ON SS. VINCENT OF DAX AND LETUS, BISHOP AND PRESBYTER, MARTYRS AT DAX IN NOVEMPOPULANIA,
AT DAX IN NOVEMPOPULANIA,
In the third, fourth or fifth century.
CRITICAL COMMENTARY.
Vincent, bishop and M., at Dax in Novempopulania. (S.)
Letus, presbyter and M., at Dax in Novempopulania. (S.)
Written by J. S.
§ I. The cult of the Saints in Spain and Novempopulania: the place of the martyrdom.
[ ] The Roman Martyrology at
the Kalends of September announces
these Martyrs in Spain without
further assignment of place in this
manner: Vincent and Letus venerated in Spain; In Spain, of the holy
martyrs Vincent and Letus.
Baronius in his annotations adds only these words:
They are treated of on this day in the Breviary of Toledo,
indicating whence he inserted them into the Roman Calendar.
The words of the Toledan or Mozarabic Breviary are these:
On the feast of the holy Vincent and Letus, martyrs,
all is said of many martyrs.
A Mass of the same Martyrs is had in the Missal
of Toledo printed according to the Roman rite in the year
1550, and in it the first prayer is read thus:
Almighty everlasting God, who through the glorious
wars of the contest didst raise thy martyrs Vincent and Letus
to immortal triumphs, grant to our hearts
a gladness worthy of their veneration,
that we may be helped by the prayers of those whose solemnities
we embrace with pious love. Through our Lord, etc.
Nicolás Antonio in his posthumous writings adds another
notice about the cult of these Saints in Spain in these words: The monastery
of St. Martin, named of Ferran, in the kingdom of Castile,
was raised under the patronage of the holy Martin,
Julian and Basilissa, Vincent and Letus, Justa and
Rufina, as I have read in the instrument of its erection, on the authority
of Prudencio de Sandoval in his book of the Foundations
of some monasteries of his Benedictine
Order in Spain, in the foundation of the monastery of St.
Æmilian, §24, folio 42. It is certain therefore that Vincent
and Letus have for many centuries been venerated in Spain.
But whether from this veneration of them it can rightly be gathered
that they are Spaniards or suffered in Spain, we shall examine below.
[2] André du Saussay in the Supplement of his Gallican Martyrology
at 19 April announces St. Vincent, likewise at Dax in Novempopulania;
whom we shall see venerated on the Kalends of September
with his companion Letus; and therefore that he is no other than
the preceding we shall persuade by other reasons also.
Take meanwhile his words: At Aquæ Augustæ or
Tarbellæ in Novempopulania, the birthday of holy Vincent,
apostle of the people of Dax, that is, their first priest
and martyr; who, a native of Saintonge, illumined
by the divine light, converted this whole tract to the worship
of Christ, and sealed his preaching, confirmed by acts
of divine imitation, by at last shedding his precious blood
for the assertion of the evangelical truth. In whose
heap of testimony a church was afterwards raised by the faithful,
where to this day he rests with all reverence,
and is venerated not only as the tutelary saint of his own
basilica, but also as the patron of the whole diocese,
and the author of the pontifical chair on which he first
sat and which he especially adorned; and as the consecrator
of the first church there, which he began in the crypt in honour
of the most holy Mother of God. More briefly
the Paris Martyrology announces the same Saint with Letus in these words:
At Dax in the province of Auch, of holy Vincent, who
is there venerated as first bishop and martyr with
blessed Letus, his companion in evangelical preaching.
These things at the Kalends of September; at which day
Castellanus also in his Universal Martyrology has this:
In Spain, St. Vincent and St. Letus, martyrs;
and in the margin correcting the former: Or
rather in Novempopulania, for St. Vincent is of Dax.
[3] which place is elucidated, Denis de Sainte-Marthe in volume 1 of Christian Gaul
reviews the bishops of Dax, or of Aquæ Tarbellicæ,
placed under the metropolis of Auch,
and premises various things on page 1035 about the city
itself, of which I transfer some hither for the elucidation
of the place: The city of Aquæ Tarbellicæ,
called Aquenses in the Notice of the provinces,
is called Aquæ Augustæ by Ptolemy; which name,
given by the Romans, no one will deny. Aquæ
Tarbellicæ the author of the Itinerary ascribed to Antoninus named it;
Ausonius, Aquæ Tarbellæ; Vibius
Sequester on rivers, Tarbellæ; Aquæ
is read in the Table of Peutinger. And this city took its name
from the healthful waters which gushed forth in this place.
Thus far about the various names of the city, which today also
are various among the French: for it is more commonly
written Dax, otherwise d'Acs or Acqs.
Its antiquity and ancient celebrity, as also its present state,
the praised writer sets out.
The city of Dax is situated on the river Adour [*],
and is distant from Bayonne almost ten French miles,
and five from the Aquitanian ocean.
[4] [Vincent the first bishop of Dax and martyr with Letus, honoured there with various churches:] The first bishop of this city, St. Vincent, the praised
Sainte-Marthe at col. [ ] celebrates in this manner:
Vincent the martyr is believed to have been the first prelate
of this city, whose sacred shrine is seen in the suburb,
frequented in past centuries with great worship of religion:
he in the proper office of the Saints of the church of Dax is said
with his companion Letus to have preached the faith of Christ
to the people of Dax, which also he confirmed by a glorious contest.
In the monastery afterwards called by his name
St. Vincent of Dax he was buried. Of him
there is mention in the old hagiology of St. Sever of Gascony,
in these words: On the Kalends of September, in the city of Dax, of holy
Vincent the martyr with his companions. To his name
basilicas have been dedicated throughout all Aquitaine,
and his memory is kept on the day 1 September: but in what
age he lived the ecclesiastical records are silent.
And after him very many bishops are lacking;
for which we blame the injury of the times,
the mischances of wars frequent in these places, the persecutions
under the emperors, but chiefly the savagery
of pagans and barbarians against ecclesiastical matters,
by whom the basilica of holy Vincent was laid waste,
the sacred things plundered, and the little vessel in which a part of the ashes
of St. Vincent was preserved was cast into the river Adour.
At length, as the fifth century was ending, or the sixth beginning,
the bishop who follows was elected.
[5] Of the deeds of SS. Vincent and Letus nothing else
has come down to us, their deeds and age uncertain, nor is even the century known
in which these Saints flourished. Hence I judge that nothing hinders
their having been alive in the third, fourth, or even the fifth
century. Nor do I sufficiently see why many bishops must necessarily
be lacking after St. Vincent, who might have sat a few years
before Gratian, of whom Sainte-Marthe subjoins this:
Gratian was present at the council of Agde in the year 506.
An ancient Breviary of Dax notes that,
peace being at length restored to the Church, Gratian, the unbelievers
being driven out or converted to the faith, turned himself wholly
to restoring the shrine of blessed Vincent,
defiled with the superstitions of the pagans, which he reconciled
and furnished with all things pertaining to the worship
and religion of God. If already at the beginning of the sixth
century there existed a shrine sacred to St. Vincent, and had long
existed, as the words reported intimate,
most ancient indeed is this Saint's cult. But I should rather
believe that it treats of a church erected by him, which
was afterwards dedicated to his name. Further, the words cited
raise in me a strong suspicion that Vincent
was crowned with martyrdom with Letus in the fifth century,
and that the said Gratian succeeded him when the persecution ceased
in which they had been crowned.
Certainly no other persecution could have ended in the time
of Gratian than the persecution of the Visigoths, who
possessed Novempopulania at that time. This had been
very grave and long-lasting under Euric about the year 470
and thereafter. Hear Sidonius,
book 7, letter 6, to Basil, where he complains much of Euric
and his persecution: But what must be confessed, he says,
is that I dread the aforesaid king of the Goths, although
he be terrible for the deserts of his strength, as one who will lie in wait
not so much for Roman walls as for Christian laws.
So much, they say, does the mention of the Catholic name
sour his mouth and his heart, that you might doubt
whether he holds the primacy rather of his nation or of his sect. Besides,
mighty in arms, keen in spirit, vigorous in years, he suffers
this error alone, that he thinks the success of his treaties
and counsels is granted him for a lawful religion,
which rather he obtains for earthly felicity.
[6] Wherefore learn quickly the hidden sickness of the Catholic
state, but it seems likely enough that he flourished in the fifth century, that you may hasten to apply an open
medicine. Bordeaux, Périgueux, Rodez,
Limoges, Javols, Eauze, Bazas,
Comminges, Auch, and already a far greater number
of cities, their chief priests cut off by death,
and no bishops afterwards substituted in the offices of the dead
(through whom assuredly the ministries of the lesser orders were supplied),
have drawn a broad boundary of spiritual ruin…
There is no care in the desolate dioceses and parishes. You may see in
the churches either the rotten falls of the roofs, or, the hinges
of the doors being torn away, the entrances of the basilicas blocked
with the bushes of rough brambles. You may see the very herds — alas,
for grief! — not only lying in the half-open porches,
but even grazing on the grassy sides of the greening altars.
But now there is solitude not only through the country parishes;
even the assemblies of the city churches grow thin.
With these agrees St. Gregory of Tours in his History
of the Franks, book 2, chapter 25, writing thus: In his time
Euric also, king of the Goths, passing the Spanish
boundary, brought a grave persecution upon the Christians
in the Gauls. He cut off everywhere those who did not consent
to his perversity; he thrust the clergy into prisons;
and of the priests he sent some into exile,
others he slew with the sword. For he had ordered the very approaches
of the sacred temples to be blocked with thorns,
namely that the rarity of entering might beget a forgetfulness
of the faith. Most of all then were the cities of Novempopulania
and of the two Germanies [*] laid waste
by this storm. Hence it does not seem incredible to me
that at the same time St. Vincent was taken away by death
with his companion St. Letus, since his successor Gratian
is said to have turned himself wholly to restoring
… the sacred shrine. Yet, as I have noted, the matter
is uncertain.
[7] [nor does our Vincent seem to have been present at the council of Valence in the year 374:] Tillemont, volume 8 of the Monuments, in St.
Justus of Lyons, treating of the council of Valence of the year
374, inquires about a bishop Vincent who, without the name
of his city, is read to have been present at the said council;
and on that occasion discourses thus in French about our bishop of Dax:
At Dax in Novempopulania a certain holy Vincent is venerated
as first bishop, apostle, and patron of the city and diocese.
His age is unknown; but they affirm that he is a martyr:
he belongs therefore to the time of the persecutions,
unless we prefer to say that he was slain in some tumult
of the pagans, or in the plunderings by which
the barbarians laid waste the Gauls in the year 407
and thereafter. These things persuade us that that Vincent
who was present at the council of Valence is more probably
distinct from the one of Dax, since about the end
of the fourth century there do not seem to have been such persecutions
in the Gauls that Vincent with Letus should be believed crowned
with martyrdom in them by mere conjecture.
But neither does their martyrdom prove that they suffered
under gentile emperors. For this cause I am compelled
to leave the age of these Saints uncertain,
although otherwise it appears to me more likely
that the Saints flourished under the Visigoths, for the reasons
said before.
[8] the festivity of Vincent instituted from his revelation. What Sainte-Marthe records about Illidius, bishop of Dax,
whom he places third, shows
that the festivity of St. Vincent is very ancient.
For these are his words: Illidius, bishop
of Dax in Novempopulania, if credit is to be given
to the Breviary, is commended for remarkable sanctity. While he
was sitting, Maxima, a virgin of Dax, was taught by revelation
from blessed Vincent the kind and the place
of his martyrdom, and the very day of his contest, until then unknown;
whence Illidius ordained that the feast of St. Vincent
should thereafter be celebrated on the Kalends of September through
the whole diocese — from the same Breviary. From the festivity
then instituted it does not follow that no veneration had before
been paid to the Saint, but that it was not
fixed to a certain day. So to St. Germanus of Auxerre
the day was revealed on which the festivity of St. Julian, martyr of Brioude,
ought to be celebrated, as was related in volume 6 of August,
pages 172 and 183. Yet the people venerated St. Julian,
and I judge the same was done about St. Vincent.
Annotations* the Adour
* perhaps of Aquitaine, for these are to be understood
§ II. Are the Vincent and Letus whom the Spaniards venerate other than those of Dax?
[ ] Many things about SS. Vincent and Letus feigned by certain Spanish fable-makers, Juan Tamayo de Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology
at the Kalends of September thus announces the Saints Vincent
and Letus: At Libisosa among the Arevaci of Spain, the birthday
of SS. Vincent and Letus, twin brothers,
who, sprung from the city of Toledo, on account of their constancy in the faith
and their contempt of the idols, afflicted with various
torments, flew as martyrs to their rewards. To these in his annotations he subjoins
fictitious Acts, in which Vincent and Letus,
whom he affirms to be twins, are said to have had a father
Turibius, sprung from the city of Toledo among the Carpetani,
and a mother Lucia Severa, born of the city of Aquæ
or Elbora. And he says that they suffered martyrdom under Decius,
and adorns it with various torments and prodigies. He joins to the Acts
a metrical epitaph, as though composed by Aulus Halus,
and a Hymn under the name of the lord Cixila, pontiff
of Toledo, which he asserts that he rescued from darkness. But
no doubt holds me that the Acts, the Epitaph, the Hymn,
and everything from Dexter, Julian and other fictitious monuments
by which he strives to confirm the former, are equally invented,
nay not even worthy of refutation.
[10] Nicolás Antonio in his posthumous writings,
which have now often been praised in this Work, which Nicolás Antonio rightly explodes. in
Vincent and Letus adduced all the inventions of the pseudo-Dexter
and Julian about them, and fully refuted the same together with what Tamayo
added. Those supposititious monuments are not of such worth to us
that I should wish to recite all his arguments; it will suffice
to hear his mind about the monuments themselves, which he candidly sets out
in these words: To so many and so great enemies in appearance,
brandishing the arms of faith and of antiquity,
the strongest truth of all things that are under heaven opposes
a bare breast, but one of adamant and impenetrable.
For nothing solid, nothing beyond the accustomed names and instruments
so often accused and so often convicted of falsity is brought forward;
which, being of themselves so feeble and of prejudged infamy,
with what face shall we admit to give testimony for one another?
These things premised, he refutes each,
and among them the place of martyrdom assigned by the fable-makers,
Libisosa (today commonly Lezuza);
and shows that the place of the martyrdom is wholly uncertain,
and that all the other things which are said about the parents and deeds
of the Saints are fictitious. Wherefore
I let all those things go, and shall only inquire
whether it can and ought to be believed that our Saints
suffered in Spain, or that other Martyrs of the same name
are venerated there.
[11] The praised Spanish writer explains for what
cause Vincent and Letus are believed Spaniards, The reason why the Saints were ascribed to Spain;
and were attributed to Spain by Baronius; and
although he himself does not deny that they are Spaniards, he nevertheless supplies
those arguments which, with others, will afford us sufficient
reasons for more probably denying them to Spain: This pair of martyrs
certainly, he says, namely Vincent and Letus, we judge
to be citizens of Spain only for this reason, that
no mention of them is had in the common Martyrologies,
but that we owe our sole notice of them
to the Isidorian ecclesiastical Office of the Goths. If that be the only reason
why Vincent and Letus seem to be attributed to Spain,
that in the ancient Martyrologies of other nations
their memory is not found, as Nicolás Antonio believed,
he would not have ascribed them to Spain
if he had known that these holy Martyrs enjoy a very ancient
cult in the diocese of Dax, and are there
recorded in an old Hagiology: for that he does not take his argument
from the Isidorian Office, what follows teaches.
[12] there is indeed a commemoration of them in the Isidorian ritual, Isidore, prelate of Seville, had formerly framed these ritual books
of Spain, as the report is;
but not all things which are now read in them
are of Isidore's hand. Namely it was needful and just
that the common Liturgies should be enriched by later men with the memory
of Saints coming after and daily entering into
the ecclesiastical roll, lest we should seem to have condemned,
merely by the prejudice of time, the sanctity of more recent men
whom the older Isidore could in no way celebrate. And there are indeed
in the two books of which this Gothic rite consists,
namely the Missal and the Breviary, several
younger than Isidore, so that it must be certain to everyone
that after the first work of the craftsman, the later
administrators of this our church of Spain added some things
for supplying them. Plainly in the single edition of these books,
which was made under the auspices and by the order of Francisco Ximénez,
most illustrious prelate of Toledo, and by the industry of Ildefonso Ortiz,
canon of the same church, in the year 1502,
a part of the Saints comprehended in that Work obtained either
obtained a simple commemoration on their birthday. Of this last
order are our Martyrs, who on the first day of September
are reckoned there with this note only: “Of the holy Vincent and Letus.
Let all be said of many Martyrs.”
Wherefore that prayer about these Martyrs belongs not to a Missal
and Breviary of this Gothic age, but to some more recent one
of the church of Toledo, which Alfonso Requena,
commemorating their deeds, reports as received from an ancient
Breviary and Missal of Toledo… For they lack a Mass
and a proper Office, like very many others, both foreign
and Spanish, so that it is vain from this difference of a bare
or fuller commemoration to deduce any surer argument
for the Spanish citizenship of those who are praised, or against it…
[13] and thence Baronius attributed them to Spain: Nor likewise shall we argue that
Vincent and Letus are our citizens because they found a place in these
books, unless we can at the same time show and persuade by valid
reasons that Julian and Basilissa on 7 January, Julian the martyr
on the 20th of the same month (who in the Roman is on the 8th), Agatha
on the 5th, Dorothea on the 7th of February (to these he joins many
others, here omitted for brevity's sake), who all are celebrated
with an Office or at least a proper hymn, are Spaniards
by home or by birthday. We shall indeed argue, not rashly, that they are Spaniards
from this, that here only, and not elsewhere — that is,
in our own books, not in the ancient books of the universal Roman
Church — they have lasted for the memory of posterity.
Moved by this alone, Cardinal Baronius admitted them into the Martyrology
newly corrected and enlarged by him, pointing his finger, namely,
in his notes to this Gothic rite and to no other ancient book,
when he says: “In Spain, of the holy martyrs Vincent and Letus.”
Which he notes that he drew from the Isidorian Breviary. To others,
who could not use this book, as being most rare,
Vincent and Letus are wholly unknown. So that candid
and sincere man, and he argues rightly indeed for the knowledge
which he had about these Saints, being likely to have changed his opinion
if he had known their ancient veneration among the people of Dax.
[14] For all things persuade us that they are the same Saints
but all things persuade us that those venerated in Spain are the ones of Dax; who are venerated in Spain and in Novempopulania.
First, the same names of both, the same day
of festivity, raise so strong a suspicion that they scarcely
leave any doubt that the same are venerated in Spain
and in Novempopulania: for without grave foundation it must not be said
that there were two Vincents, martyrs on one day, who both
had a Letus for companion, especially since Letus
is a name little used. This is the less likely
because Novempopulania was long under the Gothic kings,
whom Spain obeyed, and because the one is neighbour to the other.
For so a cult could easily be propagated from one province
to another, either by the translation of some relics
or by reason of the same dominion. There is added
the celebrity of the cult among the people of Dax, where St. Vincent
is celebrated as patron with his companion Letus;
whereas Tamayo says nothing about a present-day cult in his Martyrology,
and in the Calendar of the Toledan Missal of the year 1650
only a commemoration with the ninth lesson is prescribed for Vincent
and Letus, with the festivity of St. Giles the abbot,
which is the chief one. I do not see, therefore, that SS.
Vincent and Letus are anywhere at this time celebrated in Spain
as patrons. Hence I am wholly persuaded
that Vincent and Letus are due to the people of Dax alone,
and that their veneration was of old propagated to the Spaniards,
as the cult of St. Giles the abbot, who died in Occitania,
and of many others, was extended to them. The cause why
Baronius attributed them to Spain we have already seen,
so that his authority cannot stand in the way of our opinion.
[15] [and the Spanish fable-makers themselves record some things which pertain to those of Dax.] The Spaniards themselves who tried to adorn SS. Vincent
and Letus with fictitious Acts, while doing something else,
intimate that they are speaking of the ones of Dax. For first
they attribute to the Saints a mother of Aquæ — not indeed
sprung from Aquæ Tarbellicæ, but from the city of Aquæ,
says Tamayo on page 15, or Elbora, which on page 17 he assigns
near Toledo among the Carpetani.
So St. Verena, who is venerated in the territory
of Constance in Switzerland at Aquæ Duræ,
as we said on this day in her Acts, Tamayo strove
to drag into Spain, where with wondrous facility he presently found
Secondly, the same fable-maker read what was said about the revelation of St. Vincent
at number 8, where Maxima, a virgin of Dax, is said to have learned
from him the kind, the place and the day of his martyrdom:
for he too brings in a virgin Maxima to whom
St. Vincent appeared. Thirdly, as Gratian,
bishop of Dax, restored the church of St. Vincent,
as was said at number 5, so he adduces
dedicated a church to the Saint and placed there his sacred pledges.
Tamayo therefore, with his fellows, knew some things
about the Saints of Dax, and the more confidently strove
to ascribe them to Spain because Baronius had done so before him.
More about these Saints has not come to our knowledge.