ON SS. FAUSTA AND EVILASIUS AND PERHAPS MAXIMINUS OR MAXIMUS, MARTYRS,
AT CYZICUS ON THE HELLESPONT.
Between the year of Christ 305 and 311.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Fausta, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
Evilasius, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
Maximinus or Maximus, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
BY J. C.
§1. The memory of the holy Martyrs among the martyrologists. The Acts to be published: what are they, and of what credit?
First among the Latin martyrologists Bede or Florus mentions at this day our holy Martyrs Fausta and Evilasius in these words: At Cyzicus the birthday of the holy Fausta the virgin and of Evilasius, under the emperor Maximian: Of the holy Fausta and Evilasius whom that same Evilasius, since he was first of the palace, ordered to be made bald and shaven to her shame, then to be hung up and tortured: at which time a flash of lightning from the heavens struck many of his servants. Then he ordered coffers to be brought, and her, being put in and fixed, to be cut through the middle like a piece of wood: but the executioners could not harm her with the saws. Amid which Evilasius, being astounded, began to believe in Christ; and when this was announced to the emperor, he sent the Prefect, who should hang him up and torture him grievously. He also ordered Fausta to be led out of the prison naked and without a veil, and her head to be bored and fastened with nails: whose head and face afterwards, and her breast too and her whole body down to her shins, was filled with nails. After this he ordered a frying-pan to be heated, but this, while she sang psalms, grew cold. Amid these things a voice coming from heaven called them, and thus they gave up their spirit. And Fausta was thirteen years old, and Evilasius eighty. Where it will be worth while to have noted that some codices attribute to St. Fausta sixteen and to Evilasius seventy years, and that in d'Achery's metrical one their memory is not made.
[2] Bede, as Sollier noted in his Usuard, Rabanus at this day and Ado so transcribed is celebrated among the martyrologists, that they report his text almost word for word. Usuard wove the elogium of our Saints more sparingly. At Cyzicus, he says, the birthday of the holy martyrs Fausta the virgin and Evilasius, under the emperor Maximian; whom that same Evilasius, since he was first of the palace, ordered first to be dishonored, to be hung up, tortured, and cut through the middle like a piece of wood; but afterwards, himself also believing in Christ, he contended together with Fausta. Molanus adds: For when the executioners could not harm her with saws, Evilasius, being astounded, began to believe in Christ; and then continues with Bede. Most sparingly does the Little Roman announce the memory: At Cyzicus, of Fausta the virgin and of Evilasius. The Martyrology of Baronius, with which among the appendices to Usuard the Antwerp codex and the greatest Lübeck one almost agree, thus celebrates the holy Martyrs: At Cyzicus in the Propontis, the birthday of the holy martyrs Fausta the virgin and Evilasius, under the emperor Maximian: of whom Fausta was by that same Evilasius, a priest of the idols, made bald and shaven to her shame, hung up and tortured. Then, when he wished to cut her through the middle, and the executioners could not harm her, Evilasius, astounded, believed in Christ: and while he himself also was being grievously tortured by the emperor's order, Fausta, her head bored, her whole body fastened with nails, and set upon a heated frying-pan, together with him, being called by a voice from heaven, passed over to the Lord.
[3] both Latin, Rabanus at the 7th day of January wove another elogium for the holy Fausta and Evilasius, and joins to them a third martyr, the Prefect. Take his words from Canisius's edition. The passion of holy Fausta the virgin, under the emperor Maximian, who by the strength of her patience converted to the faith Evilasius, first of the palace, her torturer, and also the Prefect, who was commanded to torture her. She, being hung up, was torn with irons; afterwards, being delivered to the beasts, she was defiled by none of them. Then her head was fastened with nails. Afterwards she was cast into a frying-pan boiling with pitch, but was not harmed: and so, being set in torments with Evilasius and the Prefect, she gave up her spirit. And the Christian people, hearing these things, buried the bodies of the Saints. In the same words Notker mentions the holy Martyrs, at the same 7th day of January, on which they are also announced in the Martyrology of St. Maximin of Trier and of the Cologne Carthusians, as was noted there by Bolland in the catalogue of the Prætermissi, and by Sollier in the Appendices to Usuard.
[4] and Greek, among whom Maximinus or Maximus is joined to them. By the Greeks in the Menæa on the 6th day of February is announced the commemoration of the holy martyrs Fausta, Evilasius, and Maximus, and a fairly long elogium of them is subjoined, which contains scarcely anything different from what is read on the same day in the Basilian Menologium: Fausta, martyr of Christ, under the emperor Maximian, was the daughter of rich and pious parents from the city of Cyzicus. When they had died, though she was young and wealthy, yet despising the pleasures of the world, she passed her days in virginity, fasting, vigils, and almsgiving, serving God and intent on the reading of the sacred books. Wherefore, when her fame had come to the emperor, he sent to her the prætor Evilasius, who should persuade her to sacrifice to the idols. But when Evilasius saw the miracles wrought by her, he believed in Christ. Then Maximus is sent as pro-prætor to torture Fausta and Evilasius, who cast the Saints into a boiling brazen cauldron. But when he beheld them unharmed, having himself also received the faith of Christ, he of his own accord let himself down into the cauldron, and in this manner they were all consumed.
[5] And these things thus far the sacred calendars. Fuller Acts of our holy Martyrs stand written, Their Acts both in Greek and in Latin. The Greek Lambecius produces in his Commentaries on the Imperial Library, book 8, from a very ancient manuscript codex 11, which is entitled The month of February of the Great Menologium of the Greeks, in which, on page 53, under this title, written in Latin unless I am mistaken, The Martyrdom of the holy martyrs Fausta, Evelasius, and Maximinus, by Simeon Metaphrastes, the Acts of the Saints thus begin. Μαρτύριον
τῶν
ἁγίων
καὶ
ἐνδόξων
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ
μαρτύρων
Φαύστας,
Εὐηλασίου
καὶ
Μαξιμίνου.
Κατ᾽
ἐκείνους
τοῦς
καιροὺς
ἦν
ἡ
ἁγία
μάρτυς
τοῦ
χριστοῦ
Φαύστα
ἐπὶ
Μαξιμιανοῦ
τοῦ
βασιλέως
ἐν
Κυζίκῳ
τῇ
πόλει &c. Martyrium sanctorum &
gloriosorum Christi martyrum Faustæ, Evilasii &
Maximini. In illis temporibus erat sancta martyr
Christi Fausta in Cyzico civitate &c., quod est
ipsissimum exordium Actorum S. Faustæ & Sociorum,
quæ dat Surius ad diem VI Februarii. Testatur
laudatus Lambecius, Græca illa in reliquis
omnibus cum Surianis convenire, quod nobis experiri
licuit ex collatione exemplaris, quod habemus
ex eodem codice bibliothecæ cæsareæ jam olim
descriptum. Eadem etiam sunt, quæ exhibet Lipomanus
tom. 5 pag. 518.
[6] Mombritius Martyrium Sanctorum Faustæ,
Evilasii & Maximini etiam describit tom. 1 pag.
297, exstant varia impressa. quod nescio, an idem dicam, an diversum
a jam laudatis Actis. Certe phrasis multum differt,
multum variant adhortationes colloquiaque sanctam
Martyrem inter & Evilasium & Maximinum, atque
aliqua hic expressius, adjectis etiam nominibus
propriis, narrantur, quam ibi, licet facta asserantur
eadem. Præter hæc, Mss. exemplaria quatuor
ad manum habeo, ex variis codicibus descripta.
Primum notatur, Ex veteri Ms. Narniensi:
secundum, Passio S. Faustæ virginis & martyris,
cujus ossa Lucæ sunt: & hæc inter se, ne verbo
quidem differunt, multum vero ab aliis omnibus.
De illis agam infra, ubi de sacris sanctæ Martyris
reliquiis. Tertium Actorum exemplar desumptum
est ex Ms. S. Maximini Trevirensis; quartum denique
habeo in codice Ms., qui quondam fuit abbatiæ
Vercellensis Ordinis Cisterciensis, unde ad clar.
virum Balthasarem Moretum, atque ab eo ad nos
transiit. Postrema duo ita etiam inter se conveniunt,
ut vix ad verbum varient. Ostendit phrasis, fuisse
illa ex Græco translata, videnturque Mombritiana
ex iis vel similibus crevisse.
[7] Conjecturæ locum facit, quod ubi in Ms. nostro
narrantur aliqua a Surianis diversa, Mombritianis paulo contractiora sunt Mss., quæ habemus eadem
apud Mombritium ita occurrant aucta, ut interpolatorem
non obscure prodant. En bina ipso statim
exordio specimina. Cum pervenisset (ita incipiunt
Mss. nostra) ad aures Maximiani, quod
quædam virgo, nomine Fausta, filia Gemelli prorectoris,
orbata parentibus nutriretur in Christi justificationibus,
(erat autem sancta Infantula arnorum
circiter tredecim) mittens primum palatii,
nomine Evilasium in Cyzicum &c. Hæc apud
Mombritium ita leguntur: Sub Maximiano imperatore
in Cyzico Sanctorum metus pervenit ad
aures ejusdem imperatoris: quoniam quædam virgo,
nomine Fausta, filia Gemelli prorectoris, derelicta
orphana a patre & matre, nutrita est in Christi
justificationibus. Erat autem sancta Puella annorum
tredecim & mensium sex. Quo audito, Maximianus
Evilasium primum palatii sui, hoc est
autem magistrum militum, adesse præcepit, & misit
him in the city whose name was Cyzicus. The interpretation of the phrase first of the palace, and the six months added to the years, seem to me plainly to betray an interpolator, whether he was the translator himself or some other earlier man. Certainly I do not believe that our writer, however much you suppose him an abridger, would set out thirteen years and six months by about as many years. And from these things and from very many of the kind I conjecture that our manuscript Acts are older than those of Mombritius, and perhaps such as stood in the most ancient parchment manuscript Passionary of the Lateran archive, whence he took most of his own.
[8] and we shall publish. From these those seem to have grown together. For the rest, there is no reason why they should be preferred to Surius's Acts: for although that Lateran Passionary could already in the fifteenth century have seemed very ancient to Mombritius, it is nevertheless uncertain whether the Greek from which Surius's are translated are not older. Lipomanus indeed, Surius, Baronius, and others attribute them to Metaphrastes, and this seemed so certain to Tillemont that he asserts it can hardly be doubted. In Allatius, however, in the Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons, no mention is made of this little work, not even among those to be doubtfully ascribed to Metaphrastes. It does not please me to discuss this at length: all confess, and Tillemont himself, that if they were written by Metaphrastes, an older history probably lay before him, from which Bede, or Florus, and others abridged their elogia. But to wish to excerpt and distinguish these from Metaphrastes's interpolations is to lose oil and labor. Our manuscripts, if, as I conjecture, they were taken from the Passionary which Mombritius used, can perhaps be reckoned earlier than the times of Metaphrastes, unless in the 15th century the Lateran codex scarcely exceeded four hundred years, and so could not have seemed very ancient. Finally, since the Facts themselves scarcely differ from Surius's, and no better are at hand, I shall here print and illustrate our Manuscripts translated from the Greek, as the phrasing itself clearly proves.
[9] Tillemont's censure of those Acts But since from the time at which they are supposed to have been written a sure credit cannot be won for them, it remains to be investigated how much they deserve from elsewhere. Upon them, since the same deeds and prodigies are narrated, falls the censure of Tillemont, which in volume 5 of the Monuments, article 63, page 61, he passes on Surius's Acts. It pleases me to render the whole here in Latin. We have the Acts of those Saints, he says, in Surius. But Baronius judges that they were written by Metaphrastes, of which it can hardly be doubted. Some ancient history may have lain before him, supported by the testimonies of Bede, Usuard, Ado, and very many other Latins, who speak amply enough of those Saints. But from whatever source they flowed, they are such that one may say there is no appearance of truth in them. Bede himself, and afterwards the other Latins, assert more things than that we should give them credit. Of Maximinus they say not a word, and relate that Fausta and Evilasius gave up their spirit after a voice had been heard from heaven calling them thither, which the Greeks did not know. They add that Fausta was only thirteen and Evilasius eighty years old. I do not know whence Baronius learned that Evilasius was a priest of the idols.
[10] Rigid is this censure of Tillemont. But I do not know what heat for carping here, appears too rigid, as not rarely elsewhere, carried the most learned man too far. Let us examine the particulars. It is clear from the notes on the Roman Martyrology which Tillemont praises that Baronius saw the Acts of our holy Martyrs which Mombritius and Surius had published. In Surius Maximinus thus rises against St. Fausta: Wicked head, how hast thou dared to tear away the venerable priest Evelasius from the greatest gods? There it is said of the same Evilasius: For he was the one who procured the sacrifices for all the gods. And below: And the prefect (Maximinus) said to her, evil and vile-born, why hast thou dared to snatch away the priest of the gods and to hand him over to thy God? From these Baronius drew that Evilasius was a priest of the idols, which I do not know how Tillemont could have been ignorant of, unless perhaps he did not even see the Acts themselves, which I much suspect: for unless his discourse is only of the martyrologists, that too is false which he asserts, that the Greeks did not know that the holy Martyrs were called from heaven: for that is affirmed in the plainest words in the great Menologium of the Greeks, of which Lambecius speaks.
[11] Nor are the Latins altogether silent about Maximinus: for Rabanus joins to the holy Fausta and Evilasius the Prefect, for the credit at least seems though his name is concealed, as a Martyr, who in the Basilian Menologium is called Maximus, and whose martyrdom is passed over in silence by the Greeks even in the Menæa, and only his conversion to Christ is narrated. The Latins indeed attribute only thirteen years to St. Fausta when she was crowned with martyrdom, and they were perhaps mistaken in this, that, when they found that she had been thirteen years old when the Saint was bereft of her parents, they transferred that age to her death; or they judged that she suffered for Christ in that same year. But neither could Tillemont establish the contrary, and even the error freely granted is lighter than that anything should thence be sought against the credit of the Acts. And what finally are those things which Bede and others report, so great as to surpass all credit? Does Tillemont find anything which sure authority does not assert of other holy Martyrs? I should not think so.
[12] Certainly I find nothing of the kind in those Acts. There are heaped up, I confess, that those Acts must at least be left doubtful, not a few prodigies and torments; the emperor Maximian is brought upon the stage; very many conversations are interwoven, and exhortations stuffed with sacred sentences and sought with study; unusual are the things about the painted image which Fausta had asked to be made; less likely are the things narrated about the reward proposed to him who should devise the most atrocious kind of torment; but I do not know whether such things are such that from them one can safely infer with Tillemont: Therefore from whatever source those Acts flowed, there is in them no appearance of truth — than which I do not see what harsher could be said of any historical work. And indeed most critics admit with us that conversations and exhortations must commonly be left to the writers' invention, and that emperors are wont to be brought into Acts by authors that more splendor might accrue to them. In the rest the style of this Passion is very concise, which may commend it. If you object the multiplied prodigies and torments, let that be transferred hither which Tillemont says: All these things are credible from the power and mercy of God, if the Greeks were witnesses in any measure authentic. That the praised critic somewhat too much weakened the credit of Metaphrastes and of the Greeks may be seen in Honoré de Sainte-Marie, volume 1, Dissertation 2. Since I cannot but subscribe to the reasons of this most learned writer on this point, I judge that these Acts of ours must be placed in a better position, and, from the in some measure suspect credit of the Greeks, published as doubtful and suspect.
[13] from which Maximinus is reckoned among the holy Martyrs under a doubt And thus indeed I judge concerning the Acts to be published: that some things from inventions have been added to true ones; which, since they cannot at all be separated, render everything indeed suspect, but not altogether fabulous and false. And therefore I leave to the reader the judgment on the particulars. Certainly those things which agree with what Bede or Florus narrates seem safer than the rest. As regards Maximinus, however much in all the Acts which exist in Latin, and in the Greek ones of the imperial library, he is joined to SS. Fausta and Evilasius, I have nevertheless judged that he must be ascribed to SS. Fausta and Evilasius only doubtfully, both because mention of him, by express name at least, is not made by the Latin martyrologists, and because he is called Maximus in the Basilian and Sirletian Menologium, and his Martyrdom is not asserted in the Menæa. For the rest, I have warned that the Greeks keep the memory of our holy Martyrs in their calendars on the 6th of February. On the same day too they are said to have suffered in the Acts of Lambecius, Lipomanus, and Surius. In our manuscript Acts they are asserted to have been crowned with martyrdom on the 12th of the Kalends of October, on which day, following the Roman Martyrology after our custom, we here treat of them. About the year of their contest nothing can be certainly defined. The persecution began under Diocletian, at the instigation of Maximian Galerius, of whom without doubt the discourse is here, in the year of Christ 303. Maximian, after he had received the name of emperor, his father-in-law being stripped of it (Diocletian, which happened in the year of Christ 305), then at last began chiefly to rage against the Christians, on Lactantius's testimony, whose these words are. Certainly, although before that time he raged against the Christians, it is not credible that he did so at Cyzicus, which, being in Mysia Minor, did not belong to him before he obtained the empire. For Diocletian had retained in the partition all those provinces which were beyond the Ægean sea. Among them probably was Cyzicus, a city in Mysia Minor lying by the Propontis. Certainly Bithynia obeyed Diocletian, as Praxagoras himself agrees. Finally, if any credit is due the Acts, Maximian was emperor when St. Fausta was announced to him. Therefore the Saint's martyrdom must be enclosed within that space which lies between the years of Christ 305 and 311, in which Maximian perished.
§2. The contention of the people of Lucca and of Narni about the sacred remains of St. Fausta is discussed.
The people of Lucca and of Narni Of the precious relics of the holy virgin and martyr Fausta something now remains to be said. Of them the people of Lucca glory in Franciotti, On the Saints of Lucca, page 260, and elsewhere. The people of Narni seem to claim for themselves the sacred remains of St. Fausta of Cyzicus, or some part of them, for I find neither of the two distinctly expressed anywhere. I only so conjecture from what Papebroch, volume 1 of May, at the Acts of St. Juvenal, page 406, recites from his notebooks, which he had seen and noted on the spot at Narni, and which I shall exhibit below. Certainly, as the former, so these celebrate the holy Martyr with a special cult. The people of Lucca confess that that body of St. Fausta in which they glory was translated from Narni to Lucca, nor do the people of Narni deny it. Yet they report the occasion and manner of the translation differently, and entangle it in different fables. The people of Narni contend that, in an old manuscript which the cited Papebroch printed on page 390, the sacred treasure of three holy bodies, namely of Juvenal, Cassius, and Fausta, was carried off from them by Adalbert, marquis of Tuscany. See, if you please, the sufficiently long invention in Papebroch
that she was St. Fausta the virgin and martyr of Cyzicus, whose sacred body the people of Narni first possessed, and which the people of Lucca received when it was carried off from them. There are not a few things which once drew Papebroch, and very many others, to a contrary judgment, and which further draw me. Of these I subjoin some.
[16] The people of Narni not only do not prove that before the translation of the holy bodies to Lucca the bones of St. Fausta of Cyzicus rested with them, claim the holy Fausta of Cyzicus for themselves. but they do not even show any trace of any cult paid to our Saint at that time. Their poverty in that kind not only they themselves candidly, but the people of Lucca too, freely confess. Nay, Jacobilli alone, whom I have seen, has attempted to assign a way by which the body of St. Fausta of Cyzicus should have come to Narni. This writer, of very easy faith, in volume 3 of the Saints of Umbria, page 262, presently distinguishes two holy Faustas, whose sacred bodies the people of Narni possessed, and of whom one was the wife of St. Cassius, the other our holy Martyr. And her relics he says were granted to St. Cassius in the year of Christ 540, and by him, that he might satisfy the holy desire and piety of his wife Fausta, translated to the cathedral church, where they rested until the year 910, in which they were carried off to Lucca. Rightly indeed he here distinguishes two Faustas; but that we may believe that St. Cassius obtained the body of St. Fausta of Cyzicus, and that her sacred bones, not the other's, were afterwards translated to Lucca, we require a witness for each assertion; for we are not wont, where ancient testimonies are lacking to him, to trust Jacobilli, especially where some things protest to the contrary.
[17] Moreover, not only does the silence of the people of Narni oppose him, But it seems that not the body of our St. Fausta but also the open confession of the people of Lucca that they are destitute of ancient documents from which it might be proved. Let us hear the aforesaid Franciotti, page 260, and render his words into Latin. After he has assigned another year for the translation than Jacobilli, namely the year 845, he thus subjoins: And had not fires followed at Lucca, especially in the archive of St. Frediano, perhaps it could have been found how and on what occasion that body of St. Fausta of Cyzicus was carried to Narni. But since there survive there no writings, I cannot, except by the authority of ancient tradition, answer the objection of some who suspect that that body is not that of the holy virgin and martyr of Cyzicus, but either of her who was the wife of St. Cassius, whom from his epitaph it is manifest to have been buried there beside the body of St. Cassius, and who was named Fausta, or of another. Hence it is clear that Franciotti, who for the moment of the matter and from his affection toward the city of Lucca without doubt diligently searched everything both at Narni and at Lucca, lacked documents from which to prove even in appearance the ancient possession of the holy body by the people of Narni, on which the cause of the people of Lucca depends: and thence too it may be suspected that what he adduces is the invention of Jacobilli alone.
[18] but of the Fausta As regards Franciotti, his conjecture is of no weight, that ancient testimonies about this matter might perhaps have been found had not fire consumed the manuscripts. It would assuredly be strange that the memory of so great a matter should be so extinguished by fire both at Lucca and at Narni that there was nowhere a trace of it except in popular tradition, which I do not know whether it is as ancient as he would wish to persuade us. However it be, traditions of this kind not rarely rest on errors, or themselves beget errors. Certainly there are here besides other things which make it most probable to us that not the body of St. Fausta of Cyzicus, but of another matron of the same name, was carried from Narni to Lucca. There still stands at Narni, on Papebroch's testimony, a sepulchral stone on which these words are read carved:
I, Cassius, undeservedly a prelate by the gift of Christ,
here restore to the earth my limbs entrusted to me:
whom, anticipating by her fate, my sweetest partner of life,
Fausta, rests in peace before my tomb.
Do thou, whoever thou art that standest by, pray to remember us with a kindly prayer,
knowing that thou shalt receive all things suited to thy deeds.
SD. ANN. XXI. M. IX. D. X. RQ. IN PACE
PRID. KAL. IVL. P. C. BASILII V. C. ANN. XVII.
[19] wife of St. Cassius, That Fausta therefore was buried beside the body of St. Cassius; and the people of Narni have believed, and believe even today, that she died before his episcopate, and that, continence having been kept in the marriage, she was a Virgin. Whether she was ever venerated as a Saint I do not know. It is most likely that she was held in the highest honor by the people of Narni, with some opinion of sanctity, which in those centuries was sometimes bred by almost the mere familiar acquaintance of holy men with them. Assuredly, if it be true, or at least was believed at that time, that Fausta preserved virginity in marriage, that alone could then suffice for her to obtain the name of Saint among her own people: especially if St. Cassius showed his affection and veneration toward her. Whatever be the case, of the body of this Fausta, which is established to have been buried together with St. Cassius, after the bodies of SS. Juvenal and Cassius were carried off nothing further was heard among the people of Narni or of Lucca. Whither then did that body go, which it is not credible was wholly neglected? I am mistaken unless every prudent man must judge that it was carried off together with the sacred bones of St. Cassius, with which it had been entombed, and that, since mention of another exists nowhere before those times, that very Fausta, the wife of St. Cassius, is she who at Lucca either began then first to be venerated when they obtained her body, or whose cult, already long since begun at Narni, persevered there, and who afterwards obtained the title of Virgin and martyr of Cyzicus.
[20] was carried from Narni to Lucca, Against these conjectures some things can be opposed which are not difficultly refuted. In the old manuscript which Papebroch printed at the Life of St. Juvenal, bishop of Narni, page 390, the author presents the wailings and laments of the people of Narni at the destruction of their city, and the citizens thus repeating, number 8: Most beloved Fausta, noble and comely with an angelic countenance, glorious virgin, exceedingly bright, best hope, why dost thou leave us? Either die thou with thine own, thou who wast not timid to die in martyrdom! Here indeed that Fausta is plainly called a Martyr whose remains Adalbert, count of Tuscany, was about to carry off to Lucca. It pleases me to conjecture nothing more invidious here about the Saint, who in the same document is elsewhere always only called Virgin, and whose Pastor St. Cassius is said to be. But besides that there are various holy Faustas, martyrs too, of whom we have already treated in our work at the 4th day of January, the 15th of March, the 2nd and the 10th of June, all different from her of Cyzicus, that writing deserves no credit, as in the place cited and in chapter 8 Papebroch shows. And since it is most likely that that fable-maker wrote three or four centuries after the event, his authority cannot assert for the people of Narni an ancient possession of the body of St. Fausta of Cyzicus.
[21] Another thing Franciotti urges to the contrary, subjoining these words to his own praised above: which first by the people of Lucca, Although a pious and prudent reader should not be moved by such slight things: yet let him first suppose for a while that she is the wife of St. Cassius (whom, namely, the people of Lucca venerate). It is certain that, just as, when those two bodies came to Lucca, it was set down in the records that one of them was that of St. Cassius, bishop of Narni, so also, if the other had been that of Fausta his wife, that would have had to be noted, published, and handed on from hand to hand, as it was handed on about the other. Let him consider secondly: that it is established by an ancient and never interrupted tradition, and by the most ancient Manuscripts of the church of St. Frediano, that the feast of St. Fausta has always been celebrated with the title of Virgin and Martyr. Which two conditions do not suit the Fausta of Narni, who is neither a Martyr, nor is anywhere commended by any word as Saint or Blessed. This reasoning of Franciotti Papebroch exploded in passing at number 75, and not undeservedly: for the inept sophism is easily turned back against himself, and it is asked: Why did the people of Lucca, having obtained the sacred bodies, just as they set down in writing that one of them was that of St. Cassius, bishop of Narni, not also enter in the records that the other was that of St. Fausta, the illustrious martyr of Cyzicus? Certainly there was equal reason, at the least, nay a greater, for doing both about St. Fausta of Cyzicus, who could be less known to the common people.
[22] But if he should make the fable that this was indeed done, but that the documents perished by fire, and afterwards by the people of Narni, I require a witness; and I reply with equal right that the same happened to the documents drawn up about the matron Fausta of Narni. And what finally are those most ancient documents of the church of St. Frediano from which it may be established that the feast of St. Fausta was always celebrated at Lucca with the title of Virgin and Martyr? Martyrologies, I suppose, or Breviaries, for the other ancient monuments, on his own testimony, were consumed by fire. But is it asserted in them that the solemn memory is kept of that Fausta, Virgin and Martyr, whose sacred relics were carried from Narni to Lucca, and that she is of Cyzicus? If they are very ancient, I should not think so; and therefore Franciotti can conclude nothing thence for himself. He alleges ancient and never interrupted traditions, but resting on no foundation, and of which, although their beginning cannot certainly be assigned, it is not very difficult to assign the occasion. Papebroch thinks it was that very one which by long practice he had learned had given a beginning to many like errors. He judges, namely, that the martyrologies themselves led the people of Lucca into error, when, having obtained the body of the Fausta of Narni, and thinking they had gained a sacred treasure, they at once made sacred that day on which they found a Fausta of the same name assigned in their Martyrology; whence gradually both began to be confounded, and the deeds of one or the other to be blotted out.
[23] These things do not indeed exceed the limits of conjecture, but countless examples had made it, in place of the holy Martyr of Cyzicus, and daily occurring ones make it for us, most probable to Papebroch. By it, until someone shall have brought forward at least more likely things for St. Fausta of Cyzicus, we shall stand, and shall believe that at Lucca there are no other relics of a Fausta than of her who was the wife of St. Cassius. As regards the people of Narni, I believe that they are in the same error; for what relics of a Fausta they have, they seem to have received from Lucca. That I should so judge is caused by the things which Papebroch in the sixtieth year of the past century set down in his notebooks on the spot at Narni: some of which
[24] began to be held for sacred relics. For the rest, about the day on which St. Fausta is venerated in each place the writers do not sufficiently agree. Papebroch says that at Narni her memory is kept on the 20th of September; Jacobilli assigns to her the 25th day of the same month, on which also she is venerated by the people of Lucca, on Franciotti's testimony; and this the Acts of St. Fausta persuade, which we received both from Narni and from Lucca. On the same day, in one copy or another of Usuard, some Fausta, a virgin, is announced, about whom inquiry will have to be made at that day. Moreover, of the Acts which were sent us thence something remains to be said. Both, as I warned above, agree word for word. They are more contracted than all the rest which we have, and differ from them very much, yet in such a way that it is manifest that some things were taken from Surius's Acts and from those which I shall print. More than all the rest they teem with sacred sentences, and to the prodigies of the others there is added also this, that once, again, and a third time, as St. Fausta prayed, her chains were loosed, and that she was refreshed in prison by a heavenly concert. Finally they are such that it is not difficult to judge that they are much later than those we are to publish.
THE PASSION,
From a manuscript of St. Maximin of Trier collated with our manuscript.
Fausta, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
Evilasius, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
Maximinus or Maximus, martyr, at Cyzicus on the Hellespont. (S.)
BHL Number: 2833
From the manuscripts.
St. Fausta, a girl of still tender age When it had come to the ears of the emperor Maximian that a certain virgin by name Fausta, daughter of Gemellus the protector a, bereft of her parents, was being brought up in the justifications of Christ (and the holy Little One was about thirteen years b old), sending the first c of the palace, by name Evilasius, to Cyzicus, he ordered the Bride of Christ to be sought and to be persuaded to sacrifice to the gods. But if she should not consent, he ordered that she should be drowned in the waves d. And this Evilasius came to Cyzicus e and found the Girl very delicate and a little child. And when she had been brought to him, he tried to compel her to sacrifice. But Fausta said to him: O Evilasius, I will not sacrifice to such gods, who are deaf and blind and are the works of men's hands: for I have my Savior and Bridegroom Jesus Christ, who is in the heavens, and I cannot forsake him, lest I lose my reward which I have with him.
[2] is tempted with blandishments by Evilasius to sacrifice to the idols: But Evilasius said to her: Hear me, Fausta, as thy father, and consent to me, that thou mayest be able to sacrifice to the great god Jove, and to the most invincible Mars, and to Apollo, and to Asclepius f: for I know that thou wilt consent to me when thou hast learned what sentence has been passed against thee. Fausta said to him: Do not think that I am one of the foolish: although I am small in age, my mind, perfect in every way, is devoted to God. Then Evilasius ordered her to be made bald to her shame g. And when she was dragged she said nothing, but only gazed at the heavens, seeing Jesus Christ, whom she loved. But Evilasius said to his officers: Bring the smith's irons h before her, for unless she has tried the harshness of these torments she will not consent to me so as to sacrifice. And the officers carried out the command and brought the irons. Then Evilasius said to Fausta: Hast thou seen the irons by which thou art to be tortured? Fausta answered: I have seen them, but my soul is not terrified. O cruel Evilasius, and man of blood.
[3] Evilasius, angered, ordered her to be hung up and greatly tortured. then by various torments, from which And while she was being tortured, she lifted her eyes to heaven and said: God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who wast present to the three children in the furnace, who didst rescue Thecla i from the fire of the spectacle, and Daniel from the mouth of the lions, who didst lead Moses through the Red Sea as through dry land, who didst lead Peter unharmed out of prison and didst loose his chains, who lookest upon the earth and makest it tremble, be propitious to me a sinner. And straightway flashes of lightning came from heaven, so that many died []. Evilasius, when he saw it, feared that it was a magic art and that it might kill him, as k his servants, and crying out to her he said: Fausta, thou hast mocked me by doing evil and magical works. Fausta said to him: Evilasius, hear me, and make an image l having my likeness, and bring all the irons of torture, and fasten them on it. And Evilasius, rejoicing, believing that he was gaining something, ordered the image to be made, and said to her: Behold, the image has been made according to what thou didst wish; now tell me what thy thought is.*
[4] But Fausta said to him: If thou wert prudent and reasonable, she comes out unharmed. Hence she is charged with magic thou wouldst perceive my intention. Evilasius said: By the gods and by the safety of the emperors, I have not yet perceived thy intention. Now tell me, what is this? And Fausta answered: O Evilasius, he who punishes that image, what harm does he do it, except that he only makes labor for himself? Evilasius said: O gods, that I am mocked by a Girl. But Fausta said to him: I do not mock thee, but I wished to show thee that thou gainest nothing by torturing me. For as this image does not feel when it is tortured, so neither do I when I am tortured: thou layest vain labor upon thyself: do more, as much as thou wilt; for my body lies subject to thee, over which thou hast power, but over my soul God has power. Evilasius, hearing her words, ordered a coffer m to be brought, and her to be put into it and nailed with sharp goads n, and to be cut through the middle. And the executioners did according to the command, and they cut as though on wood; but holy Fausta thus sang psalms while she was in the coffer: I will not fear evils, for thou art with me, O Lord.
[5] And the sawyers grew weary and were weakened by the Holy Spirit: and again she said: Jesus Christ, by Evilasius; but again and again prodigiously preserved, help me, wretched. Then the executioners withdrew, and going announced to Evilasius, saying to him: That Woman whom thou gavest us, cutting her from the first hour to the sixth, we could avail nothing: for we changed the saws, and they did not reach her, and we applied fire to the coffer, and she was singing psalms, saying: Even if I pass through fire, it shall not burn me. Hearing these things, Evilasius was wearied with no small thought, because of the vengeance which had been set before him. And he said to her: Fausta, thou hast mocked me by doing magical works: for I am eighty years old, and have never seen such things. I swear to thee by the safety of the emperor and of all the gods that I will do thee no harm if thou wilt consent and sacrifice: for I know that I shall be drowned in the waves for thy sake: for I cannot harm thee, since I labor, fighting against God. Now lay open the truth to me.
[6] Evilasius, by pious exhortations and prodigies, Fausta said to him: Evilasius, if I speak the truth and thou be further angered, thou wilt not be able to harm me: permit me to speak. And he permitted her to speak. And Fausta said: Attend and apply thy mind, for the things which shall be said are of great power, as thou hast seen. Very quickly I shall persuade thee to be with me in religion o. Hearing these things from holy Fausta, Evilasius withdrew into a remote place, [that he might hear the holy Virgin about to make exhortatory words for his salvation,] and seeing himself to be a pagan and sacrificing to the gods, he almost set himself in the life of the Christians. Hearing this, Fausta said to Evilasius: So does almighty God act, whose works are over the just and those who do well, who slays the idols and shows your gods to be demons, and hates the evils of the world, and himself blots out and reproves earthly things; but those who love heavenly things and keep virginity, and those who have known his commandments, he approves, and enriches with the highest and never-failing goods, because there is no God beside him: for here we die, but with him we live.
[7] he converts to the faith of Christ; But Evilasius, hearing the surpassing mercy of God, his heart was laid open by the Holy Spirit and began to open to good, and, now not fearing the emperor's sentence, he bore less care for his prefecture, and ordered her to be at liberty. But one of Evilasius's servants, running, announced to the emperor, saying: Evilasius has preferred Christ to thee, and will be a Christian unless thy majesty quickly seize him. Then Maximian the emperor, calling the Prefect, said to him: Swear to me by the gods that thou wilt not give thyself over to those who confess that Crucified one. And the Prefect swore, and was sent against Evilasius to Cyzicus, and questioned him, saying: Most wicked head, why hast thou dared to deceive the gods and to give thyself to the senseless Christians? Evilasius answered: By the son of God, if thou shalt quickly acknowledge the living God who abides unto the ages, thou shalt be blessed; for the gods [] are demons.* And the Prefect, hearing from Evilasius the dreadful oath, was terrified, for he too was one who sacrificed to the gods: and angered, he ordered him to be hung up and greatly tortured.
[8] who himself also with St. Fausta But Evilasius cried out, saying: Fausta, dove of Christ, who art clean and unspotted, call upon thy Bridegroom for me, who did thee much harm: for through thee I have known the Son of God; thou hast been my guide into the light, thou hast rescued me from darkness, thou hast freed me from the devil: receive and lift me on thy shoulders, and give me thy breasts as to a son; be not ashamed that I am an old man; I wish now to be above, despising what is below: be not angry with me, remembering the evils of thy torments which I exercised upon thee: I beseech thee, my Lady, let this be a remedy for me in the day of salvation. And Fausta, hearing Evilasius's prayers, forgetful of her former torments, said: My God, requite me with perfect grace, and receive Evilasius into the flock of thy sheep, and count him in the number of the Just. The Prefect, hearing that Evilasius had been converted by holy Fausta, ordered her to be brought. And the executioners, going, found the delicate Girl praying, for she wrought many [p] signs while set in prison.
[9] is afflicted with various torments, And the executioners, taking her up, dragged her naked and without a veil [q], whereby they believed she would blush. But she ran rejoicing, and came as the Bride of Christ. And the Prefect said to her: Most wicked and criminal woman, hast thou against all reason striven to snatch away the Priest of the gods from us and to give him to thy God? But Fausta said to the Prefect: I believe in God, who called Evilasius, once father of demons, now son of truth, that he will call thee also to himself. But the Prefect said: Do not think that Evilasius will deal with thee, for now I shall show thy flesh to the sun, whom thou wilt not confess. Fausta answered: My body lies subject to thee; what thou wilt, do. But the Prefect, indignant, ordered her nails [*] to be bored and nails to be driven in. And when it had been done, the holy Handmaid of God
did not feel it, for she was possessed by a divine power. The Prefect, seeing that such vengeance availed nothing, crying out to his staff, said: If anyone shall find me some greatest punishment, he shall be promoted.
[10] And a certain man, by name Claudius, answered: Let her be thrown to the beasts. from which she is prodigiously And the Prefect ordered fierce beasts to be procured for the morrow, and, as he came to the spectacle, the executioners dragged holy Fausta, and, stripping her naked as from her mother, they straightway loosed a lioness against her, which, running, adored her. Then the Prefect, seeing it, ordered all the beasts also to be loosed against her, and running to her feet they lay down. But the Prefect, seeing the new miracle, ordered her to be dragged naked. And when she was being dragged, she cried to the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, cover thy handiwork. And straightway a cloud from heaven covered her, as the Bride of Christ. But the Prefect said to his officers: If anyone shall find me a most evil punishment, as I have already said, he shall be in line for promotion, and I shall add him rations. And a certain man, by name Eusebius, said to the Prefect: Give me power over her, and I shall persuade her to sacrifice. And the Prefect gave him power over her. And he brought a nail-box with a thousand nails, and nailed her head and forehead and face and breast and shins, and she was studded with nails like a soldier's boot [r].
[11] And these things being accomplished, the Saint prayed, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, preserved. Moved by these, the Prefect who livest and abidest unto the ages, Sun of justice on the earth, who dost not set, who art the crown of the Saints, who hast called me also, a sinner, grant to this Prefect [s], who adores idols, to know this, that there is no God beside thee. But Eusebius, seeing that he gained nothing, being overcome by a Little Girl, ordered a frying-pan to be brought, and threw pitch into it, and ordered it to be kindled, and her to be put into it with Evilasius: and while they sang psalms, the frying-pan grew cold [t]. Then the Prefect, seeing the faith of the Christians, said: God, who hast numbered Evilasius with thy dove Fausta, count me also with the two, that I may complete the trinity. Holy Fausta said: So, Lord, show that thou art unmindful of evils, and do it speedily. And as she said these things, straightway the heavens were opened, and the Son of God was seen and the whole army of angels, and the Just shining like light.
[12] And the Prefect, seeing the great mystery, cried out to the Lord, embraces the faith, and with Fausta and Evilasius saying: Receive me as Evilasius into the bosom of thy Bride. And running he came beside the frying-pan, and lifted his eyes to heaven and said [u]: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I too am with you. And Fausta was filled with joy that the Lord had heard her, and she stretched out her hand and drew him to herself as Evilasius, and no pain touched him. But Fausta cried out: I, I am in the midst, like a fruitful vine, as the Lord says: Where there are two or three gathered in my name, I too am in the midst of them; for a threefold cord is not broken [w]. And as she spoke these things, a voice came from heaven, saying: Come, now the Father has work for you; and hearing these things, with joy they gave up their spirit, on the 12th day of the Kalends of October [x].
[13] is crowned with martyrdom. Then the emperor Maximian, hearing what had befallen Evilasius and the Prefect, cursed his gods, because they could not save their own men from the Christians, especially Apollo, Mars, and Asclepius [y]: but the people of Christ, being present and hearing these things, rejoicing buried the bodies of the Saints, and went away each to his own house, glorifying and praising the Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom is honor and glory and power now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Of the signs wrought by St. Fausta in prison there is nothing in Surius.
q. Mavors, Mafors, Maphorte, etc., from the Greek μαφόριον, signifies a veil or covering of the head, chiefly of women. See Georgi's Notes on Ado's Martyrology, and Du Cange in his Glossary.
r. I think Crepida should be read, from the Greek κρηπίς, and it is a kind of footwear, whose wooden under-soles were fastened together with many nails.
s. Here our manuscript has: Give me the Prefect also at this hour, that those who adore idols may know that there is not, etc. For the rest, I said in the preliminary Commentary that by Rabanus the Prefect is joined to the holy Martyrs, and that he is commonly called Maximinus in the Latin Acts, Maximus in the Menologium of the Greeks.
t. I do not know why Tillemont wishes it studiously, as it appears, to be noted that Maximus is said by the Greeks to have consummated his martyrdom with St. Fausta and Evilasius by fire, ἐν τεγάνῳ. Certainly in the Menæa it is ἐν τῷ τηγάνῳ, in a frying-pan.
u. Apparitions of this heavenly kind occur rather often among fables. If this really happened here, without doubt Maximinus was taught the mysteries of the faith, which he at once so distinctly professes. Moreover these things are thus narrated by Surius: And straightway running, he came near the frying-pan where St. Fausta and St. Evelasius were, and when he had lifted his eyes to heaven and had signed himself with the sign of the Cross over his whole body, he said: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I too am with you. And when he had put off his garments and again had made that which is the seal in Christ, he threw himself into the frying-pan. If these things are true, theologians are compelled to have recourse to a special impulse of the Holy Spirit in order to excuse the deed of Maximinus, rushing of his own accord into death.
w. Who would believe that St. Fausta uttered such things as are here badly contorted and fastened upon her?
x. Among the Greeks, as I warned in the Commentary, they are said to have suffered on the 4th of February.
y. Mombritius here adds: And knowing that they were nothing, he ordered the persecution to cease; which if it be true, the martyrdom of the Saints would have to be bound to the year of Christ 311.
Mombritius has mirarentur*.
ours: For those whom thou worshippest are demons, not gods.*
ours, more correctly, Talos* (ankles).