St. Demetrius, martyr and bishop, at Gap in Gaul.
St. Evaristus, pope and martyr.
St. Lucian, martyr at Nicomedia in Bithynia.
St. Marcian, martyr at Nicomedia in Bithynia.
The Companions, martyrs at Nicomedia in Bithynia.
St. Rogatian, confessor at Carthage in Africa.
St. Felicissimus, confessor at Carthage in Africa.
St. Artemidorus, martyr of the Eastern Church.
St. Basil, martyr of the Eastern Church.
St. Glycon, martyr of the Eastern Church.
St. Leptina, martyr of the Eastern Church.
St. Amandus, confessor and bishop, at Strasbourg.
St. Quodvultdeus, bishop and confessor, at Carthage.
St. Aurelius, bishop and confessor, at Carthage.
St. Rusticus, confessor and bishop, at Narbonne in Gaul.
St. Alorus, confessor and bishop, at Quimper in Lesser Britain.
St. Aptonius, confessor and bishop, at Angoulême.
St. Quadragesimus, subdeacon and confessor, in Italy.
St. Daria, virgin in Cornacia, a province of Ireland.
St. Derbilia, virgin in Cornacia, a province of Ireland.
St. Nasadius, bishop and confessor, in County Down in Ireland.
St. Beoanus, bishop and confessor, in County Down in Ireland.
St. Mellanus, confessor in County Down in Ireland.
St. Gwinocus, bishop, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Aneurin or Gildas, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Cennydd, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Madog, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Dolgan, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Dolgar, confessor in Wales, a brother.
St. Tudyr, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Arwystli Gloff, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Twrnog or Teyrnog, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Dier or Deifer, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Tyfrydog, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Marcella, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Gwynodl, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Merin, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Senefyr, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Tuglyd, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Tudno, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Tyneio, confessor, not a bishop, in Wales.
St. Gaudiosus, confessor and bishop, at Salerno in Italy.
St. Amandus, confessor and bishop, at Worms and Salzburg.
St. Ceddus, confessor and bishop, in Northumbria.
St. Eata, confessor and bishop, at Lindisfarne and Hexham.
St. Sigebald, confessor and bishop, at Metz in Gaul.
St. Meliavus or Eliavus, martyr in Armorican Brittany.
St. Albinus, confessor and bishop, at Büraberg in Hesse.
St. Megingaud, confessor and bishop, at Büraberg in Hesse.
St. Humbert, confessor, not a bishop, at Fritzlar.
Bl. Athanasius, steward of the monastery of Medikion.
St. Bernward, confessor and bishop, at Hildesheim.
St. Bean, confessor and bishop, at Mortlach in Scotland.
Bl. Fulcus, confessor and bishop, in the territory of Bologna.
Bl. Fulcus, confessor and bishop, at Piacenza and Pavia.
St. Bernard Calvonius, confessor and bishop, at Vich in Spain.
St. Damian of Finale, also called Furcherius, confessor, not a bishop, of the Order of Friars Preachers, at Reggio Emilia in Italy.
Bl. Bonaventure of Potenza, confessor, of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual.
The translation of the body of St. Andrew Corsini, bishop of Fiesole, of the Carmelite Order, is celebrated today by these hermits. This is not the furtive carrying-off of the body from Fiesole to Florence, which our predecessors gave briefly narrated in his Acts at 30 January; but, as is explained at length in the Breviary of the Carmelites at the present day, a solemnity celebrated at Florence in the year 1683; which the reader may see there: the Acts, however, at the said day, 30 January.
The episcopal ordination of St. Amandus, bishop of Maastricht, his translation or rather elevation, and also the dedication of the church of Elnone, were formerly kept on the present day, as Milo of Elnone explains at length in his Sermon on this celebration. This feast (since the true feast-day, like that of St. Benedict, sometimes falling in Lent, could not always be celebrated) was observed with much solemnity, and was widely spread through Gaul, Belgium, Germany and other regions, and was inscribed in many martyrologies and calendars. But on this see the Acts of St. Amandus at 6 February.
St. Vedast, bishop of Arras, is joined on this day with St. Amandus of Maastricht by Ado, Notker and Wandelbert, just as Florus, Rabanus and Usuard associate the same two at 6 February. Although those two saints are separated by almost a whole century and a half, since they died on the same day they hence became almost inseparable companions in the sacred calendars. Hence, when the celebration of St. Amandus, on account of the hindrance of Lent, however rarely that occurred, was put off to 26 October, a day famous for the memory of his ordination, elevation and dedication, St. Vedast followed. See his Acts at 6 February.
The memory of BB. Haimo and Veremund, lay brothers, illustrious by birth and virtue, is recalled today by Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, as though their feast were kept at Meda in the territory of Milan; and he has as followers Anthony de Heredia in the Spanish Lives of the saints and blessed of the Order of St. Benedict, and Benedict Cherle in the German Benedictine Martyrology. But there is no reason at all why at this day these blessed men, whom he wrongly calls lay brothers (for in the eighth century, in which they are said to have lived, the distinction of choir monks and lay brothers was not in use), but there was nothing why he should announce them today, since they are venerated, as may be seen in our Work, on 13 February.
The memory of the elevation or translation of St. Erminus, bishop and abbot of Lobbes in Belgium, was formerly kept every year at Lobbes and at Binche, whither his relics at one time came, as to a safer place; and hence it is recalled in the auctaria of Molanus to the Martyrology of Usuard, in the General Catalogue of the Saints of Ferrarius, in the Martyrology of du Saussay and in the menologies of the Benedictines. His deeds, written by Anso, abbot of Lobbes, forty years after his death, Henschenius edited with a Preliminary Commentary in our Acts at his feast-day, 25 April.
St. Odran of Letrechaibh-Odrain in Muscraige-Tire is announced on this day in the Irish Martyrology of Donegal, but in others on the 2nd of this month. Of him, and at the same time of his brother St. Medran, it was spoken from the Acts of St. Kieran on the day on which the memory of his brother was formerly recalled, 7 July.
The feast of St. Pelagia, virgin, is announced on this day in the Lübeck-Cologne edition: "Who, when she was sought in marriage by a certain noble youth, cut off her hair and in man's dress secretly fled and entered a monastery of most approved monks, and in it, unknown to all until her death, served God devoutly, and at length died happily." Greven seems to have had this before his eyes; who in his edition of Usuard wrote: "Likewise, according to some, here, of Margaret, virgin, who is also Pelagia. Others have her on the Ides of October"; and indeed the same Greven at 15 October sums up in a few words this action, most celebrated in old monastic history: "At Antioch," he says, "of St. Margaret, virgin. Who, in order to escape the sea of this world, having left her carnal betrothed and entered a monastery of men, took for herself the name of Pelagius." This is a very tangled matter, which it pleases me to unravel in a few words. First, it is plain that this saint became known to the Latins from Greek monuments; next, although she is now commonly called Marinus in the Greek books, why should she not first have been called by the Greek name Thalassius? which some rendered in Latin by Marinus, others by Pelagius: for we shall presently show that she was called by both names in Latin; and finally it could easily have happened that the Greeks afterwards received her from the Latins, clothed with the Latin name of Marinus; although it must be confessed that the Latin names Marinus and Pelagius were also in use among the Greeks. Be that as it may, that St. Pelagius or Pelagia is not to be held different, as the very great similarity of the deeds persuades, from St. Marina, whom the Greeks venerate on 12 February and whom our predecessors illustrated at 17 July, with an appendix added on Reparata or Margaret, called by the name of Pelagius; who is this Margaret or Pelagius of ours. But why the Marina of the Greeks is called Margaret by Greven in two places, and also by Peter de Natalibus (at 8 October, on account of St. Pelagia the sinner, whose feast is then kept), and in the manuscript codex of the Queen of Sweden, the reason is manifest. For, as is clear from Greven himself, she was confused with St. Marina of the Greeks, of Antioch in Pisidia, who, as our predecessors showed at 20 July, was already in the seventh century commonly called Margaret by the Latins, although she was a martyr and by no means a nun: whence it could not but happen that the name of Margaret should attach to her. These things declared, it is manifest that the singular deeds of this virgin are to be sought in our work at 17 July.
The conversion of St. Afra, the courtesan of Augsburg, brought by St. Narcissus to the faith and a better life and afterwards a most valiant martyr of Christ, is celebrated on this day in Greven's Martyrology of Usuard: she has been spoken of at the day on which she is festively venerated, 5 August.
SS. Justus or Justinus, Maximinus, Valentinus and Solarius, bishops of Strasbourg, since they are called saints by some, Henschenius referred from the Passed Over of 6 February to this day, on which St. Amandus, bishop of Strasbourg, was to be spoken of. Of SS. Maximinus, Valentinus and Solarius, who were formerly painted with rays in testimony of their sanctity, we related very little at the beginning of the Acts of St. Amandus of Strasbourg, nor has more become known; of St. Justus or Justinus it has been spoken in our work at 1 September.
The translation at Orléans of St. Agia, widow and mother of Bl. Lupus, archbishop of Sens, is celebrated today by Arthur in the Gynecaeum; she, who is also called Austregisilis, has been treated in our Acts at the day on which the deeds of her son were also illustrated, 1 September.
The revelation or finding of St. Maurice and his companions at Vienne of the Allobroges is commemorated today by Chastelain and du Saussay. Our John Clé explained this celebration in § XV of the Posthumous Glory of SS. Maurice and the Theban martyrs at 22 September.
"On the same day, the feast of Florentius, confessor," is announced in just these words in the Usuardine codex of the Queen of Sweden, marked 428; which codex, as is clear from what is said at 17 October about a canon of the cathedral church of Paris (who is there called "our Brother Robert Pisanus"), was for the use of the chapter of Paris. Nowhere else has St. Florentius, confessor, come before us on this day, except in Whitford's English Martyrology alone, where he is wrongly called a bishop. For he seems to be the same as the one who in other codices appears on the following day under the title of St. Florentius, presbyter and monk, in the district of Poitou; who was illustrated in our work at 22 September.
The deposition of St. Ceolfrid, abbot and confessor, in Glasconia, or rather Glastonia, is celebrated today by Molanus in the auctaria to the Martyrology of Usuard. The error that lurks there our Suyskens long ago corrected in the Commentary on St. Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarrow and Wearmouth, numbers 8, 9, 10 and 11, at 25 September. As du Saussay relates better at the present day, the festive memory of the translation of his relics from Langres to Glastonbury is kept. But see these things explained at the said day, 25 September.
St. Demetrius, martyr of Thessalonica, than whom scarcely anyone is more celebrated among the Easterners, is announced today in the Usuardine codices of Pulsano and the Vatican, taken from the Greek books; in all of which, as is shown in the Graeco-Slavonic Ecclesiastical Year which you have at the beginning of this volume, he is commemorated on the present day. Our predecessors spoke of him at the day on which he is ascribed to the Latin calendars, 8 October.
Bl. Seraphinus of Montegranaro, Capuchin, is remembered on this day by Arthur in the Franciscan Menology. Our predecessors spoke of him at the day on which his feast is kept, 12 October.
The deposition of St. Trogenus, or rather Trojecius, confessor, in the city of Nevers is celebrated on this day in the Usuardine codex of D. Le Mare, marked A. See his Acts in our work at 17 October.
St. Fronto, bishop of Périgueux, is praised at length on this day by the Hagenau Usuardine book; his Acts, no less obscure than uncertain, were given at the preceding day, or 25 October.
Bl. Mineas, martyr under Decius in the city of Florence, is presented today by the Usuardine codex of Centula used by Sollerius; straying from the truth by one day, since his feast is kept on 25 October.
At Cologne, in the church of St. Mary ad Gradus, the feast of the coming of the holy Cross is announced today in the Lübeck-Cologne edition of Usuard and in the German Martyrology of Wallasser, commonly called that of Canisius; on the other hand, in the Universal Martyrology of Chastelain, the apparition of the holy Cross to Constantine near Rome; of these things it will be possible to speak in a separate volume on the feasts of Christ.
"The most joyful commemoration of the most serene lady, the Admirable Mother, blessed by her sons; or the memory of the services rendered to her from the institution of the Order of the most holy and admirable father Benedict through so long a course of centuries down to this day," is celebrated today by Bucelin and his followers, Anthony de Heredia and Benedict Cherle, in the Spanish Lives and the German Martyrology; of which feast they say Gerard the Belgian treats, whose book is entitled Mancipatus Deiparae. This Mancipatus first came to light separately in the year 1649 with the presses of Padua, and in the same year through the care of that Gabriel Bucelin and the diligence of Maurus Marchese in the first part of the Sacred Opuscula with the Lenian presses of Venice; and in the years 1721 at Freising and 1726 at Ingolstadt in Schaumberger's Cultus Marianus. But who that Gerard the Belgian was, in what place or in what age he lived, no one has hitherto been able to find out; and indeed this very surname "the Belgian" seems to indicate that he led the religious life in a foreign monastery, probably in Italy, where his book was first found [Cf. Ziegelbauer and Legipontius, Hist. litter. ordinis S. Benedicti, volume IV, pages 178 and 179.]. However that may be, that feast seems to have been a particular one, by no means common to the whole Order of St. Benedict.
At Fleury, the dedication of the basilica of St. Mary the Virgin and of the most holy father Benedict is announced on this day, following the Martyrology of Fleury, by Colvener in the newest Calendar of the most holy Virgin Mary.
The anniversary of the dedication of the church of Salzedas in the Portuguese diocese of Lamego (commonly Lamego) is announced today in the Cistercian Martyrology.
The commemoration of the earthquake is celebrated on the present day in many Greek and also Slavonic synaxaria, menaea and menologies; as may be seen in the Graeco-Slavonic Ecclesiastical Year prefixed to this volume: whence it also passed into Molanus's edition of the Martyrology of Usuard. This calamity is related in the Slavonic Horologion of Pochaev to have happened in the royal city of Constantinople in the year 758, the twenty-fourth of Leo the Isaurian; but his twenty-fourth year coincides with the year 740; to which that misfortune is referred in the Menaea of the Greeks: and rightly, as is manifest from Cedrenus and the Breviary of Nicephorus, who speak at length of this ruin of the new Rome. In Sirmond's Synaxarion it is added that in the year 649, on the same day, 26 October, at the third hour of the night, another earthquake occurred, by which the Great church of the Mother of God fell. We are not accustomed to discourse further on such matters.
"The feast of St. Polycrates, an excellent bishop and most noble man, at Ephesus," is remembered today in the Usuardine codex of Centula used by Sollerius; and in three Gallican codices of the Martyrology of Ado of the Queen of Sweden, now marked in the Vatican library with the numbers 511, 512 and 514; where these words are added: "And he flourished in the times of the Emperor Severus, in the same age as Narcissus at Jerusalem." With which agrees the announcement which occurs on this day in Greven's edition of the Martyrology of Usuard: "At Ephesus, of Polycarp, bishop and confessor": for Polycarp, as the better-known name, takes the place of Polycrates; and indeed that error is detected elsewhere also Cf. Lequien, Oriens christianus, volume I, column 673., nor in the series of the bishops of Ephesus Ibid., column 671 and following. does any Polycarp occur among the ancients. But that Polycrates bore himself with little modesty towards St. Victor the pope and the Roman Church in the controversy over Easter; and together with the Asians, whom he had driven into partnership in his obstinacy, he was either excommunicated or (as others prefer) underwent threats of excommunication [Cf. the Observations of Valesius on Eusebius's History, book V, chapter 24, note d; Pagi, Critica at the year 196, number 2 and following, etc.]. I would not therefore affirm that he lived outside the communion of the Church, much less that he died so: but I do not doubt that a copyist imprudently (as has happened in so many other places) thrust his name, which he had found in ecclesiastical history, into a codex of Ado, whence it passed into those of Usuard; although there were no indications of ecclesiastical cult. Certainly the Greeks themselves, who from love of famous names brought even schismatics and heretics into their calendars, never made honourable memory of Polycrates of Ephesus in the sacred offices.
Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints alleges that St. Veranus, bishop and martyr, is celebrated on this day at Pisa in Etruria, relying on the Pisan Order of the divine Office, and adding that he was not a bishop of this church. And indeed as late as the year 1842 the festival of St. Veranus, bishop and confessor (but not martyr), was ordered in the liturgical Order of that diocese to be kept with semidouble rite, with the Mass Statuit and the Office from the common. But when in the year 1843 the seventh edition of the proper Offices of the saints for the primatial church, city and diocese of Pisa came out, in which it seemed good that the feast of St. Philomena, virgin and martyr of the cemetery, should be transferred from its assigned day, 11 August, to 26 October as to a fixed seat, the most ancient solemnity of St. Veranus was reduced to simple rite, or rather to a bare commemoration. Since, then, the cult was placed beyond controversy, we took care, as our duty is, to find out who he was. My brother Victor therefore wrote to the excellent man Augustine Morini, a Florentine member of the Order of Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that he might ask his Pisan friends for sure documents. Nor did they allow their help to be wanting: the Most Reverend Fanteri, vicar of the most eminent Cardinal of Pisa; Canon Sainati, writer of the Lives of the Pisan saints and blessed; Canon Benassai; and Joseph Bardelli, professor of the Sanskrit language in the university of Pisa: who also wrote to Peccioli, a place in the neighbouring diocese of Volterra, whose patron is St. Veranus. And hence at length it became known to me that St. Veranus, venerated at Pisa, is now held to be none other than the bishop of Cavaillon, whose Acts were published in our work at 19 October. And indeed the feast of St. Veranus was formerly celebrated at Pisa not on 26 October but on 19 October; at which day in the ancient parchment martyrology of the primatial church is read: "In the territory of Orléans, the deposition of St. Veranus, bishop and confessor"; who, as was shown in our work at 19 October, is reckoned the same as the bishop of Cavaillon, whose body is said to have been translated to Jargeau in the district of Orléans; which translation was recalled every year on 19 October with a very great festival; although some would have it that the body was carried to Albenga, others that it still rests at Cavaillon. Nor is the conviction of the people of Peccioli different from the tradition of the Pisans. For the provost, Joseph Menciassi Lupi, replied that the titular patron is the bishop of Cavaillon, whose whole Office is said from the common of a confessor pontiff; that there survived in his possession one copy of a brief Life, in which it is related that, while he was on a pilgrimage to Rome, he passed through Peccioli and freed the people from plague. Hence that same provost in the year 1863 had an image of St. Veranus engraved on copper, with small panels set round it in which are expressed the deeds of the blessed man at Ravenna, Albenga, Turin, Arles, Rome, Vaucluse, Milan, Briançon, Embrun and Cavaillon. But truly I very much doubt whether there is only one St. Veranus, or three, to whom the same fabulous Acts of one, with which St. Florentius of Orange too is clothed, were attributed. Certainly the body of St. Veranus of Orléans seems to be other than that of St. Veranus of Cavaillon; and in the ancient martyrologies it is not the translation but the deposition of St. Veranus in the territory of Orléans that is celebrated; so that he seems also to have died there. St. Veranus of Pisa also seems, according to the older traditions, to have been held to be different; for he was venerated as a martyr and had a Passion of his own. That is to say, Acts of St. Veranus formerly existed in the Strozzi library, whence in the past century they passed to the Leopoldine-Laurentian library at Florence [Bandini, Bibliotheca Leopoldina-Laurentiana, Supplement, volume I and volume II, column 281.]: these, transcribed by Papebroch himself on his Roman journey, are now preserved in the public library of Brussels, number 8922. That these Acts belong to St. Veranus of Pisa is established both from Papebroch's inscription and from the testimony of Bandini, who copied out from them this: "It belongs to the church of St. Veranus in Kinsica of Pisa; whose rector is Nicholas Berghus, canon of Pisa, 27 February 1467." But the codex itself is much older than the fifteenth century; and before that, at least in the fourteenth century, in Kinsica, which is a quarter or district of the city of Pisa, described by Muratori Antiquitates italicae medii aevi, volume II, page 885., there existed a church dedicated to St. Veranus Mattei, Ecclesia Pisana, volume I, page 101.. The Passion, moreover, as Papebroch says in a note on the copy, was written on very large parchments in rather large letters, with three drawings, for as many lessons as it seems, for the use of the choir. At the end, besides, in a character twice as small and more recent, there was this: "Prayer: O God, who didst enlighten the peoples of Tours by the teaching of blessed Veranus thy martyr, mercifully grant that we, who recall his solemnity, may by his intercession and help with thee be consoled with eternal joys." Yet these Acts are entirely different from the Life of St. Veranus of Cavaillon; as will appear from a summary (for since they are too much mixed with fables, I do not wish to bring them to light entire) to the reader who compares them with the documents published at 19 October. "In the time of the Emperor Nero, Veranus, a youth born of a noble house at Rome, was washed in the laver of baptism by St. Peter, at whose preaching he had earnestly asked to be enrolled among the Christians, and was then co-opted among the presbyters. Shortly afterwards the same St. Peter, having on the same day raised both to the episcopal dignity, sent him away from himself with his companion Apollinaris to propagate the Christian doctrines and overthrow the worship of idols. And when they had come," so it is read in the Acts, "not far from the city of Ravenna, they kissed one another. And blessed Veranus, when he was travelling through into the kingdom of the Franks … and entered the city of Tours, wrought many miracles, and even commanded a dead man to return to life in the name of Jesus Christ. Seeing these things, several thousands of pagans embraced the Christian religion; among whom was a certain man named Gerald, of a certain Castle Airald… And when the fame of blessed Veranus grew, through the prayer of Jesus Christ, through the kingdom of the Franks, and the multitude of the people had grown in the faith of Christ, so that because of their number they could no longer lie hidden, it was announced concerning him to a certain magician named Scirpus, a disciple of Simon Magus. This Scirpus left no stone unturned that the worshippers of the false gods might blaze up with rage against blessed Veranus, and compel him to kneel before the statues first of Jupiter, then of Apollo. But when he had entered the temple, where there were several shrines with images, and chiefly the god Apollo, and the god of the Sun and of the Moon and of Diana, blessed Veranus sang psalms, saying in these words: 'Let the gods that did not make heaven and earth perish': and to those entering the temple blessed Veranus said: 'Let all be confounded who adore graven things and who glory in their images': and at once the god of Apollo was shaken, and, shattered, fell to the ground with the others like dust. Then the whole crowd of pagans fled in terror; and the devil, going out of the statue of Apollo, scourged all the unbelievers and said with a loud voice: 'Through you we are cast down, because Christ prevails'; and Scirpus died, and five hundred men, not counting the little ones and the women, in that scourging. Moved to anger by this spectacle, Riccus and Astulphus, most wicked worshippers of idols, seized swords and in the same hour beheaded blessed Veranus. The Christians, therefore, flocking together from every side, laid hands on Riccus and Astulf and burned them together with all their house and household and offspring, except those who had already received the faith. And those who stood around the body of the most blessed Veranus believed in Christ. The Christians therefore came and with all diligence laid out his body, and buried him honourably: for in that same place his benefits and miracles flourish to this present day, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed Veranus suffered in the city of Tours under the Emperor Nero, on the seventh day before the Kalends of November, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning; to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever." These Acts are by no means genuine; for nowhere is a trace found of the preaching of St. Veranus among the people of Tours, although, if credit is given to St. Veranus's biographer, it was very illustrious: nor do Sulpicius Severus and Gregory of Tours mix in a word about it, men exceedingly well versed especially in the origins of Tours, as prelates of that church: add that the two men most hostile to St. Veranus had a Gothic name, namely Riccus and Astulf, and hence one altogether foreign at that time among the Romans and the Gauls. What of this, that Riccus seems to be none other than Rictus or Rictius Varus, whose name is so celebrated in the Passions of the holy martyrs who shed their blood for Christ in northern Gaul at the end of the third century (as was to be seen from what was said in the Commentary on SS. Crispin and Crispinian, in this very volume)? Similarly Astulf seems to be none other than that hated king of the Lombards who in the year 752, having taken Ravenna, extinguished the exarchate and afterwards twice made an attempt on Rome, being at length subdued by Pepin. These things, although they belong to very different times and are very far removed from the age of the apostle St. Peter, have nevertheless all been confused into one by a writer curious only of hateful names. No less incongruous does it seem that Simon Magus had disciples in the very city of Tours. Moreover, who will not judge that the words quoted above, "The Christians … flocking together from every side, laid hands on Riccus and Astulf and burned them together with all their house and household and offspring, except those who had already received the faith," were borrowed from the Acts of St. Apollinaris, bishop of Ravenna, where it is also read: "The Christians, seeing such impiety (the slaying of St. Apollinaris), were moved, and rushing upon the pagans, there was so great a clash that suddenly the Christians killed more than two hundred most impious men" Acta SS., volume V of July, page 347.. "Which things indeed," as our Pinius says Ibid., page 343., "are exceedingly far removed from the meekness of the first Christians, which St. Apollinaris (and hence also St. Veranus), taught by word and example by the prince of the apostles and by others, had likewise taught his neophytes." But the Acts of St. Veranus also have many other things in common with those same Acts of St. Apollinaris, which seemed to the said Pinius less than genuine. All these things being duly weighed, it is certain that the Acts of St. Veranus are of no credit and were written on the pattern of the Life of St. Apollinaris, whose companion he is said to have been for some time under the discipline of St. Peter the apostle, who consecrated them bishops on the same day, but in what year is not known Acta SS., volume V of June, page 329.. I by no means approve those Acts, therefore; but I have related them only for this reason, that it may appear that St. Veranus was held by the Pisans to be their martyr; and that they attributed to him deeds altogether other than those which are circulated about St. Veranus of Cavaillon. Nevertheless, however ungenuine and improbable they may be, no one will demonstrate that there is nothing true underlying them; and apart from the attendant circumstances whose falsity I have exposed, scarcely anything unworthy of credit occurs in them: perhaps even (that it may be understood whence arose that tradition that he preached at Tours in Gaul) this conjecture is not entirely to be rejected, namely that St. Veranus suffered martyrdom in a place of Etruria which was named Turroni, since it is certain from Anthony Augustine, Dempster [Thomas Dempster, De Etruria regali libri, volume II, page 114, Florence edition, 1724.], Baudrand, Ortelius and others that several places of this name, now destroyed or changed into others, existed in Etruria: indeed in the thirteenth century, in the diocese of Arezzo Acta SS., volume I of January, page 979., where there was also of old on the banks of the Tiber a city named Turrena, a monastery of Turonum is read to have flourished; and perhaps some weight is added to this conjecture by the fact that that place was not far distant from the military road which led St. Apollinaris from Rome to Ravenna; with whom St. Veranus (as was said above) had journeyed, until they came not far from the city of Ravenna. All these things move me to judge St. Veranus the martyr to be different from the bishop of Cavaillon; yet daring to determine nothing about his deeds. And indeed, since nothing is sufficiently explored, and even the weightiest matters rest on bare conjectures, it seemed preferable to refer all these things among the Passed Over.
St. Quodvultdeus, abbot of a monastery on the Vatican, who is said to have died in the year 586, is announced today by Schindele in the Supplement of the Benedictine Menology. It nowhere appears that he was legitimately venerated; nor is there any other reason why he should be remembered on this day than that St. Quodvultdeus, bishop of Carthage, is celebrated today in the sacred calendars.
Ernan Mioluachra of Kill-na-saccart, Rectan of Eatar Ghabhail and Cruadius Longipes of Balana are listed today in the Irish Martyrology of Donegal; but until it is more certainly established to us that they were honoured with ecclesiastical cult, it pleases us to pass them over. Of St. Cruadius these things are added in Irish in that Martyrology: "Cruadius is that same man whom Moling called to his aid together with other Irish saints, when the household of Fionnachta, king of Ireland, were coming to kill him. For they took it ill that Fionnachta, at the request of Moling, had remitted the Borumha to the men of Leinster, so that Moling said: O Brigid, bless our way." These things seem to have been taken from some Life of St. Moling, bishop of Ferns, whose Acts our predecessors gave at 17 June and who was very much involved in the political affairs of Leinster: but these things are not read there.
The death of Bl. Werdinus, abbot, famous for the spirit of prophecy, in the monastery of Otranto, is announced today by Wion in the Lignum vitae; where a prophecy, entirely incredible, is also read. But since that Werdinus did not become known before the end of the sixteenth century, it is clear that he cannot have a place in our work on grounds of immemorial cult.
The praises of Sigehard of holy memory, first abbot of Abdinghof, who departed this life in the year 1048, are set out on this day by Robert Schindele in the Supplement of the Benedictine Menology. Proofs of cult are wanting.
Bl. Bernard, bishop of Maurienne and (as they would have it) a shining ornament of the Cistercian Order, is praised at some length at this day by Henriquez and Bucelin, the former in the Cistercian Menology, the latter in the Benedictine Menology; namely, that he fed the sheep entrusted to him most holily by word and example and most diligently joined gentleness of mind and zeal for meditation with episcopal solicitude. And indeed in the contemporary Life of St. Peter, archbishop of Tarentaise, it is read of him Ibid., volume II of May, page 329.: "There presided over the church of Maurienne (about the middle of the twelfth century) Bernard, a bishop of great merit, as especially in that region a poverty fruitful in men produced many illustrious priests almost contemporary with him, namely St. Hugh of Grenoble etc. The aforesaid Bernard, bishop of Maurienne, coming indeed to Bétton, a monastery of his diocese, enjoined on the mother of the venerable Peter, bishop of Tarentaise (who was there with the title of abbess), when she confessed her faults to him, as he often visited, this form of penance: that she should obtain that the books of blessed Augustine (on the Psalms) mentioned above should be given to her sisters (by St. Peter, who had had them diligently transcribed). After a short time the archbishop arrived; and his mother, coming to him, asked him whether it was necessary for sinners to fulfil the penance enjoined on them. When he answered 'Certainly,' she begged him to have mercy on the soul of his mother; on whom her own prelate had enjoined a penance of this kind. So the virgins of that same convent embrace all the more dearly the same codices bestowed on them and the memory of the giver." Manrique alleges Annales ord. Cisterciensis, at the year 1138, chapter XII, numbers 8 and 9. that the sisters of Bétton (which nunnery is said to have been the third erected or admitted by the Cistercians) still preserved and venerated these books on the Psalms in the seventeenth century. Barnabas de Montalbo or Montalvi, who in the year 1602 published at Madrid the first part of the Chronicles of the Cistercian Order, in book IV, chapter 47, calls him St. Bernard, bishop of Maurienne, Cistercian monk; and then, listing contemporary bishops illustrious for the praise of holiness: "Among these most illustrious men," he says, "not the lowest place was held by Bernard (whom they also assert to have been of our Order), bishop of Maurienne." And Philip Seguin, prior of Charlieu in Burgundy, a diligent man and searcher of ancient things, who in the sixteenth century gathered very many things in praise of the Cistercians into manuscript codices Henriquez, Menologium, pages XLI and XLII., in the book on the bishops called from the Cistercian Order, relates this: "Blessed Bernard, Cistercian monk, called to the bishopric of Maurienne, did not desert the Order which he had professed, but adorned it with many titles of sanctity." But truly these things do not seem to suffice to establish that Bernard was honoured with ecclesiastical cult for a hundred years before the Urban decrees; and indeed his memory seems to have been entirely obliterated at Maurienne. Certainly in the Catalogue of the bishops of Maurienne which the brothers Sainte-Marthe made public Gallia Christiana, volume III, page 692., his bare name appears after Airard, who is said to have died in the year 1167; and Francis Augustine della Chiesa Regionis Pedemontanae historia chronologica, page 338. adds only this, that he received from St. Peter of Tarentaise the books on the Psalms. Manrique abstains from the words blessed and saint; and Gaufridi does not even have his name in the History of the Maritime Alps, in which several other bishops of Maurienne come. What of this, that Godfrey Casalis, where he lists the illustrious men of Maurienne, omits Bernard the bishop Dizionario degli stati del re di Sardegna, volume XVIII, page 398.? But what is much more singular, Peter Hyacinth Gallizia, who with no less facility than zeal brought innumerable men with the titles of saints and blessed into the seven volumes in which he enclosed the Acts of the saints who became famous for virtues and the fame of holiness in the lands of the house of Savoy, did not even touch Bernard, prelate of Maurienne; although he follows up several other men of Maurienne at length: which he certainly would not have done had he found even the least trace of ecclesiastical cult. Nor does Bernard seem to have been a Cistercian by profession; certainly this is related by no one among the ancients; and the silence of Geoffrey, abbot of Hautecombe, has very great weight, since he was of that Order and here and there mixes the praises of the Cistercians with those of St. Peter of Tarentaise, whose Life he wrote in two books. For the rest I should not think that more will be found elsewhere about St. Bernard of Maurienne than what we have collected here among the Passed Over; not wishing him to be absent from our work, since he was certainly a man of great sanctity; nor wishing him to come forth among the saints, since it is to be judged that the honours of the heavenly ones were never conferred on him by public authority.
Bl. John, abbot of Aulne in the territory of Liège, who, slaughtered together with another monk of the same institute and monastery, passed to the eternal fatherland, is announced on this day by Henriquez in the Cistercian Menology, since on the tablet of Aulne it was read: "John of Meffia. He, an innocent man, was slain by guilty men, with a monk, the chaplain, in the year 1338, on the seventh day before the Kalends of November. He was buried with the same chaplain in the chapter-house." Where these things were inscribed on his tomb:
Men of Aulne, you ought to grieve in heart for the uprightness
Of these two, whose deeds of virtue were
So great, that the sword of the wicked could not move
Their hearts, by which sword they perished together.
May these ever have the rewards of the saints,
Who strove to follow the precepts of the perfect.
And Henriquez follows up these same things at greater length in the Fasciculus of the saints of the Cistercian Order Book II, dist. 39, chapter 6, page 426 and following.. They are also read in the new Gallia Christiana Volume III, column 1118, or rather 1018.. Hence they passed into Ménard's Benedictine Martyrology, into Bucelin's Benedictine Menology, into the Spanish Lives of the saints of the Order of St. Benedict by Anthony de Heredia, and into the German Benedictine Martyrologies of Cherle and Lechner. But Molanus in the Feasts of the Saints of Belgium and Raissius in the Auctarium to the same days entirely omitted them, because no traces of cult existed. And indeed Raissius, who visited the monastery of Aulne, relates in the Gazophylacium belgicum Pages 23 and 24. that in his age there were shown at Aulne, besides many other relics, the bodies of Bl. Walter, first prior, of Bl. Werric, also prior, of Bl. Simon, lay brother, and of a certain anonymous blessed novice; but when he comes to John of Meffia and his companion Giles of Binche (this name was inscribed on the marble tomb), he by no means calls them saints, but designates them by name alone: so that it is quite certain that neither ever obtained ecclesiastical honours. The abbey of Aulne perished with so many other good institutions at the end of the last century. It was situated near Thudinium, commonly Thuin, which was then comprised in the diocese of Liège, but is now part of that of Tournai.
"Bl. Alexander Macchiavelli, of Bologna, confessor, hermit, tertiary of the Order of Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, remarkable for innocence of life, an outstanding lover of solitude, admirable for the austerity of his life, most perfectly bound to the divine will, an illustrious guardian of virginity, wonderful in the fires of divine love, foreknowing his death, died holily on 26 October 1300 in Palestine, famous for miracles, aged 81." This I copied word for word from a paper image of the blessed man, which John Canossa engraved at Bologna in 1732 from a most ancient sacred bronze medal in the possession of the most distinguished man Alexander Macchiavelli of Bologna, a kinsman of the same blessed man. In it the blessed man is shown with his eyes fixed on a heavenly light, his head surrounded with a glorious halo, his hands joined, with a white beard, a pilgrim's staff lying against his left arm, clothed in a woollen garment with wide and short sleeves, covered with a scapular with a cross sewn on the front, and bearing on his right shoulder a sheepskin which hangs down to the left. But although there are in our Museum three separate works on the saints of Bologna, and many more on the ecclesiastical history of Bologna, and besides these Menologies, Calendars, Annals and Lives of the saints of the Carmelite Order, it has nowhere been our lot to read anything about Bl. Alexander Macchiavelli; so that the cult of this blessed man, which we willingly grant to have been ancient, seems to have been entirely domestic: which does not suffice for it to be lawful, according to the decrees of Urban VIII, to bring him into our work.
Bl. Ivo the Breton, companion of Bl. Ralph, who greatly propagated the convents of the Carmelites in England, is praised on this day in some menologies of the Carmelites; but no indications of legitimate cult appear.
Vincent Cangiano, of the Order of Friars Preachers, who in the seventeenth century shone with many virtues in the kingdom of Naples, is praised on this day with a very full encomium by Marchese in the Dominican Diary. He has not been placed among the saints by ecclesiastical decree.
Benedict of St. Torquatus, of the Order of Minors, who rested by a most holy end at Alcalá in Castile in the year 1519, was held in much veneration by the people in life and after death, and on this day is honoured with the title of blessed by Huber and Arthur in the Franciscan Menologies. Yet this veneration never seems to have had the character of ecclesiastical cult; and, although Wadding proclaims him in the Annals at the year of his death, he nevertheless abstains from calling him blessed.
The blessed martyrs Francis and James, who were killed by heretics near Montréal in Aquitaine in the year 1566; and
Bl. Emmanuel Lomadas, who at the end of the sixteenth century filled the Canary Islands with the odour of his virtues, are celebrated on this day by Arthur du Monstier in the Franciscan Menology. They are neither a hundred years older than the Urban decrees, nor hitherto claimed.
Francis of St. Mary, of the Order of Minors of the Alcantarine congregation of St. Joseph, killed by the Moors in the Philippine Islands in the month of October of the year 1578, is celebrated on this day in the excellent Flemish book or Franciscan menology called the Spiritual Palm-grove. But nothing seems ever to have been done about claiming him.
William Strave and Christian Soius, of the Order of Minors, killed by heretics not far from Trier in the year 1579;
Angelus Ostrovizius and Chrysostom Ponietus, of the Order of Minors, who deserved excellently of the provinces of Poland and Bohemia at the end of the fifteenth century;
Louis de Turra, of the Order of Minors, of Verona, a man of much learning, who died at Rome in the year 1480;
Marian de Bosco, of the Order of Minors, who departed from the living in the year 1496 at Mount Alverna in Tuscany;
Michael, a layman, who in the West Indies was the companion of the venerable man Francis Laurerius and departed this life about the year 1570, is celebrated on this day by Huber; but testimonies of persevering ecclesiastical cult are wanting.
Bl. Dulcina or Douceline, praised today in the calendars of the Order of Minors, at the example and exhortation of her brother Hugh of Digne sought and obtained to be enrolled among the virgin members of the Third Order of St. Francis at Marseilles. Following in her footsteps, very many young girls and grave matrons ascended to every kind of perfection. The frequent ecstasies of Bl. Dulcina and her familiar colloquies with the heavenly ones are praised by Wadding Annales Minorum, year 1282, volume V, § XI, page 113., Gonzaga De Origine Seraph. relig., part I, page 822., Huber Menologium Franciscanum at 26 October., Arthur [Martyrologium Franciscanum at 29 October. Likewise the sacred Gynecaeum, 29 October.], Fremaut De geestelyke Palmboom, volume II at 21 February., Guesnay Annales provinciae Massiliensis, years 1278, 1282. and others. She ceased to live about the year 1282, and, buried honourably at Marseilles beside her brother Hugh, was famous for miracles. But since the said writers are entirely silent about the public cult of Bl. Dulcina and of her brother Hugh, as our predecessors Acta SS., volume V of August, page 752. also observed concerning him, we judge that Bl. Dulcina is to be placed among the Passed Over.
Bl. Bona, who is celebrated today in the Franciscan calendars, professed the rule of St. Clare in the monastery of St. Anne at Lézignan near Narbonne. Gonzaga, treating of this convent, says: "Very greatly honoured in this place are the bones, fragrant with the greatest sweetness, of the blessed sister Bona, of the lineage of Armagnac: who was of such austerity of life, and endowed with such elevation of mind to God, that she was at times illumined with the gift of prophecy, especially concerning the death of her father, as her legend testifies. It is also said that at the tomb of the said sister Bona a dead man was once raised to life." Neither from Gonzaga De Origine Seraphicae religionis Franciscanae, third part, page 842., nor from Wadding Annales Minorum at the year 1431, § XXII; recent edition, volume X, page 184., nor from Arthur [Martyrologium Franciscanum, 26 October. Likewise the sacred Gynecaeum, 26 October.] can we gather at what time she flourished; nor with better success did we consult the genealogy of the most noble family of Arminiac (Armagnac) woven by Anselm the Augustinian [Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de France, volume III, page 411, Trois edition.]. Barezzi Part IV of the Chronicles of the Minors, book IV, chapter 40. indeed suggests that Bl. Bona flourished about the year 1565; but it seems less incongruous to admit with Huber Menologium S. Francisci, 26 October. that she served under the Rule of St. Francis about the year 1431. But since it is not sufficiently established that public cult was paid to her, we list Bl. Bona among the Passed Over.
Agnes of God, of the Order of Minors, who is said to have been wonderfully buried at Lisbon about the year 1528, is praised on this day by Huber in the Franciscan Menology; but no indications of legitimate cult are present.
Our annals record that Leonard Kessel, by birth of Louvain, by profession a member of the Society of Jesus, departed from the living by a violent death at Cologne on 26 October of the year 1574. Co-opted among the companions of St. Ignatius by Peter Faber, he endured incredible labours in the vineyard of the Lord at Cologne, and was illustrious for the glory of miracles and the spirit of prophecy. Our Prosper Van der Speeten recently wrote, not without care, the Life of Leonard Collection des Précis historiques, year 1863, pages 344, 370, 390, 423 and 443..
Anthony de Souza, of the Society of Jesus, suffered martyrdom at Nagasaki on this day in the year 1633. He has not yet been claimed by the Church among the heavenly ones.
Joasaph of Athos, who at the beginning of the sixteenth century was cruelly killed by the Turks together with the patriarch Niphon. Although Niphon favoured the council of Florence and is not read to have consented to the renewed schism (a praise which seems to be extended also to the companions of his death), we do not, however, dare to give Joasaph of Athos a place outside the Passed Over, since the Catholic Church has not yet claimed him among the holy martyrs: for the rest see the Graeco-Slavonic Ecclesiastical Year at the present day.
St. Juliana, a distinguished woman of Constantinople and niece of the Emperor Justin, occurs today in Arthur's Gynecaeum. Great indeed are her praises; but why is it not equally established about her cult?
"Bl. Constance, granddaughter of the Emperor Frederick, and wife of Peter, king of Aragon." So Gonzaga De Origine Seraphicae religionis Franciscanae, part I, page 100., where he enumerates the blessed women of the second and third Orders of St. Francis. Zurita relates Annales de la corona de Aragon, book V, chapter 55, volume I, page 406. that Constance, in the habit of the Poor Clares, which she had assumed after her husband's death, was buried among the Friars Minor at Barcelona, although there are those who say that she died and was entombed in Sicily. She was most obedient to the Church; so much so, says Wadding Annales Minorum at the year 1302, § VI, volume VI, page 10., that she in no way remembered by name in her testament her son Frederick, who was acting as king of Sicily, nor left him anything except her rights over the little towns of Cellarum and Ponzari, and that with the condition attached that he should first return to the obedience of the supreme pontiff by abdicating Sicilian affairs. She seems to have died in the year 1302, on what day is not known. Louis Schönleben makes memory of her at 26 October Annus sanctus Habspurgo-Austriacus, pages 685 and 686., without suggesting anything about her cult.
Bl. Hertwinus, bishop and abbot of Lobbes, is praised in our manuscript Martyrology of St. Saviour's at Antwerp; but in the nature of things no holy prelate of Lobbes of this name existed: St. Erminus is meant, who is venerated on 25 April, and the memory of whose translation was formerly kept on the present day, as I pointed out above.
The commemoration of the holy and blessed abbots and monks of the monastery of St. Bertin, or of Sithiu, is announced today by Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology; to whom are added, as usual, Anthony de Heredia in the Spanish Benedictine Lives and Benedict Cherle in the German Benedictine Martyrology. Further, John of Ypres, who about the year 1350 wrote the Sithiu Chronicle of St. Bertin, notes in the preface "that God gathered into this most sacred fold dedicated to blessed Peter so many, so great and such men, that the Church of God solemnizes twenty-two holy monks of this church" In Martène and Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, volume III, column 446.. Indeed twenty-five are inscribed on the Bertinian Tree, which Henry Coster, parish priest of the church of St. Mary at Antwerp, had elegantly engraved on copper plates by Julius Goltzius and published; a copy of which image Arnold Wion, residing in the monastery of St. Benedict at Padua, obtained in the year 1594 from Michael Bucelin, monk of Sithiu: and from it the same Wion Lignum Vitae, volume II, pages 730 and 731. recited the names, and after him Bucelin Menologium Benedictinum, at 26 October.. Similarly Raissius Gazophylacium Belgicum, page 98., but omitting St. Bertin, as being the father of the others, lists twenty-four. On the other hand Charles de Witte, formerly librarian of Sithiu, although he neglects some from the Bertinian Tree, presents twenty-seven; Malbrancq is said to have numbered twenty-three Van Drival and Parenty, Légendaire de la Morinie, pages 216 and 386.; and finally the venerable men Van Drival and Parenty Ibid., in the places cited, using an ancient catalogue, twenty-two; to whom seven can easily be added. But since this matter has never been treated in our work, it will be helpful to run through all the names, so as at the same time to indicate of which of them and on what day it has been spoken in our work or seems to need to be discussed, and which were passed over and for what reasons. There come, therefore:
1° St. Bertin, founder of the monastery, who has been treated by our predecessors at 5 September.
2° St. Bertramnus or Ebertramnus, who was formerly the companion of St. Bertin in preaching, then his son in the convent of Sithiu, and finally abbot of Saint-Quentin. His ecclesiastical cult elsewhere Acta SS., volume VIII of October, page 984. we have vindicated; while his deeds Bollandus briefly set out at 24 January.
3° St. Walbert or Waldebert, count of Arques, whom they wrongly confuse with St. Walbert, abbot of Luxeuil, as Henschenius shows in the Preliminary Commentary on that most holy abbot at 2 May; but about St. Walbert of Sithiu himself there has been no separate discussion in the Acts. Nevertheless his deeds, mixed into the Lives of St. Bertin, can be read in our work at 5 September.
4° St. Bertin the Less, son of St. Walbert and of Ragentrude, who following his father's example put on the monastic cowl in the monastery of Sithiu. He had public cult to this extent, that his bones were laid in the reliquary of St. Erkenbodo Van Drival and Parenty, Légendaire de la Morinie, page 224.: a custom on which the venerable man Pallu du Parc, afterwards promoted to the episcopal dignity, discoursed expressly in an excellent dissertation on the discovered relics of St. Eutropius, bishop of Saintes. Nor has this St. Bertin been spoken of separately in the Acts.
5° St. Mommolenus, companion of SS. Bertin, Bertramnus and Audomarus, but afterwards bishop of Noyon and Tournai, was illustrated by me at 16 October.
6° The deeds of St. Winnoc, founder and first abbot of Wormhout, will be set forth in our Acts at the day on which he has long been venerated, 6 November.
7°, 8° and 9° St. Quadanocus or Quadavocus, St. Ingenocus and St. Madocus, three companions of St. Winnoc, inscribed on the Bertinian Tree, in Raissius's Gazophylacium and in Charles de Witte's Catalogue, can be celebrated together with St. Winnoc, provided their cult is demonstrated, at the said day, 6 November.
10° St. Erkenbodo, first abbot of Sithiu and then bishop of the Morini at Thérouanne, was praised in our work at 12 April.
11° St. Hunfrid, first a monk of Prüm, then abbot of Sithiu and finally bishop of the Morini at Thérouanne, came forth in our work with a commentary on his deeds at 8 March.
12° St. Fulk, from canon of Saint-Omer abbot of St. Bertin, and thence archbishop of Reims, and finally killed for the defence of ecclesiastical liberty, although he is called a martyr by Regino and others, was passed over by our predecessors, because he seemed to them to lack ecclesiastical cult or lawful vindication, at 17 June.
13° St. Grimbald, provost of St. Bertin, called into England for the sake of his erudition and learning by Alfred the Great, who made himself his disciple, as it were the founder of the university of Oxford, who, having (as they would have it) spurned the bishopric of Canterbury, was created abbot of Winchester, has in our work a Commentary on his deeds at the day on which he is venerated, 9 July.
14° and 15° John and Asser were most certainly companions of St. Grimbald at the court of Alfred the Great [Cf. Spelman, Aelfredi Magni Vita, book II, numbers 53 and 54, page 101, and book III, number 38, page 145.]; and Wion wrongly attempted Lignum Vitae, volume II, page 731. to make one out of those two, as though he had borne two names. Spelman contends In the place cited above. that both were pupils of the monastery of Menevia; and indeed William of Malmesbury is the authority Regum, book II, chapter 4, in Smith, Flores ecclesiae Anglicanae, page 186. that John was sprung from Old Saxony, or Saxony beyond the Rhine, and that Alfred made him abbot in his monastery of Athelney; but no trace appears anywhere that that John lived among the monks of Sithiu before he went off to England; nor is there any record that Asser (even if it is held that two lived at that time, the one bishop of Sherborne, the other archbishop of Menevia) had anything in common with the Bertinians, except that he knew St. Grimbald and praised him. But, what most concerns us, neither John nor Asser, although they are called blessed on the Bertinian Tree and thence by Wion, Bucelin and Anthony de Heredia, had ecclesiastical cult in England; nor even (as is established from the Legendary of the Morini) were they numbered among the twenty-two holy monks of Sithiu whom Ypres wrote were solemnized by the Church.
16°, 17°, 18° and 19° SS. Wocard or Worard and Winedbald, priests, and SS. Gerwald and Regenard, deacons, miserably killed in the year 860 or 861 by the Northmen as they laid waste the monastery, are listed on the Bertinian Tree and also by the venerable men Van Drival and Parenty, adhering to the older Catalogue. See more about them in the Miracles of St. Bertin at the day on which he is venerated and on which at the same time our predecessors, wanting signs of ecclesiastical cult, placed these four martyrs among the Passed Over, 5 September.
20° St. Gerard, abbot of Brogne and reformer of twelve monasteries, a great man (if anyone was in the tenth century) and worthy of eternal memory, was celebrated at length by our predecessors at his feast-day, 3 October.
21° Bl. Lambert, abbot of Sithiu, reformer of his own monastery and of several other churches, was inscribed by Ménard, du Saussay, Bucelin and others in the monastic martyrologies or menologies at the day on which he died in the year 1125 and on which our predecessors, because indications of cult were lacking, announced him among the Passed Over, 12 June.
22° Bl. Simon, an abbot of great piety, who from love of heavenly leisure resigned his office and departed this life in the year 1148, on the day on which our predecessors recorded his name among the Passed Over on account of the lack of ecclesiastical cult, 4 February.
23° Bl. Leo, first monk of Anchin, then abbot of Lobbes and finally of Sithiu, translated the blood of Christ from Jerusalem to Bruges and departed from this life in the year 1163, on the day on which our predecessors did not even mention him with others about whose cult nothing is established, 26 February.
24° Bl. Joscio, of wonderful sanctity and a supreme devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and illustrious for the miracle of the five roses, died in the year 1163. He obtained ecclesiastical cult and a proper feast in the year 1619. We shall speak of him at his feast-day, 30 November.
25° St. Bernardinus or Bernard the Penitent, who in the year 1183 migrated from this vale of miseries to God, on the day on which our predecessors, since a slight indication of cult was present, published his Life, 19 April.
Those whom we have listed so far were inscribed on the Bertinian Tree; to whom Charles de Witte judges that four others are to be added, namely BB. Dodo, Rigobert, Erlefrid and Agilo; and I myself have added a fifth from the Legendary of the saints of the district of the Morini.
26° In place, therefore, let there come forward Bl. Dodo or Duodo, called the lovable disciple, who often appears in the Lives of St. Bertin where Waltbert is treated; but since he seems always to have lacked ecclesiastical cult, see what has been preserved to memory about him in those Lives of St. Bertin at 5 September.
27° and 28° BB. Rigobert and Erlefrid, to whom St. Bertin, broken with old age, entrusted the government of the monastery of Sithiu, are both praised by Folcwin and by Ypres and in the Lives of St. Bertin, but without indications of ecclesiastical cult, at 5 September.
29° Bl. Agilo, first a monk of Saint-Èvre at Toul, was appointed rector, but not abbot, of Sithiu by St. Gerard the abbot, and governed the reformed monastery with the highest praise. His name too the venerable men Van Drival and Parenty found inscribed Le Légendaire de la Morinie, page 228. in the older Catalogue of the saints of Sithiu; and he is called by Ypres Chronicon S. Bertini, in Martène, Thesaurus, volume III, columns 552 and 553. the venerable man Agilo, blessed Agilo and saint Agilo; whence it may appear all the more that at the end of the fourteenth century, when Ypres was writing, he was publicly numbered among the saints, in that Ypres deliberately inserted these titles, since he by no means found them in Folcwin Guérard, Cartulaire de S. Bertin, page 145., whose footsteps he retraces in this place. But it is not even known at the present time what was formerly done in his honour.
30° St. Agilus, abbot of Rebais, whom SS. Bertin, Mommolinus and Ebertramnus had had as a companion at Luxeuil, was singularly venerated by the monks of Sithiu; so that the venerable men Van Drival and Parenty found him inscribed Le Légendaire de la Morinie, page 222 and following. in the older catalogue of the saints of Sithiu which they followed. His praises were celebrated in our work at 30 August.
Further, the twenty-two whom Ypres wrote were solemnized by the Church seem to be the same as those who were inscribed on the Bertinian Tree, if, however, St. Erkenbodo, not inscribed in the older catalogue, and John and Asser, quite inconsiderately thrust in, are taken away. But in what way the Church solemnized them all is not clear. Certainly SS. Bertin, Mummolinus, Winnoc, Erkenbodo, Hunfrid, Grimbald and Gerard had annual feasts celebrated with choral and liturgical office; but what was done to venerate the memory of the rest I find nowhere: except that on the feast of St. Bernardinus or Bernard the Penitent an anniversary office was held for all the departed, and after the Mass they went in procession to his tomb singing the responsory "The souls of the just are in the hand of God," with a prayer or collect in which were commemorated in general all the saints whose relics would rest in the church. This manner of cult was in use in Belgium in honour of those blessed on whose account elsewhere a Mass of the Trinity had been celebrated Acta SS., volume III of April, page 675.. Whether similar things were done on the feasts of the others, or whether these things pertained to all the twenty-two, I am not able to say.
The feast of SS. Mariadrus, Lucius and Vietus, Roman martyrs, is announced today in Greven's edition of the Martyrology of Usuard. SS. Marianus or Marcianus, Lucius and Vietus, who is also Vivetus or Victus, are meant, inscribed in the Hieronymian calendars at the next day, 27 October.
SS. Tharsus, Polycarp, Gaius, Metrobius, Eumenia, Januarius, Terreus and Corminius, who suffered martyrdom in Phrygia, are praised today by an error of one day in Greven's edition of the Martyrology of Usuard; since almost the same names recur, though distributed into other bands, in the Hieronymian lists at the next day, on which we shall speak of them, 27 October.
The praises of SS. Mark, Soterichus and Valentina, martyrs, are celebrated in the Menology of Basil; they belong to the following day, or 27 October.
SS. Vincent, Sabina and Christeta, who suffered in the city of Alehela, or rather Abula, are presented on this day by the Dijon codex which our predecessors used in editing the martyrologies of Bede and Florus before volume II of March; by an error of one day, since they belong to 27 October.
Nestor, who in the Acts of St. Demetrius is read to have killed the gladiator Lyaeus in the amphitheatre, is celebrated today on account of the feast of St. Demetrius in the Menology of Basil and in the Synaxaria of Sirmond and of the Medici. But in very many more the same man appears at the next day, on which Cornelius Byeus contends that another St. Nestor is announced Ibid., volume IV of September, page 62., being of the opinion that that companion of St. Demetrius was by no means venerated. It can therefore be disputed whether this Nestor obtained ecclesiastical honours and whether he is different from the other St. Nestor, martyr, at 27 October.
St. Florentius, martyr at Seville in Spain, is announced on this day, according to the tables or the Order of the divine Office of that church, by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints; who advises that he is the same as St. Florentius, confessor, who flourished in the fifth century, and whom our predecessors illustrated according to the norm of the Roman Martyrology at 23 February. But the Italian martyrologist errs; since, as is established from the martyrologies and lectionaries of Seville Cf. Flórez, España sagrada, volume IX, page 301., it concerns St. Florentius, martyr, who in the Roman Martyrology and in other older ones is said to be venerated at the fortress of Tyle on the next day, 27 October.
St. Frumentius, bishop in India, is announced today by Galesini by an error of one day. There will be talk of him at 27 October.
St. Odran, abbot and confessor in Ireland, comes today in Schindele's supplement to the Benedictine Menology. There will be talk of St. Odran at the following day, that is, 27 October.
St. Angelramnus, bishop of Metz, is related in the most ancient catalogues of the bishops of Metz to have gone to heaven on the seventh day before the Kalends of November, or 26 October. Yet there is no agreement about his last day; and so in the greater part, and in the martyrology of the cathedral church, his feast was inscribed at the sixth day before the Kalends of November: wherefore, since he was formerly venerated among the saints in the monastery of St. Nabor, it pleases us to speak of him at 27 October.
Our predecessors found in a parchment codex of the cathedral church of Toledo the Passion of St. Marcellus, martyr of Tingis, who suffered under Manilius Fortunatus on the seventh day before the Kalends of November. But the third day before the Kalends of November ought to have been read, as is established from the Passion itself and from many martyrologies. We shall speak of him, therefore, at 30 October.
Bl. Benvenuta, virgin, Dominican tertiary, is commemorated today by Arthur in the Gynecaeum. If the indications of legitimate cult seem to suffice, she can be spoken of at the day on which she went to heaven, 30 October.
The second translation of St. Anianus, bishop of Orléans, is commemorated on this day by du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology; of it, as of the acts of that most holy bishop, we shall discourse at the day on which he is chiefly venerated, 17 November.
The feast of St. Maurinus, martyr in the territory of Agen, is celebrated on this day by Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology; whom then followed Cardinal de Noailles in the Paris Martyrology, Peter de Rochechouart in the Martyrology of Évreux, de Saint-Allais in the Universal Martyrology and the venerable man Petin in the Hagiological Dictionary under the word Morin. But formerly his feast was kept in the abbey which had him as titular patron on the seventh day before the Kalends of December, or 25 November; and now, or at least not long ago (as is clear to me from the liturgical calendar of Agen for the year 1831), it has been put off in this diocese, since on 25 November the feast of St. Catherine was celebrated with the Roman Church, to the following day; and on 26 October the feast of very many martyrs of Agen was fixed: of whom we shall speak together at the said day, 26 November.
The renunciation of secular warfare by St. Faro was formerly kept on this day at Faremoutiers; as also the enshrining or translation on 10 May and the exaltation through the working of miracles on 3 August Chastelain, Martyrologe universel, page 993.. These things we mention in this place, reserving more for the day on which his feast was inserted in the Roman Martyrology, 7 December.
St. Gibitrude, one of the first nuns of the convent of Brie or Faremoutiers in the diocese of Meaux, was formerly venerated there on this day. But since all that has become known about her is contained in the Life of St. Burgundofara, it is better to speak of her (as also seemed good to our predecessors in the case of some others of her companions) at the day on which the deeds of St. Burgundofara will have to be set forth, 7 December.
The reception of St. Lazarus, disciple of Christ the Lord, at Autun is briefly set forth at this day by du Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology. We shall speak of it at the day on which we shall give his Acts, 17 December.
The feast of the patriarch Jacob, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel sprang, is celebrated today by Greven in his edition of the Martyrology of Usuard; and likewise by Wallasser in the German Martyrology, which many call that of Canisius. In the Passed Over at 5 February our predecessors long ago advised that he would more conveniently be treated at the day on which others of his race will have to be illustrated, 19 December.
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