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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


The Latin Martyrdom of *Urbanus (bishop and confessor/martyr of Rome, S00538) and Companions narrates the trial of Urbanus and his clergy by the urban prefect Almasius, aided by Carpasius; the conversion and martyrdom of the prison-keeper *Anolinus (martyr of Rome, S01547); Urbanus' destruction of a pagan temple; the tortures endured by the main protagonists; the beating and death of *Lucianus (deacon and martyr of Rome, S01548) and his burial in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the via Appia; the death by beheading and burial of Urbanus and his clergy in a crypt in the same place. An additional narrative describes Carpasius' death after being possessed by a demon; the conversion of his wife Marmenia, his daughter Lucinia and all his household; the translation of Urbanus and his companions' bodies to Marmenia's house next to Vespasian's palace, where they are buried in fine tombs and where miracles occur. Written presumably in Rome, at an uncertain date, by the 10th c. at the latest.

Evidence ID

E02516

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom

Martyrdom of Urbanus and Companions (BHL 8372 and 8374)

Summary:

BHL 8372

§ 1: Urbanus was born in Rome, from a noble family, the son of Pontianus, 18th bishop after the Apostle Peter. Alexander is emperor at that time and is indulgent towards Christians following the exhortations of his mother Mammea; however the urban prefect Almachius persecutes them. His attendants are supervised by a cruel man, Carpasius, who looks for hidden Christians. He finds Urbanus with three deacons and two priests in a cave (antrum) and tells the prefect. The prefect, who wants to annihilate Christians, orders them to be presented before him. Carpasius brings Urbanus with his clerics to the palace of Vespasian. Almachius interrogates Urbanus, which he said to be the pope (papa) of Christians and previously condemned. As Urbanus rejects the worship of the gods, Almachius orders him and his clerics to be brought to a pagus next to a temple of Jupiter and imprisoned there.

§§ 2-4: After this is done, Christians come at night to the prison, pay the prisonkeeper Anolinus and are allowed to meet the saints. They moan, receive a blessing from Urbanus and spend the night praising God, then leave. Urbanus and his clerics are again brought before Almachius by Carpasius and summoned to offer sacrifice to the gods worshipped by the emperors. Almachius adds that around 5000 men have died because they were seduced by Christians. Urbanus replies that these men have not perished but entered heaven. Almachius and Urbanus further disagree on the fate of Christians, as Almachius recalls the case of Caecilia, who lost her status and gave away all her wealth to Urbanus. Then Almachius interrogates the priests Iohannes and Mamillianus, who fully agree with Urbanus. He orders them to be beaten with leaden scourges (plumbatae), but they thank the Lord as they are beaten. Almachius thinks that they use magic, Urbanus tells him that he fails to hear and see, just like his gods. This insult to the gods angers Almachius who threatens Urbanus to death by beheading. Nevertheless, Urbanus further rejects the gods, preaching about God creator of all things and quoting Matthew 10:28 against fear of death. Almachius retorts that he is ready to die because he is old. However the priest Iohannes remarks that Urbanus is a Christian confessor since youth. Almachius asks Carpasius to put Urbanus and his clerics under custody until they agree to his orders. They are brought to the prison next to the pagus, and chant Psalm 89:1.

§
§ 5-6: At night Christians come, among them three tribunes, Favianus, Callistus and Ammonius and two priests, Fortunatus and Iustinus. They knock at the door and are allowed in by the prisonkeeper Anolinus. They fall at Urbanus’ feet and ask for his prayers in this time of persecution. Urbanus comforts them and they spend the night chanting and praying for God’s mercy. Anolinus sees this and beseeches Urbanus to baptise him. Urbanus asks him to believe with all his heart, he states his belief, is baptised and anointed with the chrism. In the morning they celebrate mass (missarum solennia) and receive the Eucharist. Almachius orders Urbanus and his clergy to be brought before him because of the conversion of Anolinus. However Anolinus proclaims his faith in front of Almachius. He is brought to the temple of Diana, refuses to offer sacrifice and is beheaded next to the temple of the 15th day before the Calends of June [= 18 May].

§
§ 7-8: The prefect Turcius [Almachius] orders a tribunal to be prepared and Christians to be interrogated at night. He asks them to explain why they prefer to die rather than live; Urbanus explains that they choose eternal life. Almachius fails to understand and asks Carpasius to bring them to the temple next to the pagus, so that they may offer sacrifice, and otherwise be tortured. They come at the temple of Jupiter next to the pagus at a place called locus trucidatorum (‘the place of slaughterers’), are summoned to sacrifice but refuse, spitting out at the statue. Carpasius exhorts them to worship the gods but Urbanus refuses, preferring to endure tortures. Carpasius then speaks to Urbanus’ clerics, trying to convince them to avoid death but they all reply that they follow Urbanus. Carpasius hands them back to Almachius, who orders them to be brought back to the temple, and to be killed if they refuse to sacrifice. A certain Tarquinius Taurinus tells the prefect that he should come to the temple and ask them himself to offer sacrifice. He follows the saints to the temple with soldiers. There, they are compelled to offer sacrifice and they pray to God. Urbanus speaks at the statue of Jupiter, ordering it to be destroyed through God’s power; it falls and kills pagan priests.

§§ 9-10: The prefect flees with his men to the palace of Vespasian, and orders them to be brought before him, and after interrogating them in vain about the magic they used, he orders them to be severely beaten with cudgels. They all thank God and one of the deacons gives up his spirit. Urbanus exhorts the others against fearing tortures. Almachius orders them to be beaten with leaden scourges (plumbatae) and scorpions (scorpiones). The ministers throw Lucianus’ body before the saints and it is left unburied. At night the priest Fortunatus takes the body and buries it in a crypt in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the 13th day before the Calends of June [= 20 May]. After three days Almachius orders Urbanus and his clerics to be brought to the temple of Diana and be beheaded if they refuse to sacrifice. On the way Urbanus exhorts his clerics quoting Matthew 11:28, and telling them that soon they will see the Lord face to face. As they again refuse to sacrifice, they are beheaded outside the temple. Favianus, Callistus and Ammonius come with other Christians and weep bitterly. They bury Urbanus and his companions in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the via Appia, on the 8th day before the Calends of June [= 25 May].

BHL 8374:

§§ 11-12: Carpasius goes to offer sacrifice to the gods and is taken by a demon. This is told to Almachius who frightens and orders him to be brought before him. The demon violently shakes Carpasius, enraging him, and bringing him to confess the tortures inflicted upon the saints and the glory that they have earned. Almachius thinks that he has become Christian and orders him to be taken away. Carpasius further speaks against Almachius and against idols, before choking and dying. Carpasius’ wife Marmenia hears what happened, comes at night to the priests Fortunatus and Iustinus and falls at their feet together with her daughter Lucinia, asking for baptism. Fortunatus and Iustinus thank God, teach them about Christianity, initiate them (catechizare) and impose on them a fasting period of seven days. Then they are baptised in the name of the Trinity. After three days, Fortunatus comes to Marmenia’s house and preaches the faith, many pagans come and are baptised by him. Fortunatus incessantly preaches about Christ the son of God. Everyone in the household of Carpasius is baptised.

§ 13: Marmenia and her daughter ask Fortunatus about the saints’ burial. He tells them what has been done and they ask him to be brought to the saints' relics so that they may provide them with a better burial. Fortunatus agrees and tells Iustinus. They go to the saints’ burial place with Marmenia, chanting Psalm 119:4. Marmenia falls into tears and asks Urbanus to pray to Christ for her. The bodies (
glaebae) are taken and brought to the house of Marmenia, outside the palace of Vespasian prope columnas. There, the bodies of Urbanus and of the priest Mamilianus are buried with perfume following Marmenia’s order in a remarkable tomb with walls covered with marble slabs, and with a remarkable stone on top of it. They also build a huge square cave (antrum) over it in which the bodies of the priests Iohannes, Chromatius, Dionysius and of the deacons Martialis, Eunuchius and Lucianus are buried, with chants and praises. Many miracles occur at these tombs up to this day.


Text:
Acta Sanctorum, Mai., VI, 10-13.
Summary: M. Pignot.

Liturgical Activities

Eucharist associated with cult
Chant and religious singing
Other liturgical acts and ceremonies

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Cult Places

Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Descriptions of cult places

Activities accompanying Cult

Meetings and gatherings of the clergy

Non Liturgical Activity

Prayer/supplication/invocation
Bequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Distribution of alms
Visiting graves and shrines
Magic
Fast
Construction of cult buildings
Composing and translating saint-related texts

Miracles

Miracle during lifetime
Miracles experienced by the saint
Punishing miracle
Miracles causing conversion
Miracle after death
Other miracles with demons and demonic creatures
Unspecified miracle

Relics

Bodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Construction of cult building to contain relics

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Pagans
Aristocrats
Soldiers
Officials
Demons

Source

Epic martyrdoms
The Martyrdom of Urbanus and Companions is an anonymous literary account of martyrdom written long after the great persecutions of Christians that provide the background of the narrative. It is part of a widely spread literary genre, that scholars often designate as "epic" Martyrdoms (or Passiones), to be distinguished from earlier, short and more plausible accounts, apparently based on the genuine transcripts of the judicial proceedings against the martyrs.

These texts narrate the martyrdom of local saints, either to promote a new cult or to give further impulse to existing devotion. They follow widespread stereotypes mirroring the early authentic trials of martyrs, but with a much greater degree of detail and in a novelistic style. Thus they narrate how the protagonists are repeatedly questioned and tortured under the order of officials or monarchs, because they refuse to sacrifice to pagan gods but profess the Christian faith. They frequently refer to miracles performed by the martyrs and recreate dialogues between the protagonists. The narrative generally ends with the death of the martyrs (often by beheading) and their burial. These texts are literary creations bearing a degree of freedom in the narration of supposedly historical events, often displaying clear signs of anachronism. For these reasons, they have been generally dismissed as historical evidence and often remain little known. However, since most certainly date from within the period circa 400-800, often providing unique references to cult, they are an essential source to shed light on the rise of the cult of saints.

The Martyrdom of Urbanus and Companions
There are a number of versions of the Martyrdom (BHL 8372-8389), of which the two main, with a number of variants, are BHL 8372-8375 and BHL 8376-8378; we have here produced a summary of BHL 8372 and of the additional narrative of the bodies’ translation (BHL 8374), both of which are the earliest attested, first found in the 10th century manuscript Montpellier, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire, Faculté de Médecine, 360, f.49r-67v (see the database Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina Manuscripta (bhlms.fltr.ucl.ac.be) for a list of manuscripts of the various versions). Lapidge, on the other hand, argues that both versions derive from a lost original text, and assumes that BHL 8376 preserves portions of this lost text that are not found in BHL 8372. Thus Lapidge's translation is not based on any currently extant Latin text but is an hypothetical reconstruction of the lost original text combining elements of both known versions.


Discussion

The Martyrdom provides useful information about the topography of Rome and draws on a number of late antique sources (see Lapidge for more details, particularly pertaining to BHL 8376).

While the main narrative ends with the burial of the saints in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the
via Appia (§ 10), an additional narrative (BHL 8374) tells of the translation of Urbanus and his companions’ bodies to Rome. There are clear discrepancies between the two narratives, the first only mentioning the priests Iohannes and Mamillianus, and the deacon Lucianus, while the latter provides a longer list with in total four priests and three deacons.

The primary narrative is of uncertain date of composition. It first attested in manuscripts in the 10th century. It was generally dated with uncertainty to the 6th century (
Clavis Patrum Latinorum 2247; Gryson, R., Répertoire général des auteurs ecclésiastiques Latins de l’Antiquité et du Haut moyen âge, 2 vols. (Freiburg, 2007), I, 90), however Lanéry (followed by Vocino), summarising earlier studies, remarks that the composition of the text should be situated later. It could date from the 9th century, perhaps at the same time as the translation of Urbanus’ body under Pope Paschal I. Lapidge, however, is rather inclined to situate it in the second half of the 7th century, in particular because of its use of late antique sources and precise references to local topography. At any rate, the narrative of the Martyrdom is clearly developed on the basis of information about Urbanus in the Martyrdom of Caecilia (E02519) and Urbanus’ biography in the Liber Pontificalis (E00328). Unlike all other early sources about Urbanus, however, our text makes of him a martyr, rather than a confessor (see S00538), while still recalling Urbanus’ status as a confessor (see § 4).



Bibliography

Editions:
BHL 8372-8375:
Acta Sanctorum, Mai., VI, 10-13.

BHL 8376:
Mombritius, B.,
Sanctuarium seu vitae sanctorum, 2 vols with additions and corrections by A. Brunet and H. Quentin (Paris, 1910), II, 644-646. The original edition was published c. 1480.

English translation (hypothetical reconstruction of a text based on BHL 8372-8375 and BHL 8376):
Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford, 2018), 532-550.

Further reading:
Lanéry, C., "Hagiographie d'Italie (300-550). I. Les Passions latines composées en Italie,” in: Philippart, G. (ed.), Hagiographies. Histoire internationale de la littérature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines à 1550, vol. V (Turnhout, 2010), 15-369, 297-298.

Lapidge, M.,
The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford, 2018), 526-532.

Vocino, G., “L’Agiografia dell’Italia centrale (750-950),” in: Goullet, M. (ed.),
Hagiographies. Histoire internationale de la littérature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines à 1550, vol. VII (Turnhout, 2017), 95-268, at 175-177.


Record Created By

Matthieu Pignot

Date of Entry

18/9/2017

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00538Urbanus, bishop and confessor/martyr of Rome, buried on the via AppiaUrbanusCertain
S01547Anolinus, martyr of RomeAnolinusCertain
S01548Lucianus, deacon and martyr of RomeLucianusCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Matthieu Pignot, Cult of Saints, E02516 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02516