ON ST. TUTIUS, OTHERWISE TUCIUS, HERMIT,
IN THE TERRITORY OF AQUILA IN ITALY
A COLLECTION.
Tutius hermit in the territory of Aquila in Italy (S.)
C. S.
His veneration from Ferrari: This Saint became known to us from Philip Ferrari, who in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy at the present day has thus: Tutius, or Tucius, a hermit in the territory of Aquila, was leading a solitary life on a mountain under Innocent IV, Supreme Pontiff; at which time B. Peregrinus came into those places; whom he also received into hospitality, when he had learned divinely by a dream who he was. And when after the slaying of S. Peregrinus he had lived some while in that solitude, at length, worn out with continual vigils and famous for miracles, he flew away to heaven to his reward on the V of the Ides of September: on which day his memory is yearly celebrated in the church of Aquila. He adds that he drew these things from the Records of that same church of Aquila; but in his annotations he says: Of him mention is had in the Life of S. Peregrinus the martyr, of whom there is treatment at the XVIII day of November. His chief Acts and his miracles we have by no means seen, whether because they do not exist, or through the fault of those from whom we requested them. The first of these appears to me more likely, since I too have been unable to find anything about that Saint beyond what has been said.
[2] I have indeed at hand a certain Ms., on whose front is read inscribed: his deeds unknown. The less known Saints and Blessed of the city and diocese of Aquila; but among the Lives, all of which it contains written in the Italian tongue, there is none of S. Tutius or Tucius. There is extant however among them a Life of S. Peregrinus, which seems to be the very one which Ferrari cites both here and at the XVIII of November in his account of Peregrinus. But in the latter place he rightly gives notice that it needs correction. That may be examined at the said day of November, and will without doubt be rejected. Further, what is narrated in it about our Saint we have already reported from Ferrari; but of his veneration the following are read there, though in Italian words: Famous for many miracles, he was placed in the roll of the Saints: his feast is celebrated on the IX of November, and his bones are preserved in the collegiate and parish church of S. Mark in the city of Aquila: for the keeping of which Saint's feast Boniface VIII of happy memory granted most solemn indulgences in the aforesaid church. I think it was written by an error of the scribe, November for September, since Ferrari in both Catalogues assigns September from the records of Aquila; and this error could the more easily creep in because that word is written by abbreviation 9bre. For the rest, at what time S. Tutius lived is unknown to me. In the cited Life of S. Peregrinus he must have lived in the time of Charlemagne and of Innocent IX (in Ferrari it is read of Innocent IV), Pontiff, and therefore in the VIII or IX century, in which Charlemagne flourished, and in the XIII century, in which Innocent IV held the Pontificate; nay, in the XVI, if with our Ms. it should be read Innocent IX. These things, as is clear, by no means cohere: but in which of these centuries, or in what other intervening one, he lived or lived together with S. Peregrinus, it does not please me to divine. But although in this part we cannot stand by the fabulous Life, yet the veneration of S. Tutius appears certain enough both from it and from Ferrari's Catalogues.