Anastasius

ON ST. ANASTASIUS, MARTYR,

AT SALONA IN DALMATIA

About the year CCCIV.

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

Anastasius, martyr at Salona in Dalmatia (S.)

BY J. S.

§ I. The Saint's memory famous in the most ancient Calendars: he must altogether be distinguished from Anastasius the cornicularius, who does not seem to have suffered at Salona: the translation of the body of St. Anastasius the fuller.

[ ] Molanus in his additions to the Martyrology of Usuard commemorated today St. Anastasius the martyr, St. Anastasius today inserted in the Roman Martyrology, writing thus: At Aquileia, the birthday of St. Anastasius the martyr. He was a fuller, but by the merit of his faith was numbered among the martyrs. Baronius followed him, as he himself hints in his Annotations, when he inserted St. Anastasius in the Roman Martyrology at this day, in these few words: At Aquileia, of St. Anastasius the martyr. For it seems that Anastasius the fuller ought rather to have been commemorated at the XXVI day of August, on which he is written to have been crowned with martyrdom; and rather at Salona in Dalmatia, which he had as the wrestling-ground of his contest, than at Aquileia, where he dwelt before. Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy judges that this day is that of the finding or of the translation. But that I find nowhere, and rather suspect that Anastasius was referred by Molanus to a day not his own. Meanwhile from the Calendar of the diocese of Aquileia, which I have printed at Udine in the year 1674, I perceive that St. Anastasius is celebrated with a double Office in the diocese of Aquileia on this VII day of September; but I do not know how ancient that custom is.

[2] more correctly he is in the Hieronymian at the 26th of August, Yet I can scarcely doubt that the Saint was formerly venerated on the XXVI day of August, that is, on the VII Kalends of September, on which day the Acts testify that he was crowned with martyrdom; and these Acts also supply indications of a very ancient cult, both at Salona and at Aquileia,

nay, even in Africa. For in most of the Hieronymian Martyrologies Anastasius the martyr is announced with great consent on the VII Kalends of September, that is, on the XXVI day of August: Florentinius published it thus: In the city of Solona, the birthday of the holy Anastasius the martyrs. There is here a twofold fault; but both are easily corrected from other codices: for instead of Solona we must read Salona, and for of the holy ones must be substituted of the holy one. Further, Florentinius testifies on page 1067 that in his Blume codex there are read subjoined these words, by which our Anastasius is most clearly distinguished from others of the same name: He was a fuller, and by the merit of his faith deserved to be crowned among the number of the martyrs. The most ancient Epternach codex at the same day: And at Salona, of Anastasius. The Corbie in d'Achéry, and another more contracted Corbie among us, in the same words: VII Kal. Sept. At the city of Salona, the birthday of St. Anastasius the martyr. The Rheinau among us, and there also the Reichenau: VII Kal. Sept. In the city of Salona, of Anastasius the martyr. On the same day the Augsburg and the Labbean among us mention Anastasius the martyr without a place, and so do the Gellone in d'Achéry, tome 2 of the reprinted Spicilegium, and the most ancient one in Martène, tome 3 of the Anecdota*, col. [ ].

[3] The memory of the same St. Anastasius was added at the XXVI of August in various codices of Usuard praised by our Sollerius, [and in others: but by some he is confused with St. Anastasius the cornicularius,] concerning which I add nothing more than that he is faultily called a priest in the Brussels codex. Similarly in certain enlarged codices of the Martyrology of Ado there is read on the same day a commemoration of St. Anastasius the martyr. Dominic Georgi, in the Martyrology of Ado illustrated with annotations, at the XXVI of August, after the text of Ado, affirms that these things are read in some codices: At the city of Salona, the passion of St. Anastasius the martyr, whose acts were noted above on the XII Kalends of September. And the praised editor in his Annotations writes thus: Again Anastasius the martyr of Salona is mentioned by our codices on this day, of whom they treated on the XXI day of August. I scarcely understand what Georgi means to imply by that annotation. For those who enlarged the Martyrology of Ado manifestly strayed from the truth, if they believed that Anastasius whom Ado announced at the XXI of August to be the same as Anastasius the fuller, whom they found at the XXVI of August in the Hieronymian. Georgi doubted in his Annotations at the XXI of August whether the Anastasius announced on those days be one or two: here he seems to make him one, but not so clearly that his words cannot be interpreted in another manner.

[4] But whatever be the mind of that writer, who at least doubts about the distinction of the Anastasii, from whom he is proved distinct: they have already been distinguished by Tillemont in tome 5 of the Monuments, in the Persecution of Diocletian, article 58, by Sollerius in his Usuard at the XXI of August, and by our Cuper in the Acts of St. Anastasius or Attalus at the same day of August. And the marks of the distinction are these. The first Anastasius, who is otherwise called Attalus, is said to have suffered under Aurelian; but Anastasius the fuller suffered under Diocletian. The first was a soldier, a cornicularius; the other a fuller. The first was converted while he was endeavoring to draw St. Agapitus the martyr, of whom among us at the XVIII of August, away from the faith; the other was a Christian of Aquileia, and being desirous of martyrdom set out for Salona. They therefore have nothing in common except the name, and according to some the city in which they suffered. But not even the name altogether agrees, since the former in the Acts of St. Agapitus is also called Attalus, so that either he had a twofold name, or one or the other name was given him by error. And as regards the city, I do not think it probable enough that both were crowned in the same city.

[5] [Anastasius the cornicularius does not seem to have suffered in Dalmatia, but in Latium:] Assuredly the second Acts of St. Agapitus narrate the conversion of Attalus in such a way that he seems at once to have been arrested and crowned with martyrdom, as Ado affirms actually happened, at the XXI of August. But since St. Agapitus suffered near the city of Præneste in Italy, it appears to me far more likely that Anastasius the cornicularius suffered in Italy than at Salona in Dalmatia, where Anastasius the fuller suffered. For which reason the opinion of Peter de Natalibus, who affirms that Anastasius the cornicularius suffered at Rome, pleases me more than that of Ado and others, who say that he died at Salona. For Ado openly contradicts himself, when he testifies that Anastasius was converted at the passion of St. Agapitus and was presently ordered to be put to death, if he means that this happened at Salona in Dalmatia, since he himself places the martyrdom of Agapitus near the city of Præneste in Latium. For neither is it likely, nor is it anywhere affirmed, that Anastasius after his conversion was suddenly carried off into Dalmatia, that he might be killed there rather than in Latium after three days. From what has been said I judge it plain that St. Anastasius the fuller is a different man from Anastasius the cornicularius. From these things I further gather that the opinion of Ado and of the other martyrologists, that Anastasius the cornicularius suffered at Salona, is less probable; and that his martyrdom is to be placed in Latium rather than in Dalmatia.

[6] the cause is investigated why by Ado he seems attributed to Salona; For I strongly suspect that the city in which Anastasius the fuller had suffered was by Ado's error attributed to Anastasius the cornicularius. He found in the Little Roman at the XXI of August these words: At Salona, of Anastasius the martyr. These can equally or rather be understood of the Fuller than of the cornicularius: for the memory of the Fuller is famous in the Hieronymian, but not so that of the cornicularius. Anastasius the fuller will thus indeed have been torn away from the day of XXVI August; but it is not infrequent with the author of that Martyrology that he announces Saints on other days than those on which they suffered or were inserted in the Hieronymian. Moreover, concerning Anastasius the cornicularius, it is not established on what day he was killed. It cannot therefore be understood from the day alone that he rather is the one announced in the Little Roman; since the place altogether implies Anastasius the fuller. Nevertheless Ado, whom the rest followed as their leader, understood the words of that Martyrology of Anastasius the cornicularius, known from the Acts of St. Agapitus, because he was utterly ignorant of Anastasius the fuller, whom he nowhere mentions: and hence I judge it came about that he wrote that Anastasius the cornicularius was crowned at Salona; although it is far more likely that he was killed in Latium, and indeed before St. Agapitus, or at least on nearly the same day: for tyrants for the most part ordered soldiers converted by the constancy of the martyrs to be killed at once; and Ado himself declares that this was done here.

[7] [and the opinion of Cuper, who followed Ado at the 21st of August, will be corrected.] Wherefore the opinion of our Cuper, who with Ado and the other martyrologists placed the wrestling-ground of St. Anastasius the cornicularius at Salona in Dalmatia, not without some hesitation, I judge less probable and to be corrected; as he himself would do if he were alive. And from this correction it follows that all those things which Cuper collected concerning the posthumous glory of St. Anastasius among the people of Salona and of Spalato, at the XXI of August in Anastasius or Attalus, are to be attributed to this Anastasius the fuller. Concerning him also Thomas, archdeacon of Spalato, a writer of the thirteenth century, in the Salonitan History, chapter 3, rightly said: At the same time (of the persecution of Diocletian) Anastasius of Aquileia underwent martyrdom for the name of Christ at Salona. With this the Acts agree excellently, and Peter de Natalibus, and the author of our manuscript Florarium: for all place the martyrdom of Anastasius the fuller under Diocletian.

[8] But what must be said about the posthumous glory of the Saint I transfer hither: The Acts, number 4, testify that the first church was built over the Saint's body in the territory of Salona. When afterwards Salona had been taken by the barbarians, and John, prelate of Salona, had afterwards fixed his see in the neighboring city of Spalato, The Saint's body translated to the city of Spalato; that excellent bishop, having taken counsel with the citizens, attempted to translate the body of St. Domnius, bishop of Salona, to Spalato. And this counsel was so happily carried into execution that the body also of St. Anastasius the martyr, which was found first, was translated to Spalato. Both were there deposited in the church of the Most Holy Mother of God. The words of Thomas archdeacon of Spalato, who narrates these things in chapter 12, Cuper has already given, and they may also be seen in John Lucius, page 320. The translation is narrated in nearly the same manner in tome 2 of April, in the Holy Dalmatian Martyrs, page 9, from a Spalato manuscript. But there also, on pages 10 and 11, there is narrated, from Baronius and others, the translation to Rome of certain Dalmatian martyrs, and it is said to have been made in the time of Pope John IV. And since among those martyrs a certain Anastasius is reckoned by Baronius in his Annotations on the Roman Martyrology on the XI day of April, one might easily suspect that the body of St. Anastasius the fuller was carried away to Rome in the seventh century. But if Baronius has narrated truly, that Anastasius is another man, namely one of the eight soldiers whom he announced without a name at the aforesaid XI day of April.

[9] Assuredly the people of Spalato did not doubt that they preserved the body of St. Anastasius the martyr, and there in the thirteenth century honored with a new altar. although their descendants do not seem to have known the Martyr himself well enough. With the people of Spalato agrees Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the book On the Administration of the Empire, chapter 29, where, mentioning the city of Spalato under the name of Aspalathus, he has it thus concerning St. Anastasius deposited there: And in the same city St. Anastasius also was deposited. In the thirteenth century the body of the same Saint was honored with a new altar by Bernard the archbishop, of whom the praised Thomas the archdeacon says thus in chapter 15: He took out the body of Bl. Anastasius from the old altar, and placed it in the same place in a new altar in the year of the Lord MCCIX. John Lucius, in the Addenda to his work On the Kingdom of Dalmatia, page 67, adds the following to the deeds of Archbishop Bernard: He consecrated the altar of St. Anastasius, as is evident from the inscription carved on the silver head of the same Saint, which is such: In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ MCCX, Indiction XIII, in the time of the Lord Pope Innocent III, and of Andrew king of Hungary, and of the Lord Archbishop Bernard and of Count Domaldus, on the X Kalends of June this work was made, and the altar consecrated to the honor of God and of St. Anastasius, in which his body rests, whose head this is. There is a difference of one year in the time assigned. Perhaps in the year 1209 the old altar was destroyed, and the new consecrated in the following year.

perhaps in*

§ II. The Saint's Acts to be published: he seems the same as the Anastasius M. whom the Greeks have on the 5th of December and the 25th of October: perhaps the same also in the Hieronymian on this 7th day of September.

[ ] The Acts are not by a contemporary author, Tillemont in tome 5 of the Monuments, in the Persecution of Diocletian, article 58, mentions manuscript Acts of our St. Anastasius, which he testifies were found by the Benedictines at Mont-Saint-Michel. The same we have in a manuscript parchment codex, marked P. Ms. 20, as I gather from a collation of these Acts

with those things which Tillemont gave from his own. But these Acts seem to the praised writer to be as it were a letter of a bishop of Salona to his people, but one written long enough after the Saint's martyrdom, and from the report of certain pious persons. Tillemont adds that certain facts have been inserted into these Acts which may have flowed from popular tradition, and so have been added to what is true. Further, what the praised writer says about these Acts having been written long enough after the Saint's martyrdom is certain and beyond doubt: yet it cannot be said how much later than the events the writer of the Acts was; but from the Acts it is only plain that he was not a contemporary. It is no clearer whether they were written by some bishop, or by another cleric or even by a layman. Whether the writer of the Acts was of Salona or of Aquileia is equally uncertain: but they were probably written in one or the other city.

[11] [but they seem to have been written in good faith: in what manner they are to be published.] Further, the writer of the Acts seems to have proceeded in good faith, and to have wished to narrate only what was true; but to have known few things about the Saint, and therefore to have narrated few. Hence he passed over in silence the deeds of Anastasius before the tyrant, and nearly all the circumstances of the martyrdom. But concerning the Saint's posthumous glory he related more things, which he was able to know. For the rest, our codex, faulty in many places through the ignorance or negligence of him who copied these Acts into it, bears this title: The Passion of St. Anastasius the martyr in the city of Aquileia on the VII Kalends of September. The frequent grammatical faults, which render the phrasing gaping and vicious, I have amended from another manuscript which is more correct; or rather I have judged that that copy should be published which was sent hither from the Augsburg codex in the year 1639 by Father Christopher Steborius, yet collated with our codex. Moreover, since Peter de Natalibus inserted nearly all these Acts into his Catalogue of the Saints, book 7, chapter 124, and from him Ferrarius gave his own in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at this day, I shall observe in the Annotations in what places they departed from the Acts. But before the edition of the Acts certain other matters must be examined.

[12] Anastasius, announced among the Greeks on the 5th of December, The Greeks, both in the printed Menæa and in the Sirletian Menology, announce Anastasius the martyr without place or time. That this is the same as Anastasius the fuller Tillemont declares without hesitation. Let us hear therefore the Sirletian Menology at the V of December: On the same day, the birthday of the holy martyr Anastasius. He, when he saw the holy martyrs, sought out by the heathen, torn limb from limb for the confession of God, and being himself a Christian, considering how great goods were laid up for them by God, and desiring to obtain those goods, on a certain day, kindled at heart, signed his whole body with the cross, ran into the stadium, and standing in the midst of the assembly cried with a loud voice: I was found by them that sought me not: I was made manifest to them that asked not for me. And when all were gazing at him, he said: Hear, all you ministers of the devil, hear, I say, I am a Christian, and I believe in my Lord Jesus Christ; and I anathematize and abhor your idols together with their worshippers. But they, hearing him preach thus freely, were astounded, and at once stripping him and beating him with scourges, the executioners beheaded him and cast him into the sea. These things are also read in the Menæa and in Maximus of Cythera without any notable change, save that toward the end the Martyr's torments are more clearly explained.

[13] For first he is said to have been stripped of his garments and grievously beaten with scourges. he seems the same as Anastasius the fuller, Then they said to him that those stripes had been inflicted for his insolence and shamelessness, that is, for his bold and free confession of the faith. They added that his head must be cut off, because he worshipped Christ, and that so he should be food for the fishes. And presently, when his head had been cut off, the lictors are said to have gone a little way back from the land and to have cast the body into the sea. But now, if the things alleged be diligently compared with the Acts, we shall find nothing to hinder our believing that it is the same Martyr. For although some things are reported among the Greeks which are not read in the Acts, and many in the Acts of which nothing is found among the Greeks; yet all can easily be reconciled, as I shall show in the Annotations. And the things which imply that in both places the same Martyr is treated of are notable enough. For first, Anastasius, both according to the Acts and according to the Greek Calendars, thrust himself of his own accord upon the occasion of the contest. Secondly, according to the relation of both, he showed himself a Christian by the sign of the cross. Thirdly and lastly, in both places the body was cast into the sea: and what is said in the Menæa about the body being carried to the sea by lictors going a little way back from the land agrees excellently with the finding of the body related in the Acts. One thing, however, may here raise a doubt, namely that the Menæa have it that Anastasius was first beheaded, and then given to the sea: whereas the Acts hint that he was drowned in the sea, and are silent about the head cut off. But since the writer of the Acts confesses that he does not know what punishments the impious judge inflicted, he seems at the same time to acknowledge that he was ignorant of the manner of death, and that he had only been informed about the body cast into the sea, whether alive or dead. Nor are the Menæa of such authority that by their testimony alone it becomes certain that the Saint was first beheaded. And so this fact is rendered doubtful by that diversity of relations: but that diversity is not to be made so much of that on its account we should believe that Anastasius must be doubled, whom we more probably believe to be one.

[14] Nay, we judge him also the same Anastasius who is announced in the Menæa and in Sirleto on the XXV day of October. as also the Anastasius mentioned by the same on the 25th of October. In Sirleto these things are read of him: On the same day, the birthday of the holy martyr Anastasius, who, converting many by the preaching of the Christian faith, was beheaded with the sword and rested in the Lord. The Menæa more clearly indicate that he is more probably the same, when they adorn him with an elogium which I here render into Latin: On the same day (XXV October) of the holy martyr Anastasius. He, going of his own accord to the tyrants, and most freely preaching Christ the true God, drew all into amazement. But perceiving his unchangeableness, they cut off his head with the sword, and cast him into the sea. But a religious woman, recovering his holy body from the deep, wrapped it in ointments and linen cloths and laid it in an oratory which she built. By his deposition many healings were wrought, and are wrought unto this day, to the glory of our benign God. Amen. Everything implies that these things are said of Anastasius the fuller; nor is there another in Sirleto, so far as I judge. But the author of the Menology seems drowsily to have inferred the conversion of many from the preaching or confession of the divinity of Christ. But both seem to have been ignorant of the place and time of the martyrdom, since they are silent about them in both places.

[15] The Anastasius set down on this day in the Hieronymian, Lastly it may be asked whether that Anastasius the martyr also seems the same who at this VII day of September is mentioned in most copies of the Hieronymian without a place of martyrdom. In Florentinius, after Januarius and his companions, martyrs of Benevento, he is thus commemorated: And the passion of the holy Anastasius the martyr. The Epternach in the same place in the Annotations has: Of St. Anastasius the bishop. But the Corbie: And the passion of St. Anastasius with his companions. The Martyrology of the queen of Sweden among us: And the passion of St. Anastasius. In the Labbean there is the bare name, of Anastasius; and in the Augsburg corruptly, of Anastasia. The Gellone in d'Achéry, of Anastasius. Lastly, certain others record nothing of Anastasius on this day. Now if we attentively consider the words given, this Anastasius will seem another, because in the Epternach he is called a bishop, and in the Corbie he is mentioned with companions: for neither agrees with St. Anastasius the fuller, as Florentinius already observed, who believes him distinct.

[16] is perhaps also Anastasius the fuller referred by error to this day. On the contrary I observe that on this day the place of martyrdom is nowhere joined to him: and that is an indication that this announcement of Anastasius is not from the first collector of the Martyrology, but was added afterwards by another; especially since it is so various according to the diversity of the codices, and is not read in all of them. For which reason it remains to be considered whether St. Anastasius the fuller may not have been repeated today by an error. And if we note that he is rightly set down on the VII Kalends of September, but that today is the VII day of September, or the VII Ides of September, it will not appear incredible that the VII Kalends were confused by someone with the VII Ides or with the VII day of September, or that by the mere error of the copyists VII Ides was set for VII Kalends. Whatever be the case, I strongly suspect that Anastasius the fuller was reproduced on this day, or at least that some Anastasius is here mentioned who has been torn away from his own proper day and is more clearly announced in another place. We shall therefore say no more of him today.

ACTS

by an anonymous author

From the Augsburg manuscript codex, collated with our codex.

Anastasius, martyr at Salona in Dalmatia (S.)

BHL Number: 0414

By an Anonymous author.

St. Anastasius the fuller of Aquileia, Although in the time of persecution the enemy of the human race strove, amid the vices, to withdraw from memory the triumph of the martyrs over the Christian religion, lest, confounded and laid low before the crowns of the martyrs, he should blush: yet among the people, so far as the reckoning of religious men has preserved for memory, whatever is reported by faithful souls in praise of the Blessed, it is fitting to hear and to reverence this with the highest veneration. When therefore in the time of Diocletian, that most wicked persecutor, an edict was put forth ^a against the Christians, and the persecution was carried on, blessed Anastasius in the city of Aquileia ^b — which is to be said with reverence — plied the labor of the fuller's craft, that he might fulfil those apostolic precepts by which it was laid down that, laboring with our hands, we might be able to bestow help upon those enduring want. For it was nothing unseemly * to labor at any craft whatever, that the precepts of God might be fulfilled, so that he might attain the perfect glory of Christianity.

[2] Leaving therefore the workshop ^c of his craft, he fulfilled the command of the Gospel's craft, setting out for Salona, he is recognized as a Christian and arrested: imitating James and John, who, when they were mending their nets — for they were fishermen — leaving the little ship and their instruments, and their father Zebedee, followed the Lord. Nor otherwise could blessed Anastasius find the crown of martyrdom, unless he had cast away the things of the world, as hindrances, from his desires. Going on to the city of Salona, offering himself of his own accord, he seized upon the religious contest, and before the lodging in which he was to stay he painted the sign of the cross: but he also displayed the sign ^d of Christ throughout the most crowded places of the people, and did not hesitate to show of what profession he was. Him the ministers of the persecutor, having recognized and taken him, are related to have set before the judge. Yet for full testimony the shop of the most blessed Martyr's craft, established in the city of Aquileia, has been made a house of prayer ^e: and where then the filth of garments was washed away, now it is believed that the filth of peoples, and the filth of souls, is wiped away by prayer poured forth.

[3] But when he had been set before the judge, what was done, his martyrdom: the finding of the body, or to what his answer concerning the profession of Christianity proceeded, and what punishments the impious judge inflicted, necessity has withdrawn:

because the monuments left at that time say that Diocletian the persecutor was placed in another city ^f far away. Yet he is reported to have given such a sentence, that with a stone hung about his neck he should be cast into the sea ^g. And being presently thrown down, he deserved to obtain the triumph of martyrdom ^h. There was a certain matron, Asclepia by name, rich in means, Christian in character, who promised her servants liberty and boundless rewards if they should find the body of the most blessed Martyr. Therefore, since they were invited by so great rewards, searching anxiously along the shores and the shallow places as far as the fourth or fifth milestone, it came about by God's ordinance that they found some Africans who were already lifting that venerable body together with the very stone which we have mentioned. Upon these the men of that blessed matron rushed, and to confound them they feigned to bring against them a holy ⁱ calumny, saying that they were murderers, since they had a lifeless body in their hands; feigning this for the reason that those men, being terrified, might give way.

[4] Yet the aforesaid Africans, having the body, as they are a crafty race, burial and cult. took away a portion ^k for the sake of the martyr himself: for they also carried that stone into their own country. And a basilica was made in his name, in which innumerable miracles are said to be wrought for the driving away of unclean spirits. But the aforesaid most blessed woman, glad that she had deserved to receive so great a gift from the Lord, concealed the body a little while, until the fury of the persecution should subside. Then she built a basilica, and placed the blessed Martyr in the territory of Salona. These things, so far as we have been able to learn them from sure and most trustworthy men, and so far as I have prevailed by wit or by speech, I have desired to make known concerning the Saint * to your ears. And may his prayers help us, of whose merits have been recorded whatsoever things are told. And blessed Anastasius was martyred on the VII Kalends of September ^l under the emperor Diocletian, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

otherwise est*

otherwise Sanctis*