ON THE HOLY AFRICAN CONFESSORS OF THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES: PRISCUS AND CASTRENSIS AND TAMMARUS AND ROSIUS AND HERACLIUS AND SECUNDINUS AND ADJUTOR AND MARK AND AUGUSTUS AND ELPIDIUS AND CANION AND VINDONIUS, CONFESSORS AND, AT LEAST IN PART, BISHOPS,
IN THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES,
Probably in the fifth century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Priscus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Castrensis, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Tammarus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Rosius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Heraclius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Secundinus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Adjutor, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Marcus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Augustus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Elpidius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Canion, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Vindonius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
BY J. S.
§ I. The memory of St. Priscus in the Martyrology, with eleven companions, each of whom is also venerated separately on various days.
[ ] Of Priscus, the first bishop of the church of Capua, we have already disputed on this day along with the Roman Martyrology, Of Priscus which announces another Priscus with eleven companions at Capua on the same day in words of this kind: At Capua likewise, of another Priscus, bishop, who was one of those priests who, in the persecution of the Vandals, being variously afflicted for the Catholic faith and set upon an old ship, came from Africa to the shores of Campania, and, being dispersed in those places and set over various churches, wonderfully propagated the Christian discipline. Now his companions were Castrensis, Tammarus, Rosius, Heraclius, Secundinus, Adjutor, Marcus, Augustus, Elpidius, Canion, and Vindonius. All these indeed Baronius reviewed together on occasion of St. Priscus: but they are not all venerated on the same day, and the day on which each is venerated cannot easily be assigned for all. Priscus, as is clear from the ancient Breviary of Capua, was once venerated there on this very first day of September. But now he is venerated on the day after, as is plain from the Lessons of the church of Capua approved in the year 1669, in which a single lesson concerning his deeds occurs on the second day of September. Tillemont, in volume 16 of his Monuments, in St. Eugenius, article 49, says that the festival of St. Priscus the martyr is noted in the Missal published by Thomasius, page 170, but without the title of bishop, and without any companion. But it is not that Priscus who is treated of there, but the elder Priscus, of whom we have already treated. If that writer had observed this, he would not have said that he ought rather to be called a confessor than a martyr: but Tillemont either confounded the two Prisci, or was ignorant of the former. Further, in the lesson just praised, Priscus the African is said to have ruled the church of Capua as bishop, and there to have rested in peace: and that is the common opinion of the Capuans. But I do not know on how solid a foundation it rests.
[2] The festival of Castrensis is celebrated on the eleventh of February, on which day in our Work his deeds have been discussed. Of Castrensis, Tammarus, Rosius, Heraclius, A certain St. Tammarus is venerated on the sixteenth of January in a place of the diocese of Aversa, and he is reckoned by some among the companions of St. Priscus; but the people of Benevento venerate St. Tammarus on the fifteenth of October and say that this is he. For this reason the examination of that matter was long since remitted to the fifteenth of October, as may be seen in the Prætermissi on the sixteenth of January. Of St. Rosius it has been treated on the sixteenth of May, on which day his memory occurs in the sacred Fasti. Of Heraclius I find nothing certain. Yet Henschen, in volume 1 of June, page 437, on the fifth day, mentioned from the ancient Martyrology of Monte Cassino a Heraclius, confessor, with Javinus, of whom he found nothing further. Michele Monaco, page 69, says: That there were churches of Rosius and Heraclius in the diocese of Sessa appears in the bull of confirmation of Benedict, bishop of Sessa, given by Athenulf the archbishop in the year 1032, in the month of March, on the nineteenth day, in the fifteenth indiction: a copy of which bull is preserved among the manuscripts of Chioccarelli, and is recited by Ughelli, volume 6, column 536. It is probable that that church was of this Heraclius, chiefly because it was in the province of Capua. It may also be the same Heraclius the confessor who is had on the fifth day of June in the said Martyrology of Monte Cassino, but that is more uncertain because of the companion joined to him. Others also are mentioned, called Heraclius and Eraclius, on various days in the additions to Usuard in Sollier; but it is obscure whether any of them was a companion of St. Priscus.
[3] of Secundinus: of Adjutor, Secundinus follows Heraclius in the Martyrology. Of Secundinus the bishop, who is venerated at Troia in Apulia on the eleventh of February, and who is believed by many to be the same as this Secundinus, Henschen treated in volume 2 of February from page 529: and Sollier, in volume 1 of July, page 19, disputed of the various men named Secundinus; nor have I found anything hitherto which I judge should be added to them. Adjutor is not read in the Life of St. Castrensis to have been among the African confessors, but Benignus, for whom the Martyrology substitutes Adjutor, I know not for what cause, unless perhaps Baronius
found Adjutor in the manuscript Life of St. Castrensis in place of Benignus, which I scarcely believe; or unless the saint had a double name, as some suspect. Whatever the cause may have been, it is agreed that St. Adjutor is venerated in the month of December, and is said by Italian writers to be one of these twelve saints. Monaco, page 70, says: Adjutor at Cava on the sixteenth day of December (is venerated). And page 69: Adjutor had his own (church) in the territory of Cancello, from the often-cited diploma of Alfanus the archbishop of the year 1173, and another near Capua, of which there is mention in a certain instrument of St. Angelo in Formis, which I have read. Of St. Adjutor or Adjutorius venerated at Cava mention is also made by Paolo Regio in his Neapolitan Saints, part 2, page 419, by David Romeo, page 400, in his Neapolitan Saints, by Mario de Vipera in his Saints of Benevento, page 83, and finally by Ferrarius in both his Catalogues. And he, gathering together all that others have said, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on the nineteenth of December formed such an elogium as this: Adjutor, or, as others read, Adjutorius, African bishop, was one of the number of those who, driven from their sees in the Vandal persecution, came to the shores of Campania, and seeking different places, either exercised episcopal functions in them by preaching, or, being elected bishops by the cities, settled there. He has veneration on this day at Benevento and at Cava, on account of his relics resting there, or also because while living he preached in those places. From the records of the aforesaid church. Thus far Ferrarius, with whom others sufficiently agree, except that Monaco asserts the festival to be celebrated on the sixteenth day of December, as Ferrarius himself notes in his index.
[4] Marcus, who follows, Monaco says, page 68, is believed to be bishop of Bovino. Of Marcus, But the age of St. Marcus, who is called by some bishop of Bovino, by others of Lucera, and who perhaps may with equal right be called of Æca, as I observed on the Acts of the twelve holy brothers on this day, page 142, does not agree with the age of this Marcus. For the bishop of Æca lived about the beginning of the fourth century, that is, in the time of Diocletian and Maximian, and at the same time either the same or another Marcus is believed to have flourished, who is venerated as of Lucera or of Bovino on the fourteenth of June, on which day it has been disputed concerning him. Hitherto therefore I find nothing certain concerning Marcus the African: for I can indeed bring forward some conjecture, but an uncertain one. The Vipera praised above, on the seventh day of October, concerning Marcus, who on that day is venerated at Benevento with a double rite, has it thus: Marcus, bishop of Bovino — at what time he ruled that church is still hidden: but whose sacred body is preserved at Benevento with great veneration in the sacred building dedicated to him, which is a parish church. This day we confess to be that of the translation: for his birthday the church of Bovino celebrates on the eighth (nay, the eighteenth) of the Kalends of July. The Acts of this holy bishop are wanting: yet mention is made of him by an ancient manuscript Martyrology existing in the library of Benevento, and by David Romeo in his Catalogue of the Saints of the kingdom of Naples. When this holy bishop lived, and when his body was carried to Benevento, does not appear from what has been said. The aforesaid church exists under the right of patronage of the noble family of the Sabriani. From these things the reader will easily see that this St. Marcus is little known to the people of Benevento: and that perhaps this one thing became known from an inscription in marble existing in that same church, as he has in the margin, namely that the body of St. Marcus the bishop was preserved there. But since the people of Bovino claim for themselves the body of St. Marcus their patron, it may be that the people of Benevento possess the body of another Marcus, as Henschen already observed in St. Marcus, patron of the people of Bovino, on the fourteenth of June, page 801; and this suspicion falls upon none more than upon Marcus the companion of St. Priscus. I bring forward uncertain things, that more certain ones may the more easily be found.
[5] Augustus, who in the Life of St. Castrensis is named Augustinus, of Augustus, Elpidius, Canion, is not a whit better known. Monaco, page 69, brings forward this only: Augustus has a ruined church not far from the village of St. Priscus. There was once there a village and a parish… Now it is a rich simple benefice. Ruinart, in his History of the Vandal Persecution, where he diligently inquires concerning these holy confessors, page 538, mentions an Augustinus venerated at Concordia, and Augustinus bishop of Aquileia. But those are different from this one, as he confesses. Elpidius and Canion, who follow in the Martyrology, are mentioned in several places; but it is equally obscure whether these be the men who are treated of, or others of the same name. St. Elpidius, bishop of Atella in Campania, Henschen brought forward on the twenty-fourth of May, volume V, page 282. But he adduced nothing, nor could adduce anything, from which it might safely be determined whether he is the same as our African, although some believe it, on the testimony of Ughelli, volume 7, column 17. Certainly they make him older than he really was, if he is the African. But the same has happened concerning St. Canion, in whose Acts mention is made of Elpidius of Atella, so that it must be believed that Elpidius, who is there named Elvidius, lived at the same time. Hence Papebroch, in St. Canion, volume VI of May, page 28, where he had observed that both saints are found in the Life of St. Castrensis, subjoins these things: This so certain notice of one Canion, carried from Africa into Campania under the Vandals in a rotten ship; and the age of Elpidius, named in the Acts, such as they are, of that Canion of whom we here treat; compared with the uncertainty and slight credit of those very Acts, strongly incline us to judge that only one Elpidius and one Canion are to be held as saints, and that they belong to the fifth century and the times of the Vandals: so much so that whoever wishes to learn the true Acts of St. Canion, patron of Acerenza, ought to draw them from the Acts of St. Castrensis, with whom he had a common prison and exile, and a common place of refuge and of first burial in Campania. The same must be said of St. Elpidius and the other companions, of whom from elsewhere almost nothing has become known.
[6] other things concerning Elpidius, This conjecture appears probable, and for that reason we remit the reader for St. Elpidius to the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth, and for St. Canion to the twenty-fifth of May. Concerning Elpidius, however, I will add what offers itself from elsewhere. In the third Kalendar in Monaco, page 415, on the twenty-sixth of May he is announced in these words: Of St. Elpidius, bishop and confessor; in the fourth, on the same day: Of St. Elpidius. But Monaco himself, after he had said, page 68, that Elpidius the bishop presided over Atella, and page 69 that he has a church in the village of Casapulla, concerning the cult has it thus, page 70: Elpidius (is venerated) by the people of Atella on the twenty-fourth of May. But in the cited Kalendar … he is noted on the twenty-sixth day of May, and on this very day the feast is kept in his own church. Moreover Theoderic I, bishop of Metz, having set out for Italy with the emperor Otto I, obtained there in the year 970 many relics of saints, among which is numbered the body of St. Elpidius the confessor, who might be the same as our Elpidius. The matter is briefly related from Sigebert in volume 2 of January, page 399, and again pages 588 and 589. But a fuller relation of the same history was afterwards published by Achery in volume 5 of the Spicilegium, and more correctly afterwards in volume 2 of the reprinted Spicilegium from page 133. It will suffice to transfer hither what is there read concerning the body of Elpidius: The first of these, the holy and venerable confessor of Christ Elpidius, he took from the province of the Marsi, with the consent of Albericus, bishop of that same Marsia, from a certain church next to the episcopal see: which see, situated above lake Fucinus, what it once was, the ruin of the city and the multitude of many churches and monasteries round about attest. This man the bishop himself and the other inhabitants related to us to have been of the college of certain servants of God, who in a more ancient time, coming from the parts of Greece, seventy in number, into that same province of the Marsi, and shining in various places round about, or in whole cities, with the light of wondrous signs, wheresoever the end of life had come upon them in holy conversation, being laid away in venerable burial, are venerated with much reverence by their neighbours far and wide, for the constant delight of miracles. Three of these, of whom this was the third, were resting in the same cemetery: Calistratus, Euticius, and this Elpidius. Thus far that passage.
[7] But it is obscure who that Elpidius may be, nor do the writers of the affairs of Metz whom I have consulted set it forth, and concerning Vindonius. Further, even though not all the things that are said of him agree with ours; yet a suspicion might arise that the true history was corrupted by popular tradition. Certainly what is said of Greece may be understood of Africa. The number seventy has not so great a difficulty that it cannot be removed: for from the Life of St. Castrensis, numbers 9 and 10, it abundantly appears that many more than the twelve reckoned up were set upon the old ship and carried by divine providence into Campania. Yet nothing certain can here be determined, especially because the province of the Marsi is here said to have received them all, which is certainly false of our confessors: but again this could be believed by popular report, because some came thither. Whatever it be, that Elpidius is unknown to me, unless perhaps he be the same as ours, of whom we are disputing. Last of the twelve companions is reckoned Vindonius, least known of all. Monaco, page 69, brings forward this uncertain conjecture concerning him: Vindonius is in my judgment .. he who is read as Mendonius. He had a church outside Capua, at the place they called alla Murata, and it was standing in the year 1240, as I read in an instrument of the monastery of the nuns of St. John. Nothing further do I find concerning him. Now certain things must be examined which pertain to all twelve saints.
Annotataperhaps ejus*
perhaps patronatus*
§ II. It is inquired how much the Life of St. Castrensis is worth, which treats of the twelve saints; at what time these were exposed on the sea, and whether all were bishops.
[ ] [Ruinart thinks the Acts of St. Castrensis, which are of a contemporary or nearly contemporary writer, to be interpolated,] What these saints suffered in Africa is related in the Life of St. Castrensis assigned before; but it must be inquired whether that Life deserves credit, which some have called into doubt. Henschen the editor, in his preliminary Commentary, and Papebroch in St. Canion approved the Acts of St. Castrensis as those of a contemporary or nearly contemporary writer, since he himself indicates in number 16 that he had heard certain things from the report of certain priests who had been present at his death. Ruinart, in his History of the Vandal Persecution, part 2, chapter 9, treats of the same Life, and judges it interpolated, yet so that he does not wish all credit to be taken from it. Receive his words: For although it is not free from blemishes, and was written by an author wholly ignorant of things done before his own times, or at least was corrupted by some later hand, who confounded the persecution of the Arian emperor Valens with the Vandal one, yet not all credit is altogether to be denied it
. For in chapter III, number XVI, he testifies that he received certain things which he relates from the report of certain priests who had been present with Castrensis when he was near death. These words I should believe to have been from the ancient writer of the Life; but those which follow, from an interpolator: “But these things (he says) which the everlasting goodness of God has handed down to our understanding through the sayings of the holy Fathers, we have taken pains to note down for this reason, that when any of the faithful celebrates the solemnity of any saint (that is, of the companions of Castrensis, says Ruinart), he may likewise rejoice in the triumph of them all.” For there he renders the reason why in the Life of Castrensis he inserted also the deeds of others, who, driven together with him out of Africa, and dispersed into various cities and regions of Italy, and having died there, were celebrated. Let us weigh both parts of this disjunctive objection.
[9] an answer is given to his first objection, The former is that the writer of this Life was wholly ignorant of things done before his own times, because he confounded the persecution of Valens with the Vandal one. This objection, which had been rightly brought forward by Baronius in his annotations on the Martyrology on the first day of September, Ruinart wrongly repeats, since it has no place in the edition of Henschen, which alone he cites. For in this edition there is no word of the persecution of Valens the Arian, no word by which it can be proved that the writer sinned against any history of preceding times. Hence in the Commentary, number 8, Henschen speaks thus of his Roman manuscript, from which, collated with two others, he published the Life: There is wanting to this narrative the insipid opening which exists elsewhere. In that opening it was said that the exile of the saints happened in the persecution of Valens and Valentinian. But Henschen observed, along with Antonio Caracciolo, that that error seems not to be attributed to the author of this Life, but to some other smatterer, joining a horse's head to a human body ineptly, as Caracciolo speaks, chapter 26, section 3. How frequently this happens we experience daily. For an example let there be the Acts of St. Terentianus, bishop and martyr, to which I have found three different openings sewn on in three different manuscripts, as I noted in the same place in the Commentary, number 13, page III. Nay, Henschen even assigned the occasion by which this could have happened, from the repeated war which Valentinian III had with Genseric, king of the Vandals, and from these things he concluded thus: Wherefore, as Caracciolo also remarks, a writer so ancient does not seem to have blundered so grossly in recording the emperors of almost his own time as to thrust in the emperors Valentinian and Valens for the kings of the Vandals, who had died sixty and more years before the invasion of the Vandals into Africa. To these things I find nothing hitherto answered.
[10] as also to the second. Yet Ruinart saw these reasons, and therefore he was unwilling vehemently to press the first part of the objection, which he would more rightly have omitted; but he presently leapt across to the interpolation, which also he attempts to prove by adducing the words recited above. But it seems to me so clear and manifest that the words alleged cannot be attributed to an interpolator, that I marvel Ruinart could have thought so. Receive therefore the passage entire, from which the mind of the writer will more clearly shine out. After he had narrated that the twelve saints were set upon a rotten ship by the royal ministers, he proceeds thus in number 8: While the cruel ministers were arranging such things, suddenly there came upon them an innumerable multitude of worshippers of Christ, men and women mingled together, and youths and little children, all alike crying out: Have mercy, have mercy, fellow citizens, and lest your hands be polluted with our blood, suffer us to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers. Taking this acclamation ill, and turning it into derision, they began hastily to compel them to go on board the ship, and mocking to say: It is fitting that together with those whom you have imitated you should be made food for the beasts of the sea. But the multitude of the holy men and women we have by no means presumed to name by name, because none is found under heaven who would dare to say that he knew the names of each, save he alone who through the glory of his greatness is equally always and everywhere, and to whom all things are present. But these things, which the everlasting goodness of God has handed down to our understanding through the sayings of the holy Fathers, we have taken pains to note down for this reason, that when any of the faithful celebrates the solemnity of any saint, he may likewise rejoice in the triumph of them all; whereby he may be worthily able, by the intercession of all these, to obtain from the eternal King the rewards of immortality. For these are they who, leaving behind lands and riches, and denying themselves, followed the footsteps of the Redeemer. This whole passage has not even the least indication of interpolation. For first he had named the twelve saints whom the Arians had set upon the ship. Then he relates that a huge multitude of Christians ran up of their own accord, who of their own will desired to accompany the saints, and did indeed accompany them. Thirdly he adds the reason why he does not express their names. Fourthly he declares why he nevertheless narrated the deed of that multitude of unnamed persons. He does not therefore render the reason why … he inserted also the deeds of others (whom he had named), as Ruinart will have it, but why he narrated the eagerness and contempt of life and of all things of those whose names he had not been able to express by reason of the multitude. That the reader may clearly perceive this, let him note the writer's antithesis: The multitude, he says, … we have by no means presumed .. to name: and then: But these things … we have taken pains to note down. And so no interpolation appears here, nor will any be able to be detected anywhere in the Life, provided the opening be struck out, which Henschen recognized to have been ill sewn on.
[11] Tillemont, in volume 16 of his Monuments, in St. Eugenius, article 49, repeated the objections of Ruinart, Tillemont argues ill against the same Acts from their style, except that concerning the interpolation of the passage alleged, whose weakness he seems to have recognized. But he added many other things, and more than he appears to have understood. His words faithfully reported will prove whether what I affirm is true: Those Acts, he says, are obscure and perplexed: they say many things which are not sufficiently distinctly expressed; nor do they otherwise seem fit to obtain much authority: for they are written very faultily, in barbarous Latin, mixed with many verses or with tail-ends of verses without reason and without elegance. Thus the French writer, how skilled he was in the Latin tongue is not clear to me. Certainly these things do not suggest a great skill in Latin style or metre. I answer therefore that the style of these Acts is no more obscure or involved, nor more barbarous, than is commonly the style of other authors who wrote toward the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the sixth. In that time flourished Victor of Vita, who composed the History of the Vandal Persecution, praised a little before by Tillemont, article 45. If anyone skilled in the Latin tongue should wish to compare it with the Acts of St. Castrensis, I am deceived if he finds the style of that History clearer or purer than the style in which the Life of St. Castrensis was written. What is added concerning the verses moved me not only to laughter, but also to a doubt whether Tillemont knew well enough the measures of verse: for he thought he had found many verses in the Acts, in which I could find no verse, no part of a versicle set there of design. The discourse is indeed now and then rhythmical: but if Tillemont perhaps did not know how to distinguish oratorical rhythms and measures from verses, he ought not to have disputed about style, lest he deal blind blows. Let it suffice therefore to have said in a word that all those things which we have just recited from Tillemont are not only frivolous, but plainly false. Let us hear the remaining objections.
[12] [and he repeats Ruinart's objections, with one added concerning the miracles, which is of little weight.] Many miracles, he says, are related in them without probability and without decorum. In different manuscripts they have it that the persecution of the Vandals happened under Valentinian and Valens, which is ridiculous. The author brings forward what he had learned from those who had been present with the saint as he died; and from this he seems not to have lived long after him. But even if that were true, quite many are found who write even the deeds of their own time without care to investigate them sufficiently. It is certain that this Life was written or interpolated by a man who was wholly ignorant of the history of the fifth century. Thus far Tillemont, who, that he may increase the number of his objections, once accuses the writer of the Life for having placed the persecution of the Vandals under Valentinian and Valens, and again for having been ignorant of the history of the fifth century. If anyone should now ask why he seems to have been ignorant of the history of the fifth century, it will be answered: Because he placed the persecution of the Vandals under Valentinian and Valens. There is therefore one objection twice brought forward in different words, and that one already solved by Henschen, as I have shown above. Hence there remains only the objection concerning the miracles, which he affirms to be narrated without probability and decorum, but does not prove. I answer to this difficulty, which is not great, that those miracles are not related in so improbable or unseemly a manner as Tillemont will have it: nay, that in various Acts approved by our critic, and namely in the Acts of St. Theodatus, given by us on the eighteenth day of May, which are adorned with the highest praises by Tillemont himself, volume 5, page 189 of the second edition, there occur miracles no less marvellous. It is agreed also that miracles were not rare in the time of the Vandal persecution, of which Victor of Vita has related many, and doubtless omitted more. As for his saying that contemporary writers now and then do not sufficiently inquire into the truth of the deeds which they relate, this does not strike our writer, who has narrated many things minutely enough, and cannot be convicted of that negligence. And so, since the things which are objected against this Life are of little solidity, I shall subjoin that part which treats of our twelve saints and their anonymous companions, and shall illustrate it with certain annotations, when I shall have observed a few things concerning those matters which are more doubtful.
[13] It is uncertain under which king of the Vandals our confessors lived, First, it is uncertain in what year, nay even under which king of the Vandals, our saints were set upon the ships. Caracciolo, in the place indicated before, judged that our twelve saints, together with St. Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage, were set upon a rotten ship under Genseric about the year 437 or 438. But there is no reason why the writer of the Life of St. Castrensis should have omitted St. Quodvultdeus, if he had been set upon the same ship; and therefore, with Henschen, Ruinart and Tillemont think it more probable that our saints were committed to the sea apart from Quodvultdeus. But if we shall be willing to indulge in conjectures, says Ruinart, page 532, there will be scarcely any year under the Vandal dominion to which this persecution could not be referred. Tillemont doubts whether the thing happened under Genseric, Hunneric, or Thrasamund. Henschen inclines rather to the persecution of Genseric, under whom the persecution was no less general than that is noted to have been of which the Life treats. I confess the matter is uncertain, and therefore I have noted the death of these confessors broadly in the fifth century, which they even outlived, if they were banished under Thrasamund. Yet, since we know that St. Quodvultdeus with his clergy was in the same manner exposed to the waves of the sea under Genseric; since it is also agreed from Victor of Vita, book 1, page 8, that the same man wished in the neighbouring sea … at the same hour to drown the bishops who, as suppliants, him
had approached, I strongly suspect that our saints were exposed to the perils of the sea by the command of the same tyrant; although otherwise I would not deny that the same could have happened under Hunneric and the other following kings.
[14] The other doubt is whether they were all bishops, as the Roman Martyrology seems to insinuate. nor is it altogether established whether they were all bishops. Rossius, Priscus, Tammarus, and Castrensis are below, in number 1, called bishops clearly enough. Of Heraclius the tyrants say, in number 7, who boldly scattered abroad the laws of Christ among the peoples; which office is properly that of bishops, but was shared with presbyters in Africa from the time of St. Augustine. In number 5, St. Castrensis .. turning to his brethren and fellow bishops, addressed them thus: My brethren and lords, etc. Which seems to insinuate the episcopate of them all. In number 8 the multitude of Christians running up said: Suffer us to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers. Which words again give rise to a suspicion of the episcopate of them all. Finally, from number 1 we have that these saints were brought from different provinces along with another huge multitude, so that it is likely that these alone were set upon the rotten ship by the tyrant's command because they were bishops, and lastly, since others joined themselves of their own accord, that the names of these alone were expressed by the author on account of the episcopal dignity. But even though all these things cast a strong suspicion of the episcopate of them all, and it is conformable to the traditions of the Italians, they do not settle the matter with certainty. To these things I subjoin that part of the Life of St. Castrensis which concerns all twelve.
ACTS
by an anonymous author
From the published Life of St. Castrensis.
Priscus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Castrensis, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Tammarus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Rosius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Heraclius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Secundinus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Adjutor, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Marcus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Augustus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Elpidius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Canion, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Vindonius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
By an anonymous author.
[The saints being seized, Priscus and Castrensis are tempted with flattering words,] Whence a it came about that they ordered the saints of God to be brought in bonds in troops out of every province. But along with the huge multitude there were also holy men shining with the excellence of their manners and the honesty of their life, and endowed also with the honour of the highest priesthood, who walked rejoicing with the flocks committed to them, thinking that with the triumph of martyrdom they would obtain everlasting life. Among whom there shone especially in merits and manners and the beauty of their understanding Rossius, Priscus, Tammarus, and Castrensis, holy and eminent by his nature b. But when the wicked tyrant c beheld so huge a multitude, he handed them over to most cruel ministers to be guarded, until he should consider what he might do with so illustrious a company. And while the cruel and most abominable satellites had thrust them into close custody, and had separated one from another apart, it happened that they secretly led out of the workhouse the holy athletes of God, Priscus and Castrensis, shining with the brightness of a special sanctity and austerity; and attempted to deceive them with such discourses as these: Since both the comeliness and the form of your body, and the nobility of your birth, and moreover the friendship of the king and the ornament of philosophy set you before the rest, why do you drag yourselves down to the disgrace of this sloth, so that you are reckoned among these whose race and country it is altogether certain to be unknown?
[2] they answer bravely: hence the king, inflamed by his ministers, To these things the saints steadfastly said: Why, wicked ministers of Satan, have you dared to lay such things before us, that by your most cruel persuasions you should attempt to bend our hearts, which divine grace has so directed to the abundance of the divine loftiness, and so powerfully drawn away from the pleasures of this world, that it testifies that we shall be not only sons of God but even gods, saying through the Prophet: I have said, ye are gods and all of you sons of the Most High; and likewise another seer: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace! Then these men, kindled with exceeding fury, hastily enter the royal roofs, crying out: Most pious and most gracious king, behold the poison which was being poured secretly through the hearts of individuals, that none should obey thy pious precepts, is now poured out openly by the proud and the despisers of thy kingdom: and their insolence has burned so far that they even name thee thyself a savage and cruel tyrant d.
[3] orders the saints to be grievously tortured, which the satellites carry out: Hearing which, the wicked king shakes his hair with a tossing of the head, and swears by himself and the greatness of his kingdom three and four times that he will not suffer these men to depart without the penalty of vengeance. Then, bending his grim eyes upon his satellites, he says: Go quickly, and whatsoever you believe to be worthy of being inflicted on parricides, inflict doubly upon these wicked men, that through you the disgrace of our loftiness may be taken away. Hearing this, the most cruel satellites, going in troops, caused the saints to be gathered into one place, and beat some with rods, some with blows of the hand, some with stones. But the saints of God, abiding with eager mind in the love of the King above, did not seem even to utter a sigh. And when the arms of those who beat them were altogether failing, and the saints remained steadfast in mind and body, they were stupefied and separated from one another, muttering among themselves by what kind of death they might destroy the saints of God. Nor long after, being gathered in one band, they began to declare their thoughts one to another. But since nothing of what they said seemed fitting to them, each returned to his own place, meaning to return on another day to accomplish the crime: but they caused the saints of God to be thrust into the depth of the prison.
[4] shut in prison, they are consoled by an angel at night. But on that same night an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and a wonderful splendour shone round about all who were in the chamber of the prison, and he said to them: Behold, our Lord Jesus Christ has sent me to you, that by my words your hearts and bodies may be strengthened, and that, before the most cruel persecutors attempt to plunge you into the deep of the vast sea, you may all know that the eternal King has a place prepared for each of you, in which both you yourselves may rest in Christ, and may loose the multitude of the peoples dwelling in those parts from all error. To these things the saints said with one accord: Let there be praise to God in the highest, and let the loving-kindness above fulfil its will in us. This only let the divine Majesty grant us, that those whom it deigns to carry away from one single land for the glory of its name, it may of its goodness grant that our bodies be buried within the bounds of one country. To whom the angel with a calm countenance answered: I would have you know for certain that whatsoever you shall ask shall be fulfilled according to your desire e. When he had said this, the angel departed from their eyes; but the light abounded through the whole night in the prison, and the saints through the whole night exulted with hymns and praises.
[5] But on another day the abominable troop of the wicked, rushing upon the saints with daggers and rods, [the arms of one who irreverently lays hold of St. Castrensis's stole suddenly wither, and are restored by the prayers of the saints:] thought to bend them by their terror. But the saints of God, confidently awaiting the angelic promise, counted their threats as nothing. Then St. Castrensis clothed himself about with his stole. When one of the ministers standing by, who was bolder than the rest, saw this, he began to drag him by it, as if by a cheap rope. Him the divine goodness straightway struck, so that not only the hand with which he had laid hold of the holy man's stole, but also both his arms withered. And presently falling at the feet of the most holy Castrensis, he began, wailing, to cry out and say: Have mercy, have mercy, holy priest of God, have mercy on me, and rescue me from this withering which has come upon me for my offences. At this voice St. Castrensis, moved with mercy, turning to his brethren and fellow bishops, addressed them thus: My brethren and lords, we ought to be mindful of the saying of our Lord and Saviour, who says: Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you. Wherefore, brethren, let us all with one accord ask the Lord that he may of his goodness deign to restore these backward arms and these withered hands to their former soundness. At the same hour they prayed each severally in his heart, and as with one mouth all together answered, Amen. At this voice that oppressor again cries out: Bishop of God, have mercy on me. And when at the bidding of God's servant he raised himself from the ground, straightway his arms and hands were restored to their former soundness f. Seeing which, certain of the impious ministers, filled I know not with what spirit, began with loud voices to magnify God, in whose name the prayer of St. Castrensis so quickly restored the sick man to his former soundness.
[6] But when they were rebuked by the Christians who came up, because of the crimes wrought upon the saints of God, someone advises that the saints be put on an ancient ship destitute of all help, their madness revived and again blazed into wrath, and they began to compel the saints of God to obey the royal precepts. But since the clemency above guarded its saints with watchful care, they began to mock their madness much the more. Then one, in whom Satan was believed to dwell bodily, by name Aristodemus g, began to utter voices of this kind against the saints of God: If fire shall burn these men, the dust which shall remain of them defiles again; but if it shall extinguish them, their blood, in whatsoever field it shall fall, will infect it. Now therefore consent to my counsels, and let us strive so utterly to destroy these men, who exist as the very authors of this sect, so as even to provoke the king's mind to anger, that not even a trace of them may be found on the earth. Let them be food for the beasts of the sea, and let the deep of the abyss be reckoned their tomb. Let a most ancient ship be brought, which not only has no usefulness for those who sail, but does not even retain the least part of the pitch by which the compacted planks are held together: in which no part of comfort may be found, its rigging and yards cast away, widowed of every solace of nails: let them, going scarcely over a few spaces of the sea, be swallowed by the jaws of the deep.
[7] When that wicked pestilent fellow had spoken to the multitude of the savage troop with such discourses, which the barbarians do with mockery of them: straightway they scattered here and there and began to run about, and with uplifted arms began to shake the thongs of ancient ships, lest the saints might have any solace in their strength. And when they had rejected a store of many ships, one was seen upon inspection more ancient than the rest, which through the courses of many years was only, by the dung of birds,
rotted and had grown decayed. Embracing this with one accord, with glad mind they hasten to bring it to the shores of the sea, crying aloud: This ship shall carry the worshippers of Christ to other shores. And when they had cast it into the water, feigning that they were calling the names of the saints one by one with worthy honour, they began thus: Let there enter first Rossius, endowed with venerable grey hairs h and with sanctity. After him Secundinus, offspring of a fruitful stock. Third, he who boldly scattered abroad the laws of Christ among the peoples, Heraclius. Next to him it is right that Benignus and Priscus be seated, and Elpidius also let him sit in the last part of the side. Within, thereafter, let Marcus hold the place of the other side, and Augustinus; Canion and Vindonius shall likewise recline with them. Let Castrensis, the standard-bearing master, possess the citadel of the stern, who by his nature commanded the wicked blasts: it is right that Tammarus kindly steer the prow.
[8] [many Catholics run up of their own accord, that they may be put on the ship with the saints,] While the cruel ministers were arranging such things, suddenly there came upon them an innumerable multitude of worshippers of Christ, men and women mingled together, and youths and little children, all alike crying out: Have mercy, have mercy, fellow citizens, and lest your hands be polluted with our blood, suffer us to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers. Taking this acclamation ill, and turning it into derision, they began hastily to compel them to go on board the ship, and mocking to say: It is fitting that together with those whom you have imitated you should be made food for the beasts of the sea. But the multitude of the holy men and women i we have by no means presumed to name by name, because none is found under heaven who would dare to say that he knew the names of each, save he alone who through the glory of his greatness is equally always and everywhere, and to whom all things are present. But these things k, which the everlasting goodness of God has handed down to our understanding through the sayings of the holy Fathers, we have taken pains to note down for this reason, that when any of the faithful celebrates the solemnity of any saint, he may likewise rejoice in the triumph of them all l: whereby he may be worthily able, by the intercession of all these, to obtain from the eternal King the rewards of immortality. For these are they who, leaving behind lands and riches, and denying themselves, followed the footsteps of the Redeemer. But we have thought it convenient, our pen running ahead, briefly to note down in what manner our immeasurable King Christ deigned to turn the cruel and ridiculous devices of the abominable tyrants to the praise of his name.
[9] [and they are brought to it in other ships; but the ship, God directing it, brings the saints to the shore of Campania.] And when the cruel assembly of soldiers with one accord beheld men and women, youths and little children, in troops wishing to go on board the ship, fearing lest the ancient ship should sink at the shore, they determined that those who wished to join themselves to their company should at last be brought out to them by the sailing of a firmer vessel. But almighty God, whose way is in the sea and whose paths are in many waters, changing the order, wonderfully changed their cunning into the glory of the saints. For when the multitude of ships had scarcely brought the host of the saints out to the deep, and they strove to cast them mingled together into the ancient ship, that the destruction of the Catholics might come alike, the old vessel being sunk: then the power of the King above afforded this token of its power, that those who had brought the saints bound out to the deep in no wise turned about m the oars of their ships, until they should see with their own eyes in what manner Christ our God afforded his own ways in the sea and paths in the waters. And so, rejoicing and exulting, and rendering thanks to Christ the King of the ages, they came to the shore of Campania, when the month of May was completing ten days from the Kalends. Hence, when they trod the calm sands of the sea with their own feet, the holy father Castrensis, by the help of Christ God, makes firm what was broken n of the old vessel, and took pains that it should return to the place from which it had been cast forth: which, with a gentle breeze blowing, took its way across the vast sea: and in what manner it passed over, the following discourse o teaches.
ANNOTATA.
in Monaco secundæ*
add ad*
APPENDIX
Concerning the finding of the body of St. Priscus the confessor, who is perhaps the same as St. Priscus the African.
Priscus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Castrensis, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Tammarus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Rosius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Heraclius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Secundinus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Adjutor, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Marcus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Augustus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Elpidius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Canion, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Vindonius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Ughelli, in volume 8 of his Italia sacra, from column 290 of the Venice edition, gave the history of the finding of a certain St. Priscus, but he does not set forth who that Priscus was. Of the place and time of the finding he speaks thus in that place: But neither is that to be buried in silence, that under this bishop John (Frequentino, which bishopric was in the Principato Ulteriore under the archbishop of Benevento) in the pontificate of Innocent II, in an old city, now long levelled to the ground, anciently called Quintodecima, now Aquaputrida, of the diocese of Frigento, the body of St. Priscus was found. The history of the finding, written at the same time, we here exhibit from a copy transmitted to us. Further, from the whole relation of the finding no argument can be gathered by which it may certainly be determined whether this Priscus is the same as the Capuan, or different from him, nor does it seem that this can be gathered from elsewhere. Certainly the Capuans seem to be ignorant where the body of Priscus the African rests: nor do I see any ancient monument adduced by which they prove him to have been bishop of Capua, or to have died at Capua. That Priscus indeed, whose body was found, is said to have been a Greek by nation, but whence that writer knew this he does not express; nor does he seem to have been able to know it, since the saint before the finding was unknown, and only the name of Priscus is said to have been written upon the stone of the tomb. Finally, this Priscus is named a confessor, and no Priscus the confessor occurs whose body we can suspect this to be, unless perhaps Priscus, patron of Nocera dei Pagani, * who is venerated on the ninth of May, and is by some called a confessor, by others a martyr. It has been treated among us of that Priscus of Nocera on the said day, where he is called the first bishop of that city, but it is uncertain at what time he sat; and no bishop of Nocera is found after him before the pontificate of Gregory the Great, so that it is not even certain that Priscus of Nocera is other than our African. Since therefore neither the place, near to Campania, nor anything else seems to stand in the way of that body's being able to be St. Priscus the African's, and since it is otherwise unknown of which Priscus it was, I shall subjoin the relation of that finding from Ughelli, only too glad if on that occasion learned Italians shall have inquired more certainly whose body of Priscus was found.
] [Annotata* Nocera de' Pagani
RELATION OF THE FINDING
by an author, as is said, contemporary,
From the edition of Ughelli, volume 8 of the Italia sacra, column 290.
Priscus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Castrensis, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Tammarus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Rosius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Heraclius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Secundinus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Adjutor, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Marcus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Augustus, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Elpidius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Canion, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
Vindonius, African confessor, and bishop, at least in part, in the kingdom of Naples. (S.)
BHL Number: 6929
The body of St. Priscus long lay in an unknown place, Priscus, a Greek by nation, holy in life and manners in all things: whom, coming from the Eastern parts a to our country as a new star, the grace of the eternal Giver, from whom all good things come, sent to us. Whose life and miracles, God helping, we shall hereafter take care to set forth in order. In the times therefore of Innocent b, pope of venerable memory, and of John, bishop of the see of Frigento c, God showed many signs and miracles through visions to faithful men, to his own honour and to that of blessed Priscus, who for many ages lay unknown in his tomb in an old city which the ancients are wont to name Quintumdecimum d: in which city indeed many bodies of saints were found, and were carried with the highest veneration to Benevento.
[2] At a certain time, therefore, a thing exceedingly marvellous and astonishing was seen by the grace of God in the same place above which a certain husbandman sees three globes of fire, where the holy body of blessed Priscus lay. For on a certain day, when a certain husbandman was labouring in his field in the aforesaid city of Quintadecima, which once was, looking toward a certain corner of that same land, by the divine will he saw, as it were, glittering rays of the sun, three spheres coming forth from beneath the corner of the aforesaid field amid shadowy clouds, the sun being wholly hidden; and while he looked at them closely, straightway he felt himself struck by their light, and when he saw himself thus overshadowed by them, he was astounded, and was made so terrified that he fell to the ground half dead, letting go the mattock which he held in his hand. And when the aforesaid husbandman had come to himself, he saw the same spheres enter the same place from which they had come forth. Now on that day, when the said husbandman saw this, the weather was dark, and it was winter; but the husbandman himself continued in that collapse which he had felt from the flashing of the spheres, and could not raise himself further.
[3] Then to a certain uncle of his, who also was a priest well God-fearing, and this is made known to Alferius the archpriest: Nicholas by name, he sent word announcing his collapse and the evil which he had; who, coming to him at once, began to ask in order how that thing had befallen him. And he took care to make all things plain, as they had happened. The priest, hearing these things, began to be afraid, and set his aforesaid nephew upon an ass, and brought him to his house. But the priest, after he came to the city of Aquaputrida [e], which is situated not far from the said city of Quintadecima, went at once to the venerable archpriest, Alferius by name, of that same city of Aquaputrida, and disclosed the whole matter as he had heard it from his nephew. Which things the archpriest hearing, he was filled with great joy, yet he was unwilling to believe the words of that same priest; but he hastened to the aforesaid husbandman with the same priest: and he returned with very great gladness to his fellow clerics. And when they were gathered in the greater church of the aforesaid city, he narrated all things to them very carefully: and they with one accord gave thanks and boundless praises to almighty God, and, taking counsel, appointed a fast, and after the fast they approved that with praises and great reverence they should go to that same venerable place in which the holy vision had been seen.
[4] These things ended, they went piously and devoutly to the venerable place, [he, betaking himself to the place, finds a stone marked with the name of Priscus, but cannot move it:] and took the aforesaid husbandman with them. Then indeed that same husbandman humbly showed the venerable place to the aforesaid archpriest of Aquaputrida and to his clerics: who chanted psalms and litanies to the honour of almighty God and of St. Priscus, and beseeching the eternal Maker, began with devout prayers to dig in that place. And when they were sweating in the digging, they found a certain stone in which the name of blessed Priscus was contained. After Nicholas the priest, of whom we have made mention, the uncle of the aforesaid husbandman, looked upon that stone, straightway he remembered how it had befallen him in that same place concerning the same stone in a past time, and he began to make it known to the archpriest already named, and to all the others standing by, saying: Let your paternity know that I, in that time when Leo the son of Peter f, who was called Pope by surname, laboured in digging in the present place, and found that same stone; but when I and our workmen, who were with us, desired to remove that stone from its place, digging the whole day through, being in no wise able, we left it unmoved. In the following night therefore blessed Priscus appeared in sleep to a certain one of our workmen, a good man, saying to him: Know that yesterday you willed ill, when you attempted in any manner to break open my house. And know that I do not will such things at this time, nor do I will such things as you now attempt; because until the son of Peter Leo shall have lived out his days, who is called Pope, I shall not be revealed. But after these shall have failed, know that my revealing shall be, and trust that I shall abide in the city of Aquaputrida, in which the merciful and compassionate Lord will deign to show many marvels to his faithful, to his own holy praise and that of his saints. These things heard, the same archpriest with his clerics, seeing that that stone could not then be moved, departed.
[5] [the saint appears to two priests, by whom the archpriest is admonished, and seeks again; but in vain:] On the following night, therefore, blessed Priscus appeared in a vision to a certain priest, and to a certain other priest, saying: Go and announce to your archpriest that he leave not off the work which he began yesterday, knowing that what he desires he shall find. And they, rising in the morning, came hastily to their archpriest, and narrated the vision which they had seen, the one not knowing of the other. Which the archpriest hearing, he was filled with exceeding joy, and with his clerics, and with other good men of the aforesaid city of Aquaputrida, came devoutly to the place in which the said stone was, and with divine help caused that same stone to be drawn out of the pit in which it stood, on which the name of blessed Priscus was written. And when, rejoicing, they saw and read the name of the blessed man, they began again to dig in the same place, thinking to find the body of the saint there. But after, digging, they could not find the body of the saint, being shaken with grief and dread, and terrified, being struck with a certain dart, so to speak, of despair of finding it at all, they returned to their own homes.
[6] For at that time a certain priest, Marcus by name, the saint appears again and bids his body be sought, was staying in the same city of Aquaputrida, who also bore the office of paramonarius g, and had charge of the aforesaid of that same city. To him blessed Priscus appeared one night in a vision, of shining aspect, bearing a rod in his hand, saying: Why have you left off that place which was shown to you? And why have you ceased to dig? To whom that same priest said: We indeed, dearest lord, have already come twice to that place, and have devoutly sought in that place with the utmost diligence, and could not find the blessed body. And the blessed man said to him: Come, and I will teach you in what place you ought to seek and to dig. And after I approached him, straightway with the same rod which he bore in his hand he marked it out, saying: Now go to your archpriest, and come in haste, and digging and searching in that place which I mark out for you with this rod, without doubt you shall find what you desire. Then on the following day the priest arose, and made known to the archpriest what he had seen and heard in his sleep. Which divine vision the archpriest hearing, and being filled with great gladness, he willingly promised to come to that place.
[7] And when on the following night the archpriest had given himself to sleep, the archpriest himself also he saw a certain marvellous vision. For it seemed to him that he was standing in the sacristy of that same greater church of the city of Aquaputrida, and that he was arrayed in white vestments, as had been his custom on the greater solemnities, and that going out of the sacristy, wishing to approach the holy altar, and wishing humbly, as is fitting, to perform the order of the holy Masses; looking into the choir, he saw three venerable men, clad after the manner of bishops in red chasubles, and having mitres on their heads, and finally being adorned in all things as befits bishops, thus standing in the greater and more venerable place of the choir: and when the same archpriest wished, as if to preach, to ascend the step, that whole holy church seemed to him full of good men. And gazing beside those men, he saw the sacristan of the archbishopric of Benevento coming with a book and a certain letter, and he came to him. The sacristan, speaking, said these things to the archpriest h: Dearest father, I bring you greeting and blessing on the part of the holy Fathers who abide at Benevento, and of our bishop, and receive this book with this letter on their part.
[8] To whom the archpriest answering said: This, my son, is not sent to us, but is directed to our bishop of Frigento. in a wondrous dream he is bidden to seek; Which the sacristan denied, saying: Not to the bishop, but to you it is sent; and he said to the archpriest: Receive this book, since here you will find concerning those good men who after the episcopal manner dwell within, and concerning him who is in the old city of Quintadecima. And when the archpriest had received the book, and the same sacristan wished to give the letter to the archpriest, the archpriest, before he read the letter, asked what was contained in it; to whom the sacristan answered, saying: Receive the letter, and as you read the contents of the letter shall be made known to you. The archpriest therefore receives the letter, and by reading it openly understood what was contained in it. And the charge and the tenor of the letter was this: That which you have begun at Quintadecima, do perseveringly, and thus I will, that when you have accomplished what you have begun, you make all things known to your bishop, and, through his knowledge, those things which you ought to do. And after these things, being roused from sleep, he began to awake.
[9] hence he invites the people to go with him to the place: And so on the Lord's day, when the clerics and all the people were together, after the wonted manner, in the holy church of the same city of Aquaputrida, to hear * the sacred order of the holy Masses being performed, silence being made, with all standing by, he narrated with a clear voice the vision which he had seen on that night. All things therefore being laid open, how he had seen and according to the vision had heard, he began to entreat them all that they would go with him to the aforesaid place of the city of Quintadecima. But after
that same archpriest made all things known, and asked them all to walk with him to the ruined city, which had been from of old, a very great multitude of the good men of Aquaputrida followed him. And when they had come piously and devoutly to the place of the tomb, the priest Marcus, guardian of the holy church of the same city of Aquaputrida, coming forward, showed the place in which blessed Priscus, making a circle with the rod which he had in his hand, had appeared in sleep, as the present lesson narrates, and had bidden them dig, that they might find the relics of the sacred body.
[10] [prayer being made, the body is found breathing a sweet odour, and is carried to the church of St. Peter:] Then the archpriest and the others who were present, straightway bending their knees as suppliants, earnestly besought the almighty Lord with multiplied prayers, with litanies and psalms, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, before whose holy sight all things tremble, and all things naked and open ever stand, we thy unworthy servants beseech thee with humble prayer, thou who hast deigned to say: Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you; that to us, thy unworthy servants asking, thou wouldst deign to show in this place the blessed body of St. Priscus thy confessor, to the glory and praise of thy holy name, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit inseparably livest and reignest, eternal God, through the unspeakable ages of ages. Amen. These things being said, as they humbly dug, almighty God, who is ever at hand for just petitions, and forsakes not those who hope in him, revealed the praiseworthy tomb of the venerable father Priscus. And they, exulting with vast gladness, rendering due praises to the almighty King, opened with devout minds the holy tomb which had been found, in which the blessed father Priscus lay. And as they opened it, so most sweet an odour filled all who stood by, as though innumerable little vessels of divers spices and of balsam had been there. And so at length, singing and rejoicing in their hearts to the Lord, drawing the wondrous body out of the place where it was, they laid it in a certain church of St. Peter which was nearby.
[11] the finding of the body being heard, the bishop determines to prove it by fire, These things therefore being accomplished, the archpriest hastened to John, bishop of Frigento, and took care to make known to him in all things the order of the deed. And after the venerable bishop John received these things with his ears, being placed in ecstasy, he chanted, as he could, with a sagacious and skilful heart, praises and thanks to the eternal God the Father for joy, and enjoined upon that same archpriest that, all delays being left aside, on the day of the nearest coming holy feast he should await that same bishop at the church of St. Angelo, in which place (it is called Sallenti), and that afterwards they should walk with bare feet as far as the said church of blessed Peter, where the nourishing body was, and, giving themselves to prayers and litanies, should humbly prove the relics of the blessed body in the furnace i like gold. And the archpriest, faithfully receiving the faithful admonitions of his bishop, piously set about it and diligently carried it through.
[12] Meanwhile from the see of Benevento, under whose diocese k all the places which we commemorate in the present lesson stand, and since he could not be present, he commits the proving to the archpriest, a legate is sent to the bishop of Frigento, saying that, every occasion of delay being removed, he should hasten to the archbishop of Benevento. And he, fearing the commands of his archbishop, leaving all cares, exercising the zeal of religion and of obedience, went to the see of Benevento. Although he is read to have done thus, yet beforehand he summoned the archpriest of Aquaputrida and charged him, saying: Since I cannot come with you as we arranged, walk l, you and the aforesaid priest Nicholas with other good men, as we ordained, with bare feet to the place where the body of St. Priscus is known to be, and, giving your labour to sacred vigils and prayers, and to constant almsgiving, and also to holy fasts, devoutly prove the relics of the nourishing body. And the archpriest, humbly receiving in his breast the admonitions of his bishop, as they were, humbly * fulfilled them as far as he was able.
[13] The proving therefore of the holy relics the following discourse plainly sets forth. who puts them in the fire, but it is twice extinguished: The archpriest after these things caused a copious fire to be kindled before the altar of blessed Peter, and cast a certain small portion of the head of blessed Priscus into that same fire with litanies and holy prayers and praises and orisons, in the presence of Nicholas the priest and of other good men. But a thing exceedingly marvellous followed in that action: for the fire, which by its strength, so to confess, is wont to burn all things, was then so utterly extinguished as though some river were violently flowing in. The archpriest, beholding such things, began to marvel, and strove to kindle that same fire more sharply, that he might prove the holy relics more clearly. But the fire, not bearing the praiseworthy strength of the nourishing relics, the more it was kindled, the more strongly was it extinguished; and the holy relics then began to sound sharply in that same fire, and caused much dread to the bystanders. And afterwards, receiving such things, with one accord they chanted the greatest praises and innumerable thanks to the eternal God, the deliverer of all, and drew out the holy relics, and, ceasing from the proving, laid the holy relics with the other holy relics.
[14] But after these things the archpriest gave to Nicholas the priest such a charge, saying: [the proving accomplished, the relics are afterwards placed by the bishop's command in the church of the blessed Virgin:] See that no one enter into the place in which those sanctuaries are laid, and let neither you nor any other presume to move them from that place where they now stand. For I wish to make known to our bishop all these things which have befallen us in this holy work, as we have heard and seen. Hastening therefore, the archpriest went to his bishop, and humbly made known to him the order of the deed, as he had seen and heard. Which things being heard, the bishop, on the sixth feria of holy Great Week, sent of his brethren of Aquaputrida to the place which is called the city of Quintodecimum, where the holy body was, and commanded that it be brought thence to the city of Aquaputrida. And when the brethren had done this with heavenly praises, they announced it with due reverence to their bishop: and so it afterwards came about that the holy relics, by the hands of religious men, were placed within the church of the blessed Mother of God Mary, not far from the choir, with psalms and praises, and were set in the city of Aquaputrida.
[15] It happened after this that the bishop went to Benevento, [the bishop, straying from the way at night, and calling upon the saint, is delivered from danger.] and on that very journey of going and returning many adversities befell him. At last, when he wished to come with his people to the see of Frigento, though it was night-time, walking through many byways, they forgot the right road; at length, exceedingly terrified with grief and dread, the bishop is said to have made such a prayer as this: Lord King, have mercy on us through the glorious merits of the saints, and of St. Priscus the confessor, whose holy body we desire to place upon the holy altar, of whose holy body we have until now had neglect: and now, God almighty, deliver us thy servants from the present distress, because we confess that we have much offended thee and holy Priscus; but we seek and will penance, and desire the amendment of our sins, by thy help, who art blessed for ever and ever. Amen. And it came to pass after these words that they found themselves sound and unhurt, and likewise all their goods without loss. When the day was now growing bright they were found beside the tomb in which the holy body of the venerable St. Priscus had before been, in the city of Quintadecima; and the bishop, looking upon the tomb of blessed Priscus, saw a fiery cloud, and so, having received consolation, praising the mighty works of almighty God, they returned to their home; and thereafter the bishop hastily caused the archpriest of Aquaputrida to come to him, and made known to that same archpriest all the evils which had befallen him, and how they were, and how he had fallen from his mount and had lain on the ground half dead, and how all who were with him had been terrified with a mighty fear, and how the beasts which he and his people had led to Benevento and led back had been as if blinded on the way — all the things which are read above.
ANNOTATA.
e. The city
Aquaputrida I nowhere find. The Ughelli cited confounds it with Quintodecimum, but here they are clearly distinguished as two towns. Yet it may be that Aquaputrida grew out of the ruin of the former.
* that is, spheres or globes
* i.e. a mattock
* i.e. swiftly
* i.e. they judged
add church*
read, he approached*
* i.e. the sacristy
read, ut decet, vellet*
there must be added & or vel*
i.e. sagaci*
perhaps ac sic*
the que* is redundant