ON ST. SEPTIMIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR,
AT ÆSIUM IN PICENUM
At the beginning of the IV century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Septimius, bishop and Martyr, at Æsium in Picenum (S.)
BY J. P.
§ I. The Acts of the Saint, unknown to ancient writers; the findings of his body; his cult.
[ ] Æsium or Æsis, commonly Jesi, an episcopal
city of Italy and of the Papal
dominion, which was once reckoned among the cities
of ancient Umbria, The Saint, patron of the church of Æsium, is inscribed in no ancient Calendars
but is now situated in Picenum
not far from the river Æsis, acknowledges as its first
bishop St. Septimius, of
whom we shall treat here briefly. Briefly, I say, on account of
the scarcity of documents. The people of Æsium honor him solemnly
every year on this day, and, as I shall show below,
have honored him from time immemorial as
a martyr of the IV century, and as the particular patron of their
church: but — which is truly remarkable — he seems to have been
unknown to all ancient writers,
to all martyrologists down to the XVII century, in which
Philip Ferrari, the first that I know of, inscribed him in both
his Catalogues of Saints: in the General one indeed
today in these words: At Æsium in Picenum, of St. Septimius, bishop
and martyr, patron of the same city; but in the particular one
of Italy at the V day of September, which he
believed to be the day of his death, with a longer eulogy; in both places he cites
the Acts of St. Septimius, from the documents of the church of Æsium,
but in both places he warns that the said documents
need criticism. He alleges the reason in his Annotation to the
eulogy, namely because the Saint is there said to have been ordained
by St. Marcellus the Pope, and killed at the beginning of his
episcopate. Hence he says: This must have happened while Maxentius
was usurping the empire at Rome, between the year of the Lord 305 and 310,
whereas in the Acts of St. Septimius it is read to have been done in the year 461:
it seems therefore that 151 years, perhaps by the writer's
error, have been added.
[2] That Annotation of Ferrari most probably gave
occasion, in the last century, to our Predecessors inscribed; his Acts from the lessons of the Office, to inquire
into the Acts themselves, from which both Ferrari and
Ughelli, in volume 1 of the Italia sacra among the bishops of Æsium,
abridged the eulogy of St. Septimius. But I find nothing obtained
by them beyond the lessons of the second Nocturn,
customarily recited in the Office of the XXII day of September, and
agreeing in almost everything with the eulogies cited. Of those
lessons I have one printed copy, printed at Æsium in the year
1624, and two manuscript ones, of which the first, with
an attestation of the bishop, to be recited below, was transmitted here
in the year 1638; the other in the year 1664 with
the following admonition of the most reverend Andrew Vallemari,
Camaldolese abbot of Fabriano in the March of Ancona:
The lessons about St. Septimius, which the canons of the church of Æsium
and all its diocese recite in choir,
I enclose here; but their author is not known,
nor whence they were taken; in this I have used
every diligence. So he.
[3] Yet it cannot be doubted that Ferrari had before him Acts
distinct from the lessons, composed by an unknown author, we shall reprint. since
that which he asserts in the Acts to need criticism —
namely the Saint's martyrdom fixed to the year 461 — is by no means
expressed in the lessons, just as neither in the
eulogy itself in Ferrari, who probably passed over many things
besides these; whether of better quality, who shall say? Meanwhile,
until those Acts, if indeed they still exist,
are dug out of the darkness, they will be suspect to us, not only
on account of the anachronism assigned by Ferrari,
but most of all because the things narrated in his Catalogue
and in the lessons, whose source Vallemari with all his diligence
could not detect, are so similar to the faulty
Acts of St. Emygdius, bishop and martyr of Ascoli,
likewise in Picenum, printed by us in volume 2 of August at
the V day, that it must at once be evident to anyone comparing them
either that both proceeded from the same author, or
rather that the one was imprudently taken from the other: which
I wonder was noticed by Ferrari in neither place, when he gave
an abridgment of both. That asserted
similarity I shall prove by several examples in the Annotations
to the lessons hitherto mentioned, which are to be appended to this
Commentary.
[4] A church sacred to St. Septimius; a twofold finding of his body; As for what concerns the ancient cult of the holy Prelate,
that same lack of documents stands in the way of our bringing forward
anything particular; from the lessons we learn that
the cathedral church was consecrated to his name
long before the year
1469, in which his body, hidden until then, is said to have been found
by Thomas Isilerius, bishop of Æsium,
and translated into the cathedral church, erected of old
in his memory. Here the sacred body lay hidden,
and indeed in the earth, as is added in the same place, deeply
buried and in a neglected floor, down to the times
of Tiberius Cincius, promoted in the year 1621 to the bishopric of Æsium
and afterwards adorned with the Roman purple,
who, having found it again, raised it up and solemnly laid it
in a new tomb. These things are described at greater length
in the Life of the same Most Eminent man in Ciaconius,
volume 4 of the Lives of the Popes and Cardinals, column
672. Take his words: Although it was reported that the relics of this holy pontiff
and martyr (Septimius) were preserved, laid up in the metropolitan
church of Æsium, yet
where they were, in what corner of it they lay hidden, was clear
to no one. Hence a holy care to search for them came upon Tiberius, the present
bishop; he applied himself to the business,
and, God prospering the pious undertaking, he found the desired
treasure, deeply
buried beneath the ground, with an inscription and clear
signs, which would not allow prudent men to doubt
that those were the bones of the holy martyr and pontiff Septimius,
founder of the church of Æsium.
[5] a solemn elevation; Therefore, having dug the sacred ashes out of a deep and squalid pit,
he exposed them publicly in a richly adorned casket, and
to the whole city gathered in the temple he discoursed with a weighty
and pastoral oration to this effect:
“You have here, citizens of Æsium, by a singular
benefit of God, as it were your Pastor come to life again, or rather
the Prince of your pastors, who, when your
fathers had been converted from the diabolical superstition of idols to
the holy and saving faith of Christ,
first brought the episcopal honor into this city.
He lay hidden and concealed for many ages, divine
Providence so permitting in its inscrutable
secrets; as the body of the holy protomartyr Stephen
etc.” To these he subjoins several examples of the chief
relics of the Church, whose findings, after they had long lain hidden,
are commemorated with a yearly celebration,
and thus continues: “By these examples it befits us also,
if not to celebrate a public feast by the rite and usage of the whole Church, yet
to celebrate this our private feast
of the finding and exaltation of our holy father
and of the glorious pontiff and martyr Septimius”: whose
Life being thereupon recited in sum, and having exhorted, as
the matter required, all who were present to honor and invoke him,
he thereupon celebrated the sacred
Liturgy with fitting apparatus and chant.
And presently he enclosed the venerable relics in a noble place and tomb,
prepared and adorned by himself, as is clear from the following
inscription in the cathedral. The aforesaid
inscription, together with the other which is exhibited there,
was transmitted to us from Æsium with a manuscript
copy of the testimonial letters here subjoined.
[6] Tiberius Cincius, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See
bishop of Æsium. of a new tomb To all and singular who shall inspect, see, read,
and likewise hear these our present letters, we make faith
and attest that
in our cathedral church of Æsium, at the high
altar, in which is fittingly preserved, with great
devotion of the people, the body of St. Septimius, on the Gospel
side of the said altar there are the following inscribed.
D. O. M.
“Citizen, stranger, whoever you are that stand here, venerate as a suppliant
the remains of heroic virtue. The body of St. Septimius lies
here. Him St. Marcellus gave as first bishop to the city
of Æsium; which city he, having subdued it by miracles,
trained it by precepts, planted it
by preaching, watered it with his blood, and made it flourish daily
in all uprightness of manners, guards with his present
patronage.”
[7] inscriptions; But on the Epistle side there are the following inscribed:
“The sacred pledge of so great a Prelate and Patron,
Or rather a treasure deeply buried in the ground,
When it had long lain hidden in a neglected floor,
The skillful piety of Tiberius Cincius, bishop, found it;
The pious munificence of Cardinal Scipio Borghese
Adorned it, laid up in a more honorable urn of varied marble.
A. F. S. M. DC. XXIII
Citizen, stranger, this is what I wished; you may go.”
In faith of all and singular which things we have ordered and caused these present letters
to be made and to be written by our undersigned chancellor,
and to be furnished with the impression of our seal, which we use
in such matters. Given
at Æsium from the episcopal palace on this twenty-fifth
day of the month of September, 1636.
Place ✠ of the seal
Thus subscribed.
T. Cincius, Bishop of Æsium
and below
Antonius Bartholomeus, chancellor of the bishop.
The word enclosed in brackets, and perhaps omitted in our manuscript,
I have added from Ciaconius and Ughelli, who nevertheless
themselves need correction in the year of the inscription, which
they note as 1633 by manifest error, since almost the same words
of the inscription are read in the Lessons printed
in the year 1624. The aforesaid prelate joined to the letters already recited
others, in which he attested both the present-day and
the ancient cult: they run thus:
[8] Tiberius Cincius, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See
bishop of Æsium. the present-day and ancient cult. To all and singular who shall inspect, see, and likewise hear these our present
letters, we make faith
and attest that in our cathedral
church of Æsium, on the twenty-second day of September,
the festival of St. Septimius, bishop
and martyr and patron of our church, is solemnly celebrated, and
that from time immemorial the lessons of the second nocturn
have been recited at matins, and that at present
these present printed lessons are recited. In faith of all
and singular which things we have ordered and caused these present letters to be made
and to be written by our undersigned chancellor,
and to be furnished with the impression of our seal, which we use in such matters. Given at Æsium from the episcopal
palace on this twenty-sixth day of the month of September,
1636.
Place ✠ of the seal
Thus subscribed.
T. Cincius, bishop of Æsium
and below
Antonius Bartholomeus, chancellor of the bishop.
The same most devout venerator of our Saint was in the year 1645
enrolled by Pope Innocent X among the Cardinal priests of Rome,
and having returned to his church, before
he yielded to fate — which happened on the XXVI day of February
1653 — he bequeathed to the altar of St. Septimius (the words are those of his Life in
Ciaconius) the sacred furniture which he used
in performing sacred rites, to which before his death he had given as a gift six
silver candlesticks with a cross.
ACTS
From the proper lessons of the Office, printed in the year 1624.
Septimius, bishop and Martyr, at Æsium in Picenum (S.)
The Saint's native country, his baptism; a miracle; Lesson IV. Septimius, sprung from the Roman colonies
planted in Germany, born of honorable parents,
and from his earliest years imbued with the liberal disciplines,
made such progress in a short time that by his
gentleness, kindness, and other virtues (although
still a pagan) he was most agreeable to all. Having passed his youth,
as the Roman laws required for the lawful age,
he enrolled himself in the army; but by divine aid,
recognizing that the worship of the pagan gods was superstition,
he presently forsook the false religion of the idols,
embraced the Christian faith, though his parents were unwilling,
and desired to be initiated by holy baptism; from which time
he gave himself wholly to works of piety and to the study of the sacred
Scriptures, in which he was so confirmed in the Christian
religion that he could never be moved from it by any
tears or prayers of his parents; and he was then further
strengthened when, as he was once discoursing on divine matters in the presence of those same parents
and a great multitude of men,
the temple of Jupiter, shaken by an earthquake,
fell down together with its idol a. But Thou, O Lord.
[2] his journey into Italy, his episcopate, other things Lesson V. Then, admonished from heaven in his sleep,
leaving his parents and his native land, and betaking himself
into Italy, together with Æmilius, Germanus, and Valentinus
he came to Milan, where, as he was speaking intrepidly and freely
the proclamations of Evangelical truth,
the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian still pressing on,
he is compelled to depart depart in haste. Wherefore, having set out for Rome with
the same companions, and there having visited with fitting reverence
the tombs of the most blessed
apostles Peter and Paul, he healed by the power of God the daughter of the soldier
Glatianus, by whom he had been kindly
received, who had suffered an issue of blood for five years, and rendered her, together with
her parents and the whole household, Christian;
at which time also he restored sight to a blind man, who also
himself confessed that the true God was Septimius's Lord
Jesus Christ b. But amid these things, being well known to
Marcellus I, in the year 304 or thereabouts, who then presided over the Roman
Church, on account of his remarkable
piety and his other virtues, he is initiated into sacred
Orders, and at length, marked with the Apostolic office,
is ordained Bishop of the city of Æsium c.
Having set out thither, and having met with Florentius the consular judge,
when the latter asked him the cause of his coming,
and commanded him to sacrifice to the idols, he steadfastly
answered that he was a Christian, and had been sent thither by the supreme Pontiff
of the Christian religion, that he might overthrow
the works of the devil, and bring to those in want of truth
that light, and teach that the worship which is due
to God alone must in no way be attributed to idols
d. But Thou, O Lord.
[3] LESSON VI. Having heard these things, Florentius, inflamed
with anger, miracles, martyrdom; the findings of his body. appointed a respite of five days for Septimius,
that he might sacrifice to the gods, or know for certain
that he must die. He meanwhile, when he had said many things nobly and wisely
to the people about the truth and excellence
of the Christian religion, in testimony of the truth
heals a paralytic with the sign of the cross e; and besides many others,
he made Marentia, the daughter of Florentius, a Christian
f, for whom, when at an unsuitable moment she unseasonably asked for Baptism
in an unsuitable place, a rock, at God's command, supplied
water, that the work might not be delayed g. At the sight of so great
a miracle, almost all who were present, converted to the
faith of Christ, were regenerated in the same saving
laver. At which things Florentius, stirred by more vehement
wrath, straightway orders Septimius to be struck with the axe in the same
place h; whose body
the Christians secretly carried into the city, and,
having anointed it with unguents and spices, gave it
burial. But as wars more frequently infested Italy,
and peoples were consumed by other evils and others renewed,
when the place of his burial had been utterly
buried in oblivion, at length it came about by God's
favor that after a thousand, a hundred, sixty and
more years, in the very year of salvation one thousand four hundred
and sixty-nine, his body was found
by Thomas, bishop of the same city,
by whom it was translated into the cathedral church, erected of old
in his memory: and being deeply buried in the ground,
when it had long lain neglected
in the floor, the skillful piety of bishop Tiberius Cincius
found it, and the pious munificence of Cardinal Scipio Borghese
adorned it, laid up in a more honorable urn of varied marble.
A. S. F. 1624 i. But Thou,
O Lord.
ANNOTATIONS.
following of the Acts of St. Emygdius, bishop and martyr of Ascoli,
volume 2 of August, page 29; he will confess that it
is scarcely other than an abridgment of them. Emygdius,
he received baptism against his parents' will;
in their presence he overthrew the image and
shrine of Jupiter.
of St. Emygdius, numbers 6, 7, and 8: Emygdius, admonished in his sleep,
goes to Milan with Euplus, Germanus, and Valentinus;
he is received by the soldier Gratianus; he frees his
daughter from a five-year issue of blood; he gives sight to a blind man.
by Pope Marcellus, but bishop of Ascoli. Moreover,
several now postpone the beginning of Marcellus's Pontificate
to the year 308.
the judge Polymius, etc., ibid. number 22.
But Emygdius too in his Acts, number 29, is said
to have converted and baptized Polisia, the daughter of the governor Polymius.
about the year of the Lord 307. But in the opinion
of those who fix the beginnings of Pope Marcellus in the year
308, the martyrdom of St. Septimius must be deferred to the year
309 or 310. For the rest, St. Emygdius too had his head
cut off. See his Acts, number 31.