ON SS. VINCENT OF DAX AND LETUS, BISHOP AND PRESBYTER, MARTYRS AT DAX IN NOVEMPOPULANIA, AT DAX IN NOVEMPOPULANIA,
In the third, fourth or fifth century.
CRITICAL COMMENTARY.
Vincent, bishop and M., at Dax in Novempopulania. (S.)
Letus, presbyter and M., at Dax in Novempopulania. (S.)
Written by J. S. § I. The cult of the Saints in Spain and Novempopulania: the place of the martyrdom. [ ] The Roman Martyrology at the Kalends of September announces these Martyrs in Spain without further assignment of place in this manner: Vincent and Letus venerated in Spain; In Spain, of the holy martyrs Vincent and Letus. Baronius in his annotations adds only these words: They are treated of on this day in the Breviary of Toledo, indicating whence he inserted them into the Roman Calendar. The words of the Toledan or Mozarabic Breviary are these: On the feast of the holy Vincent and Letus, martyrs, all is said of many martyrs. A Mass of the same Martyrs is had in the Missal of Toledo printed according to the Roman rite in the year 1550, and in it the first prayer is read thus: Almighty everlasting God, who through the glorious wars of the contest didst raise thy martyrs Vincent and Letus to immortal triumphs, grant to our hearts a gladness worthy of their veneration, that we may be helped by the prayers of those whose solemnities we embrace with pious love. Through our Lord, etc. Nicolás Antonio in his posthumous writings adds another notice about the cult of these Saints in Spain in these words: The monastery of St. Martin, named of Ferran, in the kingdom of Castile, was raised under the patronage of the holy Martin, Julian and Basilissa, Vincent and Letus, Justa and Rufina, as I have read in the instrument of its erection, on the authority of Prudencio de Sandoval in his book of the Foundations of some monasteries of his Benedictine Order in Spain, in the foundation of the monastery of St. Æmilian, §24, folio 42. It is certain therefore that Vincent and Letus have for many centuries been venerated in Spain. But whether from this veneration of them it can rightly be gathered that they are Spaniards or suffered in Spain, we shall examine below.
[2] André du Saussay in the Supplement of his Gallican Martyrology at 19 April announces St. Vincent, likewise at Dax in Novempopulania; whom we shall see venerated on the Kalends of September with his companion Letus; and therefore that he is no other than the preceding we shall persuade by other reasons also. Take meanwhile his words: At Aquæ Augustæ or Tarbellæ in Novempopulania, the birthday of holy Vincent, apostle of the people of Dax, that is, their first priest and martyr; who, a native of Saintonge, illumined by the divine light, converted this whole tract to the worship of Christ, and sealed his preaching, confirmed by acts of divine imitation, by at last shedding his precious blood for the assertion of the evangelical truth. In whose heap of testimony a church was afterwards raised by the faithful, where to this day he rests with all reverence, and is venerated not only as the tutelary saint of his own basilica, but also as the patron of the whole diocese, and the author of the pontifical chair on which he first sat and which he especially adorned; and as the consecrator of the first church there, which he began in the crypt in honour of the most holy Mother of God. More briefly the Paris Martyrology announces the same Saint with Letus in these words: At Dax in the province of Auch, of holy Vincent, who is there venerated as first bishop and martyr with blessed Letus, his companion in evangelical preaching. These things at the Kalends of September; at which day Castellanus also in his Universal Martyrology has this: In Spain, St. Vincent and St. Letus, martyrs; and in the margin correcting the former: Or rather in Novempopulania, for St. Vincent is of Dax.
[3] which place is elucidated, Denis de Sainte-Marthe in volume 1 of Christian Gaul reviews the bishops of Dax, or of Aquæ Tarbellicæ, placed under the metropolis of Auch, and premises various things on page 1035 about the city itself, of which I transfer some hither for the elucidation of the place: The city of Aquæ Tarbellicæ, called Aquenses in the Notice of the provinces, is called Aquæ Augustæ by Ptolemy; which name, given by the Romans, no one will deny. Aquæ Tarbellicæ the author of the Itinerary ascribed to Antoninus named it; Ausonius, Aquæ Tarbellæ; Vibius Sequester on rivers, Tarbellæ; Aquæ is read in the Table of Peutinger. And this city took its name from the healthful waters which gushed forth in this place. Thus far about the various names of the city, which today also are various among the French: for it is more commonly written Dax, otherwise d'Acs or Acqs. Its antiquity and ancient celebrity, as also its present state, the praised writer sets out. The city of Dax is situated on the river Adour [*], and is distant from Bayonne almost ten French miles, and five from the Aquitanian ocean.
[4] [Vincent the first bishop of Dax and martyr with Letus, honoured there with various churches:] The first bishop of this city, St. Vincent, the praised Sainte-Marthe at col. [ ] celebrates in this manner: Vincent the martyr is believed to have been the first prelate of this city, whose sacred shrine is seen in the suburb, frequented in past centuries with great worship of religion: he in the proper office of the Saints of the church of Dax is said with his companion Letus to have preached the faith of Christ to the people of Dax, which also he confirmed by a glorious contest. In the monastery afterwards called by his name St. Vincent of Dax he was buried. Of him there is mention in the old hagiology of St. Sever of Gascony, in these words: On the Kalends of September, in the city of Dax, of holy Vincent the martyr with his companions. To his name basilicas have been dedicated throughout all Aquitaine, and his memory is kept on the day 1 September: but in what age he lived the ecclesiastical records are silent. And after him very many bishops are lacking; for which we blame the injury of the times, the mischances of wars frequent in these places, the persecutions under the emperors, but chiefly the savagery of pagans and barbarians against ecclesiastical matters, by whom the basilica of holy Vincent was laid waste, the sacred things plundered, and the little vessel in which a part of the ashes of St. Vincent was preserved was cast into the river Adour. At length, as the fifth century was ending, or the sixth beginning, the bishop who follows was elected.
[5] Of the deeds of SS. Vincent and Letus nothing else has come down to us, their deeds and age uncertain, nor is even the century known in which these Saints flourished. Hence I judge that nothing hinders their having been alive in the third, fourth, or even the fifth century. Nor do I sufficiently see why many bishops must necessarily be lacking after St. Vincent, who might have sat a few years before Gratian, of whom Sainte-Marthe subjoins this: Gratian was present at the council of Agde in the year 506. An ancient Breviary of Dax notes that, peace being at length restored to the Church, Gratian, the unbelievers being driven out or converted to the faith, turned himself wholly to restoring the shrine of blessed Vincent, defiled with the superstitions of the pagans, which he reconciled and furnished with all things pertaining to the worship and religion of God. If already at the beginning of the sixth century there existed a shrine sacred to St. Vincent, and had long existed, as the words reported intimate, most ancient indeed is this Saint's cult. But I should rather believe that it treats of a church erected by him, which was afterwards dedicated to his name. Further, the words cited raise in me a strong suspicion that Vincent was crowned with martyrdom with Letus in the fifth century, and that the said Gratian succeeded him when the persecution ceased in which they had been crowned. Certainly no other persecution could have ended in the time of Gratian than the persecution of the Visigoths, who possessed Novempopulania at that time. This had been very grave and long-lasting under Euric about the year 470 and thereafter. Hear Sidonius, book 7, letter 6, to Basil, where he complains much of Euric and his persecution: But what must be confessed, he says, is that I dread the aforesaid king of the Goths, although he be terrible for the deserts of his strength, as one who will lie in wait not so much for Roman walls as for Christian laws. So much, they say, does the mention of the Catholic name sour his mouth and his heart, that you might doubt whether he holds the primacy rather of his nation or of his sect. Besides, mighty in arms, keen in spirit, vigorous in years, he suffers this error alone, that he thinks the success of his treaties and counsels is granted him for a lawful religion, which rather he obtains for earthly felicity.
[6] Wherefore learn quickly the hidden sickness of the Catholic state, but it seems likely enough that he flourished in the fifth century, that you may hasten to apply an open medicine. Bordeaux, Périgueux, Rodez, Limoges, Javols, Eauze, Bazas, Comminges, Auch, and already a far greater number of cities, their chief priests cut off by death, and no bishops afterwards substituted in the offices of the dead (through whom assuredly the ministries of the lesser orders were supplied), have drawn a broad boundary of spiritual ruin… There is no care in the desolate dioceses and parishes. You may see in the churches either the rotten falls of the roofs, or, the hinges of the doors being torn away, the entrances of the basilicas blocked with the bushes of rough brambles. You may see the very herds — alas, for grief! — not only lying in the half-open porches, but even grazing on the grassy sides of the greening altars. But now there is solitude not only through the country parishes; even the assemblies of the city churches grow thin. With these agrees St. Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks, book 2, chapter 25, writing thus: In his time Euric also, king of the Goths, passing the Spanish boundary, brought a grave persecution upon the Christians in the Gauls. He cut off everywhere those who did not consent to his perversity; he thrust the clergy into prisons; and of the priests he sent some into exile, others he slew with the sword. For he had ordered the very approaches of the sacred temples to be blocked with thorns, namely that the rarity of entering might beget a forgetfulness of the faith. Most of all then were the cities of Novempopulania and of the two Germanies [*] laid waste by this storm. Hence it does not seem incredible to me that at the same time St. Vincent was taken away by death with his companion St. Letus, since his successor Gratian is said to have turned himself wholly to restoring
… the sacred shrine. Yet, as I have noted, the matter is uncertain.
[7] [nor does our Vincent seem to have been present at the council of Valence in the year 374:] Tillemont, volume 8 of the Monuments, in St. Justus of Lyons, treating of the council of Valence of the year 374, inquires about a bishop Vincent who, without the name of his city, is read to have been present at the said council; and on that occasion discourses thus in French about our bishop of Dax: At Dax in Novempopulania a certain holy Vincent is venerated as first bishop, apostle, and patron of the city and diocese. His age is unknown; but they affirm that he is a martyr: he belongs therefore to the time of the persecutions, unless we prefer to say that he was slain in some tumult of the pagans, or in the plunderings by which the barbarians laid waste the Gauls in the year 407 and thereafter. These things persuade us that that Vincent who was present at the council of Valence is more probably distinct from the one of Dax, since about the end of the fourth century there do not seem to have been such persecutions in the Gauls that Vincent with Letus should be believed crowned with martyrdom in them by mere conjecture. But neither does their martyrdom prove that they suffered under gentile emperors. For this cause I am compelled to leave the age of these Saints uncertain, although otherwise it appears to me more likely that the Saints flourished under the Visigoths, for the reasons said before.
[8] the festivity of Vincent instituted from his revelation. What Sainte-Marthe records about Illidius, bishop of Dax, whom he places third, shows that the festivity of St. Vincent is very ancient. For these are his words: Illidius, bishop of Dax in Novempopulania, if credit is to be given to the Breviary, is commended for remarkable sanctity. While he was sitting, Maxima, a virgin of Dax, was taught by revelation from blessed Vincent the kind and the place of his martyrdom, and the very day of his contest, until then unknown; whence Illidius ordained that the feast of St. Vincent should thereafter be celebrated on the Kalends of September through the whole diocese — from the same Breviary. From the festivity then instituted it does not follow that no veneration had before been paid to the Saint, but that it was not fixed to a certain day. So to St. Germanus of Auxerre the day was revealed on which the festivity of St. Julian, martyr of Brioude, ought to be celebrated, as was related in volume 6 of August, pages 172 and 183. Yet the people venerated St. Julian, and I judge the same was done about St. Vincent.
Annotationsthe Adour perhaps of Aquitaine, for these are to be understood § II. Are the Vincent and Letus whom the Spaniards venerate other than those of Dax? [ ] Many things about SS. Vincent and Letus feigned by certain Spanish fable-makers, Juan Tamayo de Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology at the Kalends of September thus announces the Saints Vincent and Letus: At Libisosa among the Arevaci of Spain, the birthday of SS. Vincent and Letus, twin brothers,
who, sprung from the city of Toledo, on account of their constancy in the faith and their contempt of the idols, afflicted with various torments, flew as martyrs to their rewards. To these in his annotations he subjoins fictitious Acts, in which Vincent and Letus, whom he affirms to be twins, are said to have had a father Turibius, sprung from the city of Toledo among the Carpetani, and a mother Lucia Severa, born of the city of Aquæ or Elbora. And he says that they suffered martyrdom under Decius, and adorns it with various torments and prodigies. He joins to the Acts a metrical epitaph, as though composed by Aulus Halus, and a Hymn under the name of the lord Cixila, pontiff of Toledo, which he asserts that he rescued from darkness. But no doubt holds me that the Acts, the Epitaph, the Hymn, and everything from Dexter, Julian and other fictitious monuments by which he strives to confirm the former, are equally invented, nay not even worthy of refutation.
[10] Nicolás Antonio in his posthumous writings, which have now often been praised in this Work, which Nicolás Antonio rightly explodes. in Vincent and Letus adduced all the inventions of the pseudo-Dexter and Julian about them, and fully refuted the same together with what Tamayo added. Those supposititious monuments are not of such worth to us that I should wish to recite all his arguments; it will suffice to hear his mind about the monuments themselves, which he candidly sets out in these words: To so many and so great enemies in appearance, brandishing the arms of faith and of antiquity, the strongest truth of all things that are under heaven opposes a bare breast, but one of adamant and impenetrable. For nothing solid, nothing beyond the accustomed names and instruments so often accused and so often convicted of falsity is brought forward; which, being of themselves so feeble and of prejudged infamy, with what face shall we admit to give testimony for one another? These things premised, he refutes each, and among them the place of martyrdom assigned by the fable-makers, Libisosa (today commonly Lezuza); and shows that the place of the martyrdom is wholly uncertain, and that all the other things which are said about the parents and deeds of the Saints are fictitious. Wherefore I let all those things go, and shall only inquire whether it can and ought to be believed that our Saints suffered in Spain, or that other Martyrs of the same name are venerated there.
[11] The praised Spanish writer explains for what cause Vincent and Letus are believed Spaniards, The reason why the Saints were ascribed to Spain; and were attributed to Spain by Baronius; and although he himself does not deny that they are Spaniards, he nevertheless supplies those arguments which, with others, will afford us sufficient reasons for more probably denying them to Spain: This pair of martyrs certainly, he says, namely Vincent and Letus, we judge to be citizens of Spain only for this reason, that no mention of them is had in the common Martyrologies, but that we owe our sole notice of them to the Isidorian ecclesiastical Office of the Goths. If that be the only reason why Vincent and Letus seem to be attributed to Spain, that in the ancient Martyrologies of other nations their memory is not found, as Nicolás Antonio believed, he would not have ascribed them to Spain if he had known that these holy Martyrs enjoy a very ancient cult in the diocese of Dax, and are there recorded in an old Hagiology: for that he does not take his argument from the Isidorian Office, what follows teaches.
[12] there is indeed a commemoration of them in the Isidorian ritual, Isidore, prelate of Seville, had formerly framed these ritual books of Spain, as the report is; but not all things which are now read in them are of Isidore's hand. Namely it was needful and just that the common Liturgies should be enriched by later men with the memory of Saints coming after and daily entering into the ecclesiastical roll, lest we should seem to have condemned, merely by the prejudice of time, the sanctity of more recent men whom the older Isidore could in no way celebrate. And there are indeed in the two books of which this Gothic rite consists, namely the Missal and the Breviary, several younger than Isidore, so that it must be certain to everyone that after the first work of the craftsman, the later administrators of this our church of Spain added some things for supplying them. Plainly in the single edition of these books, which was made under the auspices and by the order of Francisco Ximénez, most illustrious prelate of Toledo, and by the industry of Ildefonso Ortiz, canon of the same church, in the year 1502, a part of the Saints comprehended in that Work obtained either a Mass or an Office, … or both; but a part obtained a simple commemoration on their birthday. Of this last order are our Martyrs, who on the first day of September are reckoned there with this note only: “Of the holy Vincent and Letus. Let all be said of many Martyrs.” Wherefore that prayer about these Martyrs belongs not to a Missal and Breviary of this Gothic age, but to some more recent one of the church of Toledo, which Alfonso Requena, commemorating their deeds, reports as received from an ancient Breviary and Missal of Toledo… For they lack a Mass and a proper Office, like very many others, both foreign and Spanish, so that it is vain from this difference of a bare or fuller commemoration to deduce any surer argument for the Spanish citizenship of those who are praised, or against it…
[13] and thence Baronius attributed them to Spain: Nor likewise shall we argue that Vincent and Letus are our citizens because they found a place in these books, unless we can at the same time show and persuade by valid reasons that Julian and Basilissa on 7 January, Julian the martyr on the 20th of the same month (who in the Roman is on the 8th), Agatha on the 5th, Dorothea on the 7th of February (to these he joins many others, here omitted for brevity's sake), who all are celebrated with an Office or at least a proper hymn, are Spaniards by home or by birthday. We shall indeed argue, not rashly, that they are Spaniards from this, that here only, and not elsewhere — that is, in our own books, not in the ancient books of the universal Roman Church — they have lasted for the memory of posterity. Moved by this alone, Cardinal Baronius admitted them into the Martyrology newly corrected and enlarged by him, pointing his finger, namely, in his notes to this Gothic rite and to no other ancient book, when he says: “In Spain, of the holy martyrs Vincent and Letus.” Which he notes that he drew from the Isidorian Breviary. To others, who could not use this book, as being most rare, Vincent and Letus are wholly unknown. So that candid and sincere man, and he argues rightly indeed for the knowledge which he had about these Saints, being likely to have changed his opinion if he had known their ancient veneration among the people of Dax.
[14] For all things persuade us that they are the same Saints but all things persuade us that those venerated in Spain are the ones of Dax; who are venerated in Spain and in Novempopulania. First, the same names of both, the same day of festivity, raise so strong a suspicion that they scarcely leave any doubt that the same are venerated in Spain and in Novempopulania: for without grave foundation it must not be said that there were two Vincents, martyrs on one day, who both had a Letus for companion, especially since Letus is a name little used. This is the less likely because Novempopulania was long under the Gothic kings, whom Spain obeyed, and because the one is neighbour to the other. For so a cult could easily be propagated from one province to another, either by the translation of some relics or by reason of the same dominion. There is added the celebrity of the cult among the people of Dax, where St. Vincent is celebrated as patron with his companion Letus; whereas Tamayo says nothing about a present-day cult in his Martyrology, and in the Calendar of the Toledan Missal of the year 1650 only a commemoration with the ninth lesson is prescribed for Vincent and Letus, with the festivity of St. Giles the abbot, which is the chief one. I do not see, therefore, that SS. Vincent and Letus are anywhere at this time celebrated in Spain as patrons. Hence I am wholly persuaded that Vincent and Letus are due to the people of Dax alone, and that their veneration was of old propagated to the Spaniards, as the cult of St. Giles the abbot, who died in Occitania, and of many others, was extended to them. The cause why Baronius attributed them to Spain we have already seen, so that his authority cannot stand in the way of our opinion.
[15] [and the Spanish fable-makers themselves record some things which pertain to those of Dax.] The Spaniards themselves who tried to adorn SS. Vincent and Letus with fictitious Acts, while doing something else, intimate that they are speaking of the ones of Dax. For first they attribute to the Saints a mother of Aquæ — not indeed sprung from Aquæ Tarbellicæ, but from the city of Aquæ, says Tamayo on page 15, or Elbora, which on page 17 he assigns near Toledo among the Carpetani. So St. Verena, who is venerated in the territory of Constance in Switzerland at Aquæ Duræ, as we said on this day in her Acts, Tamayo strove to drag into Spain, where with wondrous facility he presently found a Constantia Julia and Aquæ Duræ in its territory. Secondly, the same fable-maker read what was said about the revelation of St. Vincent at number 8, where Maxima, a virgin of Dax, is said to have learned from him the kind, the place and the day of his martyrdom: for he too brings in a virgin Maxima to whom St. Vincent appeared. Thirdly, as Gratian, bishop of Dax, restored the church of St. Vincent, as was said at number 5, so he adduces a Gratian, bishop of Carthago Spartaria, who dedicated a church to the Saint and placed there his sacred pledges. Tamayo therefore, with his fellows, knew some things about the Saints of Dax, and the more confidently strove to ascribe them to Spain because Baronius had done so before him. More about these Saints has not come to our knowledge.