CONCERNING S. MEDICUS THE MARTYR, AT OTRICOLI IN THE DIOCESE OF NARNI IN UMBRIA.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the Acts, cult, finding, and translation.
Medicus the Martyr, at Otricoli in the diocese of Narni in Umbria (S.)
BY D. P.
Between Narni and Falisca, otherwise called Civita Castellana, the Suburbicarian cities of Umbria in the Sabine country, The Lessons of this and other Patrons received from a Ms. of the year 1515 situated at almost an equal interval of six miles from each side, is Otricoli; concerning which Henschenius treats at greater length on the 22nd day of May, treating of S. Fulgentius, Bishop of that city under Totila; concerning whom, having more certain things from the account of S. Gregory, he did not care to seek out another more prolix Legend of his, apocryphal, nor compiled in good faith; nor did he recall that we had received it, on the faith of a public Notary, Dominicus Ciotti of Carbio, transcribed in the year 1661 on July 14, while we were still at Rome, from a parchment Ms. of the year 1515. In like manner from the same Ms. we then received concerning the other Patrons of the people of Otricoli Lessons, with Masses proper to each, of the year 1612, of no great authority. namely of SS. Victor and Corona and of the holy Medicus (concerning whom we have undertaken to treat) themselves also of antiquity and authority not great; nor apt to prove almost anything else, than a certain cult from time immemorial. For just as Victor and Corona, of whom we treated on May 14 in the Analecta, number 2, from Syria, where it was established that they suffered under Sestianus, Governor under the Emperor Antoninus and Duke of Egypt, with the same Sebastian they bring over to Otricoli, where their notable Relics are had; so they feign that S. Medicus, by the order of the same Sebastian, underwent various torments, and at last the capital sentence. I would rather confess that I am ignorant under which Emperor this Saint suffered, than to rely on Acts so badly stitched together; yet I shall set forth as I have received it, because in the rest there is nothing that gives offense, and nothing better is at hand.
[2] To the Lessons I subjoin a Notarial copy of a certain Brief, dispatched by the most Illustrious and most Reverend Cardinal de Monte, There is added the decree of the Congregation of Rites of the year 1612. Prefect of the sacred Congregation of Rites, of the year 1612, S. D. Pope Paul V sitting, in the 8th year of his Pontificate, transcribed from the original itself on parchment, having a Seal appended by a silken cord, on August 22, in the year aforesaid 1661. In this Decree is narrated the Finding of the body, and the Translation to be made is permitted. Ludovico Jacobilli, in volume 1 of the Saints of Umbria, a church once dedicated to S. Medicus, asserts, that a church once dedicated to S. Medicus stood outside the city in a place which to this day is called the Field of S. Medicus; of which name mention is made in the Pontifical Briefs, of Eugenius III, for February 18, 1148; of Honorius III, for 1221; of Gregory IX, for 1240; and of Alexander IV, for 1258, confirming the possession of the same place to the Canons Regular, existing in the Collegiate church of S. Mary of Otricoli. Then the same Jacobilli adds, that in the year 1611, on September 5, John Baptist Toscus of Reggio, Bishop of Narni, the body found also in S. Victor's outside the walls in the year 1611 in a most ancient stone monument, under the altar of the same S. Medicus, in the suburban church of S. Victor, found his body and of others lying around him; and he, by license of Pope Paul V from the judgment of the sacred Congregation of Rites, dispatched on July 16, 1612, in the same year and the same month, translated it from the suburban into the urban and Collegiate church of the aforesaid S. Victor; then indeed on the 18th day of the following month of May into the chapel of Honorius himself erected within the subterranean Crypt of the same Collegiate church.
[3] In the same old monument was found a small stone eight inches long, three high, and inscribed with those, with an inscription of the year 1000. which we here express in lesser form, characters.
This inscription, with the first letter A added which had been worn away, I judge should be read thus. Christ is Alpha and Omega. Here rests Medicus the Martyr of Christ, with several resting in Christ, and found under the earth, in the year one thousand. Such an explanation being admitted, it would follow, that perhaps the first finding, in the crypt in which the Saint had been buried immediately after death, and the translation to the aforesaid suburban church of S. Victor, made the beginning of the eleventh Christian century festive for the people of Otricoli: not likewise, that the other Bodies translated together, are likewise and certainly believed to be those of holy Martyrs. Wherefore the Congregation rightly hesitated, to permit their veneration as such. It also seems consequent to us, that in the same eleventh century the aforesaid Lessons were composed.
[4] I believe also that at the same time were composed the Prayers, and the proper Mass ordained, such as I have described on the 17th day of July aforesaid, from a Missal of the year 1481, an old Mass from a Ms. of the year 1481. which is preserved in the Collegiate church of S. Mary. And this Mass is ordained thus. Introit. Thou hast protected me, O God. Collect. Almighty everlasting God, the strength of those who contend and the palm of Martyrs, look propitiously upon the present solemnity; and by the intercession of B. Medicus thy Martyr, mayest thou fulfill the vows of all who believe in thee. The Lesson of the book of Proverbs, chapter 1, verse 12. Blessed is the man who findeth Wisdom. Gradual. With glory and honor thou hast crowned him, and hast set him over the works of thy hands. Alleluia. O Medicus Martyr of Christ, strong in the contest, entreat the Lord for us, standing in the glory of heaven. The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 10. Nothing is hidden, that shall not be revealed. Offertory. In thy strength, O Lord, the just man shall rejoice, and over thy salvation he shall exult vehemently, the desire of his soul thou hast granted to him. Secret. May the Sacrifice, O Lord, which we offer with desire, by the suffrage of B. Medicus, thy Martyr, be made acceptable to thee. Communion. Thou hast set, O Lord, upon his head a crown of precious stone. Postcommunion. Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that being quickened by the reception of thy Sacrament, we may also be aided by the prayers of thy holy Martyr Medicus.
[5] Philip Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy of the year 1613, Ferrarius's delusion about the place of Martyrdom, exhibits an epitome of the Acts, from an old Ms. of the Church of Otricoli; and adds in the Notes; The Body is at Otricoli, where he is believed to have suffered, since in Asia the Sebastene afflicted some Christians with death. But in the general Catalogue of those, who are not in the Roman Martyrology: He, in Asia, he says, suffered under Sebastian the Duke, as the Ms. Acts which we have seen, indicate. With what eyes he saw these things, that he should believe he read Medicus suffered in Asia, I for my part do not grasp; nor will Sebastian, ascribed through ignorance to his Martyrdom by the author of the Lessons, move me, that I should transfer the Saint, a local patron snatched from the people of Otricoli, to Asia. Yet receive the Lessons themselves, such as they are, collated with a more ancient Ms. copy, found among the collectanea of Gallonius at Rome, the Relics at Bologna. in the Vallicellan library of the Fathers of the Oratory. Furthermore I believe him to be the very same, whose Relics are said to be had at Bologna at the gate of S. Gabriel of Ravenna, says John Paul Masini in his Bologna Surveyed, although he defers him until the 28th of this month, perhaps for the greater convenience of that church, the day being thus changed.
THE LESSONS OF THE OLD OFFICE
From a parchment Breviary Ms. of the year 1515.
Medicus the Martyr, at Otricoli in the diocese of Narni in Umbria (S.)
BHL Number: 5877
FROM THE MSS.
[1] In the reign of the Emperor Antoninus, there was a great persecution of the Christians; and in the city of Otricoli there was a certain Duke, Denounced as a Christian, Sebastian by name: and there was there a certain Maleficus, a great friend of the Emperor. Then the ministers announced to Sebastian the Duke, saying, Most clement Lord; Maleficus has become a Christian, and blasphemes our Gods, and says that they are demons. Then Sebastian, being indignant, ordered him to be seized, and brought to himself: to whom also he said privately, Maleficus, our friend, what didst thou suppose was lacking to thee, that thou hast made thyself a Christian. S. Medicus answered: For I am openly a Christian; Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, he generously confesses the faith, born of the Virgin Mary, I adore, and believe with my heart, and cease not to praise in deed. Then Sebastian, filled with anger, ordered him to be cast into prison, and said to him, Go, deliberate with thyself how thou mayest be able to escape the horrid torments, which will strongly tear thee, if thou wilt not sacrifice.
[2] Thus cast into prison he remained there twelve days: and he ordered that neither bread nor water be given to him: but on the thirteenth day the aforesaid Sebastian ordered a Tribunal to be prepared at the Hippodrome just finished, and ordered S. Medicus to be brought, and said to him: What hast thou decided concerning thy salvation, my friend? B. Medicus answered: and after twelve days of prison equally constant, Those ought to be friends to thee, who do not fear to have their Lord an enemy: for as bitter to me are thy friendships, so much the sweeter are thy enmities. Sebastian the Duke said, O Maleficus, what sayest thou? B. Medicus answered: I say I have no life of common faith with thee. Sebastian said: Then does this please thee, that despising our precepts thou shouldst die the death? B. Medicus answered: The death, which thou threatenest to inflict on me, is a great life; and therefore I do not fear thy wrath: wherefore from it is born to me perpetual life, and a perpetual crown and palm.
[3] Then Sebastian in anger said to Terentian his Counselor: Tomorrow morning in thy Secretarium let him be vexed with diverse punishments, if he will not sacrifice; yielding neither to threats nor promises: but if he truly consents, both unite him to thy love, and present him to my friendships. Terentian the Counselor said: Why dost thou not sacrifice to the gods, whom the Emperor adores, and to whom he bends his neck? Surely if thou consentest to his precepts and obeyest, he is ready with diverse gifts to exalt thee with honor. To whom the glorious Martyr answered: I do not accept the rewards promised by you, for daily from my Lord I receive strength.
[4] after another five days brought forth, Then Terentian announced these things to Sebastian; who ordered him to be cast into prison, and guarded by soldiers. And when he had been shut up there for five days, Sebastian ordered him on the fifth day to be led out of prison, and said to him: Sacrifice to the gods, whom I have declared to be great … and when he said many things like these, he is pierced with nails, he ordered him to be tied to a stake, and commanded sharp nails to be fixed in his hands and feet, and said to him: Lay aside now the hardness of thy mind, and offer sacrifice to the immortal gods, whom true divinity has shown forth. B. Medicus said: I do not sacrifice to the gods of the pagans: it is base, that what I received in the Baptism of sanctification, persuaded by thee, a corruptible man and placed in every necessity, I should reject. And Sebastian answered: So long shalt thou stand fixed, until thou render the due office to the immortal gods.
[5] At these things the glorious Martyr, fixed in the love of God, hanging on the wood with a glad mind, sang to the Lord, saying; In God I will hope, I will not fear what man may do to me. Then Sebastian said: Sacrifice to the gods. Medicus said: I do not adore deaf and dumb gods, made by the hand of men: who have a mouth and speak not; eyes have they, and see not; ears have they, and hear not; nostrils have they, and smell not; feet have they, and walk not. Let those become like unto them, who trust in them. Then Sebastian, filled with fury, ordered him to be long tortured. and hung on the rack he is tortured, B. Medicus prayed to the Lord, saying: I give thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, only-begotten Son of the living and true God, that I have deserved to be counted now in the society of those, who for thy name have gone forth to the crown of Martyrdom.
[6] Then Sebastian in anger ordered him to be loosed, and so taken down from the stake. and he is trodden underfoot: Medicus, compelled by desire for martyrdom said; Do what thou art about to do: because I know that he who fights for me is stronger than thou. Then Sebastian and Terentian ordered cudgels to be brought, and to be laid over him, and five sets of three to pass over, and to cry out to him: Sacrifice to the Gods, whom the Emperor adores. B. Medicus answered: My Lord Jesus Christ is eternal, and he himself said, Everyone who shall sacrifice to Idols, shall be rooted out. Then Sebastian ordered him to be hung on the rack, and burned with torches, and scraped with claws. B. Medicus said to him: Did I not tell thee? that thy enmities gladden me, and make me acquire ampler grace in the sight of my King?
[7] Terentian the Counselor said, Since I see this man rebellious, and that he chooses rather to wish for blows and torments than to fear them, lead this one and his colleague to death: and he said to B. Medicus, overcome by nothing of these, Tell now, Maleficus, what is the cause of the hardness of thy mind, that by so many blows and tortured by the rack, and burned by flames and lacerated by claws, thou couldst in no way consent to fulfill the precepts of the most holy Emperor. S. Medicus answered: A true Master has taught me. Terentian said: Whence knowest thou these things? in what manner did he teach thee? and praising Christ as God, B. Medicus said: The Son of God, that he might succor all, took on a man, whom a virgin conceived, a virgin bore, and a virgin she remained after the birth … This greatest faith, which is in Christ, is not conquered by torments, nor overcome by flames, nor by the sword. Terentian said: As I see, my God is the true God: for thy God, whom thou thyself hast said, was crucified. My God never laid down his Omnipotence, but enlarged his Empire.
[8] Then B. Medicus, smiling, said to him: If thou believest this one to be Lord, thou thyself wilt not be burned in perpetual fires. But Terentian, being angry, ordered him to be burned with fires. Who when he had been cast into the fire, remained unharmed. Then the glorious Martyr of God said: he is in vain thrown to the fire; This temporal affliction and confusion shall bring forth great confidence and eternal glory with the King of heaven and earth: for earthly Princes fall swiftly, concerning whom the Psalm says: But you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the Princes: and again: I saw the wicked exalted and lifted up even to the cedars of Lebanon: I passed by, and lo he was not; I sought him, and his place was not found. Ps. 81, 7; Ps. 36, 35.
[9] Then Sebastian ordered him to be cast again into prison. and at last he is struck with the capital sentence. After some days he proceeded into the palace, and ordered him, after the manner of the Christians, bound with chains, to be led with him; and after three days, he ordered him to be led out and made ready outside the city. To whom, led out to the middle, he said: Now lay aside thy pride, and abandon the magic art; for thou shalt be an example to all Christians. The most blessed Martyr answered: The magic art I know not, but I have the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I believe, and therefore I do not dread thy threats. Then Sebastian in anger ordered him to be beaten with cudgels, and to undergo the capital sentence. Who, led outside the gate of the city, was beheaded. Whose body a certain man named Elozimus gathered by night; and buried him in a crypt with many. And the glorious Martyr Medicus suffered on the sixth day before the Kalends of July.
ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.
DECREE OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION OF RITES
On the finding of the body and the cult. From a parchment autograph Ms.
Medicus the Martyr, at Otricoli in the diocese of Narni in Umbria (S.)
FROM THE MSS.
Francis Maria, by divine mercy of the title of S. Lawrence in Lucina, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, de Monte, 57 bodies of S. Medicus and others having been found by the Bishop of Narni Prefect of the Congregation of sacred Rites, to all and singular who shall inspect, read, and hear the present letters, eternal salvation in the Lord. Whereas in the territory of Otricoli of the Diocese of Narni, among the ruins of the ancient city of Otricoli near the bank of the Tiber, where the ancient church of S. Victor Patron of that same city had been built, fifty-seven Bodies, which were judged to be of holy Martyrs, have been found; and especially among them in a certain sepulcher made of Tiburtine stone, many bones with a head, with the following inscription, placed on a small stone hidden in the said sepulcher, namely; Here rests S. Medicus the Martyr of Christ with several; and whereas the Bishop of Narni took care that all the aforesaid be diligently searched out and noted; and judged that all the aforesaid bodies found are probably the bodies of holy Martyrs; and whereas the community of the said Land of Otricoli supplicated our most Holy Lord, the Pontiff being consulted, that he might deign to grant to them, that the said Bodies, as found above and recognized by the Bishop and other Ecclesiastical persons, pious and learned, might be able to be transported from the place, in which they were found, into their Church, and decently placed. And whereas the same our most Holy Lord ordered this business to be examined by the Sacred Congregation of Rites; and whereas, by the Order of the same sacred Congregation, a process was transmitted from the Bishop to the City, concerning the finding of the said Bodies, with his report, and were handed over to the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord Cardinal Bellarmine; his report being heard, in the full Congregation held on the seventh day of the present month of July, concerning the contents in the said Process and report transmitted to the City, the judgment of the Congregation of Rites being heard, by the aforesaid Bishop of Narni: the same sacred Congregation of Rites judged, that from the said process and report it is not sufficiently established that all the aforesaid fifty-seven Bodies are truly Bodies of holy Martyrs, and are to be venerated as such, excepting only the Body of the aforesaid holy Medicus, which it judged to be truly the Body of a Martyr, and able to be venerated as such; but the other aforesaid Bodies are to be placed and conserved in a decent and honorable place, but are not yet to be venerated as the Bodies of holy Martyrs, the same sacred Congregation of Rites judged. it orders only the body of S. Medicus to be exposed, And report having been made by Us of all the aforesaid to the aforesaid our holy Lord Pope Paul V in secret Consistory, on this undersigned day; His Holiness approved the sentence of the Congregation; and granted that the Body of the aforesaid S. Medicus may, as the Body of a holy Martyr of Christ, be venerated and honored by all the faithful, and with due honor be translated into the Cathedral church; but the other aforesaid Bodies are not to be venerated as Bodies of holy Martyrs, but to be set aside in a decent and honorable place, the rest to be honorably stored away. until it shall please the Most High to demonstrate whether they are truly the Bodies of holy Martyrs. In faith and testimony of all and singular which things, we have ordered the present letters to be made, through the undersigned Secretary of our Congregation of Rites; we have subscribed with our own hand, and have caused them to be fortified with the impression of our accustomed seal, on this sixteenth day of the month of July, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and twelve, and in the eighth year of the Pontificate of the same most Holy Father in Christ and our Lord, the Lord Paul, by divine providence Pope the Fifth. year 1612. Francis Maria, of the Title of S. Lawrence in Lucina, Cardinal de Monte, in place of the appended seal. I. P. Mucantius Secretary of the Congregation.