ON ST. MANIUS, BISHOP OF VERONA,
Perhaps in the fifth century.
SYLLOGE.
His public veneration, where his body is laid, the time of his life.
Manius, bishop of Verona (St.)
J. P.
Galesini thus announces this holy
Bishop: At Verona,
of St. Manius, bishop and confessor, His cult, who, having diligently occupied himself
in the office of preaching, and having holily administered
the church committed to him,
flourishing in the praise of miracles, fell asleep
in the Lord. Ferrari in both his Catalogues
records him likewise as a saint; but Castellan
in his universal Martyrology only as venerable,
which I do not approve: for although
few things concerning him have come to my knowledge,
they seem nevertheless to suffice for him to be reckoned in the catalogue
of the other Saints who are given by us on this day.
Augustine Valerio, bishop of Verona,
in the Ancient monuments of the saints of that city,
before the first folio, has a catalogue
of the bishops of Verona set out at length, among
whom St. Manius is placed thirty-third in order;
but in Ughelli, vol. 5 of the reprinted Italia sacra,
col. 695, he is thirtieth. In the same most illustrious
Valerio, at fol. 1 and following, treating
of the thirty-six holy bishops of Verona in general,
various arguments are produced by which
their public cult is proved. And among those things
which he subjoins to these concerning the several thirty-six holy
bishops of Verona, at fol. 4, where he writes of the bodies
of the Saints which rest in the church of St. Stephen
of Verona, he asserts these things to our purpose:
Likewise, in the altar and chest of the holy Seven Brothers,
the bodies of Salvinus and Manius, bishops of Verona.
[2] In the same place, at fol. 87, the holy relics
of the churches of Verona are treated of, his body, his eulogy and among them is reckoned
the body of St. Manius, in these words: In the church of St.
Stephen are laid the bodies of SS. Alexander,
Andronicus, Blasius, Dimidrianus, Felix, Gaudentius,
Innocent, John, Lucidius, Lupus,
Manius, etc., bishops of Verona and confessors.
Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy says: There is extant
an ancient tablet of parchment in the aforesaid
church of St. Stephen, in which mention is made of St. Manius.
In Valerio he is praised at fol. 40 in these words:
Manius, bishop of Verona, applied himself with perpetual zeal
to provide by word and example for the salvation of the people of Verona.
In him was singular learning; there was also a certain excellent eloquence,
so that he gained very many souls for Christ
in his bishopric. He died on the fourth of the Nones of September:
his body was honorably borne forth, and with many
tears of the citizens of Verona was buried in the basilica
of St. Stephen.
[3] and the time of his life. That he died in the fifth century is gathered from this,
that St. Simplicius, who follows third after him
in the catalogue of the bishops of Verona in Ughelli,
is said to have flourished about the year 490. But
among the said bishops St. Luperius is placed immediately
before St. Manius, without a chronological note
of his life and death. To Ferrari, in his Catalogue of the Saints
of Italy on the 15th day of November, Luperius seems to have lived
about the year 800. Castellan indicates the same date
on that day. Girolamo dalla
Corte, in part 1, book 4, p.
195 of his History of Verona, puts off the death of Luperius to the year
830; and then at p. 196, writing of the restoration
of the walls of Verona in the year 837,
he subjoins the death of bishop Manius. The differences of date
just designated, in the fifth century and in the ninth, disagree far too
much to be decided
without suitable authority, which, since it is not now
at hand for me, it has seemed to me better to adhere to the order
of the bishops of Verona woven together in Ughelli
than to other writers, and to mark
St. Manius as of the fifth century — restricted by an adverb
of doubt — until at least a clearer light
shine forth. For indeed catalogues of this sort, unless they be
very imperfect, can greatly help
chronology, since they combine earlier and later times
set side by side and connected, and arrange some
from others.