Nemesius and Lucilla

ON SS. NEMESIUS AND LUCILLA: NEMESIUS, DEACON, AND LUCILLA, MARTYRS AT ROME,

PROBABLY IN THE YEAR CCLVII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Nemesius, martyr, at Rome. (S.)

Lucilla, martyr, at Rome. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. The deeds of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla narrated in the Acts of St. Stephen. Latin and Armenian Passion. The family of St. Nemesius. Time of the martyrdom.

Our predecessors have in the past treated of several saints whose name is Nemesius: among whom are to be mentioned St. Nemesius, martyr at Cordoba, St. Nemesius the deacon venerated on the 27th day of June, St. Nemesius, martyr, on the 28th day of the same month; St. Nemesius, martyr at Tivoli in Latium, on the 18th day of July. But none of those saints, of whom the two former have become known from the Hieronymian lists, and the third was slain in the second century, and whom also not a few authors suppose to be one and the same, a son of St. Symphorosa Acta SS., vol. V June, p. 252 and 358; vol. IV July, p. 352 ff. , none, I say, can be taken for Nemesius, deacon and Roman martyr, venerated on this 31st day of October. Manifestly different from him also are St. Nemesius, martyr in Cyprus, praised in the Acta Sanctorum at the 29th day of February; St. Nemesius, confessor, at the 1st day of August; St. Nemesius, martyr of Alexandria, at the 8th day of September; likewise St. Nemesius, whom many Hieronymian martyrologies present as slain at Nicomedia, on the 9th day of November; and another Nemesius slain at Alexandria in the middle of the third century, and inscribed in the sacred calendars at the 9th day of December. Likewise altogether to be distinguished is St. Lucilla, daughter of our St. Nemesius, both from Lucilla, martyr in Africa, of whom there has been discussion in the Bollandist work at the 16th day of February, and from another Lucilla who, having suffered martyrdom at an unknown place and time, is recorded on the 10th day of August in the Hieronymian codices, and also from St. Lucilla who with her sister Flora is said to have been captured by the barbarian king Eugene and led away from Rome; and when they afterward returned with the kinglet to the city, all were beheaded at the same time for the faith of Christ; they are venerated, moreover, on the 29th day of July Ibid., vol. VII July, p. 23 ff. .

[2] is recorded in the Latin Acts of St. Stephen, Of the deeds of St. Nemesius the deacon and of his daughter nothing has come down to posterity, except that which is related in the Acts of St. Stephen I, pope. What learned men have thought of their sincerity must therefore be set out in a few words. That Passion, which some formerly held genuine [Baronius, Ann. eccl., at the year 259, no. XX. Schelstrate, Antiquit. Ecclesiæ, vol. I, diss. II, chap. 7, p. 198 ff.] , and which others more sharply attacked Mém. pour l'hist. eccl., vol. IV, p. 592, Paris 1701. , almost all now judge should neither be wholly rejected, nor yet be numbered among uncorrupted Acts. To our Bosch it seems interpolated; but: far be it, says the same man, from us to take away all credit from them the Acts, or to deny that at least the chief heads of the matters are true [Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 126. Cf. Sollier, Martyr. Usuardi, at the 31st day of Oct.] . What is there narrated of the death of St. Stephen, the distinguished J. B. de Rossi thinks should be referred to St. Sixtus, pope, and he rightly supposes that before that Passion, to which he attaches no great authority, there existed another more sincere Roma sotterranea, vol. II, p. 80 ff. .

[3] the Armenian More sincere indeed, or rather lacking most blemishes Cf. Revue des questions historiques, vol. XXI, p. 577 ff., Paris 1877. , is the Armenian Passion which, found by him in a Paris codex, the venerable presbyter Paulin Martin has made public Analecta Bollandiana, vol. I, p. 471 ff. ; but, as he says, especially as regards the form of writing and the knowledge of places, it does not bear on its face those marks of antiquity which the Latin Acts edited by the Bollandists do… They can be judged, in our judgment, to have been worked up according to a certain Greek text in the tenth or eleventh century; or rather perhaps in the fifth or sixth century, as the Mechitarist Fathers think, who edited those Acts at Venice in the year 1874. Mr. P. Martin has collated the Paris copy with this edition and with the Latin Acts, and has lately presented it, rendered in Latin, in our Analecta. From this we have thought it right to excerpt the things that pertain to SS. Nemesius and Lucilla and to share them with the reader.

[4] and the Greek. From other monuments of the histories there is almost nothing to learn. For the Greek passion of St. Stephen [Fabricius, Biblioth. græca, vol. X, p. 327, Hamburg 1807. Cf. Acta SS., vol. II Aug., p. 124.] , which survives rendered in Latin in Surius and Lippomano, and whose summary Zachary Lippeloo inserted in his work on the Lives of the Saints Vol. III, p. 333 ff., Cologne 1596. , does not in fact differ from the Latin Acts. These also are followed or briefly condensed by nearly all the remaining authors, such as Peter de Natalibus Catalogus SS., book VI, chap. 137. , Vicelius Hagiologium, p. 221, Mainz 1541. , Ferrari Catalogus SS. Italiæ, p. 685. , the editor of the Hagiologium Italicum Vol. II, p. 266. , Carlo Piazza Emerologio di Roma, vol. II, p. 653. and a good many others. The same may be said of the authors of the martyrologies, Ado, Usuard etc. We have found only one who puts forward anything new; about whom the discussion must now turn.

[5] He was the father of St. Lucilla, but not of St. Justin. That St. Nemesius had other children than St. Lucilla we do not indeed read in the Acts. But Maurolico Martyrologium, fol. 113. , reviewing several places of relics at Rome, says: There is kept in the church of St. Mary Nova the body of St. Nemesius the tribune, father of St. Justin; of St. Symphorian; of St. Olympius; of St. Exuperius; of St. Lucilla. He perhaps signifies St. Justin the presbyter, who buried St. Lawrence, deacon of St. Sixtus, and about two years after St. Nemesius poured out his blood for Christ Acta SS., vol. V Sept., p. 470. . But neither in the Acts of St. Justin, nor in those of SS. Sixtus, Lawrence, Stephen is it even hinted that Justin was the son of Nemesius: which assuredly would be no small praise both of the father and of the son. Much more incredible still is it that there was born to St. Nemesius that Justin, who with six brothers is said to have suffered martyrdom at Tivoli in Latium. For his father was St. Getulius, sometimes called St. Zoticus, who was also the father of a certain St. Nemesius and the husband of St. Symphorosa. Moreover all these are said to have been slain before the middle of the second century Ibid., vol. IX July, p. 350 ff. . There are not a few other saints Justin, but none of whom, I believe, can probably be held to be the son of St. Nemesius; so that Maurolico seems to have erred, when he called our holy deacon the father of St. Justin.

[6] He died with his daughter, as it seems, in the year 257. The glorious death of Saints Nemesius and Lucilla is not easily referred to a certain year. For in the Armenian Acts the notes of the times are lacking, as also those of the places. In the Latin indeed the martyrdom is said to have taken place on the 8th before the kalends of September (which most manuscript codices have), under the consuls Gallienus and Maximus, or, as we read in the Greek Acts, Glabrio and Maximus: but neither consulship, says our Bosch Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 141. , do I approve: not the first, because it is unknown; nor the second, for the reasons copiously set out in the Commentary. Neither also does Ado seem to have read, at the 31st day of October. Either, therefore, can be judged intruded. As for the remaining things that can be brought forward from the Acts for placing the martyrdom of St. Nemesius in the year 256, such as … the destruction of Maximus the consul, the day of the martyrdom the 25th of August…, it was long ago shown that they are to be accounted of very little weight Ibid., p. 125 f. . Nor does it help that in all the Acts our saints are said to have died a little before the martyrdom of St. Stephen. For when that itself took place is a very greatly entangled question. Of the various opinions sought from every side, that one is now accepted by most learned men, which Bosch set out in the Acta Sanctorum [Ibid. Cf. Jaffé, Regesta pontif. Roman., p. 21, Leipzig 1881. De Smedt, Dissert. in primam ætatem hist. eccl., p. 321 ff., Ghent 1876.] : namely that St. Stephen perished at the beginning of the month of August of the year 257, and Nemesius with Lucilla on the 25th day of July of the same year.

§ II. Burial of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla and translations of the relics. Epitaph of St. Lucina in the cemetery of St. Sebastian. Does St. Nemesius rest at Pavia? Cult.

St. Nemesius and St. Lucilla were first buried on the Via Latina, The emperor Valerian, as we read in the Latin Acts of St. Stephen, had Lucilla, the daughter of Nemesius, put to the sword before the beheading of her father on the Appian Way before the temple of Mars… But they Valerian and Gallienus ordered Nemesius the deacon himself to be beheaded between the Appian and Latin Ways, on the eighth day before the kalends of August: whose body the blessed bishop Stephen gathered up, and buried beside the place where he was beheaded, on the Latin Way, not far from the city Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 142. . In the Armenian Acts, however, the father and daughter are said in express words to have been slain in the same place: And he Gallienus ordered blessed Nemesius to be killed, with his daughter who had recovered her sight. And when they were leading the blessed man to the place of slaughter between the two ways which are called the Appian Way and the Latin Way, having taken counsel, they wished first to kill his daughter, saying that the heart of Nemesius would be moved by affection. But the blessed martyr, reckoning the death of his daughter the highest joy, when he saw her slain, rejoiced with great gladness… In like manner they killed him in the same place. Hearing this, the great pontiff of God Stephen came by night and, raising the holy bodies of the sacrificed, placed them in a fitting place, performing blessings over them, according to the honor due to martyrs, and when dawn came went to his own place. That the father was buried beside his daughter, slain for Christ on the same day,

seems assuredly consistent; and although the Latin Passion is silent, we the more readily believe the Armenian Life in indicating this, because in several translations the sacred bodies appear together.

[8] afterward in the church of St. Eugenia, beside the Latin Way, In the Little Roman Martyrology we read this of our saints: Of Nemesius the deacon and Lucilla his daughter; they suffered on the 8th before the kalends of September, but were buried by Pope Sixtus on the day before the kalends of November. Ado likewise says: His Nemesius's body, buried indeed by blessed Pope Stephen in the same place, but afterward raised by the blessed pontiff Sixtus, on the day before the kalends of November, was more venerably cared for in a crypt beside the same Appian Way. Nor was the Appian Way the perpetual place of his burial; for from the notice On the holy places of the martyrs which are outside the city of Rome, which can be referred to about the middle of the seventh century Cf. de Rossi, Roma Sotterranea, vol. I, p. 141 f. , we learn that the body of St. Nemesius at that time rested in the church of St. Eugenia beside the Latin Way: and beside the same way (the Latin) is the basilica of Tertullian, where he himself lies with many martyrs. The church also of St. Eugenia is beside that way, where she herself lies with her mother in one tomb; there St. Stephen, pope, with all his clergy, to the number of XXVIII, martyrs, sleeps; there St. Nemeseus, St. Olimphius, St. Simpronius, St. Theodolus, St. Superius, St. Obloteris, St. Tiburticanus, martyrs, are buried. The same seems to be indicated by the writer who between the years 625 and 638 composed the Notice of the churches of the city of Rome, saying: Then you will come by the same way (the Campanian) to a cave; here rests on the same way St. Eugenia, virgin and martyr, she reposes in a chamber of the church, and in another place Emisteus, martyr Ibid., p. 139. . It has not been handed down to memory in what age the relics of the holy deacon passed to the church of St. Eugenia. This only we know, that this sacred house is very ancient and was constructed on the Latin Way above the cemetery of Apronianus, which was dug in the estate of St. Eugenia, and in which she herself was interred after her renowned martyrdom. At the beginning of the eighth century this church was already so old that Anastasius the Librarian wrote: He (John VII, Roman pontiff from the year 705 to 707) restored also the basilica of St. Eugenia, which had long been unroofed and broken Liber Pontific., vol. I, p. 318, edited by Vignoli. . The same relates that Hadrian I, Roman pontiff from the year 772 to 795, restored that same basilica anew both within and without Ibid., vol. II, p. 222. . Aringhi narrates these things more at length Roma sotterranea, vol. II, book IV, chap. 2, p. 3 f. .

[9] and finally in the diaconia of St. Mary Nova But afterward, by Gregory IV, who held the Roman see from the year 827 to the year 844, the sacred relics of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla and their companions were translated to the diaconia of St. Mary Nova. This had long since gone into oblivion, when in the year 1580 they were found beyond expectation and duly laid in the high altar of the same church. Then monuments were placed on either side; at the right:

Here rest the bodies of the holy martyrs Nemesius, Olympius, Sempronius, Lucilla and Exuperia. There are present also relics of St. Peter and of the Holy Innocents, and of the gridiron of St. Lawrence.

Likewise at the left of the altar:

Whoever shall presume to carry off anything of these relics from here and to break the altar, let him be anathema, and accursed by the Lord God almighty, and by Jesus Christ his son, and by the Holy Spirit. Accursed also by Gregory IV, bishop of the city of Rome, and also by all the bishops who were present at this dedication, and united here deposited these relics …. The things mentioned above were written on a certain leaden tablet, which was preserved with the relics in the altar. But in the year of the Lord MDLXXX, when this altar had been moved and rebuilt, and the relics all laid again in it, our most holy Lord * Gregory XIII, pope by divine providence, ratified by his authority all the things mentioned above Secondo Lancellotti, Hist. Olivetana, book II, § VII, p. 134. .

[10] by Gregory IV. It is worthy of note that in the Roman Martyrology of the year 1583, which Baronius complained was composed with too little accuracy, the translation of the relics to St. Mary Nova is attributed not to Gregory IV, but to Gregory V, who was Roman pontiff from the year 996 to 999. Nor was the place changed in the other subsequent editions. I suspect, however, that V was written there in error for IV, and that in the present matter Lancellotti, a fosterling of the Olivetan congregation, has greater credit; and all the more because, in the Life written by Anastasius the Librarian Liber pontific., vol. III, p. II f., edited by Vignoli. , we read that Gregory IV translated many bodies of saints from the Roman cemeteries into churches; whereas nothing of this kind is related by the historians of Gregory V. He, besides holding the holy see for less than three years, lived amid tumults, and does not seem to have promoted the veneration of the saints.

[11] St. Nemesius is mentioned in the Chronicle of Saint-Mihiel That the body of St. Nemesius had been laid in the church of St. Mary Nova, that Roman, I believe, forgot who in the eleventh century wished to sell some bones of the holy deacon. For it is narrated in the chronicle of the monastery of Saint-Mihiel, in the canton of Verdun, that abbot Nanterus Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, vol. II, col. 204 f. (from the year 1021 to about the year 1044) made a journey to Rome: and when he was laboring hard there to acquire relics, the abbot of a Roman monastery, in which he had been received as a guest, offered him certain bones, saying that they were from the body of Pope Stephen and of Nemesius his deacon: these, if he wished, he might buy at a price. He said to him: "I have heard that many of our people have been deceived by a like error, nor should you so easily believe that I can be fooled. For unless I shall see a sepulcher hitherto untouched, and a writing shall teach me whose limbs lie within, know that no price is by any means to be extorted from me by anyone Chron. S. Michaelis, p. 15, edited by L. Tross, Hamm 1857. ." How deservedly he then distrusted appears even from this, that, thinking he had received there the body of Pope St. Callistus, he was very probably deluded Cf. Acta SS., vol. VI Oct., p. 433 ff. .

[12] and in the Deeds of the Kings of the English. Someone will perhaps wonder why we, with William of Malmesbury contradicting, have said that the bones of the holy martyrs were translated in the ninth century to the basilica of St. Mary Nova. For that author, when he narrates the coming of the crusaders into the city of Rome in the year 1095, and reviews the relics kept there, writes of the Latin Way: Beside it rest in one church the martyrs Gordian and Epimachus… And near there, in another place, Tertullinus: and not far off the church of blessed Eugenia, in which she lies, and Claudia her mother; and Stephen, pope, with his clergy, nineteen in number, and Nemesius the deacon [Gesta regum Anglorum, vol. II, book IV, edited by Thomas Duffus Hardy, in Migne, Patrol. lat., vol. CLXXIX, col. 1305.] . But the historian, as the distinguished J. B. de Rossi shows Roma sotterranea, vol. I, p. 146. , wove into his work a writing composed between the years 648 and 682, and so spoke of many saints whose bodies had long since been drawn out of the cemeteries as if in the year 1095 they were still resting in their former place.

[13] His relics are venerated in several churches. At Rome, besides St. Mary Nova, several other churches are said to be honored with relics of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla. Among these the Vatican basilica, where there are remains of St. Nemesius the deacon Cancellieri, Sylloge veterum monumentorum, p. 1660. : likewise the church of St. Lawrence in Lucina, in whose portico these things are inscribed: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1196 … this church was dedicated by the hands of the same Celestine Pope III… The relics laid up in the high altar are… of Nemesius, Olympius, Theodolus, Lucilia… Galletti, Inscriptiones Romanæ infimi ævi, vol. I, p. XLIV f. . It is read also on the wall of the portico of the church of St. Sylvester in Capite that there rest there relics both of other saints and of St. Nemesius the deacon Ibid., p. DIV. Mai, Veteres scriptores, vol. V, p. 57. , which inscription Mazocchi Kalendarium Neapolitanum, vol. III, p. 905. contends to be of the ninth century, against Muratori Novus thesaurus veterum inscriptionum, vol. IV, p. 1966. , to whom it seems older. The cathedral church of Anagni also has relics of a certain St. Nemesius, which can be said without fear of error to be of our holy deacon, since in the same reliquary relics of his companions, Sympronius, Theodulus and Olympius, are deposited [Barbier de Montault, Année liturgique à Rome, Inventaire des Reliques, p. 194, edition of 1862.] . But the remains of St. Nemesius kept in the Roman church of St. Angelo in the Fish Market I would suppose to be those of the son of St. Symphorosa, for the reason that he rests there under the high altar together with the remains of Symphorosa herself and of six others of her sons Ibid., Propre des Saints, p. 72. . Moreover the Roman churches of St. Mary in Portico Erra, Storia dell' imagine e chiesa di S. Maria in Portico, p. 108. and of St. Mark Barbier de Montault, p. 213. possess relics of St. Lucilla; but nowhere is it indicated whether she is the daughter of St. Nemesius the deacon, or some other.

[14] The sepulcher of St. Lucina in the cemetery of St. Sebastian Before we close the series of the Roman translations of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla, what Baronius wrote in the year 1585 is to be weighed: There still persists the place of the virgin Lucilla in the cemetery of Callistus, where on the stone of the sepulcher an old inscription is read, placed there Martyr. Rom., at the 31st day of Oct., note. . What this inscription is, Bosio, Aringhi and others have diligently inquired, and have supposed that Baronius signifies this inscription of the cemetery of St. Sebastian (which in the sixteenth century and long afterward was taken even by learned men for the cemetery of St. Callistus):

HOC EST

SEPULCRUM SANCTÆ

LUCINÆ VIRGINIS

and below:

GUILS. ARCHS. BITURICEN.

F. FIERI

does not pertain to St. Lucilla. Whether that William, archbishop of Bourges from the year 1409 to 1421 Cf. Gall. christ., vol. II, col. 85 f. , dedicated this stone to the daughter of St. Nemesius, or to some other virgin, I would not dare to determine.

[15] It can rightly and deservedly be judged, say some, that the sepulchral inscription speaks of St. Lucina,

daughter of Marmenia, virgin and martyr, because she lived in the vicinity, and suffered martyrdom and was buried there Acta SS., vol. VI May, p. 8. Cf. Aringhi, Roma subterr., vol. I, p. 272 f. . Indeed she was laid, as we learn from the Acts, in the place in which St. Urban had been buried Acta SS., vol. VI May, p. 15. , that is, as the distinguished J. B. de Rossi shows, in the cemetery of Prætextatus Bullett. di archeol. christ., year 1863, p. 5. . Why William should have made a monument for her in the cemetery of St. Sebastian is not so easily explained. Therefore Baronius, Bosio Roma sotterranea, book III, chap. 12, p. 177 f. and Aringhi Roma subterranea, vol. I, book III, p. 272 ff. have supposed that not this Lucina is signified in the inscription; but rather St. Lucilla, daughter of St. Nemesius, who they assert is called Lucina in some codices. Since she is said to have been laid in the cemetery of St. Callistus, and the cemetery of St. Sebastian was then known by the name of St. Callistus, it could indeed have happened that William thought he had found the sepulcher of St. Lucilla in this one, and accordingly wrote the inscription for her De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, vol. I, p. 232. . But if he so thought, he certainly erred. For not only was St. Lucilla then at rest in the church of St. Mary Nova, but she had never been interred in the cemetery of St. Sebastian. Of what virgin and martyr Lucina, finally, a sepulcher really existed in the cemetery of St. Sebastian, cannot be established with certainty. The conjectures which various persons have proposed at various times Bosio and Aringhi, loc. cit. Cf. Acta SS., vol. V June, p. 533. are not to be weighed at this place, since it is enough to have shown that our St. Lucilla did not lie there.

[16] The people of Pavia do not have the whole body of St. Nemesius, Although it does not seem doubtful that the body of St. Nemesius lies at Rome, in the church of St. Mary Nova, yet the people of Pavia think they have it. In the Book on the praises of the city of Ticinum, which is called Pavia, composed, says Muratori, about the year 1318 or 1321 Rerum Italicarum scriptt., vol. XI, col. 5 ff. , the Anonymous of Ticinum, reviewing the churches of the city of Pavia with the holy bodies within the first wall of the city, says: The church of St. Lawrence of the dogs, in which lies the body of St. Nemesius, deacon and martyr Ibid., col. 11. . The same is handed down by Giacomo Gualla in the Sanctuary of Pavia, printed in the year 1505 Ibid., book VI, chap. 6, col. 77. : Nemesius the deacon and Senestrosius (for Symphronius), in the reign of Valerian and Gallienus, who were persecuting the Christians, when at Rome, in the sight of the people, they were led to worship idols, with steadfast mind rejected that worship and scorned to adore the idols themselves; whence, beaten with many and various torments, they could never be turned from the faith of Christ; finally killed by the bloody sword… Their sacred bodies, carried from Rome to Ticinum, are faithfully kept and venerated in the chapel of the renowned martyr Lawrence in Versarium, afterward called of the dogs Flavia Papia sacra, part I, p. 124 ff., Pavia 1699. . The same things occur in the edition of the year 1587. Romualdo of St. Mary agrees, in the Agiologium Ticinense Ibid., part II, p. 161. , at the 31st day of October: In the church of St. Lawrence, of St. Nemesius, deacon and martyr, .. of St. Sinistrosius, who is related to have suffered with the same St. Nemesius, and whom the author supposes to have been wrongly written for Symphronius. The same writer in the Deeds of the saints who rest at Ticinum Martyrol. Rom., at the 3rd day of July, note. says: The bodies of Nemesius and his companions, buried by B. Stephen, pope, then more honorably entombed by B. Sixtus on the Appian Way on this day, Gregory the Fifth translated to the diaconia of St. Mary Nova, together with the holy martyrs Symphronius, Olympius, Exuperia his wife and Theodulus his son; and there most recently found by Gregory XIII, they were more honorably placed under the altar of the same church, on the sixth before the ides of December. From there, however, at some time the body of St. Nemesius was carried away to Ticinum, in the church of St. Lawrence in Viridarium, or called of the Dogs, and placed there, and it is venerated with pious veneration every year on the day before the kalends of November. There again with St. Sinistrosius or Symphronius, in the year 1619, on the 13th of May, it was found in the high altar; and both, laid back more honorably in an altar of cypress, are displayed for public adoration.

[17] but at most some part. But Romualdo is far deceived in his opinion, who judges that the body of St. Nemesius came to Ticinum after it had been found at Rome in the church of St. Mary Nova and laid again in the high altar. For that took place in the year 1580, whereas already in the year 1505 Gualla wrote that the sacred relics of Nemesius were kept at Ticinum. But although, for these and similar reasons, it seems it must be denied that the whole body of the holy deacon exists among the people of Pavia, yet it could easily have happened that they obtained some part of it. Not a few churches indeed wrongly glory in holy bodies resting among them, as has lately appeared again, with the finding of St. Hyacinth. But it has also frequently happened that those who supposed they had the entire relics of some saint possessed at least certain bones, and Baronius, disputing on St. Thomas, rightly says: We are compelled to say what is frequently found of others; namely, that the parts of one body, distributed to diverse places, have given occasion to many to suppose that one and the same is contained either here or elsewhere [Martyrol. Rom., at the 3rd day of July, note. — Note that some faults crept onto the preceding page 824 through the error of the printers, which are to be corrected thus: col. 2, line 25, delete (16), and at line 28 and line 34 for (17) and (18) read (16) and (17). And among the notes, at the foot of the page, delete the whole of note (18).] . The people of Ticinum, therefore, as our opinion goes, hold only a portion of the relics of St. Nemesius the deacon; or, if not even this, at least it is probable that the bones of some other Nemesius were carried to them. Certainly saints called by this name were carried hither and thither out of the Roman countryside. Having perhaps obtained one of these, the people of Ticinum may afterward have taken him for the most celebrated of all, namely the Roman deacon. Nor will it seem incredible that they were enriched with this treasure, if you reflect how many bodies of saints they formerly acquired for themselves. So many were they counted, that doubts and disputes concerning their genuineness began long ago. Wherefore Giacomo Gualla, in the year 1505, thought he should begin the preface of the Sanctuary of Pavia with these words: It is commonly doubted among many whether so many relics of saints have their dwelling at Pavia, since it is hidden from them whence they came, by whom they were brought, and who, finally, conferred so outstanding a gift upon the city. For that reason they are venerated with less veneration, so much so that some even of the inhabitants of that same city are seen quite often to pass by with blind eyes that so precious treasure placed before their eyes, abounding with so many indulgences, so many gifts, so many heavenly endowments; to devotion for which the minds of all mortals ought to be moved Sanctuarium Papiense, Preface, fol. I. . Then, to remove the doubt, he relates that the kings of the Lombards brought many bodies of saints to Ticinum from Rome, Ravenna and Sardinia. On which one of our colleagues has long since disputed De phialis rubricatis, p. 41 ff., Brussels 1855. .

[18] The same is to be said of the Florentines. What we have just noted of St. Nemesius of Pavia, the same, unless we are mistaken, can be said of the Nemesius whom the Florentines think they have. That is, from the demolished church of the Holy Savior into the Camaldolese monastery of St. Mary of the Angels there are said to have been translated the most sacred bones of SS. Protus and Hyacinth, together with relics of St. Nemesius, martyr, … in the year of the Lord 1420 Acta SS., vol. III Sept., p. 756. . These things, as Jean Périer says Ibid., p. 759. , are easily explained of the part taken for the whole, which is frequent in this matter. Luigi Tatti, who contends that the bodies of SS. Hyacinth and Protus exist in the cathedral church of Como Annali sacri della cittá di Como, vol. I, p. 117 ff., Como 1663. , says: To the Florentines, who piously believe that they venerate these same pledges with the Camaldolese monks, since in a certain little bronze chest, together with the body of St. Martyr Nemesius, the bones of our martyrs are contained, we do not hesitate to affirm for certain that these things are to be taken broadly for entire bodies, since no great portion of them is to be seen Martyrologium sanctæ Novocomensis Ecclesiæ, at the 11th day of Sept., p. 199. . And in another place Annali di Como, vol. I, p. 119. Acta SS., vol. III Sept., p. 760. he adds that the body of St. Nemesius is kept to this day at Rome in the church of St. Mary Nova.

[19] SS. Nemesius and Lucilla are recorded by most at the 31st day of October. We saw before that ecclesiastical cult was accorded to SS. Nemesius and Lucilla shortly after their death; whose bodies St. Sixtus II (most probably Roman pontiff from the year 257 to about the middle of the year 258) translated to the cemetery of the Appian Way. Since this took place on the day before the kalends of November, both martyrs are celebrated on this day in the most ancient martyrologies, and indeed first, as Sollier says Martyrol. Usuardi, at the 31st day of Oct. , in the Little Roman martyrology; where we read this: Of Nemesius the deacon and Lucilla his daughter; they suffered on the 8th before the kalends of September, but were buried by Pope Sixtus on the day before the kalends of November. At the same day they are praised also by Ado and Usuard; whom have imitated, besides many other hagiographers Cf. Vicelius, Hagiologium, fol. 221, Mainz 1541. , Maurolico, Galesini, and the authors of the Roman martyrology themselves: At Rome, they say, the birthday of blessed Nemesius, deacon, and of Lucilla, virgin, his daughter; who when they could by no means be bent from the faith of Christ, on the order of the emperor Valerian, were beheaded on the eighth before the kalends of September: whose bodies, buried by blessed Stephen, pope, then more honorably entombed by blessed Sixtus on the Appian Way on this day, Gregory the Fifth translated to the diaconia of St. Mary Nova, together with SS. Symphronius, Olympius the tribune, Exuperia his wife, and Theodulus his son; all of whom, converted by the labor of Symphronius, and baptized by the same St. Stephen, had been crowned with martyrdom. These bodies of the saints, found in the same place when Gregory XIII was supreme pontiff, were more honorably placed under the altar of the same church on the sixth before the ides of December. In the breviary edited by Cardinal Quiñones Edition of Lyon, in the year 1546, fol. 227. the feast of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla is announced at the 31st day of July, and in the third lesson of the office nearly the same things are narrated, yet more briefly, and

in the martyrology of Ado. But in the Roman breviary the holy martyrs are no longer recorded except in the office of St. Stephen, pope, on the 2nd day of August, where these things occur: Many also Stephen converted to Christ: among them… Nemesius the tribune with his whole household, the eyes of his daughter Lucilla being restored: all of whom were martyrs of Jesus Christ. At Rome finally, as Carlo Piazza says Emerologio di Roma, vol. II, p. 654. , in the church of St. Mary Nova where the bodies of SS. Nemesius and Lucilla rest, all can gain a plenary indulgence on their feast day.

* Domino in edit.

PASSION OF SS. NEMESIUS THE DEACON AND LUCILLA

excerpted from the Armenian Acts of St. Stephen, pope and martyr.

Nemesius, martyr, at Rome. (S.)

Lucilla, martyr, at Rome. (S.)

BHL Number: 0000

FROM THE PRINTED TEXT.

SINGLE CHAPTER.

Persecution having begun, St. Stephen ordains some and baptizes very many; At the time when Oulerianus ^b with his son Gallienus took up the power of the Romans, he did not from the beginning show himself an adversary to the Christians; indeed he showed them much benevolence, on account of his perfidy ^c. Yet a little after, deceived by soothsayers, revealing the malice which he had astutely concealed, he began to stir up a persecution against the Church of Christ, and harassed the saints and the just… Then the blessed Stephen, patriarch of Rome, … when he had assembled the whole Church, said: "… Do not fear bodily torments, which are temporary, but him who can torment soul and body for ever…" When he had said these things, the whole order of the clergy asked of the pontiff of God that those among the people who were imperfect ^d but yet instructed should be held worthy, by his ministry, of perfection and regeneration. Then the holy pontiff ordered all ^e to be gathered without delay, and performing the office of sacred baptism, he illumined them by the generation of the spiritual pool; and after baptism, strengthening them with the word of faithful doctrine, he blessed more than one hundred and eight Christians.

On a certain day, moreover, the pontiff of God ordained those who were to receive orders, namely three presbyters, seven deacons, and sixteen others who stood in other grades. After this many of the Greeks ^f who lived here and who had been catechized in the words of piety were baptized by the pontiff of God.

[2] and among them Nemesius the tribune, Among whom was a certain man, demarchus ^g in power, which is interpreted leader of the people, and whose name was Nemesius ^h. He, coming before (the pontiff) with his daughter, whose name was Lucilla, asked for the healing and illumination of holy baptism ⁱ. Then the pontiff said to him: "If you believe with your whole heart in the all-holy Trinity, existing in three persons, but confessed in one nature and divinity, and [if] after this you believe in the saving incarnation of Christ, and in this not made in appearance in some unknown way, but truly consisting of our mass, the two coming together into one, and if you believe in Christ equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, you shall receive what you ask." That wise man promised to keep that same faith which he had learned from the holy pontiff. His daughter, being blind from birth, had eyes deprived of light. But when both (namely father and daughter) had approached the holy pool ^k and the sacramental words had been said, they were illumined by holy baptism.

[3] whose daughter Lucilla he restored to sight. But when Nemesius and his daughter had been lifted out of the pool, the daughter, raising her voice, said manfully: "Behold, I see a glowing man who, approaching my eyes, with the heavenly rays which surround him, has allowed me to see all visible things ^l." The blessed pontiff himself with his own hands raised them from the pool, and twice showed them a father's affection. Many ^m others also on the same day were held worthy of holy baptism and the remission of sins; whence afterward an innumerable multitude of believers came into being. (And the holy pontiff of God) ordained blessed Nemesius a deacon, that he might serve the holy Church ⁿ.

[4] The idolatry of the consul Maximus is punished at the prayer of Nemesius; Moreover, since he (that Nemesius) was a man distinguished and very well known ^o, his faith, baptism and ministry of the diaconate could not be hidden from the leaders of the army: whence they reported this to the emperor [p]. The king, calling together Oulerius [q] and Maximus, who were leaders of the army, and who were held captive by the error of the idols of Mars, ordered them to seize Nemesius, and first beating him with slaps to bring him to the tribunal of the judge. And Nemesius himself, strengthened by divine grace, was visiting the needy Christians [r], distributing his goods to them according to the necessities of each. On a certain night, moreover, while he was going by the road which is called the Appian and distributing the customary alms to the needy, he came near to a certain temple of idols, and saw Oulerius and Maximus offering foul sacrifices to the idols [s]. Whereupon, strengthened by heavenly zeal, humbling his knees to the God of all things, he asked that the impious, who were carrying out the works of their impiety, should pay penalties according to their iniquity. And while his prayers were on his lips, or rather in heaven more than on his lips, a troop of demons seized Maximus, and dashing him to the ground, tormented him greatly. Wherefore that impious man, made the mouth and tongue of the impure demon, cried out saying: "A certain Christian, Nemesius by name, is passing outside beside the temple, and torments me with his prayers. Seize him, before he departs; seize him and beat him with slaps." Then therefore the ministers of the demons seized (Nemesius) according to the counsel of the demons, and assailed him with slaps. But the blessed deacon and martyr of Christ withstood the torments. And the impious Maximus, as his boldness deserved, strangled by the impure demon to whom he was offering sacrifices, fell dead [t]. Whence he paid the penalties he deserved according to the prayer of the holy deacon, and from there (passed) to the future and never-ceasing torments with his ministers.

[5] who, captured, professes the faith. When the impure Maximus was dead, the soldiers immediately led St. Nemesius to the judge Oulerianus [u]. When he saw him, he said to him: "How has your wisdom become so imprudent? You who were chosen by us before all others among the counselors, have become a fool, and have changed the love of the gods into hatred! How have you fallen into such iniquity and stupidity, that deserting the gods whom you adored from the cradle, you should follow others, unknown to your forebears? But if you do not speedily return there from whence you have fallen, leaving your madness, you bring upon yourself by such ministers the ready chastisement of the laws. These laws you know very well." The blessed Nemesius at first gave him no answer; but he poured forth a torrent of tears, because he was recalling his former error and the error of his parents, who had died in the worship of the gods. Then, however, restraining his weeping, he said: "O judge, how is it that you recall to my mind my former ways and the ways of my parents, regarding wisdom as stupidity? I weep and grieve for my perdition, and the perdition of my parents who died in the worship of idols. (I grieve for) my error, because, sinning in ignorance, I tortured many condemned saints. Wherefore I am the more strongly inflamed with the love of Christ, knowing him to be the purifier of my impiety. But if now I so expiate my former impiety, how much more, gifted with true knowledge, do I cast out of doors all baseness and the madness of impiety as trifles? Let this further be known to you, that nothing can separate me from the love of Christ, neither honors, nor glory, nor the threats of judges, nor the torments of executioners. This also I assert confidently, trusting in the power of Christ, that no one can separate my daughter from Christ, for she has been freed from the darkness of mind and body by the second generation of the holy pool, through the hand of the pontiff of God, St. Stephen." When the violent (judge) heard these things, full of intolerable anger, he said: "I do not forget, even though I have embraced you with affection, that by your magic arts you tormented my colleague in the command of the army, afflicting him with a terrible blow and taking away his life by a cruel death. I know that even now you are exercising your knowledge against my safety and bringing forth words more hostile than the former." Then the judge ordered the goods of Nemesius to be sold, and handed over his daughter to a certain impious and impure woman [w].

[6] His procurator is seized Then he ordered Serapion, who was the procurator of the house of Nemesius, to be brought, and handed him over into the hands of a certain man who was called Olympius and was a tribune of the army, ordering him to examine him faithfully. Olympius, having seized Serapion, said to him: "Two things are set before you, by the order of the judge; carry out which you prefer, before you are handed over to torments: namely, you must bring forward the property of your master Nemesius, and then sacrifice must be made to the idols." Serapion gave answer saying: "The goods of my master, O judge, Christ long ago received, for my master has divided all things into the hands of the poor. As regards the sacrifice to be offered to wood and stones, I ask that you yourself not offer it to them, nor to any other thing that is a creature and image of God."

[7] and he converts to God Olympius the tribune with his wife and son. Then Olympius ordered Serapion [x] to be beaten with knotted rods, dragged on his face, and led to the impure temple of Mars; and he asked him to offer victims with incense to the idols covered with gold. But the blessed martyr of Christ, persevering in prayer, begged of God that he would show his power by shattering the images of the idols. Whereupon at once the idols were overthrown. Seeing this, Olympius was struck with wonder, and greatly marveled at the power of Christ. He therefore gave the holy martyr Serapion to a certain Tertullus, who was set over his house, [and he himself, returning home in haste, told these wonders to his wife, whose name was Pieria [y],] and to his son, whose name was Theodulus. And God illumined their minds, that they might understand who was the true God… Whereupon they asked [Serapion that they might be held worthy of holy baptism. Serapion informed Nemesius of these things], and Nemesius the great pontiff Stephen, who, full of joy and without delay making for the house of Olympius, having looked into their faith and considered the overthrow of the idols [z], at once baptizing them made them sons of the heavenly Father.

[8] Nemesius and Lucilla, slain, are buried by St. Stephen. Moreover, three days having passed [aa], the report of these things came to the judge Oulerianus, who announced these things to the emperor Gallienus, son of the emperor Valerian. He ordered blessed Nemesius to be killed with his daughter, who had recovered her sight. And when they were leading the blessed man to the place of slaughter between the two ways which are called the Appian Way and the Latin Way [bb], having taken counsel, they wished first to kill his daughter, saying that the heart of Nemesius would be moved by affection, and that then he would be turned to supplications. But the blessed martyr, reckoning the death of his daughter the highest joy, when he saw her slain, rejoiced with great gladness, exclaiming and saying: "Receive, O Christ, the rational sacrifice which I willingly offer you, the first fruit of my womb." In like manner

they killed him in the same place [cc]. Hearing this, the great pontiff of God Stephen came by night, and raising the holy bodies of the sacrificed, placed them in a fitting place, performing blessings over them, according to the honor due to martyrs, and when dawn came went to his own place [dd].

ANNOTATA.

p. Ibid.: to the king, and so thereafter.

q. So the Armenian codices. The Mechitarist editors conjecture that the reading should be Valerius. From the consular fasti it is established that Acilius Glabrio was consul with Valerius Maximus Cf. Anal. Boll., vol. I, p. 473, note. , and indeed in the year 256; but in the year 257 Valerian with Gallienus Cf. J. Klein, Fasti consulares usque ad imper. Dioclet., p. 107, Leipzig 1881. . But Gallienus and Maximus as consuls, as the Latin Acts have it, are to be found in no fasti Cf. Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 141. .

r. In Ado and in the Latin Passion: He went round the crypts and assemblies of the martyrs so that, wherever he found a Christian in need, he might, as far as he could, … minister to him from his own means.

s. Ibid.: He learned that Valerian and Maximus were sacrificing in the temple of Mars according to their rite.

t. Concerning this prodigy, which is attacked by Tillemont, our Pierre Bosch Ibid. says: To me, it seems neither so unusual that for that cause it cannot easily be believed, nor so necessary that on account of it, if it be false, the substance of the Acts ought to be attacked.

u. There is added by the Latin author: in the palace of Claudius.

w. It may help here to compare the common Acts: Then Valerian in anger ordered him to be consigned to private custody. Sending also, he had Symphronius, his steward, presented before him, inquiring of him the property of Nemesius. His daughter Lucilla he had assigned to the custody of a certain sacrilegious woman, named Maxima. That Symphronius in the Passion edited by Baronius is called Sempronius; but Serapion in the Armenian translator.

x. In the Paris codex there is written Nemesius; but from the text itself and from the Latin Passion it is clear that Serapion is signified at this place.

y. She who at this place is Pieria and below Bieria, is called in Latin Exuperia.

z. Olympius, that is, at Serapion's instruction had broken his idols.

aa. Three days having passed, or after the third day, namely from the capture of St. Nemesius Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 144. .

bb. The Latin Acts relate that Lucilla was put to the sword on the Appian Way before the temple of Mars Cf. Aringhi, Roma subterranea, book III, chap. 10, nos. 9 ff. , but Nemesius between the Appian and Latin Ways, and not therefore in the same place, if these things are taken literally. In the Armenian text, the mention of the temple of Mars being omitted, both are said to have been slain between the Appian Way and the Latin Way; but Ado Martyrologium, at the 31st day of October. , ascribing to Nemesius what is narrated of Lucilla in the Latin Passion, says: He was beheaded on the Appian Way before the temple of Mars.

cc. Ado says that the holy martyr was interred on the Appian Way Ibid. . Since in the Passion formerly edited by the Bollandists we read that Nemesius was buried on the Latin Way not far from the city Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 142. , and a little below, that Symphronius, Olympius, Exuperia were interred beside the Latin Way at the first milestone Ibid. , Aringhi supposes that these were laid in the same cemetery as St. Nemesius Roma subt., book IV, chap. 3, no. 3. . In very truth their relics are commemorated together in several ancient monuments, and were translated to the church of St. Mary Nova Prelim. Comment., no. 9. .

dd. In most copies of the Latin Passion the holy deacon is said to have been slain on the eighth day before the kalends of September; but, as our predecessors have made plain Cf. Acta SS., vol. I Aug., p. 144. , the reading must altogether be: on the eighth day before the kalends of August.

ON SS. STRATONICA AND SELEUCUS, MARTYRS AT CYZICUS ON THE PROPONTIS,

NOTICE.

Stratonica, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Propontis. (S.)

Seleucus, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Propontis. (S.)

The Commentary to be presented at this place we have deferred to the end of the volume, for the reason that the Syriac Acts, copied from the codices of the British Museum, which we are daily expecting, have not arrived here in time.