ON ST. TERENTIUS, MARTYR AT PESARO,
IN THE DUCHY OF URBINO.
In the third century, as is reported.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
A notable cult; Acts of untrustworthy credit.
Terentius, martyr, at Pesaro in the duchy of Urbino (S.)
BY J. P.
This Saint, although among the people of Pesaro he has long been most solemnly venerated as the chief patron of the city, He is solemnly venerated through an octave and is one of the ancient and more illustrious martyrs, if credit is to be given to the Acts, has been passed over in all the sacred calendars earlier than the seventeenth century. The first, so far as I know, who announced him at the day XXIV of September was Filippo Ferrari in both his Catalogues. Briefly in the General Catalogue of Saints not inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, in these words: At Pesaro, of St. Terentius, martyr under Decius, patron of the city. But in the particular Catalogue of the Saints of Italy he described the Saint's deeds and martyrdom much more at length, from the Office of Pesaro customarily recited in the diocese through the octave. I have a copy of it printed in a separate booklet at Fano in the year 1592. Almost the whole is proper to the Saint; the hymns, antiphons, responsories, versicles are accommodated to his life and martyrdom, and the Acts themselves are distributed into fifteen lessons to be recited at the second Nocturn on the feast and through the octave, on the days not impeded by a greater Office. The Collect is this: Be favorable to us thy servants, we beseech thee, O Lord, through the glorious merits of this thy holy martyr Terentius, who rests in the present church, that by his pious intercession we may ever be protected from all adversities. Through our Lord, etc.
[2] It was also reprinted separately for the city and diocese of Pesaro, from a Venetian press, in the year 1619, at Pesaro, where his relics are honorably laid up, but reformed in several particulars: the Acts, namely, were contracted to only three lessons for the second Nocturn of the feast-day, while for the remaining days through the octave sermons or expositions of the holy Fathers are prescribed, and in the Collect these words were struck out: Who rests in the present church: probably for the sake of the other churches of the diocese, in which his relics are not kept. But how honorably they are placed in the cathedral church, learn from Papebroch, who with Henschen was present there in the year 1660 on the day XXIX of November: The church itself, he says in the manuscript Diary of the Roman Journey, is indeed low but ample, and beautifully restored under a triple vault, which six piers on either side support: in the sides there are as many altars as there are arches: a square choir with an ample hemicycle behind the altar: on the right side is the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, whose cupola four columns at the angles support, and as many semicircular windows under the arches light it. The walls, adorned with plaster, run out in a semicircle on three sides, beneath the cornice supporting the cupola: in the middle there is a single altar, whose table iron gratings support, decorous with gilded wooden angels and a border, through which is visible a handsome marble tomb, in which is the body of blessed Terentius M.; and his statue is on the altar beside the tabernacle.
[3] The Acts are for many reasons What has been related thus far declares most manifestly and makes certain the celebrity of the cult; would that one might assert the same of the authentic credit of the Acts, and of the truth of the prodigies which are contained in them! But nothing occurs which commends them, and many things which suggest that the author was very far removed from the Saint's times, and which make his credit suspect. Assuredly the little phrases it has been handed down to memory, it is believed, mingled with the things narrated, do not breathe nearness of time; nor does the tablet, probably written out in the Italian tongue, from which we understand the Life to have been taken from the words prefixed in the said Office to lesson IV, to be recited on the feast itself: The Life of St. Terentius, taken from a most ancient tablet which is kept in the sacristy of the cathedral church, and lately rendered into Latin. And concerning the biographer's credit I am bidden to doubt by the persons introduced by him and known to none of the ancients: first Emerentiana his mother, Nardus his father, Panutius an abbot in Pannonia before the middle of the third century, and above the rest Dagnus, a king within the borders of that same Pannonia while Philip held the Roman empire — namely under whom that region was certainly subject to the Romans, as is clear from Zosimus, book 1, where he narrates that Decius, afterward his successor in the empire, was sent thither by the same Philip to quell disturbances. Add Theodosia, a matron of Pesaro, whom the biographer says was taught the Saint's deeds by an angel — probably because he had so arranged the order of the Life and martyrdom that it could not otherwise be understood whence these had come to the knowledge of posterity.
[4] suspect Secondly, an anachronism in the year of death, marked thus: This Soldier of Christ suffered in the two hundred and forty-seventh year of our salvation, Cornelius being supreme Pontiff, in the seventh persecution of the Christians, under the emperor Decius: for according to the common opinion of the learned St. Cornelius was not raised to the Pontificate before the year 251, nor did Decius obtain the empire before 249. Thirdly, the manner of the martyrdom and the rest that followed it are so like what we gave from Ferrari, tom. IV of July, pag. 96, about St. Terentius bishop of Luni and martyr, that I cannot doubt that the one biographer transcribed from the other: I shall compare the words in the Annotations, where I shall also observe a few other things which displease, and which together with those already assigned make me judge the prodigies and the other deeds insufficiently proved. Take then the order of the Acts from the Office of the year 1592, divided into as many numbers as it was divided into proper lessons.
ACTS OF UNTRUSTWORTHY CREDIT.
From the proper Office, published in the year 1592.
Terentius, martyr, at Pesaro in the duchy of Urbino (S.)
By an anonymous author.
While a tyrant king raged in Pannonia While Philip was reigning, who has been handed down to memory as the first among the Roman emperors to have received the Christian religion a: although Christian men in all Italy and the other provinces of Europe, and in all parts of the world, had begun to breathe again, yet within the borders of Pannonia a certain king, by name Dagnus, at the devil's persuasion most cruelly took vengeance upon the worshippers of Christ. In that same place a most noble woman, Emerentiana, a handmaid of Jesus Christ, was piously and holily instructing in the Christian religion her son Terentius, begotten of her husband Nardus, who had died a little before. And the boy, accustomed to suck most holy morals together with his milk, grew up little by little in the life of Christ, and set himself this one purpose: never, that is, to be called back from true piety toward God by the threatening words or blows of tyrants.
[2] But, while the most cruel king Dagnus raged, the most illustrious Emerentiana considered by the tyrant king, by what means it might come to pass that with divine help she might snatch her beloved son Terentius from the hands of that most savage tyrant. For the holy woman foresaw that he would bring forth most abundant fruits in the Church of God. Wherefore, giving herself to prayers with all the affection of her mind, she asked of the Lord that he would bring her help, lest the tyrant's impious hand should destroy her Son. Accordingly the heavenly clemency was at once at hand, which admonished Emerentiana to betake herself to the abbot Panutius and to seek from him a wholesome counsel.
[3] She hastens therefore to Panutius, whom at that time she knew to be the one refuge of the Christians, the Saint's anxious mother the one solace and the common father of all. And when she had heard his counsel, she perceived that the life of her Son, whom she loved above all, was in the greatest peril. Wherefore she betook herself home sick, and from anguish of mind for the space of three days ate nothing and drank nothing. At last, roused by the heavenly power, she secretly carried out to the abbot Panutius, on whom all her hope hung, all the money of her Nardus and her more precious goods, together with her Son, that they might lie hid there so long until they should escape the raging fury of the tyrant.
[4] So blessed Terentius, hiding within the domestic walls of Panutius, hides with her Son, was most diligently sought out by scouts and assassins on king Dagnus' edict. But, by the will of the divine clemency, he was withdrawn by the excellent Panutius almost from the midst of the slaughter, and secretly preserved, and instructed with precepts and fatherly admonitions. For he, as an excellent worshipper of God and an eminent shepherd, was zealous to guard from the teeth of the wolves the sheep divinely committed to him. But when he could no longer conceal blessed Terentius, he urges Emerentiana, the humble handmaid of Jesus Christ, to be willing to flee thence, and to preserve herself and her Son from the tyrannical fury b: for the Lord commanded his disciples, sent to the worship of the nations: If they persecute you in one city, flee into another: and Paul says of himself: I was let down in a basket through a window, and so escaped his hands.
[5] Therefore, anxious for her Son's safety and desiring to preserve him for the Lord's flock, although she bore it hard to leave her country, by whose sweetness all mortals are held, then, fleeing, she puts in at Aquileia yet she silently persuaded herself that it was better to follow Panutius' counsel than to remain there. Therefore, a ship and all things being made ready for accomplishing the journey, at Panutius' instance they go aboard a little vessel, hoping that God's right hand would guide the helm whithersoever they were to go. When once and again they had saluted one another in the Lord, and were mingling words with tears and tears with words, the ship was driven into the deep. Wherefore the pious father Panutius entreated God with suppliant prayer that they might be able to come to some haven of safety. At last, when they had made three days' journey, they put in at the harbor of Aquileia.
[6] where the Saint, famed for miracles, is presented to the prefect; In which city God manifested many miracles through his Servant. For preaching Christ there, he called back innumerable men from the worship of idols, and the natives of that region and the newcomers
and many from the neighboring towns rejoiced that the firmness of their limbs and the strength of their whole body had been restored to them. But when these things had been reported to Valerian, prefect of that city, he summons blessed Terentius, and, when he was summoned, asks him of what region and rank he is. But he answered with ready mind that he was born in Pannonia and professed the Christian religion, and had vowed himself wholly to Jesus Christ, the true God. To whom the prefect again: Art thou a Christian? I am, said he, for I have always served Christ, and now I promise and undertake that I shall always persevere in the faith of Christ. Wherefore Valerian, kindled with rage, ordered him to set incense before the idols and to sacrifice, and meanwhile threatens him, refusing, with atrocious torments: to whom the eminent Soldier of Christ said: O impious mind, know that the torments of tyrants prepare everlasting riches in heaven for the faithful of Christ.
[7] he is consigned to prison, So that dreadful prefect, kindled with anger at the words of St. Terentius, and made not master of his mind, commanded that the Servant of Christ should be thrust into a most foul prison, in which place a hundred and twenty-nine Christians were held, afflicted with squalor. And when blessed Terentius had seen them, he greeted them most kindly, saying: Peace be to you, my brethren. Then he exhorted them to persist in the faith of Christ, and to fear no kinds of torments. A little after, detained within the prison enclosure, he prayed as a suppliant for three days to the Lord in these words: Almighty God, who everywhere succorest thy servants suffering injury for the glory of thy name; who broughtest Daniel out unharmed from the lions' den; thou who didst free Peter, bound with chains, by an angel from Herod's hand and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews, open the gates, O Lord, break in pieces the iron bars and the bolts of this most dark prison, that the nations may know thee to be the only God, and may glorify thy name for ever.
[8] and is miraculously delivered; he sets out for Rome, And the prayer being completed, about the middle of the night there came a very great thunder, and both walls of the prison fell utterly. And when they had all escaped thence, an angel of the Lord met them, and blessing them showed them whither their journey was to be directed, and at once vanished from their eyes. And they, filled with gladness at the angelic vision, gave thanks with pure mind to God, who had drawn his servants that hoped in him from the teeth of lions roaring after their prey. Then, the other Christians being kindly saluted and dismissed, blessed Terentius himself, at the angel's admonition, betook himself to Rome; and when he had come to that city, he saw Christians being dragged to death by the nefarious command of the most savage emperor Decius c, who, despising mortal things on earth for Christ, being dead, obtained eternal things in heaven.
[9] Wherefore the beloved servant of Jesus Christ, Terentius, moved by the example of so many martyrs, and burning with desire of martyrdom, and thence to Pesaro; had recourse to God in this prayer: Most just God, who crownest according to their merits those who lawfully strive; suffer, I beseech thee, now thy Servant by a temporal death to obtain a crown in heaven, and to be enrolled among thy Saints. As he prayed and longed for the crown of martyrdom, an angel of the Lord appeared, saying: Arise, go hence to the Picene city (and the Picene city was Pesaro), for the hour of thy departure is already at hand d. So St. Terentius, filled with joy at the angelic speech, although he was ignorant of the road on which he was to enter, yet at night-time, and with no delay interposed, hastened to the walls of that city.
[10] But as blessed Terentius went, a certain countryman met him, he heals the eye of a wicked man, prodigiously wounded; whose name was Vulgus. He, feeding herds of swine, when he perceived the Servant of Christ clothed in most respectable garments, hoping for no small gain if he should despoil him, pretended that he too had to travel the same way the Saint was going. The holy Servant of God did not refuse a companion. Wherefore the sly and most wicked man, at the devil's persuasion and driven by avarice, deliberately hurled at the Saint a most sharp dart, which, going backward by divine power, pierced through the eye of him who shot it. And the countryman, unable to bear the wound, crying out and weeping, prostrated himself at St. Terentius' feet, and, driven this way and that by the pain, begged to be pardoned and to have his eye healed. So the Saint, moved with mercy, looked up to heaven, and, prayer being made after his manner, spat on the ground, made clay, and anoints the man's eye with the sign of the cross; and immediately he saw, and went away magnifying God.
[11] But when the time of his passage to heaven was at hand, he is slain by robbers on the road; long before foretold to him by the angel, he was hastening to that same city; and when he had entered its borders and gone a little way, suddenly a great band of robbers, bursting out from the most shadowy woodlands at the place then called Aqua Mala, attack him, just as dogs or wolves are wont to rage in rivalry upon a little sheep. For when they had heard that he was a Christian, they resolved to kill him outright. Accordingly, stripped by them of his garments, he is beaten even unto death. But as the ferocity of the ruffians grew more and more, the Servant of God, half-dead, lifted his eyes to heaven, saying: Most gentle God, who, that thou mightest heal the ruined human nature, didst will to descend to the lowest seats of the earth; thou, O Lord, who by thy torments and the shedding of thy blood didst unbar heaven to thy faithful, free me from the flames of Gehenna, let not Tartarus swallow me up; but let thy angels bring me to thee. Saying these things, he gave up his spirit to God.
[12] But that the robbers might hide the crime they had committed, his body, divinely shown, they cast the Martyr's sacred body into that same place called Aqua Mala e. But a little after, Theodosia, a leading woman of this city, was admonished in her sleep and taught by an angel to betake herself to the place (for that place was not far from the city) where the Martyr's body, cast away by the robbers, lay unburied — the life of the same holy Martyr, however, having first been unfolded to her f. The most devout woman obeyed the heavenly command. She flew thither, and the handmaids attending her, and several noble men, followed her, and began to search out the same Martyr's body. And the woman, having found so great a treasure, leaped for joy, and gladly went down into the water, doubtful whether she ought to touch it. At last, drawing it out thence, she piously wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and, as the circumstance of place and time allowed, took care that it should be honorably arranged.
[13] is received at Pesaro, Meanwhile, since there chanced to be there a rustic and almost squalid wagon, which on that day equalled the glory of any most resplendent triumphal chariot, and indeed surpassed it, the body of St. Terentius was placed in it by the most pious matron, and, two little heifers being yoked, she resolved to convey it to her own native city. As they went forward at every step, it was wonderful to see how great concord there was in those brute beasts, since, needing no driver, they of their own accord carried the sacred burden. They had now come to the city, when the people met them exulting, before whom went the priests, singing psalms, hymns and divine praises. And when they were about to enter the city's threshold, all with one voice gave thanks to God, who had granted them so great and so excellent a Patron. For each persuaded himself that by St. Terentius' intercession the people of Pesaro could be freed from every stain and destruction, and that the city itself would be most wealthy and most flourishing under so great a Martyr's protection.
[14] with the people's immense joy, When they had come into the market-place, they maintained that the holy Martyr's body should be carried to the episcopal church, which is believed then to have been at the shrine of St. Cassian. But, by God's will, it came to pass that it could not be moved from that spot. Wherefore, when all were astonished at so great a miracle and doubtful where it should be laid, it came about by divine ordering that those heifers of their own accord carried it to the magnificent house of that same Theodosia: to see which the citizens went in crowds, both inhabitants, women and boys, and the weak and infirm, and those held by any diseases whatever, were healed. On the day after that, when the report of what had befallen the people of Pesaro had spread abroad through the neighboring towns and the bordering cities, men flowed together from various places to the spectacle of the holy Martyr; all offered gifts, and each rejoiced for himself, and gave thanks to God the best and greatest.
[15] and is laid in a church sacred to him. Wherefore Florentius, then bishop of Pesaro g, having seen these things, and at Theodosia's most devout entreaty, consecrated that same woman's house, where the holy body was resting, and, with the people looking on, laid the limbs of St. Terentius most honorably in a marble tomb, and on the eighth of the Kalends of October dedicated a church to him; which day indeed, appointed for celebrating this holy Martyr's birthday, has always been most famous among the people of Pesaro. This Soldier of Christ suffered in the two hundred and forty-seventh year of our salvation, Cornelius being supreme Pontiff, in the seventh persecution of the Christians, under the reign of Decius, and both living and dead he was famed for miracles. But in the year one thousand four hundred and forty-seven, on the XVI of the Kalends of August, in the reign of Nicholas V, and while John Benedict, a native of Pesaro, was bishop of this city, the holy Martyr's bones were drawn out of the lower catacomb, which is beneath the high altar, where they had been laid up by bishop Florentius, and, being placed above the same, they lay there until the sixty-sixth year of our salvation after fifteen hundred, at which time in the month of December they were translated by bishop Giulio Simonetta to the place where they now rest (that is, at the left side of the high altar), and there, especially on the day dedicated to him, they are venerated with great veneration by the pious; and for the increasing of the cult of this our Patron, and that he may the more willingly intercede for us, it was decreed lately, in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-two, that by all the priests of the diocese, on the feast-day and through the whole Octave of St. Terentius, his Life should be recited in the Office, divided into portions on the several days.
ANNOTATIONS.
they had heard that he was a Christian; for thus the cause of the martyrdom appears plainer. Further, compare also, if you please, what follows in our author about the burial of St. Terentius of Pesaro with what is handed down about Terentius of Luni, and consider how little they differ: these are the words from the Sarzana records: Whose body, placed on a wagon, was carried by untamed heifers to that place which is called St. Terentius', and there was laid, a church being built there in his name.