The Latin Martyrdom of *Cetheus (bishop of Pescara, martyred by Lombards, c. 590/591, S01553) narrates the flight from Pescara of its bishop, Cetheus, to Pope Gregory the Great in Rome, when attacked by the Lombards, Alahis and Umblo; the Lombards’ repentance and journey to Rome, where they pray at *Peter’s tomb (the Apostle, S00036); swearing an oath at the tomb promising to preserve and increase church property in Pescara, they obtain from Gregory that Cetheus be restored to his see; Cetheus’ arrest after he is accused by Umblo of having taken part in an attack against the city; Cetheus’ death by being thrown into the river Piscaria his neck bound to a stone; the miraculous journey of his body across the Adriatic sea to the civitas Iaternensis (Zadar, Croatia), where it is buried; the healing of a blind man at his tomb and the translation of Cetheus’ body at the 9th milestone from the city; his name being unknown there, he is called Peregrinus ('foreigner'). Written presumably in Pescara, perhaps in the first half of the 7th c.
E03222
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
The Martyrdom of Cetheus / Peregrinus (BHL 1730)
Summary [for a full English translation of this text see the bibliography]:
§1: The Lombards invade various parts of Italy at the time of Pope Gregory, while Phocas is ruling the Roman empire from Constantinople and Faroald the duchy of Spoleto. Alahis and Umblo raid the city of Aternum (Pescara) [reading from the Marciana manuscript, throughout preferred to the Acta Sanctorum edition that has ‘Amiternum’]. Cetheus, the bishop of Aternum, flees to Rome to Pope Gregory and tells him about the destruction of his city.
Gregory comforts him, affirming that the Lombards will soon be loyal to the apostolic see. [variant from the Marciana manuscript: Gregory learns from Cetheus that the Lombards are Christian and venerate the miracles of the saints; he tells Cetheus that they will seek a blessing from the apostolic see].
§2: Cetheus prays night and day to the Lord for his city, hoping that the Lombards will repent and that he will return to his see. Thanks to the Lord, the Lombards regret not having tried to bring back Cetheus from Rome.
They decide to go to Rome, find Cetheus, and ask him to pray for them to avoid the Lord’s vengeance. [variant from the Marciana manuscript: They realise that they need Cetheus’ blessing for protection, assemble and decide to go to Rome. For this they first seek and obtain permission from their ruler in Spoleto]
§3: The Lombards enter the church of the Apostle Peter, asking for help in bringing back Cetheus to their city. Gregory summons them, they weep at his feet, asking for their bishop to be returned to them.
Gregory will accept to bless them if they truly repent for what they have done to the citizens of Aternum and to the bishop, their fellow Christians. They repent for their actions and state their wish to be blessed and forgiven by Gregory. [variant from the Marciana manuscript: Gregory asks them if they repent with all their heart; they say that they do and Gregory agrees to bless them.]
§4: Gregory blesses them and asks Cetheus whether he agrees to return to his episcopal see. Cetheus accepts, hoping to avoid church property being dispersed or sold. The Lombards present state that they will never do that but instead, they and their descendants will increase church property. Gregory requires them to swear an oath at the body of the Apostle Peter: they swear that they will preserve and increase church property and restore Cetheus to his see.
§5: Gregory prays for them, forgives and blesses them. They return to their city chanting God’s glory. As they arrive, the priests and the whole clergy come to meet them and receive the bishop with great joy, singing hymns and canticles. He enters the city through the eastern gate and stays there for some time. [variant from the Marciana manuscript: after receiving their bishop back and Gregory’s blessing, they chant God’s glory. Then they throw themselves at Gregory’s feet and obtain that he blesses their journey. On their way back they sing psalms. They arrive at the river called Piscaria and spend half-an-hour there. All the priests welcome their bishop with joy and lead him to the city, through the eastern gate.]
§6: Alahis and Umblo rule over the city, ruling over respectively the eastern and western gate of the city. They become rivals and Alahis arranges for the count of the city of Ortona Vitalianus [reading from the Marciana manuscript, preferred to the Acta Sanctorum edition, that has ‘the count of Orte Vitalianus (Verilianum Comitem Hortanensium)’] to invade and destroy the city during the night. Cetheus is unaware of the plan. The most pious Christians Fredo and his wife Bona pray at the church in the evening and receive a blessing from the bishop. When they come home Fredo tells his wife that the city will be destroyed that night.
§7: In the middle of the night the city is invaded. Fredo takes his weapons, tells Cetheus and asks him to pray for them. Cetheus goes to the main square and prays to God asking to be freed from the enemy. All the invaders are suddenly terrified and many are killed.
§8: In the morning the inhabitants find out that the enemy entered and left the city from the back of the church of the blessed Thomas and that all was planned by Alahis. They seize Alahis and plan to torture and kill him. Cetheus however suggests that he should be only imprisoned for some time then required to do penance for many days.
§9: Umblo accuses Cetheus of having helped with Alahis’ plans and states that he is unworthy of episcopal office. Cetheus swears on the cross, the Trinity, the Gospels and the episcopal blessing, that he was unaware of the plan but rather prayed God for help. Umblo orders Alahis to be beheaded before all the people.
§10: As Alahis is brought to be executed, Cetheus loudly proclaims Psalms 83, 3, ; 56, 2; 108. After this, the executioner (speculator) is frightened: he cuts off Alahis’ head but leaves Cetheus unharmed. Umblo is infuriated and orders Cetheus to be brought before him enchained. Cetheus tells Umblo that while he will be saved, Umblo is wicked and will die, possessed by the devil. He prays to God emphasising that he is unjustly accused but trusts in God’s justice.
§11: Cetheus, enchained, prays further and sings psalms. A voice from heaven comforts him and tells him that he will be summoned by the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. This makes Cetheus’ even more daring in speaking against his enemies, for he greatly desires the reward of martyrdom.
§12: He speaks against those who hold him captive, against the Arians, stating that they will suffer eternal fire, and against Umblo, cursing him. Umblo orders Cetheus to be brought in chains to the river Piscaria and thrown into the river from the marmoreus bridge. Cetheus rejoices and sings Psalm 50, 13-14. He is thrown into the river but, with God’s help, he reaches the shore and is left unharmed. The people seize him and throw him several times again into the river, but each time Cetheus comes out of the river unharmed, with God’s help.
§13: Umblo orders him to be tied to a miller’s grindstone weighing five hundred pounds. Cetheus says Psalm 87, 2 and 27, 1 asking for help. He is thrown into the river and gives up his spirit. His body floats on the water the grindstone still attached to his neck. Following God’s command, angels bring his body near the city of civitas Iaternensis (Zadar).
§14: A fisherman called Valerianus, as he is repairing his nets, sees a bright light revealing the body lying on the seashore. Failing to recognise the body, he tells the bishop and the consul of the city that he has found a body with a huge stone bound around the neck. The bishop comes to the shore with the clergy, sees the angelic face of the dead man, takes the body with great care and buries it with perfume in a place near the shore where he was found. As his name is unknown they call him Peregrinus (“foreigner”).
§15: A light shining from his head frequently guides fishermen sailing near the shore. A man born blind from Zadar goes at the body of the martyr, praying for healing, and stating that if he is healed, this will show to all that the man buried there is holy and worthy of veneration. The man is cured, he comes back to the city, and thanks Jesus Christ.
§16: Hearing about this, the inhabitants go together with the bishop and the consuls to the burial place, singing psalms and carrying crosses. They take the body to another place at the 9th milestone from the city. Umblo is seized by a demon and dies with all his followers. The bishop Cetheus was martyred in the city of Aternum and his body brought to Zadar where he is called Peregrinus. [variant from the Marciana manuscript: The bishop Cetheus was martyred under the consul Umblo on the Ides of June [= 13 June] and is called Peregrinus in Zadar].
Text: Acta Sanctorum, Iun., II, 689-693 (with major variants from the Marciana manuscript in square brackets; for more details see Everett, “The Passion”.
Summary: M. Pignot
Chant and religious singing
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Oath
Visiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Miraculous interventions in war
Punishing miracle
Miracles experienced by the saint
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Healing diseases and disabilities
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesAristocrats
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Angels
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
The Martyrdom is a peculiar text, in the context of the late antique hagiographical martyrdom accounts written in Italy. Instead of being set during the great persecutions, it is situated at the time of Gregory the Great (590-604), and the martyr Cetheus is said to have died at the hands of a wicked Lombard ruler.The Martyrdom, BHL 1730 (and variant BHL 1731), was published in the 17th century in the Acta Sanctorum on the basis of two now apparently lost manuscripts said to be from the monastery of Boddeken in Westfalia and from the Camaldolese fathers in Tuscany. Recently, Everett has discussed and published a variant version preserved in the manuscript Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, lat. Z 356, f. 309r-313 (12th c.).
Discussion
Although Cetheus/Peregrinus was thought to have been venerated in Amiternum, as Everett recently argues against previous scholarship, it appears that Amiternum is a wrong reading for Aternum, the modern city of Pescara, on the Adriatic sea, where Cetheus’ cult originated (similarly, “Ortona” seems to be preferable as the place of origin of the count “Vitalianus”, rather than “Verilianus”). Everett argues that despite inconsistencies in the beginning of the Martyrdom about its chronology, references to the dukedom of Faroald and the pontificate of Gregory the Great suggest that the narrative is situated in the years 590-591.The Martyrdom ends with a curious, but not uncommon story of miraculous travel (see for instance Torpes, E01870), emphasising that cult developed in Zadar in Croatia, where Cetheus was venerated as Peregrinus (“foreigner”). As suggested by Everett, this story might have served to highlight Byzantine connections across the Adriatic Sea.
The Martyrdom is of uncertain date of composition, and the only currently known manuscript is from the 12th century. It is generally dated with uncertainty to the 7th century (Lanzoni; Clavis Patrum Latinorum 2176; Gryson, R., Répertoire général des auteurs ecclésiastiques Latins de l’Antiquité et du Haut moyen âge, 2 vols. (Freiburg, 2007), I, 57). In recent studies of the Martyrdom, summarising earlier scholarship, Everett argues that it may be more precisely dated to the first half of the 7th century, ca. 600-642, the period providing a plausible political and ecclesiastical context of writing.
Bibliography
Editions:BHL 1730 (with variant BHL 1731): Acta Sanctorum, Iun., II, 689-693
Version preserved in Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, lat. Z 356, f. 309r-313: Everett, N., “The Passion of Cetheus of Pescara and the Lombard Invasions of Italy: With a Diplomatic Edition of the Passio Cethei based on Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, lat. Z 356”, Hagiographica 22 (2015), 79-132, at 118-128
English translation of BHL 1730 (showing variants from the Marciana manuscript): Everett, N., Patron Saints of Early Medieval Italy AD c. 350-800 (Toronto, 2016), 112-123
Further reading:
Everett, N., “Kult svetog Peregrina u ranosrednjovjekovnom Zadru” [“The Cult of Saint Peregrinus in early medieval Zadar”], Vjesnik za arheologiju i povijest dalmatinsku 108 (2015), 245-266 [article published in both English and Croatian]
Everett, N., “The Passion of Cetheus of Pescara and the Lombard Invasions of Italy: With a Diplomatic Edition of the Passio Cethei based on Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, lat. Z 356”, Hagiographica 22 (2015), 79-132
Everett, N., Patron Saints of Early Medieval Italy AD c. 350-800 (Toronto, 2016), 104-123
Lanzoni, F., Le diocesi d’Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo vii, 2 volumes (1927), 363
Matthieu Pignot
22/9/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus apostolus | Certain | S00199 | Thomas, the Apostle | Thomas | Uncertain | S01553 | Cetheus or Peregrinus, bishop of Pescara, martyred by Lombards. c. 590-591) | Cetheus / Peregrinus | Certain |
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