veneration in a certain small crypt. The same is reported by the author of the first Passion printed by us. But these signs of veneration, being shown by private men, are by no means ecclesiastical cult, if you except only the church built above the tomb of the blessed martyr: for this honour has been held from the beginnings of the Church an undoubted indication of ecclesiastical cult [Benedict XIV, De Beatificatione et Canonizatione Sanctorum, book I, chapter III, numbers 7 and 8.]. This church built in honour of St. Saturninus is mentioned about the year 529 by the biographer and disciple of St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe, saying of the blessed prelate, again in exile in Sardinia: Finding next to the basilica of the holy martyr Saturninus a vacant place, far from the din of the city, having first, as was fitting, asked Brumasius (otherwise Primasius), venerable bishop of the city of Cagliari, he built at his own expense a new monastery. In which, forty and more brothers being gathered, he kept the order of cenobitic discipline unimpaired Acta Sanctorum, volume I of January, page 42.. Giovanni Arca adds that in his time, that is, in the year 1589, the greater part of this church was still standing in its ancient structure.
[17] was celebrated at Cagliari formerly on the 23rd day of November, In the church of Cagliari St. Saturninus was at one time venerated on the 23rd day of November: as I have said above. In other places, however, his feast was kept on the 30th day of October. For at this day his name was inscribed in the Martyrology which once belonged to the church of Saint-Maurice of Brusson, in the Valley of Challant among the people of Aosta in Piedmont, and is now preserved in the hospice of SS. Maurice and Lazarus at Aosta. That this martyrology, says Antoine Gal, is Greek in origin is more than sufficiently shown by its discrepancy from the Latin ones, if the day assigned to many saints be considered. Let it be noted also that on the VI Kalends of January there is read: "The Assumption of St. John the apostle", which shows the opinion of certain ancient Greeks, as is known to scholars. But since saints of Aosta and other Westerners are inserted in it, and since it was written for the use of the people of Aosta, I would willingly call it the Graeco-Aostan Martyrology. Finally the simplicity and brevity of the Martyrology at once prove and commend its antiquity. He subjoins that this martyrology was written by one and the same hand of the tenth or eleventh century [Monumenta historiae patriae (of Piedmont), scriptores, volume III, pages 566 and 579.]. Whence it would follow that the cult of saints was at some time paid to St. Saturninus among the Greeks, unless perhaps his name was interpolated in some earlier copy.
[18] but on the 30th day of October in Savoy and at Milan. There is also set forth the feast of St. Saturninus and his companions in an old parchment manuscript Calendar of the twelfth century, which is prefixed to a Missal of this age, deposited in the church of Avise among the Salassi, and now printed in the recension of Antoine Gal Ibid., pages 590, 606.. Now it seems manifest that neither in the Martyrology of Saint-Maurice of Brusson, nor in the Calendar of the twelfth century, is treated at the 30th day of October St. Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse and martyr, but St. Saturninus, martyr of Cagliari; because in the same books at the 30th day of October St. Saturninus is called only a martyr: but at the 29th day of November bishop and martyr. Something else, it appears, must be said of the Milanese Calendar of the year 1465 Martyrology of Ado, Giorgi edition, at the end, page 719., where there is recorded at the 29th day of October the festival of St. Saturninus, martyr, without mention being made elsewhere of the very celebrated martyr and bishop of Toulouse. But in the Milanese Martyrology of Bosca, at the 30th day of October, there occurs the birthday of St. Saturninus, martyr, whose body had its tomb at Milan in the basilica of St. Victor. This St. Saturninus St. Charles Borromeo judged to be of Cagliari: for in the Ambrosian Breviary of Milan, several times published, at the feast day of the holy athlete, the 30th of October, he subjoins, using the work of Galesini and others [Sassi, Historia literario-typographica, in Argelati, Bibliotheca scriptorum Mediolanensium, volume I, part I, column CLXII.], the following lesson: Saturninus, born at Cagliari in Sardinia of noble and Christian parents, and piously instructed in the doctrine of the faith, met martyrdom at the time when the governor of that island, by order of the emperor Diocletian, had sternly proclaimed that all Christians everywhere be sought out to sacrifice to idols, but otherwise by torments and slaughter
be punished. So Saturninus, being seized, since he not only in no way sacrificed to idols according to the edict, but moreover freely and constantly professed himself a Christian, struck with the sword, went to heaven.
[19] It is not known when at Milan Owing to the scarcity of documents I would not venture to dispute in what age, under what bishop, the Milanese brought St. Saturninus into the Ambrosian liturgy. In a manuscript Ambrosian Calendar of the year 1560, preserved with us, St. Saturninus, martyr, is indeed mentioned at the 30th day of October. But there was long since a dispute among the Milanese whether this St. Saturninus was of Cagliari, or another. Bosca too, who published the Milanese Martyrology in the year 1695, writes in his annotations: Of the holy martyr Saturninus we have today an office in the Breviary and a liturgy in the Ambrosian Missal; but whether he is of Cagliari, or a Saturninus other than the one of Cagliari, is very much doubted. I judge him surely to be another, yet buried in the Victorian basilica, if faith be given to Ughelli in volume IV Italia sacra, volume IV, column 22., Morigia in his Sanctuary, and Villa on the seven stational churches. But if anyone will not desist from his opinion, and asserts that this Saturninus of whom the Roman Martyrology today makes mention is of Cagliari, let him know that he has to deal with Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who calls the monuments of the church of Cagliari, Mombritius and Dimas into his cause: and let him show who and at what time carried the body of the same martyr out of the very distinguished basilica of St. Saturninus to Milan; for then I shall walk over to his opinion. There is this further, that the Acts of St. Saturninus of Cagliari in Ferrari, and those of the other Saturninus in the Lesson of the Ambrosian breviary, differ; so that from this too I believe that the Saturninus who is venerated today by the church of Milan, and rests in the basilica of St. Victor, is indeed a Sardinian by nation, but other than the one of Cagliari.
[20] his cult began. Bosca asserts two things, and first indeed that St. Saturninus buried in the Victorian basilica [Il vero rustico indovino, ossia guida alle sacre funzioni della citta (di Milano), year 1855, page 120.] is not St. Saturninus of Cagliari. I would not wish to affirm that this view is false: because the church of Cagliari, to whose sons in the things of the church of Cagliari greater faith is to be given than to the others Compare Roman Martyrology, at the 26th day of April, note I of Baronius., contends, as we shall see below, that it is still enriched with the body of its patron. Add that no documents testify that St. Saturninus was ever translated to Milan. Perhaps no absurd opinion would be that of one supposing that the Victorian St. Saturninus was translated from Rome into northern Italy by the Lombards, plundering the Roman cemeteries, just like many other bodies of holy martyrs [Anastasius Bibliothecarius, volume IV, on Stephen III, section 249, page 245, Rome edition, 1735.]. The second view of Bosca, namely that the Saturninus who is venerated today by the church of Milan … is indeed a Sardinian by nation, but other than the one of Cagliari, pleases us much less. The cause of this displeasure is that, first, the martyrdom and the circumstances of the martyrdom of St. Saturninus of Milan and of St. Saturninus of Cagliari do not differ: then that the opening of the Ambrosian lesson: Saturninus, born at Cagliari in Sardinia of noble and Christian parents, and piously instructed in the doctrine of the faith, is manifestly taken from lesson III of the other Passion, to be published below. For there we meet this: So Blessed Saturnus, born of noble and Christian parents, and diligently brought up in the faith of Christ. But if Bosca had proposed that a St. Saturninus other than the one of Cagliari was at the beginning honoured by the Milanese, for whom they afterwards substituted the one of Cagliari, as being better or alone known to them, perhaps his opinion would not have been to be despised.
[21] He is mentioned in martyrologies. St. Saturninus seems hardly to have been venerated outside Sardinia and Piedmont before the middle of the sixteenth century (although Mombritius printed his Life about the year 1475); for he is exiled from all the more celebrated martyrologies. Molanus, the first of the chief martyrologists to bring forward his memorial, writes in both editions of the augmented Usuard: At Cagliari, a town of the province of Sardinia, the birthday of Blessed Saturninus, martyr, who under the persecution of Diocletian was beheaded with the sword. To these words in the edition of the year 1568 he prefixed the letter Q, to indicate that he had the knowledge of that saint, as he says in the Preface, from a certain martyrology which I do not name in order to avoid confusion. After him comes Galesini, who also at the 30th day of October in the Roman Martyrology of the year 1578 says: At Cagliari in Sardinia, of St. Saturninus, martyr, whose contest in the persecution of Diocletian in defending the faith was illustrious. This praise Galesini subjoins in his Notes that he excerpted from a written book. Likewise in the Roman Martyrology of the year 1583 one reads: At Cagliari in Sardinia, of St. Saturninus, martyr, who in the persecution of Diocletian was beheaded. Baronius adds in the amended edition of the year 1586 this note: We have received his manuscript Acts, and he is held to have suffered in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian, in his eighth consulship, on the third day before the Kalends of November. Mombritius has other Acts, volume II of the Lives of the Saints. Fara mentions him in De rebus Sardiniae. Mention of the basilica of St. Saturninus in Sardinia is had in the Life of St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe, in Surius, volume I. Following in the steps of Baronius, Ferrari, at the 30th day of October in the General Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, briefly proclaims the holy martyr. But through all Sardinia and especially at Cagliari the cult of St. Saturninus has been very illustrious from antiquity, and has now traversed all the dioceses of the whole island. Indeed, as we read in the proper Office of the blessed martyr, he is venerated among the chief patrons of the city of Cagliari, or even, as in the Calendar of Cagliari of the year 1845, he is the greatest patron: add that his feast is kept at Cagliari under double rite of the first class with an octave. The lessons of the divine office which are recited by the clergy of the ecclesiastical provinces of Cagliari and Porto Torres we subjoin in this place, not only because they present to us at one view the Life of St. Saturninus, but also because nothing seems to occur in them that certainly conflicts with the truth, while on the other hand in the Passions of which we have just discoursed, several things are opposed to the historical monuments.
[22] St. Saturninus Lesson I. Saturninus, born at Cagliari, the metropolitan city of Sardinia, of parents conspicuous for piety and nobility, is diligently brought up in the faith. When the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian had pervaded that province, and was raging especially in the same city, on the return of the day on which the people were accustomed to perform annual feasts and sacrifices to Jupiter on the Capitol of Cagliari, their crowds came together along the road leading from the temple of the Sun, which was called the Sacred, to sacrifice to Jupiter in his temple. Detesting this impiety, the noble young man besought God, best and greatest, that, showing the greatness of his wonders, he would scatter the darkness of the pagans with the rays of his light. Now as he advanced before the face of the same temple, the Lord assenting to his prayers, and willing to show himself wondrous in his servant, by the mere presence of Saturninus it came about that the priest of Jupiter could not receive the usual oracles from his image, and, the expectation of all who were present at the sacrifices being deceived, could seek for answers no further.
[23] he is killed for the sake of religion. Lesson II. Wherefore the impious minister, stirred with anger, and others likewise from the assembly of pagans, thinking not vainly that the oracle had been struck dumb by the power of some Christian, went out of the temple of Jupiter, and meeting Saturninus, who was not far away, accused him of being a despiser of the Caesars, and seized him as refusing to take part in their sacred rites. To which Saturninus: "Far be it from me, he said, to venerate your gods: for I, signed with the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, am fortified with his heavenly power; there is no need for me to serve vain idols of stone, or to be polluted by the sacrifices of unclean Jupiter, whose images, made by your own hands, you venerate against yourselves." More sharply indignant at these words, and fearing lest by his example the number of Christians should be increased, the pagans threatened every monstrous punishment. But the unbroken spirit of Saturninus resisted, and persevering most firmly in the confession of Christ, under Barbarus, governor of Sardinia, his head being cut off, he was crowned, leaving an illustrious testimony of faith, on the third day before the Kalends of November, in the twentieth year of the reign of Diocletian, in his eighth consulship, the three hundred and third of the Christian era, the nineteenth of his age.
[24] A basilica sacred to him is built. Lesson III. His body is reverently laid by the faithful in a small crypt of the city through the silence of the night, and from there it is transferred to that place in which, as soon as the Catholics met with milder times, there was magnificently built under the title of Blessed Saturninus, and vindicated from the injury of time, and still remains, a basilica sacred to God: where the Lord made his remains illustrious by many very great signs, and willed them to be associated with the bodies of other martyrs. In times that followed, when Gregory XV, Supreme Pontiff, was governing the Catholic Church, near the high altar of the same basilica, under the altar that faces east, the sacred body was found in a marble monument most ornately sculpted, and soon, translated to the principal church of Cagliari with enormous pomp and joy of the peoples, it is laid up in an oratory most elegantly built and dedicated to his name, and among the chief patrons of the same city he is venerated with great devotion of all Sardinia and of other nations.
[25] Many bodies found in Sardinia at the beginning of the seventeenth century For several centuries all were silent about the remains of St. Saturninus; when behold at the beginning of the seventeenth century the people of Cagliari rejoiced incredibly at their discovery. For they relate that it was revealed by God to Brother Francisco Hortolano, temporal coadjutor of the Society of Jesus, in which churches of the island of Sardinia there rested a good many martyrs, once buried there. Among these churches was the suburban basilica of St. Saturninus at Cagliari, in which, besides several other saints, Francisco Hortolano affirmed that the bones of the holy martyr himself had been laid. Investigation being made, the searchers found some tombs with bones, on which the names of saints known from elsewhere were inscribed: likewise (both there and in other churches) more than three hundred tombs with bones, marked with the letters B. M.; which Francisco Esquivel, archbishop of Cagliari Relacion de la invencion de los cuerpos santos, page 34 and following., Serafino Esquirro Santuario de Caller. and Dionisio Bonfant Triumpho de los santos del reyno de Cerdeña. interpret Blessed Martyr. But many scholars [Acta Sanctorum, volume V of May, page 129*; Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae, volume V, Dissertation LVIII, column 17.] refused to go along with this opinion, saying that the letters B. M. mean not Blessed Martyr, but Of Good Memory. It was sharply disputed on both sides. Bonfant's book, since he had gone further than others in increasing the number of Sardinian saints, the Spanish Inquisitors judged should be expurgated. For this cause our predecessors, treating of these recently discovered saints, used great moderation, thinking it was not for them to settle the dispute, especially since Cardinal Francesco Barberini had ordered Bolland to be warned, that those whose remains the Sardinians had recently found and were offering as saints, should not rashly into our Work
we should enter: until it be established what the opinion of the Roman Church is about them, or unless their martyrdom and public veneration from of old be sufficiently ascertained from elsewhere Acta Sanctorum, volume I of February, page XXI..
[26] they seemed suspect to learned men. This too was done by Lucas Holstenius, custodian of the Vatican library Ibid., volume V of May, page 220., and Ferdinando Ughelli, author of the Italia Sacra. So Bolland, Henschenius Compare ibid., volume III of May, page 456. and Papebroch judged it enough to insert in the Bollandist Work only those Lives which had become known from elsewhere than from epitaphs. As to the others, they asked to be held excused, until the apostolic see should have expressed its mind more clearly. Moreover it would have been of little use to discourse on these, since nothing was known but their name, either from revelations made to Francisco Hortolano or from a sepulchral title: for what Bonfant wrote about these is everywhere called dreams by scholars [Compare P. Martini, Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, volume II, page 347 and following.]. Recently, that is, under Pope Gregory XVI, it was granted to the churches of Cagliari, Porto Torres and several others to celebrate every year the feast of several of those whose bones were found in many places of the island of Sardinia at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Now let us return to St. Saturninus.
[27] the tomb of St. Saturninus was uncovered, In order to uncover the remains of this holy martyr, in the presence of Francisco de Esquivel, archbishop of Cagliari (accompanied by several canons, regulars, and other priests and clerics), work was first done on the 22nd day of September of the year 1621. On the 12th day of October there was found a stone on which was inscribed this epitaph [Bonfant, Triumpho de los santos del reyno de Cerdeña, book XII, chapter VI, page 360.]:
✠ SANCTUS…
TURNINUS
CARALITANUS
IN HOC TEMPLO ✠
JACET BTM9 ET STM9
SATURNINUS CIVES
QUE VIXIT ANNIS XVIIII.
ET MENSI. V. ET DIES VIII.
✠ ET EGO CLAŪS PĪ MDO CON
LOCAVI K. XXVIIII NOVEMBR.
[St. … Saturninus of Cagliari lies in this church, blessed and holy Saturninus, a citizen, who lived 19 years and 5 months and 8 days. And I, Claudius, … placed him on the 29th before the Kalends of November.]
[28] but its inscription seems to be of about the twelfth century. Since the translation of these pledges to the cathedral church was to be made after some days, meanwhile, lest any harm should come to them, many nobles of Cagliari, clerics and Capuchins kept watch near the basilica. On the 16th day of October the archbishop, magistrates, many clergy and regulars, and also the people, with great pomp and in continuous procession, brought the bones that had been found to the cathedral church. Bonfant contends that the Claudius who set up the monument in honour of St. Saturninus was in the fourth century bishop of Cagliari Bonfant, page 361; book XIII, page 450.. With him one must by no means agree; for, first, he indicates no document or author for this matter; then Felice Mattei Sardinia sacra, page 68 and following., Pietro Martini [Storia ecclesiastica di Sardegna, volume III, page 316 and following; Illustrazioni ed aggiunte etc., page 85 and following.], Michele Gazano La Storia della Sardegna., Giuseppe Cappelletti Le chiese d'Italia, volume XIII, page 48 and following. and others, who have either woven the series of the bishops of Cagliari or written the sacred history of the island of Sardinia, pass over Claudius in silence. Scholars assert that the inscription by no means pertains to the first centuries of the Church, but was rather carved about the twelfth century, after many churches of Sardinia, as Papebroch has shown, were restored or built at the command of Pope Victor III Acta Sanctorum, volume V of May, page 221*.. I for my part suspect that Claudius was in that age either provost of the basilica of St. Saturninus or a man who deserved very well of it. At the time when the bones of St. Saturninus were translated, two confraternities were begun in his honour, one in the cathedral church, the other in the ancient basilica of St. Saturninus Ibid., page 363.. Of their fortunes indeed we do not know: but this is certain, that the metropolis of Sardinia venerates its patron today, as of old. For on the 18th day of June of the year 1871, the confraternity of Catholic youth of Cagliari was canonically established in the very chapel in which the relics of St. Saturninus are venerated, and it was distinguished by the name of the glorious martyr [Compare E. Ferrara, Panegirico recitato in onore di S. Saturnino, Cagliari, 1871.].
PASSION OF ST. SATURNINUS, MARTYR OF CAGLIARI
from the book of Giovanni Arca De Sanctis Sardiniae.
Saturninus, martyr at Cagliari in Sardinia. (S.)
FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.
PREFACE.
The martyrdom of St. Saturninus is proclaimed. While the pagans concelebrate their Jupiter, Saturninus celebrates his birthday: not that by which he entered these darknesses of the world, but that by which he ascended into the brightest light of heaven: from earth, that is, into heaven, from constant labour into everlasting rest, from temptations to quiet, from tortures of the body to delights of the soul, not those meagre and fleeting ones, but such as endure perpetually and stable, to the enjoyment of the crown and glory of triumph. The pagans labour at sacrificing animals to Jupiter; he, stripped of such solicitude, walks about mocking the offerings. The crowd mingles with the victims, he separates himself, that, sharing himself with himself alone, he may cling to the one God. He is taken by the attendants, he is taken for the one God: in his earthly body by the pagans, in his soul by Christ Jesus; terrified by the punishment, he is roused by the heavenly reward. Overcome in body, he is victor in spirit; and committed to the sepulchre of the earth, he is carried to heaven in triumph. So while those men contrive tortures and slaughter, he celebrates his day. See then the celebrity of the day. There is a throng of the impious, as the saint is beheaded at the command of the tyrants; there is a throng of the good: those waste away, these rejoice. If choirs of evil men waiting are not lacking, a multitude of the faithful congratulating together is not lacking. Then a crowd of those raging, now of those exulting: then of the desperate, now of the confident. Born at Cagliari into this mortal light, he ascended to the everlasting glory of heaven: of noble parents on earth, of nobler ones in heaven. Young in age, but great in character: small b in the stature of his body, more excellent in spirit. Spurning mortal wealth, he laboured to gain true riches for himself. In what way he suffered, the brief history below will make plain, from the Roman Martyrology, Surius c, and an ancient codex d.
ANNOTATIONS.
In Pseudo-Fulgentius, of whom in the preliminary Commentary, number 11, is read Bonfant, Triumpho etc., page 357.:
Small in stature, great in the height of virtues, Worthy of martyrdom, though a boy and kindly.
SOLE CHAPTER.
Barbarus, governor of Sardinia, Sent by the emperors Diocletian and Maximian to the government of the province of Sardinia, the most iniquitous governor Barbarus a thought nothing more important for himself than utterly to extinguish the whole Christian name. And at his first arrival in Sardinia, in order to vomit forth the most pernicious poison of his heart, he filled the whole province with his edicts, by which he instructed that those devoted to the faith be terrified by various kinds of torments and tortured. These things became known at Cagliari, the metropolis of Sardinia, which had many lovers of the Christian faith, and those most desirous of obtaining martyrdom. There was present, one of the many, Saturninus, who, having been born in the same city of most noble and Christian parents, had been diligently brought up in the faith. Hearing the commands, equipping himself with the strongest arms of Christ, he preferred the cruellest death to the will of the governor. It is plain enough indeed how much the practice of the most holy faith is for the salvation of the faithful. The more we venerate and worship it, the greater accessions we receive in the spirit. When a piece of wood is set up to be adored: If, it might be said, you were such as this god is, would you not think it was given you as an insult? Not undeservedly does that divine utterance torment the spirit of the impious: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, etc. Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.
[2] he orders idols to be adored. But so great is the blindness of minds that they do not fear to fit to majesty those to whom they recoil from being made equal. Surely through whole forests and valleys, through all the mountains indeed, the religion of such things would have to be spread. As many as are the stumps, so many creators; as many as are the rocks *, so many deities are obtained. Is the earth to be abandoned, which brings forth so many and so great increases of gods? As it is prescribed by the laws of nature that it be governed by one head alone, so only one creator is to be held. What do you think, foolish idolater, that the whole of God dwells shut up in those things by which no sense of the savour of God is taken in? For so the matter stands: where there is no holiness, divinity knows not how to dwell. What madness! man, most capable of reason, prays to a brute wholly devoid of it! The living supplicates the dead, which neither grieves when it is cut down; nor objects when it is burned; nor shows that it grieves when it is scorned. Those who worship these pitiable mockeries could easily worship and adore submissively their oxen or dogs as the supreme God. The infelicity would seem less to be branded in, if what brings more usefulness were to have more veneration and reverence. Let them know that the penalty is of their folly, as the Apostle announces: "And they did not have God in knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense."
[3] But St. Saturninus spurns false deities, How well did the most blessed Saturninus know those gods, or rather stones, who preferred to lose his life rather than show any honour to such gods! There was a capitol of Apollo [b] in the city of Cagliari on the eastern plain, near the shore of the sea, and the gate of the city, with an illustrious street, which was the precinct * of the temple, called the sacred way or of Apollo, to the fountain c which they called new. There still exists a not contemptible fragment built in brickwork. To that place an innumerable multitude of pagans had betaken itself, to give beasts, animals, to be sacrificed to Jupiter, the prince of beasts. So with great pomp and great joy they were celebrating, according to custom, bulls adorned with laurels along the sacred way as far as the new fountain, as vain superstition was accustomed; when the high priest, to satisfy the mind of the governor Barbarus, instructed, a watcher being stationed, that those who were seen shrinking from the victims, or rejecting them, should be bound and led at once to him. At this very time the most vigorous young man Saturninus d, eager in spirit, was walking along the sacred way, mocking not a little the feast so celebrated.
[4] since they lack all sense, The matter being reported to the priest, many of the priestlings themselves rushed up, and finding him walking at the fountain of Apollo, seized him and brought him to the priest. Asked about the novelty of the matter, he constantly confessed the faith of Christ. "Why, said the priest, did you not come to the capitol according to the order of the governor, to offer victims to Jupiter with all the people?" With constant voice the martyr gave answer: "O unhappy and wretched ones, who have been made the most unclean worshippers of unclean things. I, enlightened by the splendour of the faith of Jesus Christ, see how vain are your gods of stone, and wholly spurn them as such; since no
honour or usefulness compels one to sacrifice. For by the sacrifices of Jupiter and the other idols no one is cleansed of filth, but rather defiled. If anyone is among the dead, he is not called back to life, because he is more and more overwhelmed by the darkness of death. What kind of god is this, whom, when you have turned away your eyes, you have lost? You can embrace him, but he cannot embrace you: you will go to him, he cannot be torn from his place to you.
[5] on the contrary, the true God is most perfect. He is the truest God, he is to be worshipped with all our strength, whom, when you have called upon him, you will find most ready in every place and time; he fills and exceeds all things. He is far off when he is angry; when he is appeased, near. Fault makes him absent, mercy present; he is repelled by sins, he is found by worthy merits. If he is thought hidden, he is in the midst of you, hidden and manifest. He has prepared for you the splendour of light and sun; he has founded the deepest floods and the vast caverns of the earth for your use; so that you may know what he is whom you ought to obey from the dignity of those things which he has provided for you. So you must fear him from whom nothing is hidden in the soul. He sees you thinking, looks into you loving, and hears you praying. Recognize therefore who is to be entreated by you. You compel me to entreat Jupiter. If you knew how honourable and how saving is right and faithful prayer to the true God! One brief prayer added fifteen years to Hezekiah. And so I set before me to worship him alone, who gave up his only-begotten for the life of man, who turned the maker of man into his price, and did not fear to set forth the Redeemer himself for sale for the common salvation. Him I will follow with veneration, who since he made me out of nothing, can from a little dust repair in my ashes once the miracles of resurrection which he always performs in wheat."
[6] Wherefore he is punished with death. "You abound in many words, said the priest. Who has bestowed on you so great and so empty an abundance of words? Worship the gods you see, if you do not wish to be finished off by tortures before them." "I hold tortures, even the most monstrous, of small account, that I may merit to be crucified with my crucified Christ. In these things believe that I seek your salvation, because from him you must seek the restoration of your salvation, to whom you already owe your origin and life." The pagans conceived such admiration at these things that, stupefied, they could hardly speak. Some praised his constancy and greatness of soul, others his new and unheard-of words about divine things. Wherefore they cried out that so young a man was wholly undeserving of a welcome death. But others, made stone, so as not to aspire to life, resisted the very firm words of Saturninus. And despairing of being able to obtain anything from him, in the sight of all without delay they punished him with the loss of his head. By this brief contest the martyr of Christ obtained the triumphal crown, adorned with which he enjoys it in heaven for everlasting age. Towards night the Christians came, and snatching up his body they buried it outside the city in a crypt, where afterwards a magnificent church was built in his honour e. His blood, collected from the ground and coagulated in a jar, wonderfully worked many things [f]. This most glorious martyr suffered on the III Kalends of November under the governor Barbarus in the persecution of Diocletian, in the twentieth year of his reign and his eighth consulship.
There exist g his Acts in a manuscript codex, and others in Mombritius, volume II on the Lives of the Saints, and he is entered in the Roman Martyrology. Of the basilica that was built mention is made in the Life of St. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe, written by his disciple, and in Surius, volume I. The greater part of this church still stands, in its ancient structure, and the priory of the order was united to the metropolitan church of Cagliari by Eugene IV in the year 1441 * h. St. Fulgentius lived for a long time in this church.
ANNOTATIONS.
f. See ibid.
* sata in the edition.
* arca in the edition.
* perhaps 1444 in the edition.
SECOND PASSION OF ST. SATURNINUS, MARTYR
from a manuscript codex of the archiepiscopal curia of Cagliari.
Saturninus, martyr at Cagliari in Sardinia. (S.)
BHL Number: 7490
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
SOLE CHAPTER.
St. Saturninus is pressed to sacrifice to the gods. The martyrdom of SS. Protus, Januarius and Gavinus. The martyrdom and burial of St. Saturninus.
HERE BEGINS THE LEGEND OF ST. SATURNINUS, MARTYR OF CAGLIARI, WHOSE CHURCH AND PRIORY WERE UNITED TO THE ARCHBISHOPRIC OF CAGLIARI BY THE MOST HOLY LORD POPE.
God is praised To the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the crown and reward of all the martyrs and of all the saints, desiring to describe the passion of the most blessed Saturninus *, we ask Christ, the glorious king of the martyrs themselves, that he may deign in his piety to grant to us that we may in some way be able fittingly to relate the deeds of the saints. For who can, as is worthy, relate, praise and magnify the great and splendid virtues of the martyrs? And so, although unworthy and sluggish, we ought not wholly to cease from speaking the praises of Christ and of his saints.
[2] in his Saints. Lesson II. For the praises of the saints are the praises of their king, by whose faith the unbelief of unbelievers is disturbed, the faith of the faithful strengthened; by whose merits our frailty is relieved; by whose martyrdom mother Church is crowned and rejoices with the choirs of angels; to these let us sing psalms day and night, let us devoutly seek their suffrages, to these let us give thanks with our whole heart. But now let us come to the order of the deed done.
[3] St. Saturninus, in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, Lesson III. So Blessed Saturnus, born of noble and Christian parents, and diligently brought up in the faith of Christ, like a lily among thorns and as a most bright star among the dark shadows of the night, shone forth with the light of virtues; young indeed in age, but mature in character, small in stature, great in spirit, he despised earthly wealth, that he might take the true riches of heaven; he spurned this life, that he might take eternal life in heaven. In the reign of the impious emperors Diocletian and Maximian, in the twentieth year of their reign, by the working of the devil's malice, such a persecution arose against the Christians that it was not permitted for anyone to buy, or to sell, unless he first sacrificed to false gods. So as the impious decrees ran through the world, and especially in the western parts, Christians were afflicted with various tortures, and those who did not consent were beheaded.
[4] by the governor Barbarus, like several other Lesson IV. At the same time a certain man, by name and deed Barbarus, received the principate of Sardinia and Corsica from the Roman kings; who, making his way through Corsica to Sardinia, came to the part of Sardinia which is called by the inhabitants Turris; there he instructed his attendants that wherever they could find Christians, they should bring them bound to him. Then some came and reported to the governor himself that there were there certain Christians, whose names, they said, are these: Protus, Januarius and Gavinus. He at once ordered them to be brought to him. When they had been presented, the governor Barbarus questioned them saying: "Of what region are you?" The holy martyrs answered, saying: "We are Christians, and we know no other God nor adore any besides Christ." The governor said: "You have heard the precepts of the most invincible princes Diocletian and Maximian, by which they have commanded that whoever does not deny that he is a Christian be afflicted with various tortures, and at the last, if he will not sacrifice to the gods, be struck by capital sentence." The holy martyrs answered: "We have heard, and we have held their foolish command as nothing."
[5] holy martyrs, Lesson V. The governor said: "Sacrifice to the gods, before you are consumed with various torments." They answered: "We will not; do what you are going to do." So the governor, seeing them constant and invincible in the faith of Christ, passed sentence on them saying: "Those who bring blasphemy on the gods and do not obey the sacred precepts of the emperors, let them be punished with the loss of the head." So they were led to the place where they were to be consummated, and were beheaded for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; commending their body to the earth, their holy souls to Jesus Christ, receiving the palm of victory from the eternal prince.
[6] at Cagliari, Lesson VI. After this the impious governor Barbarus, intent on the sacrifices of idols, and desiring to please the impious emperors by obeying, published their decrees against the Christians through all Sardinia: he also commanded in words and writing that wherever Christians were found, they should be afflicted with various torments until they denied, and if they did not consent, should at the last be delivered to death. So when also at Cagliari, the metropolitan city of the Sardinians, the decrees of the emperors had been read and all were being compelled to sacrifice, the Christians who were found at that time persisted constantly in the faith of Christ, exhorting one another to despise the sacrifices of idols and to obtain the palm of martyrdom.
[7] for spurning the idols, Lesson VII. Now of the many superstitions by which the aforesaid nation of the Sardinians was held blind and bound, it was given over excessively, with especially demented madness, to the worship of Jupiter, and he who was the foulest of all demons was thought the mightiest of all. So a very great multitude of pagans was gathered, to sacrifice animal victims solemnly to Jupiter on the Capitol, which is near the shore of the sea and the gate of Cagliari. Some went forward along the sacred way, which was called Apollo's, and to the place which was called the place of the New Fountain, according to their custom, exulting, with bulls crowned with laurel. While they were uncleanly celebrating this most foul solemnity, behold the most noble and most holy
young man by the name of Saturnus, of whom we have spoken above, at the same hour at which the priest of idols was steeping the people in magic words, was passing by the aforementioned Capitol.
[8] he was killed, Lesson VIII. Now the priest of idols had instructed and had also appointed a watcher, to see to it that if any Christian should be found at the temple, he should be led bound to the governor. There was then one of the aforesaid who said that a certain Christian was passing through there. So those who had come together for the unclean sacrifices began to pursue him; and finding him near the said fountain of Apollo, they held him, and questioned him saying: "Why according to the governor's command have you not come together at the Capitol, to sacrifice victims to Jupiter with the people?" Blessed Saturnus answered constantly, saying: "O unhappy and wretched, most unclean worshippers of unclean idols! I, signed in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ with brightness and illumination, and made firm in faith, and fortified with his heavenly power, in every way they have eyes and do not see, they have ears and do not hear, but they are deaf and dumb and insensible. So there is no necessity or usefulness in sacrificing to these, or adoring them. For by the sacrifices of Jupiter or of the other idols no one is cleansed, but soiled, not given life, but put to death, not healed, but damned for ever. Consider, you blind, foolish and insane, that no reason permits that there should be gods of stone, bronze and silver or gold, which are made by the hands of men. Hence a certain wise man, playing well in verses, says:
It has no reason to be a god, to which stone gave material being, and the hand its image."
As St. Saturnus said these things, the pagans began to wonder at the constancy of the blessed man, and as if he were bringing forth new and unheard-of words, they stood stupefied.
[9] on the 23rd day of November. Seeing his most firm faith in Christ, and that he could rather be killed than conquered, they ordered him, confessing the Lord without ceasing with heart and mouth, to be beheaded: so the most blessed Saturnus was beheaded, on the IX Kalends of December. The Christians, taking up his body from Col. 307C the place in which he suffered, placed it with great glory in a tomb. His spirit was led with great glory by the hymn-singing choirs of angels to the eternal realms. His blood, coagulated in the earth, works healing even to the present day, where a sacred house has been built by the Christians. And on the next day, as evening drew on and night came on, the Christians, coming, carried off the body of Blessed Saturnus, and while the citizens were at rest, buried it secretly outside the city with great honour.
[10] After him St. Simplicius dies. The impious governor Barbarus, advancing from there, came to the region of Sardinia which is called Gallura, and entered the city of Fausina, where likewise diligently searching for a Christian bishop by the name of Simplicius. Hearing of him, he ordered him to be brought to him. The attendants, proceeding, brought him to the governor; on seeing him the governor questioned him saying: "Who are you and by what name are you called?" Blessed Simplicius answered: "Among men indeed I am called Simplicius, before God I am a Christian, a sinner and bishop of this city." The governor said: "So do you persevere, believing in this folly? Do you not know the precepts of the kings Diocletian and Maximian?" Blessed Simplicius answered: "I believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and I do not fear the precepts of the kings, nor your threats." The governor said: "Simplicius, sacrifice to the gods, that you may escape the horrible torments, which will perhaps tear you to pieces." St. Simplicius answered: "By no means will I adore the idols or demons which you worship and adore; for of your gods the Prophet has said: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth and will not speak; they have eyes and will not see; they have ears and will not hear: for neither is there spirit in their mouth, etc." Hearing this, the governor, seized with fury, took a lance and struck Blessed Simplicius; who, living three days after this, ended his life in the Lord, and his spirit was received by the choir of angels, was led to the starry realms, and remains in the fellowship of the martyrs through all ages of ages. Amen. His body was buried with the honour due to it by the Christians.
[11] The governor Barbarus is punished by God. When the governor heard these things, he said in anger: "By the gods! when I return from Corsica, I will set fire to this city and blot out the Christians from the face of the earth." Setting out for Corsica, Barbarus came to the place which is called Torasus; when he had gone into a small boat to cross over to Corsica, a strong wind came, and as the storm rose he was drowned, the judgement of God rendering to him his due penalty, obtaining eternal death with his father the devil. After the end of the holy martyrs, that is, of Blessed Saturnus on the twenty-third day of the month of November, and of St. Simplicius, martyr and bishop, on the fifteenth of the month of May, peace and light rose on the churches of Christ, and the people of the faithful, multiplied, grew, and is growing to the present day. So let us praise and glorify Christ the king of all saints, and let us magnify all the martyrs of God and especially the most blessed martyr of Christ Saturninus, whom God has deigned in his piety to bestow on us as patron in this land and in his Church; let us also with constant faith hope and pray that this blessed one may help, protect, save and defend us by his holy merits against all vices and sins and from all dangers. We pray you therefore, most sweet and most pious father and lord, most precious martyr of Christ, Blessed Saturnus, protect the clergy, govern the monks, free your house and holy temple from all evil; drive far off all enemies and foes, and ever defend the whole Christian people by your holy prayers and merits; by which you have conquered great earthly things, and have happily reached the eternal realms of heaven with the palm of martyrdom, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through all ages of ages. Amen.
Annotatum* he is also commonly called Saturnus