ON ST. LUCILLUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT VERONA,
ABOUT THE YEAR CCCLX.
HISTORICAL SYLLOGE.
Lucillus, bishop, at Verona. (S.)
BY J. V. H.
Single §. Mention of St. Lucillus in the Veil of Classe and in the Rhythm of Pepin. His period. He attends the council of Sardica. Translation of the body. Remembrance in the sacred calendars.
The city of Verona is illustrious both in other ornaments and in the sanctity of its pontiffs, of whom very many enjoy ecclesiastical cult. St. Lucillus is depicted on the Veil of Classe, Among these is numbered St. Lucillus, whose name is as certain as his period is uncertain and obscure by reason of the variety of opinions. First of all, therefore, we must set forth what things are held altogether undoubted concerning the holy prelate, proceeding thereafter to relate the diverse opinions of the authors. In the church of St. Apollinaris in Classe at Ravenna, there survives a most precious monument of about the middle of the eighth century, which is everywhere called by the writers the Veil of Classe: a chasuble namely, says Mauro Sarti [De vet. casula diptycha, p. 2, 4, 32, 52, 58, Faenza 1753. Cf. Biancolini, Dei vesc. di Ver., p. 1 ff.] , woven of silk and silver,… of which scarcely any fragments now remain… On it … in Phrygian work, were depicted, in as many little circles, individual images, … namely of the bishops of Verona, of SS. Gabriel and Michael, then of SS. Firmus and Rusticus, whose relics the chasuble covered in the church of Verona, before it was carried to Ravenna. Now among the others there is seen there the image of our holy bishop, with these words written beside it: Lucillus eps. [Cf. Ant. Cenci, Dissert. intor. all' epoca de'SS. Euprepio, Procolo e Zenone, p. 208 and 220, Verona 1788.] . On the manner in which the portraits were once distributed on the chasuble, the authors disagree; but all agree on this, that Lucillus holds the sixth place there among the bishops of Verona: Euprepius, Dimidrianus, Simplicius, Proculus, Saturninus, Lucillus, Cricinus, Zeno, Agapitus, Lucius, Siabrinus (Syagrius), Lupinus etc. Cf. Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia, vol. X, p. 740. .
[2] and cited in the Rhythm of Pepin. The same appears in the very ancient description of Verona, commonly called the Rhythm of Pepin, because it was written under Pepin, son of Charlemagne and king of Italy from the year 781 to 810. Mabillon first edited it Vetera analecta, p. 409 f., edition of 1723. , from a codex of the monastery of Lobbes in Belgium, to which Rather, formerly a monk of Lobbes, then bishop of Verona and of Liège, is said to have brought it in the tenth century [Cf. J. Vos, Lobbes, son abbaye et son chapitre, vol. I, p. 205 ff., Louvain 1865.] . That poem, of which several exemplars survive, was printed also by Scipione Maffei [Italia sacra, vol. V, col. 672. Maffei, Istoria diplomatica, p. 182, Mantua 1727.] and J. B. Biancolini [Dei vescovi di Verona, p. 115 ff., Verona 1757. Notizie delle chiese di Verona, vol. I, p. 160 ff.] . There, then, we read this of St. Lucillus: First at Verona preached Euprepius, bishop, second Dimidrianus, third Simplicius, fourth Proculus… Fifth was Saturninus and sixth Lucilius. Seventh was Gricinus, … eighth pastor and confessor Zeno, renowned martyr. This series of bishops many suppose to have been received from the diptychs, which from ancient discipline were accustomed to be recited during the solemnities of the Masses [Cf. the Ballerini brothers, Dissertationes in S. Zenonem, in Migne, Patrol. lat., vol. XI, col. 72.] . It was employed by John of Verona, who in the Imperial History
in manuscript [Cf. Onofrio Panvinio, Antiquitates Veronenses, book IV, chap. 3, p. 105. Scipione Maffei, Verona illustrata, part II, book II, col. 49, Verona 1732. Sc. Maffei, De Joannis Veronensis hist., in Opusc. eccl., p. 242 ff., Trent 1742. Cf. Pertz, Archiv, vol. V, p. 603 ff.] , written before the year 1325, wrote this: After St. Proculus, who was the fourth bishop, the bishopric was taken up by St. Saturninus, whom Lucillus succeeded; after whom St. Grichinus the doctor; whom B. Zeno succeeded. Ughelli also, who proposes another order, nevertheless has Lucillus sixth Italia sacra, vol. V, col. 679, Venice 1720. . We wonder therefore that in the Order for reciting the divine office according to the rite of the Church of Verona, published in the year 1847, Lucillus is called the tenth bishop of Verona. Those who wrote this perhaps thought him the same as Lucius, who on the Veil of Classe does indeed come in the tenth place; or they obtained other more ancient documents: but since neither have we ourselves found these anywhere, nor, on writing to Verona, have we been informed, we shall stand by the ancient monuments, until more certain things are brought forward, and we shall believe that St. Lucillus was bishop after St. Proculus and before St. Zeno.
[3] He seems to have lived about the middle of the fourth century, Since, that is, it is credible that on the Veil of Classe and in the Rhythm of Pepin the bishops were not inscribed at random, but so that each held his own place, let us say that St. Lucillus lived after SS. Proculus and Saturninus, and before SS. Gricinus and Zeno; so that, if their times are determined, his period also can be gathered. Of SS. Saturninus and Gricinus nothing has been ascertained; St. Proculus in the Acts of his martyrdom is said to have died under the emperor Maximian Cf. Acta SS., vol. III March, p. 451. , or at the beginning of the fourth century. The period of Zeno has been disputed with no moderate contention, since some contend that the holy prelate died in the third century, in the reign of the emperor Gallienus, others in the fourth century, in the time of St. Ambrose. Of the former some imagine two bishops of Verona named Zeno, one of the third century, the other of the fourth century. But that there was only one and that he belongs to the period of St. Ambrose, not a few other learned men, and also the Ballerini brothers, have shown In Migne, Patrol. lat., vol. XI, col. 40, 65 ff. . And in very truth, it is manifest that the errors which St. Zeno attacked belong to the fourth century. Then there survives a letter of St. Ambrose, sent about the year 380 to Syagrius, bishop of Verona, from which it is plain that St. Zeno passed from life not under Gallienus, but in the fourth century. For he rebukes Syagrius because he had handed over Indicia, a sacred virgin (still surviving in the time of Ambrose), approved by the judgment of Zeno of holy memory and sanctified by his blessing, to be inspected by matrons on account of a certain calumny [Epist. S. Ambrosii, in Migne, Patrol. lat., vol. XVI, col. 891. Cf. Sc. Maffei, Verona illust., part I, vol. I, book VIII, p. 404 f., Verona 1732.] . Against these and other arguments that can be brought forward, the supporters of the contrary opinion have indeed suggested some paltry reasonings; but they neither refute their adversaries, nor sufficiently establish their own opinion. Indeed, as our predecessors noted long ago, in that Life of St. Zeno which Coronatus the Notary wrote, and from which the other authors, as it seems, have gathered that St. Zeno belongs to the years of Gallienus, in this Life, I say, there are several things that rather favor the fourth century Cf. Acta SS., vol. II April, p. 71. . In short, the Ballerini rightly wrote that the period of Zeno, confirmed by several documents, is to be established between about the years 356 and 380 In Migne, Pat. lat., vol. XI, col. 81. . To which opinion every very learned man now yields. But since St. Lucillus preceded that holy prelate, with Gricinus alone interposed, it follows that we should say that he died about the middle of the fourth century.
[4] and to have subscribed the Acts of the council of Sardica. To these things the Acts of the council of Sardica of the year 347 bring very great weight. For among the Fathers who subscribed the canons of this council, there is read Lucius from Italy, of Verona Mansi, Concil., vol. III, col. 38; cf. col. 42 and 47, Florence 1759. . But St. Athanasius, in his Apology against the Arians, reviewing the bishops who subscribed their names to the decrees of Sardica, brings forward Lucillus In Migne, Patrol. græc., vol. XXV, col. 338. , and in his Apology to Constantius he openly calls him bishop of Verona. For accused of having formerly incited the emperor Constans against Constantius, he answers that he never spoke to Constans except in the presence of the bishops of the cities in which he was staying: Of this matter, he says, Fortunatianus bishop of Aquileia is witness… Likewise witness… Lucillus of Verona. Since the Apology was written in the year 356, it appears that Lucillus was still surviving in this year, or at least had not died long before, seeing that Athanasius at that time calls him living, and accordingly had not yet heard that he was dead. Who then is this Lucillus? We ought to suppose him the same as the one who on the Veil of Classe is held as Lucillus, in the Rhythm of Pepin as Lucilius, and in both as sixth bishop of Verona: Perhaps commonly called Lucillus, say the Ballerini In Migne, Patrol. lat., vol. XI, col. 75. , as a diminutive from Lucius because of his small stature: which Francesco Bonacchi confirms with examples [Ibid., col. 722, dissert. I on the epoch of St. Zeno, chap. III, §2.] . Some authors indeed contradict this, and various ones make this Lucillus named by Athanasius another person. Ughelli thinks Italia sacra, vol. V, col. 693. that he does not differ from Lucidus, whom we see noted in the more recent indexes as the sixteenth bishop of Verona. To others, on the contrary, he seems the same as Lucius who is inscribed on the Veil of Classe, and indeed, if we hearken to De Rubeis Cf. Mauro Sarti, De veteri casula diptycha dissert., p. 63. , in the tenth place. So hold Antonio Cenci Dissert. intorno all' epoca de S. Euprepio, etc., p. 208 and 210; cf. p. 50 ff. and a few other authors Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia, vol. X, p. 744 ff. , chiefly for this reason, that they judge that Lucillus the sixth bishop of Verona lived before St. Zeno, and Zeno before the fourth century: whence it has come about that they necessarily deny that this Lucillus is the same as the Athanasian or Sardican one. But everyone sees that these conjectures, which almost no one now accepts Cf. Biancolini, Dei vescovi e gubernatori di Verona, p. 21, Verona 1757. , cannot be reconciled with the facts indicated before, and accordingly it remains for us to say that our St. Lucillus was still alive about the year 355. Nor can he have survived long after, since before him and St. Zeno St. Gricinus was bishop, and St. Zeno had already departed this life about the year 380.
[5] His body was honorably buried in the basilica of St. Zeno, Of the deeds of the holy prelate the ancient monuments of the histories hand down nothing, and what certain more recent writers present are merely common praises. From the canon Giovanni Dionisi Dei santi Veronesi, part I, p. 80, 102 f., Verona 1786. we learn that the body of St. Lucillus was first interred in the hypogeum of the church of St. Proculus, and removed from there probably in the year 1040. That is, when about this year the upper basilica of St. Zeno had been completed, the bodies of SS. Lucillus and Lupicinus, drawn out of the hypogeum of St. Proculus, were laid in the church, on the 27th day of March. They had been laid together with the body of St. Crescentian in a leaden casket, which is itself contained in a stone chest worked in relief. There afterward an altar was made, celebrated by the devotion of Christians, of which we read this in Bagata and Peretti SS. Episcoporum Veronensium antiq. monum., fol. 8, Venice 1576. : In the basilica of St. Zeno, by the chapel of the high altar, on the side toward the south, is the altar of SS. Crescentian the martyr, Lucillus and Lupicinus, bishops of Verona, where for an altarpiece are painted three images: of which the middle one, holding a palm in the hand, is of a single martyr, the other two are images of bishops with miters, croziers, gloves and books in the right hand: under which images on the base of that altarpiece these verses are painted:
Here rest the bones of Crescentian the martyr,
And with Lucillus you, Lupicinus, together.
Sharers of the heavenly country and of the sepulcher,
Each prelate calls Verona his own.
On the side of that altar, toward the north, in the direction of the high altar, there is an old tablet of parchment hung on the wall, on which are these words: "The bodies of the saints Crescentian, martyr, Lucilius and Lupicinus, confessors, bishops of Verona"… That the body of St. Lucillus rests in the church of St. Zeno is to be had from the table of the saints Cf. ibid., fol. 2. , on the 31st day of October, and from Francesco Corna, who in the year 1477 wrote of the antiquities of Verona and of the relics of the saints which are found in it Ibid., fol. I. . Moreover, in the consecration of the altar of St. James in the church of the holy apostles, relics of St. Lucillus, bishop of Verona, were also laid up. Finally, on an old stone cut in the year of the Lord 1182, in the church of the Holy Savior at Fregnano, mention is made among the other relics of this holy bishop [Ibid., fol. 9 and 77. Cf. Biancolini, Notizie storiche delle chiese di Verona, vol. I, p. 74; cf. p. 165, Verona 1749. Biancolini, Dei vescovi di Verona, p. 19.] .
[6] as is established by several testimonies. Although no one denies that Lucillus has been held a saint since before the memory of men, it will yet not be out of place to present at this point some testimonies of ancient authors. Giuseppe Bianchini, canon of the church of Verona, formerly copied a number of ancient monuments, whose apographs, then sent to the Bollandists, are kept today in the Brussels library, in press 7992. Here, then, in a manuscript codex of the library of the venerable monastery of St. Zeno, bishop, among the holy bishops of the kindly city of Verona canonized (the writer uses this word), there occurs St. Lucillus, bishop of Verona, with these words added by another copyist: whose body rests in the church of St. Zeno Maggiore. 31st of October Cf. Biancolini, Dei vescovi di Verona, p. 157. . That Lucidius is not to be thought to be St. Lucillus, concerning whom on an old parchment tablet, half-eaten, torn, sooty, and almost consumed by the dampness of the place where it lay, likewise transcribed by G. Bianchini, there is read: Likewise there lie in the said church of St. Stephen the bodies of the holy bishops
of Verona Lucidius, Dimidrianus… For that man is reported as the sixteenth bishop, whereas ours is the sixth and buried in the church of St. Zeno. We do not find him in the catalogues of the saints whose memory is specially celebrated in the church of Verona Manuscript cod. of the royal library of Brussels, 7992. , copied from martyrologies of the eighth, tenth and thirteenth centuries, nor in the martyrology of Usuard or its augmentations. A brief praise was composed by Agostino Valier, bishop of Verona and cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Cf. Bagata, SS. Episc. Veronensium antiq. monum., fol. 39. : Lucillus, he says, bishop of Verona, was a man admirable in all his life, and crowned with sanctity and all episcopal virtues. He died on the day before the kalends of November. His body is kept today in the basilica of St. Zeno, in the same sepulcher in which St. Lupicinus, bishop of the same city, was laid. There in his honor and that of St. Lupicinus and of St. Crescentian the martyr … an altar was erected. Galesini at the 31st day of October wrote this: At Verona, of St. Lucillus, bishop, a man admirable in all his life and distinguished by the praise of episcopal virtues. At the same day Ferrari, in the catalogue of the saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology: At Verona, of St. Lucillus, bishop, and he cites these few things from the tablets of the Church of Verona.