Formerius

ON ST. FORMERIUS, MARTYR,

VENERATED IN THE VILLAGE OF VAÑARES, IN ALAVA, A PROVINCE OF SPAIN.

Formerius, M., venerated in the village of Vañares, in Alava, a province of Spain (S.)

BY J. S.

The place where S. Formerius is venerated: John Marieta in the History of the Saints of Spain, book 2, chapter 41, briefly treats of S. Formerius,

whom he testifies is venerated on the XXV of September; but says that nothing has become known about his deeds. He affirms first that the Saint's body is held in the territory of the city of Vitoria. This is in Alava, a small province of Spain, which formerly was a part of the kingdom of Navarre, but was afterwards added to the kingdom of Castile. Marieta adds that the place where the body is kept, set on a high hill, is of the jurisdiction of the county of Treviño, and that the Saint is held in veneration by the whole neighbouring region. John Tamayo Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology announces the Saint in these words at the XXV of September: In the territory of the city of Vitoria among the Cantabrians, of S. Formerius the martyr, to whose sacred remains flows together the devotion of all the surrounding peoples, gathered with the applause of piety. But in the Annotations, page 315, he explains the place thus: Whose (Formerius's) sacred pledges have for many centuries past been guarded and venerated in the church of Vañares of the county of Treviño in Cantabria. Gil Gonzalez Dávila in the Ecclesiastical Theatre of Spain, volume 2, page 338, says that the body of S. Formerius is kept in the village of Vañares, half a Spanish mile from Treviño. Further, Treviño, commonly Treviño, and the county of Treviño, are in Alava, the province already mentioned, whose head is Vitoria. But since the Spaniards agree that the body of S. Formerius is kept in the county of Treviño, they place it in the territory of the city of Vitoria, I suppose, on no other ground than that they comprise the whole of Alava under that territory. Ferrari, therefore, when he today announces S. Formerius the martyr at Vitoria, expressed the place less accurately. Let these things suffice about the place where S. Formerius is venerated.

[2] But as regards the deeds of S. Formerius, Marieta confesses his deeds are unknown: that nothing of his deeds has been carried down to the memory of posterity. He only affirms that the Saint is a foreigner, and is venerated as a martyr; but that no history of him is had. That candid confession of Marieta's makes it possible for us without difficulty to understand whence flowed those Acts which Tamayo confidently published as the Acts of S. Formerius, as though taken from an ancient manuscript Office of the church in which the Saint is venerated. He recites not only Acts quite lengthy, and divided into nine lessons, but also four hymns conformable to the Acts. If anyone had not those fictions clearly perceived, as the learned of Spain now have them perceived, he would believe that S. Formerius was born in Cappadocia and there suffered under the rule of Aurelian. But it is not necessary to refute those inventions further, although they could really be easily refuted, if the forgery were not established. But since it is established among the learned that many Acts are given by Tamayo which were forged in his own time and sold as ancient, let it be permitted to declare in a single word that it must not be doubted that among these too are to be held the Acts of S. Formerius which he gave: for to affirm that beyond doubt the testimonies of others suffice, who confess that nothing was known of the deeds of S. Formerius. The ninth lesson Tamayo thus concludes: The sacred body is today seen in that same church, on the right side above the altar, in a stone sarcophagus skilfully made, and enclosed within a wooden chest chained with iron bars and covered with seven locks; to whose tomb on the day of his festivity there runs together each year a manifold throng of both sexes of the surrounding peoples, which celebrates the solemnities of the holy Martyr with famous pomp. These things could be true in Tamayo's time, and long before. Yet let the inhabitants see whether they are accurate.

[3] he does not seem to be the same as S. Firminus of Amiens: Francis de Padilla in the Ecclesiastical History of Spain, century 4, chapter 31, considering what Marieta asserts of S. Formerius — namely that he is a foreigner, and is venerated on the XXV of September, but that his deeds are unknown — judges that Formerius is the same as S. Firminus of Amiens, of whom we have just treated. The conjecture appears likely, at first sight certainly: for not only are both venerated on the same day, but it is also established that S. Firminus has for many centuries been celebrated with special veneration in the kingdom of Navarre, of which the place where S. Formerius is venerated formerly was part. But against the conjecture stands the assertion about the body, which is said to be held in the county of Treviño, whereas the body of S. Firminus is held at Amiens. Besides, the better known S. Firminus is in the kingdom of Navarre, the less does it seem that he could have been unknown in Alava, formerly a part of that kingdom. And so, although that conjecture has some likelihood, it is nevertheless destitute of a suitable foundation.

[4] it cannot be said so certainly whether he is not the same as Fermerius of Bazas. A more likely conjecture can be made about S. Fermerius, who has an abbey dedicated to his name in the diocese of Bazas in Novempopulania. He is recorded in the Martyrology of S. Sabinus of Levitania at the XXX of August in these words: On the same day the passion of saint Fermerius the martyr. Castellan at the same day places S. Fermerius (in French S. Fraigne) in the province of Angoulême. Saussay in the additions to the Gallican Martyrology, page 1252, agrees about the cultus of that same S. Fermerius at the XXX of August, and adds: And to his patronage is dedicated a priory of the Order of S. Benedict, and also a parish church in the district of Angoulême of the aforesaid diocese of Poitiers, where he is venerated on the XXX of August. Again Saussay at the 1st of October announces S. Fremerius, who elsewhere is called Fermerius, in the abbey of Bazas. I for my part think that Fermerius must by no means be distinguished from Fremerius: nor do I see why the body of that Saint could not have been translated into Spain, either whole or in great part. But these conjectures can bring some likelihood, but nothing of certainty. Wherefore of Fermerius of the diocese of Bazas we shall treat again at the 1st of October.