ON ST. MANIUS, BISHOP OF VERONA,
Perhaps in the fifth century.
SYLLOGE.
His public veneration, where his body is laid, the time of his life.
Manius, bishop of Verona (St.)
J. P.
Galesini thus announces this holy Bishop: At Verona, of St. Manius, bishop and confessor, His cult, who, having diligently occupied himself in the office of preaching, and having holily administered the church committed to him, flourishing in the praise of miracles, fell asleep in the Lord. Ferrari in both his Catalogues records him likewise as a saint; but Castellan in his universal Martyrology only as venerable, which I do not approve: for although few things concerning him have come to my knowledge, they seem nevertheless to suffice for him to be reckoned in the catalogue of the other Saints who are given by us on this day. Augustine Valerio, bishop of Verona, in the Ancient monuments of the saints of that city, before the first folio, has a catalogue of the bishops of Verona set out at length, among whom St. Manius is placed thirty-third in order; but in Ughelli, vol. 5 of the reprinted Italia sacra, col. 695, he is thirtieth. In the same most illustrious Valerio, at fol. 1 and following, treating of the thirty-six holy bishops of Verona in general, various arguments are produced by which their public cult is proved. And among those things which he subjoins to these concerning the several thirty-six holy bishops of Verona, at fol. 4, where he writes of the bodies of the Saints which rest in the church of St. Stephen of Verona, he asserts these things to our purpose: Likewise, in the altar and chest of the holy Seven Brothers, the bodies of Salvinus and Manius, bishops of Verona.
[2] In the same place, at fol. 87, the holy relics of the churches of Verona are treated of, his body, his eulogy and among them is reckoned the body of St. Manius, in these words: In the church of St. Stephen are laid the bodies of SS. Alexander, Andronicus, Blasius, Dimidrianus, Felix, Gaudentius, Innocent, John, Lucidius, Lupus, Manius, etc., bishops of Verona and confessors. Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy says: There is extant an ancient tablet of parchment in the aforesaid church of St. Stephen, in which mention is made of St. Manius. In Valerio he is praised at fol. 40 in these words: Manius, bishop of Verona, applied himself with perpetual zeal to provide by word and example for the salvation of the people of Verona. In him was singular learning; there was also a certain excellent eloquence, so that he gained very many souls for Christ in his bishopric. He died on the fourth of the Nones of September: his body was honorably borne forth, and with many tears of the citizens of Verona was buried in the basilica of St. Stephen.
[3] and the time of his life. That he died in the fifth century is gathered from this, that St. Simplicius, who follows third after him in the catalogue of the bishops of Verona in Ughelli, is said to have flourished about the year 490. But among the said bishops St. Luperius is placed immediately before St. Manius, without a chronological note of his life and death. To Ferrari, in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy on the 15th day of November, Luperius seems to have lived about the year 800. Castellan indicates the same date on that day. Girolamo dalla Corte, in part 1, book 4, p. 195 of his History of Verona, puts off the death of Luperius to the year 830; and then at p. 196, writing of the restoration of the walls of Verona in the year 837, he subjoins the death of bishop Manius. The differences of date just designated, in the fifth century and in the ninth, disagree far too much to be decided without suitable authority, which, since it is not now at hand for me, it has seemed to me better to adhere to the order of the bishops of Verona woven together in Ughelli than to other writers, and to mark St. Manius as of the fifth century — restricted by an adverb of doubt — until at least a clearer light shine forth. For indeed catalogues of this sort, unless they be very imperfect, can greatly help chronology, since they combine earlier and later times set side by side and connected, and arrange some from others.