Glycerius

ON ST. GLYCERIUS, OR CLICERIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT MILAN IN INSUBRIA

About the year 438.

SYLLOGE.

Glycerius, or Clicerius, bishop and confessor, at Milan in Insubria. (S.)

BY J. P.

That the see of Milan was occupied in the fifth century by this Prelate is sufficiently established from the unanimous consent of the ancient monuments The Saint's deeds almost wholly unknown. and of the more recent writers; but as of his Acts before and during his episcopate nothing, or almost nothing, has been left to the memory of posterity, so about the years in which he came to it, held it, and dying left it, things so different are noted that Tristano Calco of Milan, in book 3 of his History of his Fatherland, did not hesitate to write in this manner: And Simplician lived in the episcopate four years. Whom Venerius succeeded; him Marolus the Syrian; after him Martinian; then Glicerius, whose times I have set down indistinctly; because on account of the poverty and disagreement of writers, who hand down things too insipid, I have found nothing to insert here. So the author, who wrote at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Not much different, certainly as to the poverty of monuments, was Giuseppe Ripamonti in the first decade, book 6, of the Histories of the church of Milan, published at the beginning of the following century; where, after he has recorded a few things pertaining to the age of Marolus, prelate of Milan, he thus continues: A like silence and oblivion has enveloped the prelates who followed, Martinian and Glicerius: except that the Acts of the assembly of Ephesus vindicated both, and Martinian also his own writings, by which he overthrew the Nestorian sect. On this latter assertion of Ripamonti I shall observe something below.

[2] What Calco alleged about the poverty and disagreement of writers The years of his episcopate the reader will readily admit, if only he will notice how differently the ancient catalogues and the writers who followed speak about the time of the episcopate of the prelates already named. Let us give some specimens concerning Glycerius alone. In the catalogue from a manuscript of the Ambrosian library marked P 246, extracted by Henschen at Milan in the year 1662 and afterwards published by Papebroch before volume 7 of May, I read thus: St. Glycerius sat 24 years, deposed on the 17th of the Kalends of October. Papebroch, however, presently warns that elsewhere 18 years are read. And indeed in another catalogue or index from an old codex of the same library, marked B, number 245, transcribed and published by Mabillon in volume 1 of the Museum Italicum, it is thus: Clicerius sat 18 years. Deposed on the 17th of the Kalends of October at St. Nazarius's. Nor does a third disagree, which from the codices of the metropolitan library Muratori exhibits in volume 4 On the Writers of Italian Affairs, page 141, whose words are these: Glicerius the bishop sat 18 years. He died on the 17th of the Kalends of October, buried at the basilica of the Apostles. The same number of years also Galvano Fiamma, an author of the not far advanced fourteenth century, expresses in the little work to which he gave the name A Handful of Flowers, and which Muratori published in volume 11 of the aforesaid collection. Clicerius, he says, the holy 17th archbishop of Milan, is ordained in the year of the Lord 423; and he sat 18 years. He lies at St. Nazarius's. There is added Donato Bossi in his Chronicle, printed in the types of Milan in the year of Christian salvation 1492 on the Kalends of March, writing thus: In the year of the Lord 420 blessed Clicerius is made the 18th archbishop of Milan, and he sat 18 years, and he lies at St. Nazarius's.

[3] are variously noted by various writers. Notwithstanding these, more recent writers ascribe only eight years of episcopate to the Saint: Giovanni de Deis, in the little work On the Successors of St. Barnabas in the church of Milan, collected from the Vatican library and from the manuscripts of Cardinal Sirlet by order of Pope Pius V in the year 1571, says thus: Glicerius Landriano, a citizen, made archbishop by Celestine the First, Pontiff, for the holiness of his morals, presided over the church of Milan with admirable prudence for 8 years, and, famous for sanctity, rested in the Lord under Sixtus III, Pontiff, on the 12th of the Kalends of October, etc. Only eight years likewise are attributed to him by the Table of the Archbishops of Milan published by decree of the fourth provincial council in the year 1582; by the proper lessons of the Ambrosian Breviary printed by order of St. Charles Borromeo in the same year; by Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, citing the same Breviary and the Acts of the church of Milan; by Puricelli in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 63; by Ughelli, volume 4 of the Italia Sacra, column 50; by Ripamonti praised above; and, to pass over others, by Bolland and Henschen at least tacitly, in volume 1 of January, page 89, where St. Martinian, the immediate predecessor of St. Glycerius, was treated, and in volume 2 of February, page 521, where St. Lazarus, his immediate successor, was treated: for they place Martinian's end about the year 431, and that of Lazarus, who sat 11 years, about 449; so that about eight years are left to our Saint.

[4] variously noted; Moreover, I believe that the more recent Milanese were the less reluctant to depart from their manuscript catalogues, both probably because in these the first prelates had indeed been noted by one and the same hand, but the years in which each died by a different hand, as Papebroch testifies of his own; and because otherwise certain deeds narrated elsewhere of their bishops could not be rightly reconciled with the times. Thus, because St. Martinian is related to have sent his writings against Nestorius to the council of Ephesus, and mention is made of him under the name of Martin in the letter of the schismatics opposing the said council in these words: Martin, the most holy and most beloved of God bishop of the Milanese, it seemed necessary to extend his episcopate at least to the year 431, in which the said council was celebrated; and consequently to take away at least ten years from the eighteen years which were commonly attributed to Glycerius, that eleven years might be kept for St. Lazarus, Glycerius's successor.

[5] he is believed to have died about the year 438. I said at least ten years: for to Papebroch, who had read in his own catalogue 24 years of our Saint's episcopate, it seemed good, on account of the same council of Ephesus, to cut off a full twenty years, so that he attaches Martinian's death and Glycerius's election to about the year 435, and with all the rest commonly sets Glycerius's death about the year 438, which I too have noted above in the margin. No more account did Giovanni de Deis and the other Italian writers praised in number 3 make of the ancient catalogues when they marked the Saint's day of death than when they set the years of his episcopate. For in them he is constantly said to have died on the 17th of the Kalends of October, yet they preferred to put the 12th of the Kalends of October, or the 20th day of September; perhaps because on that day the Saint's name occurs in the ancient Calendars, and on the same he is now venerated. Nevertheless that correction does not seem so necessary: 17 could indeed have crept into the catalogues by an error of the transcribers for 12; but neither is it alien from likelihood that the Saint's annual memory was transferred from the 15th to the 20th of September, lest for the 15th day of September the older cult of St. Nicomedes should be lost, as Papebroch too suspected.

[6] That our Saint was a Milanese by fatherland very many have asserted, His fatherland Milan: some things handed down about him from conjectures. nor has anyone hitherto been found by us to deny it; nay, that he sprang from the noble house of Landriano is added, besides others who call him by the surname Landriano, by Francesco Besozzi in the Pontifical History of Milan; by Paolo Morigia both in his work On the Nobility of Milan and in his History of the antiquity of that city; by Sansovino, On the Origin and Deeds of the illustrious families of Italy; and by Ughelli in the Italia Sacra; who latter also affirms what we had above in number 1 from Ripamonti, saying thus: Before he obtained the dignity he was present at the council of Ephesus, and sat there as Martinian's legate. But that this is drawn only from conjectures Ripamonti himself sufficiently suggests in the place cited above, where he then speaks thus: A like majesty of countenance is attributed to Glicerius Landriano. He succeeded Martinian in the year four hundred and thirty-two, and extended his pontificate into the eighth year, more famous by his own virtue than by the affairs of the church. He distributed his paternal goods among the poor, flourished in the glory of his genius, kept the most spotless manners, and the common people called him the Angel. But that he was present at the assembly of Ephesus is so to be taken that he went as Martinian's legate, to which legation indeed the letters of a certain Philip lend credit. For he, when he wrote to the supreme Pontiff about the outcome of the whole council, reported thus: "The bishops of the Italian name either were present themselves, or sent legates for themselves." Who moreover would believe either that, when the rest were sending, the Milanese did not send, or that, if he wished to send, he had anyone better than Glicerius, who indeed had both been under his discipline and excelled in the helps of managing affairs. But what does all this reasoning contain except a mere conjecture?

[7] About the place of his burial there is sufficient agreement among all writers commonly, His body buried in the church of St. Nazarius, although they set it forth under a different name; for while some write He lies at St. Nazarius's, others He is buried in the basilica of the Apostles, others In the Roman basilica, all designate the same basilica, as may be seen in Paolo Morigia in the Sanctuary of Milan, page 37, where he treats of the relics of the church of St. Nazarius. But Ripamonti was without doubt mistaken when, in the first decade of his Histories, book 7, treating of St. Gerontius, the third successor of St. Glycerius, in this manner

he spoke: Gerontius died in the sixth year of his charge: he is buried in the basilica of the divine Simplician. There he himself had laid Marolus, Glicerius, and Lazarus, since they had before obtained a more obscure tomb. Ughelli probably followed him in his mistake, saying thus under Gerontius: And he was buried in the basilica of St. Simplician, whither he himself had a little before translated the relics of SS. Marolus, Glycerius, and Lazarus. For all the writers hitherto cited, who are certainly later than the times of Gerontius, attribute the said bodies to the church of St. Nazarius, and none brings in mention of a translation made to another church. Nay, Giovanni de Deis under the same Gerontius teaches the opposite: He took care, he says, that the bodies of the holy archbishops Marolus, Glicerius, and Lazarus should be laid in a more fitting place in the Roman basilica.

[8] found by St. Charles Borromeo Besides this, we are taught from the report of an eyewitness that the bodies of St. Glycerius and of the other Saints were found in the same church of St. Nazarius in the year 1578 by St. Charles Borromeo, and after a solemn procession were laid there beneath a new altar in the next year 1579. That witness is the most illustrious Carlo Bascapè, bishop of Novara, in the Life of that same St. Charles, book 5, chapter 6, where, after he had reported in the preceding chapter the acts of the fifth provincial council celebrated in the same city of Milan, he continues in these words: And the council was adorned by the translation of the relics of the basilica of the Apostles, just as the translation itself was greatly illustrated by the presence of the bishops. Charles had moved them in the preceding year (1578), when the canons wished to restore and adorn the ancient edifice. But he had not laid them in the appointed place, that with greater honor and solemnity they might be carried through the city while the council was being held, and that their translation might be altogether more splendid and more effective for piously stirring the people. When therefore the chief altar was being removed from the middle of the church, we found beneath it, as had been handed down by our elders, the bodies of our holy prelates Venerius, Clicerius, Marolus, and Lazarus, yet not conveniently or distinctly enough, and placed in certain rough stone basins.

[9] and laid beneath a new altar; He then sets forth the series of the other relics found there, and at length continues thus: These relics therefore, when found, Charles piously gathered with his own hands, we serving in the holy office; whom he bade always to be present at actions of this kind. And when, as we were saying, the council of the bishops was ended, he brought forth these bodies with a very religious and solemn pomp, and, going about the streets in a fitting circuit, himself carrying the holy biers together with the bishops, he set them before a very great people for veneration. All the relics commemorated he placed beneath the great new altar, except those taken from the right side of the church. Thus the aforesaid biographer of St. Charles Borromeo: whence we learn that our Saint's sacred remains — for of a more recent translation we have hitherto heard nothing — are even now kept beneath the chief altar in the same church of St. Nazarius, or of the holy Apostles. Paolo Morigia, both in the Sanctuary and in his History of Milan, says that the translation already narrated was most solemnly performed on the 10th day of May of the said year 1579, and that to it there flowed together, besides the inhabitants of the city, more than thirty thousand pilgrims.

[10] his ancient cult; his memory in the Roman Martyrology and others; I do not doubt that the Milanese always venerated Glycerius as a Saint, but it is also evident enough that that veneration was greatly increased by the finding and translation already set forth. For his name is found inscribed in the Calendars of the Missal printed in the year 1522 and of the Milanese Breviary of 1539 at the 20th day of August in these words: Of holy Clicerius, bishop of Milan, but without the prescription of an Office or Mass. No memory of him occurs before in the general sacred calendars of the Church; but about the very time of the finding Galesinius inserted him into his Martyrology, and afterwards Baronius into today's Roman one, announcing him thus: At Milan, of holy Clicerius, bishop and confessor. Other more recent writers followed, and among them Brautius in his Poetic Martyrology of all Italy with the following verse:

Deservedly do we venerate thee, Clicerius, because as pastor thou didst rule

the sheepfold of Christ, watchful with piety.

[11] his cult today; Not long after the translation, in the Ambrosian Breviary published by order of St. Charles Borromeo, an Office was prescribed for him with a solemn rite with a proper third lesson, as we learn from a copy of the same Breviary reprinted in the year 1635. Finally in the year 1642, in a little book containing the proper and common lessons for the second and third nocturn of the Saints of the church of Milan, for the use of those who use the Roman rite, there is assigned to him at this day an Office to be recited with a double rite with the fourth and fifth lessons proper, the rest from the common there prescribed, except the ninth, which is from the Homily of the vigil of St. Matthew. The Collect is Exaudi, the Mass Sacerdotes, the Gospel Videte. For the rest, in the proper lesson which is read in the Breviary no change has been made, except that it is here divided into two parts, as follows.

[12] Lesson 4. Clicerius, a citizen of Milan, a man leading his life above all piously, the proper lessons of his Office; justly, and temperately, succeeded blessed Martinian for the merits of his virtues. And indeed, as the latter shone forth by his zeal for helping the Church, and by the example of a truly pastoral life, and by the praise of his episcopal office, so this man, substituted next in his place, was famous for his outstanding imitation of that discipline by whose examples and institutions the other had illustrated the church of Milan. Lesson 5. Blessed Clicerius therefore, since he shone with admirable piety toward God and with the pursuits of a heavenly life, which he had joined with the preaching of the word, was also modest like a virgin, and with a virginal countenance he bore before him the image of the divine thoughts of his mind. And when he had religiously administered the church for eight years, with great and illustrious testimony of his sanctity he rested in the Lord on the twelfth of the Kalends of October.

[13] an old epigram composed by St. Ennodius. What is here recorded of the Saint's virginal modesty in some measure agrees with the epigram which St. Ennodius, bishop of Pavia and nearly his contemporary, once composed under this title: On the venerable bishop Glycerius. It was published, together with other epigrams on certain holy bishops of Milan composed by the same Ennodius, by Andreas Schott, and then by Jacques Sirmond, priests of the Society of Jesus, and finally by Giovanni Puricelli in the Nazarian Dissertation, chapter 66, whence I transfer it hither.

Suffused with vermilion [], and blushing for his excellent deeds,*

Glycerius follows with a virginal countenance.

While he stains his pure form with a rosy dew,

his painted cheeks pleased in their simplicity.

Bearing a glowing brow with a saffron sprinkling,

he had tinged his glad face with modest marks.

Having obtained the sceptre, which the witnessing image attests,

whom the purple betrayed by the empire of his mind.

Him the people has, happy for a very short time.

But again sent to the service of the Great One.

The last verse but one Schott begins thus: Hinc avo & populus; but Sirmond thus: Hunc habuit & populus, and the former suspects that one should read Hinc avus, etc., the latter Hunc habuit populus: but in whatever way it be read, the whole poem is exceedingly obscure.

elsewhere nimio*