Felix and Constantia

ON SS. FELIX AND CONSTANTIA, MARTYRS, AND PERHAPS OTHERS,

AT NUCERIA IN ITALY.

From the Martyrologies.

Under Nero.

Constantia, martyr, at Nuceria in Italy. (S.)

BY J. S.

Felix and Constantia, who are read today in the Roman Martyrology, are indeed found in the most ancient calendars, Felix and Constantia, martyrs under Nero, but with such variety in the Hieronymian copies that we could scarcely distinguish them adequately, were help not brought us by the martyrologists who flourished in the middle ages. Ado announces them clearly on this day, writing thus: At Nuceria, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero. Usuard repeated Ado's words. Notker changed the words slightly, writing thus: At Niceria (read Nuceria) of the holy martyr Felix and of Constantia, who suffered under Nero. The same things concerning these martyrs, though with the day of martyrdom omitted, are found in the writer of Beauvais, book 9, chapter 56. In Florus — if indeed these things are of Florus, which I do not determine — the following is read at the preceding day: And the passion of Saints Felix and Constantius, who suffered under the emperor Nero. You see, I think, studious reader, that here not only is the day changed and the place of martyrdom omitted, but also that she who elsewhere is called Constantia is here called Constantius. From this we gather that the extreme corruption which now prevails concerning these martyrs in the Hieronymian codices is an ancient one. Nevertheless, when all things have been carefully considered, I find nothing more probable than what Baronius inserted concerning them into the Roman Martyrology from Ado, Usuard, and Notker, when he wrote thus: At Nuceria, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero.

[2] For concerning the name of Felix no doubt arises, since everywhere it is expressed in plainly the same manner. repeated in the Hieronymian copies on various days. But the name of Constantia recurs so often in the Hieronymian copies that it seems altogether to be retained, and the names Constantinus and Constantius are to be held for errors wherever they are joined with Felix. As for the day, likewise Ado and the other martyrologists who followed him seem to be followed, although the day of martyrdom is less certain, since mention is made of the aforesaid martyrs in the Hieronymian copies on perhaps four different days, namely on the 15th, 17th, 19th, and 20th of September, and on the last day they are even repeated twice. So many repetitions by no means persuade me that Felix and Constantia are to be doubled. Nor do I think it sufficiently probable that there was another Constantinus or Constantius, and another Constantia. I see, however, that it is more doubtful whether besides Felix and Constantia there may not have been certain other martyrs who suffered about the same days, and among them a Constantius or Constantinus: of whom I shall treat below.

[3] Certain others seem there Now from the Hieronymian copies of Florentinius I subjoin the various announcements bearing on this matter. At the 15th of September: And at Nocera of Campania the birthday of St. Constantius. The Epternach copy has: And at Nuceria of Campania the birthday of Constantius. In almost the same manner the Corbie copy, but at the end, of St. Constantius. Thus the name of Constantius, without any companion bearing on this matter, is found in all the more abridged copies, and in the Rheinau and Reichenau copies the place is added, at Nuceria. At the 17th day, in the text of Florentinius, the aforesaid martyr seems to have a companion. For there the following is read: At Nocera the birthday of Saints Constantinus, Sanctinus. In the Corbie copy: At Nuceria the birthday of Saints Constantius, Sunctinus. But in the Epternach copy: And at Niceria the birthday of Constantia and Sanctia. In the Rheinau and Reichenau copies the companion is omitted, and only this is read: At Nuceria, of Constantia. Yet again mention is made of Sanctinus in three Martyrologies in which the place is omitted, namely in the Gellone, Augsburg, and Labbe copies.

[4] added on different days, Florentinius on the texts cited on both days brings forward various conjectures, not inept ones indeed, but, as happens in such cases, some more plausible to some and others to others, all of them uncertain. Before I examine them, I shall give also other passages bearing more clearly upon Felix and Constantia. At the 19th of September in the text of Florentinius is read: At Nocerea Hereme, and after others wrongly interposed, of Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero. Then follows: of Privatus, of Euphemia, etc., which certainly do not belong here. Everything in that context is mixed together. Not less is the corruption of the Corbie codex, in which seven martyrs seem to be attributed to Nuceria, though not more than two or three are of Nuceria: At Nuceria, of Hermeus, of Beatus the bishop, of Felix, of Constantia, etc. I pass over the others known from elsewhere and not belonging here, just as Beatus does not belong here; for in Florentinius he is clearly relegated elsewhere in these words, and elsewhere of Beatus the bishop; indeed I have observed in the Prætermissi that Beatus does not even belong to this day. The Epternach Martyrology has it a little better thus: At Nucerua of the hermits, likewise of Felix and Constantia, etc. In the more abridged codices nothing is read of the martyrs of Nuceria on this day, but they return on the following day.

[5] with great variety and corruption: In Florentinius, in the text after the Eastern martyrs, as though they belonged to them also, they are thus twice repeated: Of Felix. Of Constantia. Of Felix. Of Constantia, who suffered under Nero. The Epternach copy also, not without errors, in this manner: And at Nuceria of Felix, of Privatus, of Constantia, likewise of Felix, likewise of Constantia. Two are repeated, as is clear; but Privatus, of whom we shall treat tomorrow together with Dionysius, is not a martyr of Nuceria. In the Corbie codex they are first placed after the Easterns, and then rightly by themselves. I subjoin the words: Of Felix, of Constantia, likewise of Felix. At Nuceria the birthday of Saints Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero. In the Rheinau and Reichenau codices Nuceria is omitted, but mention is made of Constantinus, of Felix, after the martyrs of the Eastern Church. Thus Constantia and Felix are seen mingled with the rest in the Gellone, Augsburg, and Labbe copies. Thus far the Martyrologies: for I pass over the few things read of them in the Martyrologies published by Martène and by Georgi, since they do nothing toward removing the doubts arising from these matters. But it is now necessary to subjoin certain observations flowing from the collation of them all.

[6] First, concerning Felix and Constantia, who suffered at Nuceria, no doubt seems to remain. but they are not so clearly recorded that doubts could not That they suffered also under Nero, the Martyrologies testify with unanimous consent. Secondly, it is not equally certain whether, besides Constantia, some Constantinus or Constantius suffered at Nuceria, who is commemorated alone on the 15th and with Sanctinus on the 17th. But if Constantius is admitted, his companion Sanctinus seems likewise to be admitted: for the chief reason for distinguishing Constantius from Constantia is the companion Sanctinus, since Constantia has Felix for a companion. That companion certainly does in some way suggest a distinction; but it does not altogether persuade, much less make it certain. For since no martyrologist of the middle ages has commemorated Sanctinus on that day, or attributed him to Nuceria, it is to be feared that he arose from a corruption of the word sanctus or of some other, or was wrongly transferred to that day from another, especially since Sanctinus does not appear consistently in all the copies, nor is Constantius or Constantinus read on that day in all of them, but in three Constantia. Wherefore I would not venture to distinguish Constantius from Constantia with certainty, nor to insert Sanctinus into our work as sufficiently proved and certain, though I would not wish to call altogether improbable the conjecture of Florentinius, who in his Annotations at the 15th thinks that some Constantius or Constantinus of Nuceria is to be distinguished from Constantia. Another conjecture of Florentinius, however, by which in his Annotations at the 17th he suspects that for Noceriæ we should read Dronerii near Saluzzo, because some Constantius is there read to have suffered, appears to me more improbable.

[7] Thirdly, another doubt arises from the Hieronymian copies at this 19th day of September, to arise from the corruption and repetition of names. where another martyr, male or female, seems to be attributed to Nuceria, suggested in the text of Florentinius under the name Herene, in the Blume copy Heremæ, in the Corbie copy Hermei, in the Epternach copy Heremitis. Florentinius observes that this name has been passed over in all the Hagiologies; and I find the same myself, having consulted far more Martyrologies than had been published in Florentinius's time or were seen by him. For this reason alone we cannot hold him for a certain martyr, since he is not known except in codices which are most corrupt in that very place. Therefore we have as sufficiently certain martyrs of Nuceria only Felix and Constantia.

[8] But no Acts of these have come to light, either because they were never written, The deeds of SS. Felix and Constantia unknown apart from their martyrdom, or because they perished in the persecution, perhaps of Diocletian, who endeavored to abolish all the books of the Christians. Peter de Natalibus, book 8, chapter 96, writes only this concerning SS. Felix and Constantia: Felix a priest and Constantia

were martyred in the time of the persecution of the emperor Nero at the city of Nuceria. When the rage of the said Cæsar was raging against the Christians, since they had not hesitated to confess Christ, they were beheaded by the sword and consummated their martyrdom. Thus Ado. But Ado does not have it that Felix was a priest, or that our martyrs were beheaded, so that the aforesaid Peter seems to have added these things only from uncertain conjectures, and they cannot be held for ascertained. Ferrarius adopted the conjectures already mentioned in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on this day, and designates more nearly the place in which he believed the martyrs suffered, writing thus: Felix a priest and Constantia a woman were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Christian faith in the persecution of the emperor Nero at Nuceria among the Picentines. For when, having been arrested, they refused to sacrifice to the gods, but persisted strong in their purpose of faith, they were ordered to be executed by the sword, on the thirteenth of the Kalends of October. So Ferrarius, from Ado, he says, and others. Jacobilli relates more about these martyrs in his Italian work on the Saints of Umbria, volume 1, page 728; but he himself shows well enough that no ancient monuments shed light for him. Wherefore I do not think it necessary to examine at greater length what he asserted, without suitable witnesses, concerning their fatherland, their deeds, and the circumstances of their martyrdom.

[9] two cities disagree about the place of it. But as regards the place of the martyrdom, Jacobilli disagrees with Ferrarius, and strives to ascribe the saints to his own Umbria. For besides other cities of Italy which were called Nuceria in Latin, two episcopal cities of the same name, both called in the vernacular Nocera, one in Umbria and the other in Campania or in the Principato Citeriore, between Naples and Salerno, strive to claim these martyrs for themselves. Ughelli — which you may wonder at — attributes Felix and Constantia to each Nuceria. For in volume 1 of the second edition, column [ ], he wishes to prove by the martyrdom of Felix and Constantia under Nero, which he there fixes at Nuceria in Umbria, that the faith was preached at Nuceria in the time of the Apostles. Again in volume 7, column 525, treating of the Nuceria afterwards surnamed Paganorum, which I have already said is situated in Campania between Naples and Salerno, he uses the same argument to show that the faith was preached there also in the time of the Apostles. Yet I shall not believe that Ughelli was of the opinion that the martyrs were twofold, and that he thought they suffered in each place; but rather that in each place he clung to the opinion of those about whose city he was writing, and did not remember his earlier statement when he brought forward the second. The same thing befell the most recent writer, Francesco Orlendi, in his Orbis sacer et profanus: for in part 2, book 3, chapter 11, number 3, he makes the arena of these martyrs Nuceria of Umbria; and in part 2, book 4, chapter 11, number 4, Nuceria Paganorum. Therefore the authority of these writers is of no use for settling the controversy.

[10] The Hieronymian copies and tradition somewhat favor Nuceria Paganorum: It would moreover be useless to seek out all the writers who have attributed the aforesaid martyrs to one or the other city. It is rather to be asked which city the more ancient monuments favor. The Hieronymian Martyrologies at the 15th of September, where they mention only Constantius — perhaps not to be distinguished from Constantia — favor rather Nuceria Paganorum, since there they name Nuceria of Campania. But this argument would be much stronger if Felix and Constantia were announced together on that day; as it is, it avails only for attributing some Constantius, or Constantia (if she be the same), together with Felix, to Nuceria Paganorum. Meanwhile I find no such argument for Nuceria of Umbria, nor is it at all likely that two different Nucerias in places so close together should be mentioned in the Martyrology without any addition by which the second might be distinguished from the first. Besides, Antonio Beatillo, a writer of our Society, frequently praised in this work, sent the following observation to Bolland in the year 1638: In the city of Nuceria, which is called Paganorum, there is a church of St. Mary of the Annunciation, and in it a shrine or chapel of St. Mary of Monte Vergine, where above the altar there is a marble of white color with this inscription: Here is the place of Saints Felix and Constantia. These things favor Nuceria Paganorum.

[11] On the contrary, the assertions of Ughelli and Jacobilli would favor the people of Nuceria in Umbria far more, many things are said for Nuceria of Umbria which cannot be proved, if they could be proved by suitable documents. It is worth transferring here the Latin words of Ughelli, with which the Italian of Jacobilli is almost in accord: This (he says of Nuceria) was found the first of the cities of Umbria worthy to shed its blood for Christ the Savior through Saint Felix the priest and Constantia the matron. For these citizens of Nuceria bore off the illustrious palm of martyrdom under the first persecution of Nero, in the year of restored salvation 69, on the 17th day of the month of September, only one mile and a half distant from the city along the Flaminian Way, a place which even now the inhabitants call Nero's Tower. The bodies of those martyrs were buried in that same place in the church which Nuceria today venerates as sacred to St. Mary Magdalene. In the year 1590 they carried them into the cathedral church, and transferred the head of one of them to Pesaro, where it is preserved with great veneration of the faithful. Thus far Ughelli. But what is said about the year, day, and place of the martyrdom, and even about the place of the first burial, is affirmed without any suitable testimony, and therefore will avail nothing among the learned toward attributing Felix and Constantia to Umbria.

[12] Jacobilli adds more, and asserts that the bodies of SS. Felix and Constantia were long lost, besides some translation of relics and their cult, but were found about the year 1580, when Girolamo Manelli, bishop, governed the church of Nuceria, near the city in a place called Mercato, where there are traces of an ancient church. This he has in the Saints of Umbria, volume 1, page 729. Again he wrote of SS. Felix and Constantia in an Italian tract on Nuceria, printed later, namely in the year 1653, and there he affirms that the bodies were found on the 11th day of April in the year 1565, and were translated by the bishop to the cathedral church. He adds in the same place that the bodies were laid in another shrine and placed in the sacristy, and are exposed to the public veneration of the faithful on their feast and throughout the whole Octave. By the same witness, the feast is celebrated by the clergy of Nuceria, not on the 17th day, on which in his earlier work he had said they were crowned, but on the 19th of September, on which he here says they suffered: and the Office is performed with a double rite with an Octave. As regards the bodies, Jacobilli acknowledges that they were not found entire: he says only that bones were found with part of one head; but that of the other part of that head it is believed that it is preserved in the monastery of Corpus Christi, of the Order of St. Clare, at Pesaro.

[13] but relics are likewise had at Nuceria Paganorum. The other head, with a part of the body, he attributes to Nuceria Paganorum, whose inhabitants, he says, declare that they have it in their cathedral church, and they celebrate the feast on the same day. Jacobilli adds that in the territory of Nuceria a church was erected dedicated to SS. Felix and Constantia, in a village which in the vernacular is called il Molino di Chiorre, and that the feast is celebrated there also; and finally that their images are seen painted in the choir of the cathedral church of Nuceria with these inscriptions: St. Felix, priest and martyr, of Nuceria. St. Constantia of Nuceria, martyr. Thus Jacobilli concerning their cult. For what he brought forward there about the circumstances of the martyrdom and burial I do not adduce, because they are conjectures gratuitously asserted — not to call them mere dreams — since nothing has come to light concerning them from the ancients except that they suffered at Nuceria under Nero. For the rest, I shall readily believe that the relics of the saints were translated to the cathedral church of Nuceria, and are honored there. But it has not yet been certainly proved that they were those of Felix and Constantia, of whom we are disputing. Jacobilli indeed says that they were found with an inscription which suggested that they were of those martyrs; yet he does not produce the inscription itself. Now the names Felix and Constantia are such as are wont to be attributed to martyrs whose proper name is unknown. Whatever the case may be, since Jacobilli himself assigns to Nuceria Paganorum a part of the relics of SS. Felix and Constantia, nothing can be concluded from the finding of the relics concerning the place of the martyrdom against Nuceria Paganorum, which the more ancient monuments favor.