Senator

ON ST. SENATOR,

FROM THE MARTYROLOGIES.

Senator. (S.)

BY C. S.

He is announced on this day in the Martyrologies The most ancient exemplars of the Hieronymian Martyrology have this Saint's name entered on this day; all the other things that pertain to him have remained unknown or uncertain, so that not only his deeds, but even the condition of his life, his crown, his age, and the region where he lived, or died, or was venerated, lie utterly hidden. In the more ancient Hieronymian, or Lucca Martyrology, published in print by Florentinius, there is read of him thus on this day, the twenty-sixth of September: And at Albanum the birthday of Saint Senator. The Corbie Martyrology in d'Achery's Spicilegium, volume 2, has plainly the same, and the aforesaid Florentinius testifies that his other codices agree with it. There agree also the Rheinau and the Reichenau, among the Abridged Hieronymian martyrologies published by our Sollerius in volume VII of June, in which on the same day it is said: And at Albanum, of Senator. Other martyrologies of this kind have announced him without the place. The Auxerre one, which Martène and Durand, in volume 3 of the Anecdota vetera, where it is extant, judged to have been written about a thousand years ago, has it most briefly thus: At Rome, of Eusebius the confessor, of Senator.

[2] The short Corbie one says in the same place: And the birthday of Saint Senator. in the Hieronymian, in Usuard's, Still more obscure here is the Gellone one, published in volume 2 of the aforesaid Spicilegium of d'Achery, which after announcing Eusebius adds the following as though they were his fellow martyrs, saying: Elsewhere, of Senator, Luxorius, Mignus, Nabortus, Fastinus. Very similar things are to be read in the Augsburg and the Labbean Martyrology among the Abridged Hieronymian in Sollerius, in the volume cited. From all these the most ancient Epternach codex differs widely — also called by Florentinius the Antwerp codex and that of St. Willibrord — in which, as he himself observed, St. Senator, with others belonging to the present day, is announced on the preceding day in these words: At Rome the deposition of Eusebius the bishop, and at Chalon of Senator, and in Sardinia the birthday of Luxorius, etc. The remaining martyrologists before Usuard have made no mention of him: for as to what is read in some Adonian copies on this twenty-sixth day, And at Albanum, the birthday of Saint Senator, Mosander and Rosweyde reckon that among the additions to Ado. On which account Sollerius, in his Observations on the Martyrology of Usuard, writes that he scarcely doubts that Usuard took from the Hieronymian what he likewise says of St. Senator on this day: In the city of Albanum, of Saint Senator.

[3] and in other more recent martyrologies and in the Roman: Afterwards it passed also into other Martyrologies, some of which I subjoin. Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilium, in his Catalogue of the Saints, book XI, in the last chapter, num. 261, commemorates him thus: Senator the martyr suffered in the city of Alba on the VI Kalends of October. Differing from him, the compiler of our manuscript Florarium Sanctorum has on the same twenty-sixth day: In the city of Albanum, of Saint Senator, a man noble and very religious. With the title of confessor Francesco Maurolico announced him: In the city of Alba, of Saint Senator the confessor. On the contrary, Pietro Galesini in the Martyrology of the holy Roman Church called him a martyr in these words: At Albanum, of Saint Senator the martyr. But the most eminent Baronius in the Roman Martyrology thought it better, omitting both titles, to announce him thus: At Albanum, of Saint Senator; in which manner it is even now read in the same Martyrology, lately enlarged and corrected by Benedict XIV, the Roman Pontiff happily reigning. Singular is the assertion of André du Saussay in his Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology: At Albanum, a town of Narbonese Gaul, of Saint Senator the confessor.

[4] From all these we have nothing certain about the St. Senator of this day beyond the most ancient memory of him in the sacred Fasti. who he was is unknown: But in what thick darkness the rest lies wrapped may be gathered from Baronius, who annotated the following upon his aforesaid Martyrology. Of him (St. Senator) Usuard, Ado (that is, the Adonian additions) and more recent writers speak; but in what times he lived, no one discloses. There was moreover a Senator, so called, an intimate of St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, concerning whom Constantius writes in the Life of that saint, book 2, chapter 6. There was also another of the same name, a Roman presbyter, who discharged a legation with St. Abundius and his companions, sent to Constantinople by St. Leo the Pope, as appears from his letter XXXIII; and likewise Cassiodorus was called by the surname of Senator. Thus Baronius, after the manner of one divining, or rather offering conjectures to others for their divining; but I think none of these to be ours. In the Life of St. Germanus of Auxerre by Constantius, published by us in volume VII of July, on the thirty-first day, book 1, chapter 7, and book 2, chapter 1, there is indeed mentioned someone by the name of Senator, a friend and host of that holy bishop; but he was a presbyter of Alesia in the duchy of Burgundy; nor do I see why he should be believed to be the same as St. Senator of Albanum.

[5] Of the other Senator, bishop of Milan, we have treated in our Work on the twenty-eighth day of May, yet it is more probable. on which he is venerated; and since he was most probably that very presbyter sent as legate by St. Leo the Great, he too seems to have nothing in common with the Saint of this day beyond the name. Finally, that Cassiodorus, who was called by the surname of Senator, should be announced today in the Martyrologies, appears far less probable still. I prefer therefore to believe that our St. Senator of Albanum was some other man, unknown to us; but whether he was a martyr or a confessor I am the more in doubt. Peter de Natalibus, cited in num. 3, expressly makes him a martyr, and seems to have found this in some manuscript codex. For at the beginning of the chapter there cited he had premised: There are more Saints beyond those set down above, of whose life or deeds I have been able to find absolutely nothing except only their names and the days of their feasts, and nothing further, save concerning a few, of whom I have found written also the places in which they suffered, or departed this life without martyrdom; namely from the Martyrology of Jerome, of Usuard or of Ado.

[6] And therefore, that nothing of what I have been able to find concerning the Saints that he was a martyr. should be omitted, I have taken care to gather again, at the end of the present Work in this single chapter, those things which have been written in the aforesaid little book about the names and feast days of the said Saints … Yet I shall subjoin the aforesaid to the letter, as I found them. Having thus prefaced, he says at last among the rest: Senator the martyr suffered in the city of Alba on the VI Kalends of October. With these agrees the Hagenau codex among the Usuardine Additions in Sollerius, in which is read: In the city of Albala, of Saint Senator the martyr. Pietro Galesini also believed him a martyr, whose words we gave in num. 3. Altogether favourable to these are the ancient Hieronymian copies and Usuard, in all of which the word birthday is either not added, as is customary in the case of martyrs, but in none of which is the word deposition added, by which confessors are usually designated. The Epternach codex alone appears here doubtful, since it so speaks that from what precedes and what follows it may seem that the word deposition, which it applies to St. Eusebius, is to be referred also to St. Senator. Receive its words from Florentinius: The VII Kalends of October. The birthday of Bardomanus, Eucarpus and twenty-six others. At Rome the deposition of Eusebius the bishop, and at Chalon of Senator, and in Sardinia the birthday of Luxorius, etc.

[7] Albanum, where the Saint is announced, But since from other Hieronymian copies of good repute it is established that the Epternach codex, by mixing the Saints of two days, is here disordered, this need not detain us from believing with Florentinius, as the more probable view, that St. Senator was crowned with martyrdom. As for the place in which St. Senator is announced today, this is no less obscure than the Saint himself. Du Saussay, as was said in num. 3, makes it Albanum, a town of Narbonese Gaul; by which words he indicates Alba Helviorum, which Pliny, book 3, chapter 4, reckons in Narbonese Gaul. Now this city was on the Rhone

once set as an episcopal see, but now for many centuries destroyed, and at present only a village in the province of Viviers, called by the inhabitants Aps; and its bishopric was transferred to Viviers, whence the bishops of Viviers were sometimes called bishops of Alba. Castellanus in his Universal Martyrology adds another conjecture to this one, noting in the margin: Perhaps near Dumbarton in Scotland; or, if anyone should wish to believe the lord du Saussay, in Narbonese Gaul.

[8] others place him in Gaul, another in Scotland I do not know on what foundation, or with what likelihood, that assertion of du Saussay in favour of Narbonese Gaul, or Castellanus's conjecture in favour of a place near Dunbritonium, commonly Dunbarton and Dunberte, which is a castle of Southern Scotland in the province of Lennox, may rest. If only the name Alba or some similar word supports those opinions, that reasoning is far too weak, since many places of that name occur in various regions among the geographers. Against Castellanus there is besides this, that neither Thomas Dempster nor David Chambers knew of St. Senator in their Scottish Menologies, although it is well established that these men were, in enrolling saints of their own country, rather more liberal than fair, and by no means careless in omitting them. Further, the Epternach Martyrology, reported in num. 2, has instead of Albanum or the city of Alba, at Caballonum, by which name a twofold city could be indicated. One, namely, is Cabellio, commonly Cavaillon, a city of Provence in Narbonese Gaul, an episcopal see under the archbishop of Avignon and in the dominion of the Roman Pontiff, which Hadrian Valesius in his Notitia Galliarum observes to have been called also Caballio.

[9] place him, The other is Cabillonum on the river Saône, in French Challon sur Saone, a city of the Ædui in the duchy of Burgundy and likewise distinguished with a bishopric under the metropolitan see of Lyons: for this too is read in the aforesaid Valesius to have been called by others the Castrum Caballonense, Caballonus, Cavallonnum, and the city Cavallonum. Florentinius believed that this latter was designated in the Epternach codex; and at the same time he observed that no Senator the confessor is reckoned among the bishops of this city by the Sainte-Marthe brothers in the Gallia Christiana. Nor do I find anyone of that name, either confessor or martyr, in the catalogue of those same bishops in volume 4 of the Gallia Christiana enlarged by the Benedictines, nor in the series of the bishops of Cavaillon in volume 1 of the same Work. But I judge that the St. Senator of this day, of whatsoever condition he may in the end have been, is sought there in vain, since from all the other Hieronymian copies and from Usuard it is sufficiently clear that Caballono crept into the Epternach codex through a copyist's fault in place of Albano.

[10] To Florentinius it seemed more probable that by the Albanum of which we are treating and others, finally, in Italy; there is indicated Albanum, a city of Latium in the Roman Campagna, distinguished by a bishopric which belongs to one of the seven Cardinals in attendance upon the Supreme Pontiff. He alleges this reason, that Albanum or the city Albana, set down in the Martyrologies of the Western Church without any other adjective, seems to be taken for no other than the city of Latium. This opinion would be wholly confirmed by the words of Ughelli, if they were true, in volume 1 of the Italia sacra of the Roman edition of the year 1644, where at column 288 he says this: The holy patron of the church of Albano is St. Senator, whom Usuard and the Roman Martyrology commemorate on the VI Kalends of October. But that there is an error here I have learned from the same Work enlarged by Nicolò Coleti and reprinted at Venice in the year 1717, in whose volume 1, at column 249, there is read in the margin against the aforecited text of Ughelli that St. Pancratius is to be substituted in the place of St. Senator.

[11] With Coleti agrees Francesco Orlendi, who, treating in part 2 of his Orbis sacer et profanus of Albano of Latium, but they all divine. writes without any mention of St. Senator: The holy patron of the city of Albano is St. Pancratius. Certainly that St. Senator is not venerated at Albano may be gathered from the silence both of Cardinal Baronius in his Annotations upon the Roman Martyrology, which we recited in num. 4, and of Filippo Ferrari, who did not reckon the St. Senator of this day in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. And so, that I may not detain the reader longer to no purpose, I prefer to confess that I do not know to what region this place is to be referred: nevertheless the opinion of Florentinius has more likelihood than the rest, from the word Albano, which it is agreed is often the proper name of the said city of Latium.

[12] The relics of some St. Senator at Paris. It remains that we add a brief word about the Parisian Martyrology. In it there is read on this very day: At the monastery of Sesciacum in Neustria, in the territory of Coutances, of Saint Senator or Senerius, bishop of Avranches, part of whose relics is preserved at Paris in the suburban church of Saint Magloire. St. Sinerius, bishop of Avranches, is venerated on the eighteenth day of September, where his cult and deeds have been briefly set forth. In the same place, in num. XI and 12, the relics mentioned have also been treated, and it was doubted whether those which are said to have been translated as the bones of St. Senator from Armorica to Paris about the year 964 are truly those of St. Sinerius. Consult the place just cited. I add here only two things: first, that St. Sinerius of Avranches is certainly to be distinguished from our St. Senator of this day. Secondly, if that holy Senator the bishop, whose relics are honoured at Paris, is altogether other than St. Sinerius, I still do not see what he has in common with St. Senator of Albanum beyond the name, which seems to have given the Parisians occasion to venerate their own saint on this day, on which they knew St. Senator to be entered in the ancient Martyrologies.