Rufina and Eutica and Julian and Perhaps Julius and Hermes and Justus and XVIII Soldiers

ON SS. RUFINA AND EUTICA AND JULIAN AND PERHAPS JULIUS AND HERMES AND JUSTUS AND XVIII SOLDIERS, MARTYRS,

From the Hieronymian copies.

Rufina, Martyr (St.) Eutica, Martyr (St.) Julianus, Martyr (St.) Julius, Martyr (St.) Hermes, Martyr (St.) Justus, Martyr (St.) XVIII Soldiers, Martyrs (SS.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

The Hieronymian copies published by Florentinius here again obtrude upon us new tangles, Various notes are given as they are wont to do again and again elsewhere; which, if we shall not be able sufficiently to unravel, yet we shall try to bring forward our thoughts upon them, and to hold out at least some light for this obscure announcement, which in today's text in the praised Florentinius thus runs: In the city of Capua of Campania, the birthday of the holy Rufina, Eutica, with their companions. With it agrees the Martyrology of the queen of Sweden, in our possession among the abridged Hieronymian Martyrologies: At Capua of Campania, the birthday of the holy Rufina, Eutica: but it does not add the companions. But the Rheinau and the Reichenau: At Rome, of Eutices. The Reichenau adds: In the city of Capua, of the holy Rufinus, Euticus. The Augsburg: Of Julianus, Rufinus. At Rome, of Gerasius the martyr, of Hermes. The Labbean: Of Julianus, Rufina. At Rome, of Genesius, of Hermes. To which add the Corbie one, more brief: In the province of Syria, the birthday of St. Julianus, Rufinus; and another under the name of the Venerable Bede, which we have taken from a parchment Ms. of St. Lambert of Liège: Likewise of Rufinus, Etiticus , of Hermes, of Justus. Lastly, among the additions to the Martyrology of Bede published by us before tom. II of March, these are: In the city of Capua of Campania, the birthday of SS. Rufinus and Julius. Of Hermes. But these two are thus recorded in the very text of the Martyrology published by Florentinius: At Arles, the birthday of the holy Genesius the martyr, of Julius, of Hermes.*

[2] Thou seest here, reader, a mere chaos, in which neither the names, about the intricate nor the number, nor the order, nor the places agree. Of St. Genesius of Rome (above faultily Gerasius) we treat today with the Roman Martyrology. If that Rufinus who was just now announced at Capua is the same as the martyr of like name who stands there, but endowed with the title of bishop, in the same Roman one, he pertains to the XXVI of August; but if he is another, as he seems to be, because nowhere above is he called a bishop, we know of no more that has been ascertained about him. But today with the Roman Martyrology there is treated of St. Julian, M. in Syria. Another controversy is from the text of the Martyrology in Florentinius cited before: namely whether Rufina and Eutica is to be read, and women are meant; or whether it should be written Rufini and Euticetis, or more rightly Eutychetis. The feminine reading Florentinius prefers in the notes; but he does not sufficiently persuade. The holy martyrs, he says, Rufina and Eutica; not Rufinus, as the Corbie Martyrology reads, our books commemorate on this day, with which the Ms. of the queen of Sweden agrees at the VIII Cal.: "At Capua of Campania, the birthday of the holy Rufina, Eutica." But the announcements which we have related above from elsewhere favor the masculine reading: so that thou scarcely knowest to which reading thou shouldst rather adhere in so great, and so constant — let us say daily — a corruption of the Hieronymian copies.

[3] There is added in our books, as Florentinius goes on, WITH THEIR COMPANIONS, announcements of these Martyrs as in the Corbie M.: about whom from other hagiologies nothing was permitted me to add. If the true reading there is the masculine eorum, the feminine reading Rufinæ and Euticæ seems to be false; but which is genuine, and whether for eorum earum ought to be read, who would safely determine? A new difficulty is created by the XVIII soldiers, who follow in the text in Florentinius: In the cemetery of the same, on the Nomentan Way, XVIII soldiers. For besides that it is not known to us of what sort these are, this text is also mutilated. These words, as Florentinius affirms in the notes, stand neither in the Antwerp Martyrology nor in the Corbie one: and that some certain martyr venerated at Rome is here lacking, those words show, IN THE CEMETERY OF THE SAME. For that the Nomentan Way led from the city of Rome toward Nomentum eastward is certain. And perhaps Eusebius and the rest of the companions of St. Pontianus, recorded by almost all the Latins, are here wanting, who completed their struggle at Rome.

[4] notes. Thence the anonymous XVIII soldiers could be commemorated on the Nomentan Way, in the Sandpit or cemetery of that same Way. The more renowned cemetery of that Way was that of holy Agnes: but on the same Way, at the fourteenth milestone from the City, at the Nomentan Arches, there was a Sandpit where were buried Primus and Felicianus the martyrs, which the Pontifical book mentions in Theodore. There was also a cemetery, called without other addition the cemetery of the Martyrs, on the Nomentan Way: which the Vatican Ms. Bede mentions in Aringhi, book 4, chapter 26, num. 2; and that in this the holy Soldiers could be venerated with other martyrs, nothing forbids. We meanwhile, having bidden farewell to these conjectures and to the other observations above, since the present matter is such that no probable outcome can be hoped from it, have in the title above, which we have prefixed to it, expressed the names as they are had in the said text, yet in such wise that there are added by us the names of those who elsewhere, even if they are not in that text, are expressed. I have said, however, Julian and perhaps Julius, because, since those names are almost alike, it could easily have happened that one and the same was twice set down.

perhaps Eutici*