ON SS. CASTUS AND DESIDERIUS, MARTYRS,
HONOURED AT PIACENZA IN ITALY.
From the Hieronymian and other Fasti.
Preliminary CommentaryCastus, M., at Piacenza in Italy. (S.)
Desiderius, M., at Piacenza in Italy. (S.)
BY J. S.
Castus and Desiderius announced together in the ancient Fasti, Two Martyrs I bring forward today,
concerning whom I have much doubted
whether they did not belong to another day
and to some larger band
of martyrs. The reason for doubting
was that the Hieronymian codices
do not all agree in announcing them today. I therefore inquired whether I might find
the same men joined together on another day in the Hieronymian codices. Since
I have not been able to find this, I judge it more probable
that Castus and Desiderius belong to this day. And since
from the consent of several codices it seems certain enough
that they are Martyrs and suffered together, I shall here collect the few things
which offer themselves concerning Castus and Desiderius.
From the most ancient Echternach codex, in Florentinius
in his Annotations, it is thus read: And at Mesolum, of Castus
and Desiderius. The codices of Florentinius
and of d'Achery have nothing indeed about them; but in the ancient Reichenau codex
in our possession they are twice placed on the same day: first as it were
with St. Antoninus of Piacenza, after whom they thus follow:
Of Castus, of Desiderius. Then in this manner: Elsewhere,
of Castus and Desiderius. In the Labbe codex it stands thus:
The birthday of Æmilius and Castus. This seems a corruption,
although Castus and Æmilius suffered together in Africa,
of whom there was brief treatment at the XXII of May from
St. Cyprian: for they are contrary to the remaining martyrologists,
and from the place Mesolum the name of Æmilius could have arisen,
just as we detect very many other things in the same Martyrologies
no less corrupted. More correctly
it is read in the Auxerre Martyrology in Martène:
In the city of Piacenza, of SS. Antonius, Gastus
(for Castus) and Desiderius.
[2] In the proper Offices of the church of Piacenza, which
we have printed in the year 1635, likewise the festival of Castus and Desiderius celebrated together at Piacenza: at the XXX of September
there is prescribed the Office of St. Jerome, but this observation
is added: But the feast of the holy martyrs
Castus and Desiderius, falling on the same day,
is transferred to the following day, except in their own
church, that is, in the church of St. Antoninus,
in which the bodies of those same holy Martyrs
lie buried. Then at the 1st of October there is placed a semi-double Office
of the holy martyrs Castus and Desiderius.
But the Lessons are given about St. Castus who
suffered with Æmilius in Africa, and of whom there was treatment
at the XXII of May, and about St. Desiderius, bishop
of Langres and martyr, whose Acts were given
among us at the XXIII of May. If I believed
that these martyrs are today announced in the Hieronymian Martyrologies,
it would be enough to make brief mention of them among the Passed Over.
But I do not see on what foundation the men of Piacenza attribute to themselves
the body of St. Desiderius of Langres,
or even the body of St. Castus of Africa, who suffered with St.
Æmilius. They say indeed in their lessons that the sacred bones of both
are now kept at Piacenza in the church
of St. Antoninus, and that the festival of both is celebrated
together; but they do not declare on what occasion, at what
time, or by whose work those bodies were translated
to Piacenza. No more do they explain how it came about
that an African martyr should be celebrated with a Gallic bishop
on the same day and with the same Office, and that a lay
martyr should be set before a martyr bishop.
[3] where their bodies are: the opinion of the men of Piacenza about their own Of the bodies of SS. Castus and Desiderius preserved
in the church of St. Antoninus, Campi makes mention in various
places in his History of Piacenza, and follows the opinion
already set forth from their Office, but produces nothing
by which he may confirm it. In book 4, at the year
418, page 121, he says that their bodies had been
in the church of St. Antoninus more than eight hundred years
before he wrote those things, about the middle of the seventeenth century.
He believed therefore that those bodies had been there before the middle
of the ninth century. He says also that the feast celebrated
concerning them on the XXX of September is one of translation. The same
writer, in book 6 at the year 758, page 192, says that some had read
in an ancient writing, which was afterwards lost,
that the bodies of SS. Castus and Desiderius had been translated
to Piacenza while Desiderius was bishop of Piacenza
and Desiderius was reigning as king among the Lombards,
that is, some years after the middle of the eighth century. But
everyone will easily see how weak that conjecture is,
for which there is cited only a lost membrane,
of whose antiquity or authority we know nothing.
Then, being about to bring forward another conjecture, he first
confesses that it is utterly unknown how long
the body of St. Castus rested in Africa, and that of St. Desiderius
in Gaul; or at what time those bodies were first
joined together. Then he conjectures that both
were first carried to Rome, and there the two joined together;
and that, when Aistulf, king of the Lombards, was besieging Rome —
which happened in the year 755 — they were dug up
from the cemetery and carried to Pavia, and thence afterwards
to Piacenza. But these conjectures lack not only every
foundation but also every likelihood.
[4] does not seem probable enough: For it is neither likely nor credible that the body
of St. Desiderius was carried from Gaul to Rome,
to be laid up in some suburban cemetery;
nor does the same become likely of Castus, the African martyr.
For in the middle ages they were not wont to carry the bodies
of Saints to the Roman cemeteries, but in those centuries they began
to dig up sacred bodies from the Roman cemeteries,
that, being raised and translated elsewhere, they might be held
in greater veneration. Wherefore, if it were established
that the bodies of SS. Castus and Desiderius had been translated from Rome
to Piacenza — whether they had first been carried
to Pavia or brought straight to Piacenza — I should the rather
believe that they were Saints unknown and perhaps even
anonymous, to whom the names of Castus and Desiderius were given after
the elevation, unless these names, together with the signs
of martyrdom, as sometimes happens, were found in the tombs.
But this conjecture too is not
necessary, since we do not know whence the men of Piacenza received
those bodies. Yet it is more likely
that the bodies are of two men Companions in martyrdom, than
that one of the Martyrs was an African, the other
that the body of their Desiderius is kept at Piacenza, since they believe
that they possess it. The Acts of St.
Desiderius of Langres were given among us at the XXIII of May, where also
the finding and elevation of the body is recited, solemnly performed
in the year 1314; so that it is only necessary to inspect
what is there disputed, if anyone wishes to know how
improbable is the opinion of the men of Piacenza about the body of St.
Desiderius of Langres kept at Piacenza.
[5] Florentinius in his Annotations, when he saw that Castus
and Desiderius are announced at Mesolum, and those of today do not seem to be distinguished from those of Piacenza. inquires
into the place of the martyrdom, and conjectures with probability enough
that they are African martyrs, since in
Africa there was a kingdom or people called the Messoli or Massyli.
The region of the Massyli is certainly known in Mauretania,
and was a part of Numidia. But Ortelius doubts,
in his Thesaurus at the word Mauretania, whether the Messoli
mentioned by Plutarch were the same as the Massyli
or different. But whether they be the same or different,
they were certainly in Africa, and therefore probable
is Florentinius's conjecture about the African arena of these Martyrs.
Their bodies could have been translated
into Italy, just as not a few other bodies of African Saints
have been translated into Italy.
But what makes me less bold to call that conjecture about the place of the martyrdom
certain is the excessive corruption of the Hieronymian
codices: for a slight corruption of the word
Mesoli would at once overturn the whole foundation of the conjecture.
I preferred therefore to assign in the title the place of the cult of SS. Castus
and Desiderius rather than the place
of the martyrdom, perhaps never to be found with certainty.
But that the same men are announced in the ancient Fasti who are honoured
at Piacenza becomes most likely, both because
they are recorded on the day on which the festival falls, and
because in the one they are clearly, in the other obscurely, attributed
to Piacenza. Nay, they could even have suffered at Piacenza, or
in its neighbourhood, since no document worthy of credit is brought forward
about bodies translated.