ON ST. GENESIUS THE MIME, MARTYR AT ROME,
At the end of the III century or the beginning of the IV.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The Saint's wonderful conversion, his memory in the ancient Martyrologies, the time of his martyrdom, the Acts, and their various copies.
Genesius, mime and M. at Rome (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
The prodigious power of divine grace we evidently recognize in this Saint, who was then suddenly converted to the Christian faith when he was publicly exposing the sacred mysteries of that same faith to the mockery of the heathen, This Saint wonderfully and hence we learn how incomprehensible are the judgments of God and his hidden ways, by which he leads certain men to eternal salvation. Two like miracles of divine grace have already occurred in our Work at the day XXVII of February and the XIV of April, to which may be added at the day XV of September the sudden conversion of holy Porphyrius the mime, who, receiving baptism in jest before Julian the apostate, being suddenly changed by the power of God, professed himself a Christian; and presently, by his order, being struck with the axe, was crowned with martyrdom, as the Roman Martyrology on that day will announce.
[2] made a Martyr from an actor Doubtless Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, designates these examples of wonderful conversions, when in Sermon VIII On the Martyrs, in the edition of our Jacques Sirmond, tom. 4 of his Works, page 606, he sets forth the various conditions of the Martyrs in these words: Let us examine who they were, and whence sprung, who were endowed with this grace. Were they perhaps certain famous and illustrious men, who boasted of the nobility of their birth, or flowed about with abundance of riches, or had been made renowned by some power? By no means, O men! None of these things had they; but they were private and common men. And some of them even menservants and maidservants, who in weak bodies fought nobly; others drawing chastely the yoke of matrimony, others not yet having known marriage. But I hear that some also, brought up on the stage, suddenly passed over into the order of athletes, and, being made victors, obtained the crown, and, after they had been proclaimed, struck the demons with great terror, to whom they had once been subject. Nay, many priests also and temple-wardens raised trophies against impiety. Out of such men, then, and women the choirs of the Martyrs were made up.* Here Theodoret seems to allude to St. Genesius and like actors, who suddenly passed over into the order of Martyrs, and migrated from the stage or theatre to heaven.
[3] Whatever be Theodoret's intention, this our today's Martyr is celebrated in the most ancient Fasti of the Church at the day XXIV or XXV of August. The Hieronymian Martyrologies, in Florentinius, on the 24th day of August or the next; and Wandelbert in Usuard illustrated in our Sollier, announce on the XXIV day of this month the memory of holy Genesius the Martyr at Rome. But Ado, Usuard, and the old Roman Martyrology of Rosweyde defer his feast to the following day, in whose footsteps we tread with the present Roman Martyrology, which adorns that same holy Martyr with this eulogy: Likewise at Rome, of holy Genesius the martyr, who, being first a mime in heathenism, when in the theatre, the emperor Diocletian looking on, he was mocking the mysteries of the Christians, being inspired by God, was suddenly converted to the faith and baptized. Presently, by the emperor's order, being most cruelly beaten with cudgels, then hung upon the rack, and vexed by a very long tearing with claws, and inflamed also with torches, when he persisted in the faith of Christ, saying: There is no king but Christ, for whom if I be slain a thousand times, ye shall not be able to take him from my mouth, nor him from my heart; he earned the palm of martyrdom by the cutting off of his head.
[4] We do not know whether this Martyr is honored on the same day in the most ancient Carthaginian Calendar, is celebrated in the ancient Martyrologies, since the day of the yearly festival is there erased, and its place is filled up with points in Mabillon, tom. 3 of the Analecta, page 412, in this manner: … Kal. Sept., of holy Genesius the mime. But more expressly on the XXV day of August the Birthday of St. Genesius is celebrated in the old Roman Calendar which Jean Fronteau, Canon Regular, published at Paris in the year 1652, and whose antiquity must be placed before the year of Christ 731, as the editor there praised proves in the Prefatory notes, §2. With Fronteau and others we think it more likely that in this Roman Calendar there is announced St. Genesius of Rome rather than the martyr of Arles of the same name, of whom we shall treat below. But this opinion seems to us far more probable, because St. Genesius of Rome for many centuries had at Rome a church called by his name, whose roof Pope Gregory III newly restored before the year of Christ 741, as is read in the newest Roman edition of Anastasius the Librarian, tom. 4, page 202 or sect. 199.
[5] Even more probably there pertains to St. Genesius of Rome, the martyr made from an actor, the church and even today in Italy of which Florentinius in the Notes to the Hieronymian Martyrology at the day XXV of August narrates the following: A solemn day is that of holy Genesius, whether the Roman or the Arlesian, on this very day XXV of August in a village of Lucca called Bargecchia, where there is a church dedicated to his name, and a yearly prodigy, seen also by me in our own age, endures; nor have I thought it foreign to note it here briefly to the glory of the holy Martyr. On the eve of the feast of holy Genesius (ancient images there seem to indicate a mime, and Rabanus commemorates a mime on this day) a great concourse is made from the neighboring peoples to that church: for they who labor under the falling sickness, thronged about by their households or kinsfolk, for healing or for marvels, being alone set round about, go eagerly to the church.
[6] he is honored near the city of Lucca. Scarcely do they who labor under a disease of this kind touch that sacred ground, when at once they are seized with an epileptic assault, and, having fallen to the ground, are carried by the hands of the pious to the porch of the church, and through the whole night of the vigil, by the help of others, they are borne from the porch to a cross set at the far edge of that sacred ground, and borne back again, vexed by very frequent paroxysms of the disease. Very many obtain entire health; as for the rest, it is a constant report that for a year they are no longer seized by the disease. All these things are yearly obvious to the eyes of all who stand by, worthy to be reckoned among those marvels which God has willed to be perpetual as genuine signs of the Church. Hence the surrounding peoples call epilepsy the disease of holy Genesius, and against him who knows not how to stand in his place they cast this proverb: He has touched the ground of holy Genesius. In this matter we give credit to Florentinius, an eyewitness, and we are not ignorant that elsewhere, through the intercession of the Saints, like yearly miracles occur. Let these things said about the immemorial and hitherto persevering worship of our holy Martyr suffice. Now we shall try to assign approximately the time of this martyrdom.
[7] The time of the Passion is inquired into, The most eminent Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals refers the martyrdom of this St. Genesius to the year of Christ 303, num. 118, in these words: Then also Genesius the mime furnished a remarkable spectacle to the City, who in the theatre, the emperor looking on, when he was mocking the mysteries of the Christians, being suddenly changed by the power of God, began to act in earnest what before he was wont to act in jest; even to the point that, being perfectly made a Christian, and having confessed Christ with a loud voice, and being harried with torments, he at length obtained the crown of martyrdom. Pagi therefore erred when, in the Historico-chronological Criticism upon the Annals of Baronius, at the year of Christ 303, num. 10, he thus wrote: About this holy Genesius Baronius has not a word in the Annals, although he speaks of him in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology at the day XXV of August, on which, like the other holy Genesius of Arles, of whom presently, he is honored. Hence, as I think, it came about that Mombritius and certain others made one out of two Genesii, which was the easier, in that the Arlesian also suffered in this century. Besides the evident error which Pagi here commits about the silence of Cardinal Baronius, he also not obscurely hints that St. Genesius of Rome suffered at the beginning of the IV century, or in the year of Christ 303.
[8] about which the chronologers dispute, But this chronology of Baronius certain manuscript copies of the Acts contradict, and place the martyrdom of St. Genesius of Rome under the fourth consulate of Diocletian, which falls in the year of Christ 290. But Tillemont, tom. 4 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, page 695, contends that to these interpolated and longer Acts not much credit is to be attributed, since Diocletian in the year of Christ 290 was not at Rome. But although Diocletian in the year of Christ 303 celebrated his vicennalia at Rome, yet Ruinart, in the preliminary admonition to the Passion of this St. Genesius, which he published at Paris in the year 1689 among the Sincere and select Acts of the Martyrs, in the same place, pages 282 and following, timidly rejects this year in these words: The death of holy Genesius Cardinal Baronius refers to the year CCCIII; but although it is not altogether certain and ascertained in what year it happened, yet it seems more likely that it befell earlier.
[9] Tillemont in the place just cited assails the chronology of the most eminent Baronius with certain small reasons not to be despised, and which we assign approximately, although these do not prove the matter evidently enough, and from some conjectures he fixes the glorious contest of St. Genesius in the year of Christ 285 or 286. Since Diocletian in the year of Christ 284 was chosen emperor by the soldiers, against this Tillemontian arrangement of times there seems to stand the kindness or leniency which that emperor showed toward the Christians in the first times of his reign, as Eusebius of Caesarea, book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 1, testifies. Whence Ruinart in the Preface to the Sincere Acts of the Martyrs, page LVIII of the above-said Paris edition, sets the beginning of the first Diocletianic persecution at the year of Christ 293. Since amid these chronological tangles we stick fast in uncertainty, at the beginning of this Commentary above, in the margin, we placed the martyrdom of our St. Genesius broadly about the end of the third century or the beginning of the fourth. Now it remains that we forewarn the curious reader about the various printed and manuscript copies of the Acts.
[10] Laurentius Surius in the Lives of the Saints at the day XXV of August published in print the longer Acts of St. Genesius, and, the longer Acts of him being omitted, which do not please severe censors, and are commonly accused of interpolation by the learned. Tillemont is displeased by the opening in them, which in Surius runs thus: In the reign of the emperor Diocletian, when for four years all the churches had been closed, there was at Rome a certain mime, Genesius by name. At these words of the Acts Tillemont, tom. 4 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, page 694, observes that the most savage persecution of Diocletian, which began in the year of Christ 303, lasted only two years, and that at that time the churches of the Christians were not only closed but destroyed. But if anyone should wish to refer these things to the earlier persecution of Diocletian, the critic alleged in the same place asks him whence he knows that the churches of the Christians were then everywhere closed for four years, as those Acts hint: for if that persecution had lasted so long, he says, and all the churches had been closed, Eusebius of Caesarea would not have kept silence about it in his Ecclesiastical History.
[11] Besides, Tillemont disapproves another narration about St. Genesius, which seem interpolated, which in the same Acts is thus read: But when now all the secrets of the divine mysteries were completed, he was clothed in white garments, and distributed bread and sweetmeats and wax tapers. The close of this period supposes that in the time of Diocletian it was set in custom among the Christians that the newly baptized should distribute bread, wax tapers, and other things. But Tillemont thinks that these ceremonies only began to be used in the following centuries, when the Christians enjoyed full liberty of celebrating the mysteries of their religion. These and like things, which offend Tillemont, occur also in most of the manuscript codices and copies of our Museum, in one of which, as also in the Trier copy of St. Maximin, the Acts of that same St. Genesius thus begin: In the reign of Diocletian, when for four years there had ceased the bishops and priests of the Church &c. Florentinius in the Annotations to the Hieronymian Martyrology, page 775, assigns a like reading from a certain codex of his own, and prefers it to the other. But that beginning of the Acts displeases Tillemont more than the other related above, since the Church has always had bishops and priests, and never at Rome have such administrators of the Christian religion altogether ceased for four years.
[12] the shorter ones from three Ms. codices These difficulties raised against the Surian Acts and others like them, which seem grave enough, do not occur in the brief Passion of that same Martyr, which Ruinart in the year 1689 at Paris published from page 283 among the Sincere and select Acts of the Martyrs from three Ms. codices, as in the preliminary admonition he declares in these words: The Acts of this blessed Martyr we have indeed found in several Ms. codices, but in three only pure and sincere, which Ado wrote out almost entire in his Martyrology. But of the three codices which we have used, the first is of the Colbert library; the second from the library of the RR. FF. Discalced Carmelites of Paris; the third at length given as a gift to our library of Saint-Germain by that most distinguished man Antoine d'Hérouval. All fair appraisers of antiquity praise these Acts of Ruinart, and from them we gather that today's announcement of Ado was taken from the genuine Acts of St. Genesius.
[13] published by Ruinart we shall reprint, Yet in Ruinart's Passion and in the Martyrology of Ado there occurs a certain mode of speaking which can scarcely be reconciled with Tillemont's chronology: for in both those Acts Diocletian is called a most savage tyrant, to whom the Christians were hateful. But in the chronological system of Tillemont and of others, who fix the martyrdom of St. Genesius at the year of Christ 285 or 286, that appellation did not then fit Diocletian, who in the first times of his reign showed himself mild and gentle toward the Christians, as we indicated above in passing from the testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea. Hence Tillemont himself, tom. 4 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, page 695, freely concedes that that surname of a most savage tyrant and hater of the Christians was perhaps here added by those who afterwards transcribed the original Acts of St. Genesius.
[14] and we shall compare it with the Utrecht Ms. Among the various copies of the Acts, which are commonly like the Surian Acts, we have preserved in our Museum a brief copy which Rosweyde once caused to be written out from a Ms. codex of the Carthusians of Utrecht. In that Utrecht copy, which comes nearest to the Acts of Ruinart and of Ado, no mention is made of the cruelty or hatred of Diocletian against the Christians, so that it may seem purer than the other copies in this part. Yet since in it there is related one episode or another which is omitted in the sincere Acts, we shall not put that Utrecht copy to the press; but we shall reprint Ruinart's edition of that same Passion collated with our copy, and, illustrating it with the accustomed observations, we shall also assign in the Annotations or in the margin the various readings of greater moment.
Annotations* that is, sacristans
THE PASSION
by an anonymous author, From the edition of Ruinart, which we have collated with the Ms. copy of the Carthusians of Utrecht.
Genesius, mime and M. at Rome (St.)
BHL Number: 3315
FROM THE PRINTED EDITIONS.
Genesius, publicly exposing the mysteries of the Christians to mockery, Blessed Genesius, when he was in the city of Rome a master of the mimic art of the thymele a, who, standing, sang upon the platform which was called themele, and was an imitator of human affairs: and on a certain day, when he wished to exhibit to the emperor Diocletian a play about the mysteries of Christian observance — inasmuch as he was a most savage tyrant, to whom the Christians were hateful b — and for the sake of this matter, the Emperor and all the people looking on, lying down in the midst of the theatre as though sick, he asked to be baptized, and set forth the mime in these words: Come, my friends, I feel myself heavy; I wish to be made light. They answered: How shall we make thee light, if thou art heavy? Are we perchance carpenters, and are we going to put thee to the plane? These words raised a laugh in the people.
[2] Genesius again: Madmen, I desire to die a Christian. is suddenly converted to their faith, Why? they say. To whom Genesius: That on that day I may be found as a fugitive in God [c]. But a presbyter and an exorcist being called d, suddenly, God inspiring him, he believed. For when they had sat down beside his bed, they say to him: Why hast thou sent for us, little son? Genesius, now not feignedly and in pretence, but from a pure heart, answered: Because I desire to receive the grace of Christ, by which, being reborn, I may be freed from the ruin of my iniquities. And when they had completed the mysteries of the Sacraments, and he had been clothed in white garments, being seized as though in the play by soldiers, and, after the likeness of the holy martyrs, presented to the Emperor to be examined about the name of Christ, standing in a higher place e, he thus made his speech.
[3] Hear, Emperor, and all the army, the wise men and the peoples of this city. and having earnestly professed it, As often as I heard a Christian even named, I shuddered, and insulted those who remained in confession. I even execrated my parents and kinsfolk f for the sake of the Christian name, and held the Christians in such derision that I searched out their mysteries with diligent examination, that from their consecration I might wish to exhibit a play to you. But when the water touched me naked, and, being asked, I answered that I believed, I saw above me a hand coming from heaven, and radiant angels standing over me, who recited from a book all the sins which I had done from infancy; which g presently they washed in that very water in which I was drenched in your sight, and afterwards showed it to me whiter than snow. Now therefore, illustrious Emperor, and all ye peoples who have laughed at these mysteries, believe with me that Christ is the true Lord, that he is the light, that he is the truth, that he is mercy, and that through him ye can attain unto pardon.
[4] is crowned with the laurel of martyrdom. At these things the Emperor [h] Diocletian, being most vehemently indignant, straightway, after he had been most cruelly beaten with cudgels, handed him over to the prefect Plautianus to be compelled to sacrifice: by whom, being hung upon the rack and vexed with a very long tearing of the claws, and inflamed also with torches, when he persisted in the faith, saying: There is no king save him whom I have seen; and I adore and worship him; and for his worship, if I be slain a thousand times, I shall be his, as I have begun. Christ from my mouth, Christ from my heart the torments shall not be able to take away. For I greatly repent that I erred, in that formerly I shuddered at the holy name in holy men, and too late came as a proud soldier to adore the true King; he earned the crown of martyrdom by the cutting off of his head [i]. Then Plutianus [k] the prefect, hearing these things, ordered him to be beheaded on the spot. And the blessed martyr Genesius was beheaded on the VIII [l] of the Kalends of September [m], our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
al. Ne al. a Deo