Ivan Paštrić | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1636 |
| Died | 20 March 1708 (aged 71–72) |
| Resting place | Illyrian College of Loreto |
| Other names |
|
| Occupations | scientist, poet and editor |
Ivan Paštrić (Latin: Iohannes Pastritius, Italian: Giovanni Pastrizio) (1636 – 20 March 1708) was a Croatian scientist, poet, linguist and editor of Glagolitic liturgical books.[1]
We present here the introduction, and several passages, from the edition curated by Matteo Veronesi by Johannes Pastritius (a late seventeenth-century scholar of Dalmatian origin, active primarily, with important roles, in the Vatican Apostolic Library) concerning the enigmatic Silver Paten preserved at the Cathedral of Imola.
The work, dense and complex, reveals the deep hidden meanings in this ancient silver artifact venerated in Imola as a gift from Saint Peter Chrysologus. Between Christian Kabbalah, medieval exegesis, Hebrew letters, and early Christian iconography, Pastritius weaves rigorous philology and contemplative mysticism, offering a unique bridge between Humanism, the Baroque, and the theology of salvation.
Truly singular was the fate of Johannes Pastritius, one of the greatest scholars of his era, a correspondent of—among others, certainly on the basis of a shared interest in the relationship between word and image—Bellori and Leibniz (one can see, for a general overview, the entry https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-pastrizio_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ , included in the eighty-first volume of the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, by Tomislav Mrkonjić, also the author of the only monograph dedicated to him to date, Il teologo Ivan Paštrić, Rome 1989); a destiny similar, in certain aspects, to that of Antonio Ferri, his principal intermediary with the Imolese environment and the inspiration for the very work we are now presenting.
Both entrusted their meticulous and boundless erudition (on one hand close to the overabundance, opulence, and clutter of the Baroque, on the other hand already foreshadowing the lucid rigor, itself of Humanist-Renaissance descent, that would characterize the eighteenth-century historical research of Muratori, Quadrio, and Crescimbeni) to vast masses of manuscripts that remained for the most part unpublished, as well as to dense correspondence; as if erudition, study, and research—almost a sort of secular prayer, a true religio litterarum—were an end in themselves, an absolute value that found in itself its own origin and fulfillment; a value illuminated, at most, by the more or less vague prospect of posthumous reception and enjoyment.
In Rome (Vatican Apostolic Library, Borg. Lat. 786), one of his diaries is preserved—almost a sort of soliloquy or examination of conscience (inspectio sui ipsius, as the Stoics called it). Some passages of it were published by Ivan Golub ( https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14452673.pdf ).
"O how dear to God is humility, to
Him who, though being the greatest, humiliavit semetipsum because no one
could humble him; and humility was so dear to him that he willed to be born,
live, and die in it, and explaining the richness of this beautiful virtue, he
said to his beloved ones: Discite a me quia mitis sum, et humilis corde, et
invenietis requiem animabus vestris. The peace brought by humility, the
restlessness that arises when it is lacking, the awareness that in humility
there is never danger: all this must be a firm reason to embrace it and take it
seriously in the heart. Turning one's gaze away from every impure, vain, and
useless object born of pure curiosity; turning one's gaze away from things not
pleasing to God." This inward withdrawal, this collected dedication to
scholarly studies no less than to ecclesiastical duties (as if the former were
a mirror of the latter), did not exclude human and intellectual passion; on the
contrary, they were animated by it and constituted its sublimation. "I
want to be alive like a flame." Thus ends his solitary and silent
meditation.
Now the fulfillment (in an indefinite posterity that coincides with the eternal and dissolves into it) of this posthumous legacy is ideally represented by the first, very challenging Italian translation of the only book he published during his lifetime, Patenae argentae mysticae descriptio et explicatio, printed in 1706 "Typis A. de Rubeis", that is, in the ancient printing house of the Rossi family, whose illustrious tradition went back to the fifteenth century, and whose expertise was necessary for the creation of a text in which the multiplicity and multiformity—typically Baroque in taste—of graphic signs (especially Hebrew letters, according to a scholarly and hermeneutic tradition that itself dated back to Humanism, but placed alongside early Christian and esoteric symbols, or pure ornamental and iconographic elements) had to be reconciled with the clarity and rigor of the philological gaze. Pastritius succeeds, precisely, in making two universes dialogue that usually do not speak to each other at all: the meticulous analysis of the philologist and the sensitivity of the mystic.
A renewed call to the tension between the visible and
the concealed, between the surface and the hidden core, nestled (as the
medieval thinkers to whom Pastritius, even in full early modernity, continues
to look) sub velamine and sub tegmine.
Everything stems from an ancient object, a Paten that the inhabitants of Forum Cornelii attributed to Saint Peter Chrysologus, and which the Saint himself, on the threshold of death, supposedly solemnly donated to the city that had given him, if not his birth, at least a decisive formative and vocational nourishment.
This was not merely a popular
conviction: in 1617, the Sacred Congregation of Rites had given its approval,
with the support of the famous, and in many ways notorious, Cardinal
Bellarmine. The object triggers an interpretive narrative that reconciles (in a
framework that is seemingly, at times, dispersive and elusive, but in reality
rigorous, coherent, and scientific in its own way) local history, Church
traditions, literature, and theology.
Today, the Paten is generally placed
between the eleventh and twelfth centuries and attributed to an unidentified
Spanish workshop. But the problem of dating takes nothing away from the
intrinsic theological truth, transmitted through the centuries, which
Pastritius nevertheless recognizes as represented there. Furthermore, both a
revisiting of Pastritius' arguments and possible comparisons with recent
discoveries (for example, the early Christian paten of Cástulo found in Spain)
could prompt new investigations and hypotheses.
“Quem plebs tunc cara Crucis Agnus fixit in ara, Hostia fit Gentis primi pro labe parentis.” Verses loaded with over-meanings, speaking of the Lamb sacrificed for us all. But Pastritius does not stop at the meaning: he also shows its formal elegance, the use of the "Leonine rhythm" (based on the assonance or consonance of metrically corresponding verbal endings) to create harmony between the middle and final parts of the verse.
From this minute observation, an exciting journey unfolds
through centuries of poetry, from Cicero and Virgil to the Christian poets of
the 5th century such as the priest Theodulus, whose allegorical Ecloga
enjoyed long and vast success in terms of commentaries and editions. It is not
a display for its own sake: every step serves to demonstrate that those verses
are perfectly in line with the stylistic taste of Chrysologus' era, thus
strengthening the idea that the paten might truly belong to him. Conversely,
one might reproach the author for his bias in wanting to place the Paten in the
era of Chrysologus, venturing into subtle and complex interpretations and
corrections of the dating system.
This takes nothing away from the great
erudition (spanning Saint Ambrose, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Leo the
Great, Prosper of Aquitaine, the Venerable Bede) with which he retraces and
compares the different layers of historical time, which merge and overlap,
ideally, between the literal and the allegorical, in the precious artifact.
The book develops on two fronts. On one hand, the deepening of Chrysologus' theology, with particular attention to his way of interpreting the Scriptures through all levels of reading (literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical, according to the medieval fourfold division familiar to every reader of Dante); on the other, the application of that system of signs, with its complex layering, to the interpretation of the Paten's iconography.
An example is his exegesis of the parable of the Prodigal Son, which Chrysologus reads as a story revealing the great mysteries of salvation, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and predestination. Theology that becomes poetry. In this latter regard, it is not difficult to catch, while leafing through the book, Dantesque echoes, especially from the Paradiso (one need only think of the "nostra effigie" inscribed in the three circles of the Trinity).
And, incidentally, this edition could also sound like
an indirect and silent invitation to grasp, as has not been done so far, the
resonances that Chrysologus' Sermones (in harmony with the Ravenna
mosaics, which indeed drew more than a few iconographic and symbolic cues from
them) might have stirred in Dante's work, and especially in the Paradiso,
where it is superfluous to recall the influence of the Ravenna environment,
where the memory of the Bishop hovered quite vividly.
The book also addresses with great finesse
certain linguistic ambiguities, such as Chrysologus' use of the term
"mixture" to describe the union between the divine and human natures
in Christ. Pastritius demonstrates how, far from heresies like Monophysitism
(which postulated a single nature in Christ), Chrysologus moves with balance,
anticipating certain formulations that would later be clarified at the Council
of Chalcedon. Through imperial letters, ecclesiastical testimonies, and sources
of the time, Pastritius reconstructs a crucial moment in the history of the
Church, giving us a vivid and documented look at an age when faith was a real
battle, and the word of the Saints an instrument of guidance and salvation.
Another significant aspect lies in
Pastritius' interest in Jewish mysticism. Following in the footsteps of an
endeavor dating back to Humanism, a Christian scholar approached the Jewish
Kabbalistic tradition of letter interpretation, applying it, however, to a
completely Christian symbology.
Pastritius dwells, in particular, on the
syntactic and symbolic role of the conjunctive Vav and distinguishes
between the different meanings of Hebrew roots, as when he explains, subtly,
the difference between the name Jesus (ישוע), which "takes its name from salvation," and the
concept of Savior. This terminological precision reveals a firsthand knowledge
of Hebrew sources. One can mention, among the many possible references, the Commentary
on Genesis by Mĕnaḥēm da Recanati (edited
by Tiziana Mayer, Milan 2021, p. 150): in the word 'or, Light, waw
and yod coexist, the latter being symbols of the Wisdom of God, the
former of the Column of the Universe, and both "included in the original
light." In the Christian rereading upon which the Paten is based,
Beginning and End, depth and height, merge precisely in the incarnate Word
sacrificed for salvation.
But truly remarkable is the application of the exegetical method typical of the Kabbalah, where every single letter hides infinite layers of deep meaning and where nothing is accidental in the arrangement of the sacred signs. The very idea of reading the Paten as a cryptogram where every element has a hidden meaning goes back to the Kabbalah. Where he states that the Hebrew letters are "deformed on purpose to conceal mysteries," Pastritius touches the heart of the Kabbalistic conception: sacred writing is never transparent but always veils truths that require wise decoding. It is exactly the approach of the Sefer Yetzirah or the Zohar, though applied to Christian symbols.
Where Jewish
mysticism would see in the letters the ineffable names of God (the
Tetragrammaton), the Sefirot of the Tree of Life, the secrets of cosmic
creation through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the Christian
scholar—concerned with the theological problem of the fusion of the two
natures, human and divine, of Christ—reads instead the whole history, the oikonomia,
of Salvation: Adam as the first man, Eve as the mother of the living prefiguring
Mary, the Cross as the instrument of redemption, the Paschal Lamb.
So to speak, the grammar of the Kabbalah is brought back, or bent, to a Christian syntax. But, even from a Christian perspective, Pastritius thinks through cultural comparisons, seeking to grasp the internal logic of each tradition before appropriating it. One cannot deny him methodological self-awareness. He knows very well that he is applying Jewish interpretive techniques to Christian symbols, and indeed he takes care to construct a sort of cultural genealogy that legitimizes this operation: from Cadmus bringing Phoenician letters (which were "Palestinian, or Syrian, or Chaldean, or Hebrew") to the Greeks, from the Greeks to the Latins.
This text must be traced back to the context of
the Renaissance rediscovery of esoteric traditions, but also to the
climate—though now declining—of the Counter-Reformation, which sought to
Christianize and control these influences. It is the atmosphere of Athanasius
Kircher, of the renewed interest in Christian Kabbalah started by Pico della
Mirandola, of comparative studies on religions. But it is also the era in which
this knowledge is disciplined and channeled within the riverbed of orthodoxy.
The dissertation, as
mentioned, contains an elaborate interpretation of the silver Paten of Saint
Peter Chrysologus, which the Saint supposedly donated to the city according to
a tradition dating back to the Vitae Pontificum Ravennatum by Agnellus.
It may be useful to quote the passage from the Liber pontificalis (XXII,
52) referring to the episode, in which the gift of the sacred and highly
symbolic object, shortly before death, is accompanied by a heartfelt prayer,
marked by the Neoplatonic motif of death as a return to the One, correlated to
the Christian vision of the Divinity who, by incarnating, connects earth and
heaven, time and eternity, opening a path or a glimpse between one dimension
and the other. “Cognovit autem post haec hic beatissimus Petrus per spiritum
finem vitae suae. Ivit ad Corneliensem ecclesiam, et ingressus infra basilicam
beati Cassiani, obtulit munera, id est cratere aureo uno et patera argentea
altera et diademata aurea magna preciosissimis gemmis ornata. Haec omnia a
sancti Cassiani corpore imbuit positaque super aram illius ecclesiae. Et stans
super cripidinem iuxta altare, expansis manibus benedixit cunctam plebem,
sacerdotes et populos; oravit dicens: “Tu dedisti, domine Deus, animam in
corpore isto; tu iterum misericors suscipe eam, quia tua sum criatura. Non
occurrat mihi iniquissimus diabolus, sed angelus tuus sanctus suscipiat eam et
collocare iubeas in sinibus patriarcharum, ubi luz permanet et gaudium immensum
est. Et nunc, Domine, te confiteor labiis et corde; tu, qui cuncta patrasti ex
nihilo, qui solus nosti prisca, praesentia et futura, da populo huic cor
docibile, ut timeant te et agnoscant, qui tu es Deus in caelo sursum et in
terra deorsum, qui per sanctum Filium tuum totius generis humani salutem
recuperasti, in quem credimus Deum et dominum angelorum, qui es benedictus in
secula seculorum” (“After these events, the most blessed Peter knew through
the Spirit the end of his life. He went to the church of Cornelius, and having
entered the basilica of the blessed Cassian, he offered gifts, namely one
golden crater and another silver patera and great golden diadems adorned with
most precious gems. All these objects he consecrated at the body of Saint
Cassian and placed them upon the altar of that church. And standing on the step
next to the altar, with outstretched hands he blessed all the people, the
priests and the populace; he prayed saying: ‘You have given, Lord God, the soul
in this body; you again, merciful, receive it, for I am your creature. May the
most wicked devil not meet me, but may your holy angel receive it and command
it to be placed in the bosom of the patriarchs, where light remains and joy is
immense. And now, Lord, I confess you with lips and heart; you, who created
everything from nothing, who alone know the ancient, the present, and the
future, give this people a teachable heart, that they may fear you and
acknowledge that you are God in heaven above and on earth below, you who
through your holy Son recovered the salvation of the whole human race, in whom
we believe as God and lord of angels, you who are blessed forever and ever’”).
In the historiated
letters Pastritius discerns a reference to Maria Virgo Mater Viventium.
After him, Arduino Suzzi (Sacrae patenae D. Petri Chrisologi explicatio,
Bononiae, per Lelium a Vulpe, 1727), an isolated scholar with enigmatic traits,
who (though living, isolated, not far from Imola, in Castel del Rio) is not
known to have had what contact with Pastritius or Ferri, would see in the
precious and mysterious artifact rather a representation of Christ Alpha et
Omega and Via, Veritas et Vita. The interest of these scholars can
simultaneously be linked to the tradition of "emblems" (imprese),
from Alciato to Giovio to Tasso to Bruno: figurations that unite text and
image, word and vision, thus configuring a semiotic organism analogous, in
principle, to the incarnation of the Word, to the immersion of the spiritual
sphere of thought and concept into the concrete and evident one of sensible
epiphany.
Bruno wrote in The
Heroic Frenzies, Fifth Dialogue: “See how they carry the insignias of their
affections or fortunes. Let us leave aside considering their names and clothes;
it is enough that we focus on the significance of the emblems and the
intelligence of the writing, as much that which is placed for the form of the
body of the image, as the other which is placed for the most part as a
declaration of the emblem.” This spirit animates an operation of, so to speak,
"theological archaeology": an attempt to make an ancient artifact,
rich in history and faith, speak with references to a universe of meanings
ranging from the Holy Scripture to the philosophy of the Fathers of the Church,
without ignoring the persistent classical background. Alpha and Omega merge
ideally in the figure of Christ Crucified, who in the Apocalypse of Saint John
presents himself as "the First and the Last, the beginning and the
end." It is a concept of total divinity, embracing everything, taken up
and amplified also by Saint Augustine.
There is thus a
visual affirmation of eternity and divine omnipresence: God as the beginning
and conclusion of everything; a perfect circle. An iconographic element that
catches the attention is the triple letter V engraved just below the Lamb.
This, in the author's interpretation, contains within itself the triple attribute
of Christ Crucified: Via, Veritas, Vita—words that Jesus himself utters
in the Gospel of John. It is understood that the truth of Christ is the only
way to reach eternal life. The number three, combined with eight, gives
twenty-four, a number that evokes the fullness of the Universe, recalling the
words of the prophet Jeremiah: "I fill heaven and earth." Twenty,
instead, symbolizes grace, benefit, and bestowal—all manifestations of divine
benevolence which, in a "wondrous" way, are revealed in the Eucharistic
sacrifice, the Mass. This network of numerical meanings is not accidental; it
reflects a divine order that pervades every aspect of creation and the work of
salvation.
The analysis
continues with the depiction of the Lamb with the jaws of a calf or bull, a
detail by no means devoid of mystical significance. The Bull (Schor in
Hebrew, Tor in Chaldean), in the sacrifices of the Mosaic Law, was a
prefiguration of Christ, as Saint Augustine attests in Contra Faustum
and as, according to the Christian figural perspective, was already outlined in
the Old Testament. There is a subtle symbolic continuity between the pagan
sacrifice and the Jewish-Christian one, as can be seen in the affinity between
the classical iconography of the Moskophoros (the calf-bearer) and the
Christian one of the Good Shepherd. Even this classical-Christian convergence,
though nourished by an ecclesiastical erudition of a typically Baroque stamp,
goes back to the spirit of the Renaissance, from Ficino to Cusanus. Just as
Holy Scripture requires an understanding of the meanings hidden in
numbers—since "God disposed all things in weight, number, and
measure"—so the reading of the signs on the Paten demands the same
attention.
Suzzi follows, and in
a certain sense tends to complete, the reflection of Pastritius, who had
already linked the complex symbols of the paten to the works of Saint Peter
Chrysologus, highlighting themes such as the circularity of the divine, the
deep bond between human and divine, the "latens Deitas"
(divinity hidden under human guise), and sacrifice as a way to transcend time
and reach the eternal. Beyond the local interest (linked to digressions,
largely indebted to Ferri's work, on the Roman and early Christian past of the
Imolese community), and the austere face of an erudition that to today's reader
cannot but appear at times labyrinthine and abstruse, the work we present shows
eloquently how certain processes of cultural appropriation functioned in the
age of early modernity.
And one could say of
Pastritius, within certain limits—as further proof of the links with an Imolese
cultural environment that indeed reflected the climate of the respublica
litteraria (a vast island of intellectual freedom even in an age of
absolutism) envisioned by Muratori—what Andrea Padovani observes in introducing
the Istoriche notizie e considerazioni della città di Imola, published
by Aisa in 2002. "Everywhere a sort of horror vacui seems to
breathe": which feeds the effort to fill the gaps of diachrony; to see, or
illusorily create, in historical becoming, a sort of plenitudo temporum
that welds Roman antiquity to the medieval and modern eras, ending up not
seeing gaps and breaks, and immersing all local institutions, however different
and changing through the centuries (between Empire and City, macrocosm and
microcosm, religious power and secular authority) in an indistinct and solidary
flow.
Even if with a
broader gaze and a more secure and solid erudition, Pastritius also defines and
probes the substratum of such a continuum. The sign to be deciphered,
whose veil must be lifted to grasp its hidden sense, remains at the center of
both intellectual paths. Inscriptions, Ferri notes, "being marbles,"
are a more solid and certain foundation compared to the "naked and very
brief notes of ancient authors." In hinting at the enigmatic inscription
of Bishop Basil in Santa Maria in Regola, Pastritius follows Ferri's text
almost literally.
In Pastritius, the interpretatio
christiana did not exclude a deep technical competence and a genuine respect
for the complexity of the traditions that were being absorbed, readapted, and
transmitted to posterity; all this in the perspective of an intellectual
syncretism that knew how to challenge the pitfalls of anachronism, or at most
falsification, at the very moment it went looking, beyond the inertia of the
datum, for a "content of truth" capable of transcending the varied
becoming of eras. Moreover, Saint Peter Chrysologus himself had emphasized that
every minimal sign, even apparently negligible, of the sacred text can hide
recondite meanings.
“Non apices, non
litterae, non syllabae, non verbum, non nomina, non personae in Evangelio
divinis vacua sunt figuris” (Sermo CXLVI). Pastritius, applying the
same bold method to the mysterious figurations of the Paten, was doing nothing
other than pursuing and reflecting the authentic spirit of the Saint's message.
It has been mentioned that the reader of these pages by Pastritius can sense in
them the same transcendental tension, the same mystical anxiety that pervades
certain Dantesque passages. These conceptual and symbolic knots (the Cross and
the Triumph of Christ that accompany the gaze up to heaven; the radiant
firmament of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; the hosts of saints and sages;
the mild flocks led by the Good Shepherd) reverberate from Chrysologus' Sermones
to the Ravenna mosaics; and, within the realm of hypotheses, one might imagine
that they reached Dante through the intermediary of both.
The discussion should
be taken up more extensively elsewhere. Suffice it here to note (limiting
oneself to the points of contact that can find clearer consonance with
Pastritius, with the spirit of his hermeneutic journey) how the «navicula
Christi» which «tollitur ad coelum» (XX) evokes the idea of
intellectual navigation in the «gran mar de l’essere»; Christ leading
the faithful «ad coelestem patriam tranquilla navigatione» (L) almost
personifies the journey of man «from the divine to the human, to the eternal
from time»; in the sacred text «divinus sensus mystico absconditur et
celatur in verbo» (XCIX), like the sense of poetry «under the veil»; «deprehendit
magus cuncta quae videntur in coelo, humanis clara oculis, profundis esse
obscurata mysteriis» (CLX).
«Intelligere est
intus latentia legere, sicut autor hic manifeste testatur in litera, quia bene
sciebat quod ista litera aliene deponeretur a multis», wrote (commenting on
the passage in which the reader is exhorted to sharpen the gaze to peer «under
the veil of the strange verses», beyond the difficult and deliberately
enigmatic and ambiguous letter) another great Imolese, the greatest medieval
commentator on Dante, Benvenuto Rambaldi.
To truly understand
means to grasp what is hidden under the surface, beyond the outward appearance
of texts, symbols, or events. This message may appear relevant even today, even
in a work seemingly so far from the sensitivity and needs of today's world as
that of Pastritius: above all because in it intuition, illumination, and
intellectual daring strive to find support in a severe, documented, at times
even too meticulous erudition. A sensus mysticus, in short, that is
careful not to turn into mystification; and an esotericism that never becomes
irrational and misleading enchantment, or pretentious and arrogant idle talk.
This principle remains a constant warning.
Matteo Veronesi ( http://sites.google.com/site/criticaepoesia )
PATENAE ARGENTEAE MYSTICAE
DESCRIPTIO ET EXPLICATIO
TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORDS
GONFALONIERE OF JUSTICE, CONSERVATORS, AND TO THE MOST NOBLE SENATE OF IMOLA
Abbot Antonio Ferri1,
Doctor of Civil and Canon Law and Apostolic Protonotary, wishes happiness. The
Evangelical Man who found a Treasure hidden in the field2, to make it
his own, spared neither labor nor expense. Recently, among Us too, a Man has
been found (whose name, out of his modesty, we desire to keep silent, but whom
a Cardinal has included in a hidden monument) thanks to whose work and means
our most precious Treasure has been unveiled to us—a Treasure hidden among the
sands, I mean the Sacred Remains of the glorious Archbishop of Ravenna and our
Most Blessed Fellow Citizen Peter Chrysologus, in a sandy and desolate land.
What joy, what gladness pervaded our souls when we were permitted to observe,
touch, and venerate the precious relics unearthed from the bowels of the earth,
which for so many centuries had remained concealed in darkness! However, these
things being happily accomplished, there yet remained another Treasure to be
brought to light with greater labor, namely the very spirit of Chrysologus,
long hidden among Arcane Mysteries, the sacred Symbols of the Silver Paten,
which the Blessed Prelate himself, near death, offered to this Church as an
eternal Testimony of his filial love and perpetual benefit in the healing of
diseases.
And although some investigators
have toiled in its research, and some small thinner stones, or rather straws,
have reached us, nevertheless the Treasure, lying deeper (oh sorrow!), has
remained untouched in its shadows. But lo, an end has been put to our sadness
by another Man, whose name is Giovanni, the most erudite Giovanni Pastritius
from Split, Reader of Controversies at the Urban College De Propaganda Fide,
expert beyond words in the Greek and Oriental languages, and most worthy
Secretary, that is Director, of the Conference of Ecclesiastical History, or
the Academy of Councils, from which great men have emerged; and who even today,
though seventy years of age, continues a work so profitable for the Christian
Republic after thirty-five years as a celebrated Reader of Sacred Theology,
still dwelling in the same College.
He, sailing happily through his
own noble sea, with all stars auspicious, like a Merchant’s Ship bringing from
afar the most sought-after wares of the sciences, has introduced them into our
regions. This man, dedicating himself since childhood to every kind of
doctrine, and accustomed to turning his mind to every kind of knowledge, always
progressing thanks to familiarity with great men, adapting himself moderately
to the critique or investigation of truth without contempt for others, which he
most highly hates—this man, I say, of vast reading and erudition, known in Rome
and abroad, after having diligently examined the golden works with which
Chrysologus had illustrated the Church militant, drew from them the tools with
which to excavate the Treasure of Symbols placed in the Paten.
He then set his hand to the work,
energetically removing the obstacles that, due to the excessive obscurity of
things and times, seemed insuperable, and finally unveiled to us the divine
Mysteries; whereby the oracle of purest gold was disclosed, and the desirable
Treasure that rests in the mouth of the Wise was restored to us. This, Most
Illustrious Fathers, I present to You by every due right, not only as
Moderators of this Republic, in whose soil the Mystical Paten is found, but as
co-operators, thanks to whose means and industry the Treasure of interpretation
has been published. For its discovery would have availed little, if the Decrees
of your most ample Senate had not repeatedly provided aid so that it might be
brought to light. You, with your munificence, have rendered antiquated the law
that grants the entire Treasure to the Prince and the sole owner, having made
it common to all through your liberality. It remains that, as yours, it be
received by You under your protection, and with a happier omen than the
Scythian gold entrusted to the custody of the most bellicose Griffins, find
protection and glory under the wings of your ancestral Griffin. Thus where your
Treasure is, there your heart will be also. Fare well.
***
In the past Year of Grace 1698,
on the 18th of August, the amiable and learned friend Giovanni Battista Zappi
of Imola, before the Conference of the Academy on Councils began in the Urban
College de Propaganda Fide, where I dwell—in which he had often offered proof
of doctrine, genius, and erudition with his Historical, Canonical, and
Theological Dissertations—moved by love for his Fatherland, begged me to
attempt to explain the Paten, adorned with Mystical Characters, of St. Peter
Chrysologus, Archbishop of Ravenna but a Citizen of Imola. He showed it to me
prefaced to the Sermons of the same Holy Prelate printed in Bologna in the year
1643, in quarto, edited by Domenico Mita. There appeared to be engraved Hebrew
or exotic characters, which he left to me to scrutinize and elucidate. He was accompanied
by two illustrious Men, of whom one, as I later learned, was joined to him by
blood and doctrine, Pietro Galeazzo Savini; the other, a kinsman of both, a
most ardent devotee of Chrysologus, Antonio Ferri, the principal promoter of
this desire, who, requesting insistently and winning over the soul with
courtesy, gently but vigorously urged me to the work of investigating the
mysteries, providing me then with no light, nor indicating the attempt of
anyone; this with the purpose, indeed, of exploring what I would spontaneously
propose.
Thus, as soon as it was possible
for me, I applied my eyes and mind, and searching for the mysteries and the
form of the Characters, scrutinizing everything, the following day I seemed to
have completed the feat; and I called them to hear the series of my
conjectures, not without great joy on their part, especially that of Ferri, who
marveled that I had observed in it certain things that had escaped both his
sharp sight and that of others. But since, striving to weigh the matter more
thoughtfully, I had seen to it that the form of the Characters and each sign
were drawn with precision—which Ferri obtained from the erudite and
perspicacious Antonio Maria Manzoni, Canon of the Cathedral Church—and I had
discovered that the signs did not appear as I had previously conceived them;
indeed, I had learned that many learned men, both citizens and foreigners, had
often, but in vain, toiled in explaining that Paten; I remained for a long time
doubtful, and re-examining every detail, fearing that a great danger loomed
over me, I had decided almost definitively to abstain rather from writing. But
it is incredible to say how much Ferri's piety spurred me with exhortations,
stimuli, prayers, and advice to complete what I had started. Overcome by the
strength of friendship, I expose the Mysteries that I believe are hidden in the
signs of the letters, but as an interpreter—not certain, but divining—of an
occult thought. For who would convince themselves in their soul of being able
to transmit a certain knowledge of those things that someone has hidden, by way
of mysteries, in every sign? Nor has it ever pleased me to explore ingenuity,
as many others are wont to do in solving enigmas, since more than once I
complain that with little hope much time is consumed in searching for them. The
Hebrew letter Reish suggests that Greek Characters are mixed with Hebrew, which
I believe to be true. I will also admit that Mary is indicated therein, yet not
with her letters and her name, but in a figurative way. In fact, what is
indicated with mystical notes must agree with the Latin distich clearly
prefixed, and therefore those notes concern the two verses, since they are
turned toward the edge. Since, therefore, Eve and Adam are mentioned in the
distich, I will show that the Characters allude to Eve, to the first as much as
to the second3.
In order that the explanation
appropriately presents to the eyes what is being explained, I did not wish to
omit anything, not even what appears minimal in the Paten (since in mysteries,
especially when symbols are assumed to signify sublime things, nothing is
neglected, nothing is to be neglected), and this to ensure that all parts
respond to each other with a full voice, the lowest with the highest, and the
intermediate with both. I will begin from the center of the figure. The middle
part of the Paten, intended for placing the Sacred Host, is to be observed. It
is a sacred Circle prepared for that most holy Circle which constitutes a
theater and memory of wondrous things. Here indeed the unbloody Sacrifice is
performed in memory of the bloody one accomplished on the Cross. In both
Sacrifices it is the same Lamb, the same Lord of all things, Christ Jesus,
eternal Pontiff according to the order of Melchizedek4. Therefore, in
this Circle, the Lamb is depicted as immolated upon a table covered by a veil
or pallium full of mysteries. This circle is girded by a triple circular band;
the first white or silver, the second flowered, the third golden. Above the
back of the Lamb rises a great and wide golden Cross ending in silver plates;
so that the Lamb appears himself adhering to the Cross and placed upon the
table.
The Lamb indeed has the whole
bodily structure, but the head and the raised back are those of a fatted Calf,
which the heavenly Father offers as a banquet of joy to his children who turn
to Him. As he appears therefore as Lamb and Calf, so is he simultaneously
immolated and alive. For, having died once on the Cross for our sins, mortified
in the flesh but quickened in the spirit, he dies no more, death has no more
power over him. See Sermons 108 and 4 of Chrysologus, as will be said further
on. Between the arms of the Cross and the Lamb one notices Alpha and Omega,
beginning and end, to show the divinity of the victim.
The foot of the Cross is fixed
beneath the table in a hill, certainly Golgotha or Calvary, where the feet of
the table also rest on either side: to imprint in souls the truth according to
which the fruit of the Eucharistic and Mystical Sacrifice is founded upon the
bloody Sacrifice of Golgotha. Nor is it devoid of mystery that here the arms of
the Cross extend to the first circle, while its summit reaches to the third
circle or band, as if to indicate that through the Cross the empyrean Heaven is
opened. The Apostle, by means of the Cross of Our Lord, in which he gloried,
was caught up to the third Heaven5. The first circle (or band) is white
and silver, indicating purity from stain and the planetary Heaven free from the
impure atmosphere.
The second is flowered and
cerulean, referring to the diversity of virtues and to the starry Heaven
distinguished by innumerable stars. The third is golden, alluding to the
supreme charity in the Empyrean, where the purest gold is found. The veil then,
and the pallium, appear flexible and in the form of a chasuble, such as is
still seen for the altar pallium in a marble slab depicting the Sacrifice of
the Priest in Rome in the Church of St. Gregory at the Clivus Scauri, on the
wall at the side of the Altar of the Chapel in honor of St. Gregory. Therefore,
the altar frontal, or antependium, is still called Pallium today, since
anciently it was hung in the form of a flowing and sinuous pallium. This
pallium forms four prominent folds, and between these three other hidden recesses
not as adorned; from which arise a total of seven folds, to indicate the
septenary number of the Sacraments, which all draw their strength from the
Sacrifice of Christ: both the four more evident and more sensible ones, namely
Baptism and the Eucharist, most well-known and accepted by all; and for the two
states in the Church, Holy Orders and Matrimony, which by the Apostle is called
a great Sacrament in the Church; and the three somewhat more recondite ones,
that is to say, Confirmation with its internal fulfillment of faith, Penance
with the intimate contrition of the heart, and Extreme Unction with the
intimate aid to the languishing.
Or so that the book sealed with
seven seals may be represented, opened by the Lamb, as in the fifth chapter of
the Apocalypse. The external folds, perhaps for the reason already indicated,
namely that they signify the more manifest Sacraments, narrower in the upper
part, expand toward the bottom more and more. The internal ones, on the
contrary, wider in the upper part, taper down, since they represent those
Sacraments that involve something more intimate. But both the internal and
external ones mostly shine with characters: the internal ones in the upper
part; the external ones in both the lower and the upper part. It seems worthy
of observation that in the upper part there are five signs, while in the lower
part there are four. Easily the quinary number will recall to memory the five
wounds of Christ; the quaternary instead the four winds of the World, or
cardinal points, so as to show through the five wounds and the passion of
Christ the entire World redeemed. The place of the host to be immolated—where
the Sacrifice of the same Lamb Christ the Lord, both bloody on the altar of the
Cross, in which however much humbled and obedient unto ignominious death, he
was at the same time Most High God, beginning and end of all things (therefore
A and Ω are engraved
at the sides of the Cross), and unbloody in the Eucharist on the Altar presents
itself in the bread—not only represents a circle, symbol of eternity in the Sacrifice of the
new and eternal Testament, but also the center of a rose flower: both to
indicate that the Passion of Christ has germinated for us beatitude and
spiritual delights, and to teach that suffering is flowered and delightful,
after Jesus the Nazarene has suffered, that is to say, as is commonly conceived
by Christians, flowered according to that saying of Isaiah: “A Branch shall grow out of the
root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root, and the Spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him”; as the Most Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, teaches: “Christ suffered for us, leaving
you an example that you should follow his footsteps”; and Paul, Apostle of the
Gentiles: “As for me, may I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in which is salvation, life, and our resurrection.”
Wherefore Saint Dorothy the
Virgin6 confessed that she would gather flowers and roses by suffering,
which she then sent to the incredulous physician. Of the eight petals, four
primary ones present themselves flowered in the form of a Cross, so that above
the top of the Cross fixed in Calvary, and already described, there is the
first petal, in which the flower is thus formed. Observe how the flowers make
the Cross multiple: everything is Cross; in every single part there is the
Cross, that is, in the summit, to the right and to the left the little flower
is a Cross. Therefore what is Flower is also simultaneously Cross. This petal may
refer to the Cross that precedes the Archbishop, or that he carries on his
breast. In the second flowered petal, diametrically opposite the first under
the foot of the Cross, in the upper part there is a Cross, while below on the
right and left sides a Cross appears. Two little leaves may serve for the title
of the Cross.
Nor is it to be despised that,
being the lower part of the Cross, it indicates in some way the base and the
foot. It seems to exhibit a Candelabrum, which in the Apocalypse is attributed
to each Bishop. This rose (of which up to here we have examined the center or
middle, the circles or three bands in the contour, then the eight petals with
the five semicircles for each petal) is surrounded by nine other circles or
bands that constitute the border of the Paten.
But between these and the
semicircles in the corners formed by the eight petals there are little flowers
of the same figure everywhere, but which reproduce the manifest form of the
Cross, eight in number according to the eight corners to indicate the
perfection of the octonary. We could also consider those eight flowers
imitating the Seraphic form as the blessed Spirits of the Empyrean who assist
their King and admire the wonders that take place in the Sacrifice of the
Eucharist.
Rising toward the top, the other
nine circles or bands, indicators of eternity, constitute, as I have said, the
margin or border of the Paten. The first band is white or silver; the second
band is flowered; the third white or silver; the fourth much wider, where two
verses are así traced in the circular plane or area, that without any doubt
they begin from the upper part, where a Cross is seen, then bending to the
right, until the entire circle is traversed, and are to be read from the center
of the paten, as the common way teaches.
They are of this form:
QUEM PLEBS TUNC CARA CRUCIS AGNUS
FIXIT IN ARA: HOSTIA FIT GENTIS PRIMI PRO LABE PARENTIS.
[THE LAMB WHOM THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
THEN NAILED UPON THE CROSS BECAME THE VICTIM TO ATONE FOR THE GUILT OF ADAM]
Since the entire
Paten is adorned with twelve full circles or bands (three of them near the Lamb
and in front of the leaves of the rose, previously described, of which one is
flowered; nine above the same leaves, of which two are flowered), they indicate
something sublime. And certainly the three flowered ones represent the three
Hierarchies of Angels—always blessed, always joyful—yet in such a way that the
supreme hierarchy is closest to the Lamb or to the Sacrifice. It was indeed
permitted to ascend from the Lamb crucified on Calvary and immolated in the
host up to heaven; and now to move toward the Lamb as the goal of beatitude
from the edge of the Paten, and as if to descend; the Lamb having been seen upon
the Throne of God by the Most Blessed John. The nine bands, then, where as in a
perfect number the ternary is found three times, represent the universe of
saints, among whom the Apostles and Martyrs must be placed closest to the Lamb,
as adhering to it in the passion and to the Cross. Then the other Orders of
Saints7: the Bishops, or Pontiffs; the Priests; the Doctors; the Deacons
and Clerics; the Kings and Princes; the other Confessors; the Virgins and
Widows; the Prophets and Patriarchs. In this way, the Lamb of God will be
rightfully represented above the Altar, surrounded, as was seen in the
Apocalypse, by the seats of the Elders and the Saints, and by the Angels.
The total size of the
Paten, or diameter, equals or rather exceeds a Roman palm: the thickness,
however, is modest: the material is silver of the highest quality, gilded in
several places. The weight is fourteen ounces. Here is for you the full
Description of the Mystical Paten, which, although decorated with figures, is
nevertheless covered with such artistry of enamel that it enjoys a flat surface
suitable for collecting the fragments of the host without any impediment. The
cerulean color is seen where there is the enamel commonly so called: that is,
on the hill of Calvary, on the pallium of the table, in the three flowered
bands, in the eight leaves of the rose—both flowered and literal—and in the
letters of the distich themselves.
Having fully
described the Mystical Paten, where it has emerged that everything is full of
flowers and Crosses, and that the Lamb partly imitated the form of the Calf; I
would not wrongly use this metaphor: Behold flowers mixed with Crosses in the
gift of Peter. In the Cross, Christ is the flower; Peter in eloquence. The Lamb
becomes a Calf, the Cross becomes a flower, and many signs on the Paten
indicate Christ and Chrysologus. The Hebrew letter, primarily the first Aleph,
signifies the Jewish people, who worshiped God before the gentile people. But
when Christ came and preached, and in exchange for so many benefits the
ungrateful people rendered death on the Cross to their Savior, they fell
miserably and lost the primacy and superior rank: wherefore that letter Aleph
had to be painted without the upper Jod.
Listen to the Blessed
Prelate in the already praised Sermon 102 on the Centurion, while he ponders
the prayers of the Jews for him: “For he loves our nation, and has built us the
Synagogue.” To which words he himself thus responds: “You have heard that the
Synagogue is always demolished, and lies perpetually in its foundations, nor
does it rise into a celestial edifice, unless the Christian builder raises it
to the summit of the Church.” And shortly after: “The Jews, while envying the
Gentiles who have believed, have lost all that belonged to the law and to grace.”
Let us now gather the sails for the first petal of the rose. There, with the
name of the Cross, is placed the first letter of the first parent Adam, and
precisely cut off in the upper part, so that it may be signified that his fall,
and that of all the human race, had a remedy through the Cross, and similarly
that the Jewish People fell away, having no remedy except by approaching Christ
and joining his Cross. In the Latin distich from the center of the circle,
where the Cross is, one read from left to right: these petals begin from the
double Cross, as we said, signified by the Greek name in front of the words of
the distich “dear Cross,” as appears to those who observe, namely where the
petal of the pastoral is, and must be read from right to left.
This is sufficient to
indicate that one had to proceed in the Hebrew manner, and therefore that the
Characters were Hebrew; but it would have confused the mind and eye of the
reader if he had placed the two letters in the Hebrew manner in the second
petal וה. See how
clear, indeed necessary, it is to write וח. In the
following petal, that is the third, one has וו. In the fourth
ה. Now, if you know how to read Hebrew characters, read, if you
can, in the Hebrew manner, so as to form והווה, Vehhauvah,
that is “and Eve,” thus: הווה. It would be
entirely absurd to read in the Latin manner. It is precisely what the Author
intended, while he had the Ciphers, or signs, or letters engraved in such a way
that they did not look toward the center of the Paten and toward the Lamb, but
toward the edge, where the Distich is; with that purpose, first of all, to show
that the explanation of the exotic signs was to be taken from the distich,
where because of the fault of the first Parent the Lamb is fixed to the Cross,
and therefore the original fault had to be meditated upon regarding its origin
in Adam and Eve especially, and regarding the remedy for this fault through
Jesus the Nazarene, son of the true Eve, of whom the first sinful Eve had
prefigured the model with her name: since that true Eve, Mother of Christ God,
is truly the Mother of the living; Hhavah indeed means Mother of the living.
The Blessed Chrysologus was never satisfied with hiding a single mystery in a
single word, but was accustomed to clustering mysteries.
See how Sermon 64
begins: «If individual words of Scripture were entrusted to individual books,
not even then would the mysteries within them shine forth to the listeners. And
what will an sudden and brief discourse do, which like a flash of lightning, before
illuminating the eyes, already flees, and gives no light to those who see, but
terror? Pray, therefore, so that, as we live in the darkness of the age, and
placed in the flesh we live the time of night, with what guide may we enter
into the obscurities of the celestial mystery, and with slow step arrive at the
clarity, as much as we can, of divine science. Like those Magi, who measuring
the eyes of their mind do not dare to entrust themselves to the splendor of the
sun, or to the Divine clarity, but taking in by night with more tender eyes the
tender light of the star, reached the most tender cradle of Christ».
And lest place be
given to doubt, note that from the second Vau a flower is born, that flower
certainly Jesus the Nazarene, flower of the field and lily of the valleys. See
how he descends, he humbled himself by descending from Heaven, and he humbled
himself by being born in a stable, he humbled himself unto death, death on a
Cross. Consider that the flower consists of three leaves, so as to confess that
one Person of the Most Holy Trinity descended and humbled himself, to take
flesh from the Virgin, to whom the Church says: “You did not abhor the Virgin’s
womb.” He descended indeed to raise the fallen man upon the Cross, and then to
raise him to Heaven. Note that Eve in Hebrew is called mother of the Living,
that is חוה Havah, Christ
the Lord instead is the life and source of life, from whom all those who live
draw life. Therefore, then, she is called Mother of the Living, because she was
the Mother of Christ God. In the word Havah, חוה, which means
Mother of the Living, the letter ו Vau originates
from (י) Jod8, since חיה Hhaidh sounds
like To Live. Eve, however, the first woman, was not life but death, and
therefore it was appropriate to invert it thus, as Chrysologus did here. And
having already been described as a great hook, then as having fallen from the
sublime state she was raised to the pristine, indeed better state through the
other Eve, Genitrix of God, and Mary, Mother of the living; therefore it was
necessary to unite it with a straight link thus M. Add the flower from the
second Vau; you will have the figure of the character that is on the Paten.
Admire the great Author who encloses great mysteries in small things. But listen
to his words in Sermon 64, as he speaks of Eve while discoursing on Magdalene,
sister of the dead Lazarus: “Brothers, in these persons causes do not run, but
sacraments are marked. The woman runs for death, she who ran toward life: she
hastens toward pardon, she who hastened toward guilt. She reaches the pious
Redeemer, she whom the worst seducer forestalled: she seeks resurrection, she
who sought ruin, and this same one who brought death to man (Adam), longs to
bring life back to man.”
Since the Church
fills individual acts, rites, and even the smallest ceremonies in liturgical
matters with manifold mysteries, suggesting this to her Pastors out of
reverence for such a Sacrifice, it was right that Saint Peter Chrysologus,
Archbishop of Ravenna, an Imperial City, as holy as he was learned, should fill
the Paten intended for the use of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with wondrous
mysteries as a gift to be left to his Church, where, initiated into sacred
rites, he had dedicated himself to Divine worship since childhood, and should
hide his wisdom there. These things we, provided with scant doctrine, have
striven to explain according to our capabilities up to this point. Whether well
or ill, let others judge. We seemed to grasp this intention in Chrysologus, as consistent
with his Sermons. If someone else has a better one, let them set it forth.
But let them consider
that the words, sentences, and deeds of great Men—indeed even their
gestures—deserve that each one seeks and attributes to them wondrous senses, in
any case adaptable to them9. Since distinguished Philosophers, however
much they hand down precepts of more honest life and Divine worship, do fly,
but not with full course, and cannot fly; therefore it is as if they leave us
on earth, abandoned; the doctrine of the Epicureans is easily accepted among
those foolish ones, because they are not well instructed: “Let us crown
ourselves with roses, before they wither.”
And in truth, what
does the faint light of Philosophers possess regarding God and his Majesty, if
compared with the light of Faith? This certainly shows us the immense benefits
of God, his friendship, his immense charity, so much so that he willed to
assume our flesh as well, and to suffer, to draw us to himself in order to
recreate us in joy, and fill us with the abundance of spiritual and fully
Divine pleasures. That doctrine instead almost separates the Deity from our
company, and adorns men among men, or owls among owls, who will never emerge
from the pits of this earthliness.
If in Sermon 142 on
the Annunciation he said: “You have heard the Angel build with ineffable art a
temple of the Divine Majesty from the mud of our flesh; you have heard God on
earth, man in the Heavens being placed with an incomprehensible sacrament. You
have heard with unheard-of reason God and man mingling in a single Body.” And
at the end: “He is a divine inhabitant, not human, and he who with his
conception preserves the Virgin a virgin, and with his birth leaves her a
virgin, is not an earthly man, but a heavenly one. Therefore, let the order of
our flesh withdraw, here let our nature claim nothing for itself, where for the
Divine progeny the Celestial Order establishes in the Divine Nature”: this
thundered against the Nestorians who blasphemed that the Blessed Virgin had not
given birth to God, but to a pure man, and therefore, to exclude that heresy,
he said that his Conception was neither human nor earthly, but Divine and
Celestial, in such a way, however, that he did not cease to be man, but
remained in that mixture both the being of man and the being of God. From the
Acts of the Blessed Chrysologus, prefixed to the manuscripts of his Sermons in
the Vallicelliana Library, we deduce that Saint Peter Chrysologus, foreseeing
the day of his death and easily announcing it to his sheep in his last Sermon,
escorted by illustrious Ravennese of the Clergy and the people, departed from
the Metropolitan City, and, carrying precious gifts to be delivered to the
Cathedral Church of the Forum of Cornelius, reached the Forum, meeting with
Saint Proiectus, Bishop of the place, successor of Saint Cornelius, certainly
with his Clergy and the Nobles of the City. No one can explain with what
exultation, with what applause, or rather with what triumph this took place,
except one who, after a long interval of years, suddenly hears his dear Leader
arrive, illustrious by many titles, wondrous for the resonant fame that sings
the praises of his doctrine and sanctity.
And children and
elders, and the whole City sprinkled and filled with celestial joy, resounded
with festive acclamations for the prosperous arrival of the Most Holy Citizen.
And perhaps it was the night of December 2nd, but illuminated by torches it had
transformed darkness into light. Although the retinue from Ravenna enjoyed the
hospitality of the Cornelians abundantly, Chrysologus nevertheless spent the
entire night in prayer, conceiving no other exultation except in his God and
with the Celestials. All assist on the morning of December 3rd, with a great
concourse of people at the spectacle of the Holy Archbishop, and they carry the
gifts into the Temple of Saint Cassian with more devotion than ostentation.
Here, at the altar of the unbloody sacrifice of the Eucharist, where he
ardently desired to join the offering to the sacrifice of himself, the most
pious Prelate added the gift of his heart and soul to the gifts offered.
These gifts are
enumerated with various denominations by writers. A golden crater, called by
others a golden chalice or cup, certainly a chalice for the sacrifice. A silver
patella or paten—the one we explain in this whole work, and which until now has
been called mystical. A golden diadem adorned with gems, which others call a
cidaris, others a miter; whose form anciently was not as large as it is now.
Thus indeed it is seen in ancient paintings and reliefs.
At the time of Julian
the Apostate, the most blessed Cassian, fleeing the persecution of the pagan
Apostate from Sabbioneta where he was bishop, taught children, to consolidate
the faith from a tender age with the milk of the first elements of doctrine.
But the impious tyrant, rendered more fierce, ordered that the priest of
Christ, his hands tied behind his back to a column in the place that was once
enclosed within the walls (later, with the walls narrowed and the Ilione gate
placed inside, it is seen outside, where now the church called Croce Coperta
is), should be pierced with the iron styli of the children he instructed and by
whom the most holy master had begun to be hated, so that he might feel a more
severe pain and a more lasting martyrdom, the weaker the strength of the
executioners was.
It is stated for
certain that Cassian suffered martyrdom under Julian, and the ancient history
of the Passion edited by Mombrizio seems to indicate it. Since Julian obtained
the empire toward the end of the year of the Lord 361, on the 3rd of the nones
of October, he held it for the following full year, and in the year 363, on
June 26th, according to the Fasti of Idatius, he died struck by lightning.
Therefore, since his Passion is celebrated on August 13th in the Roman
Martyrology, we conclude that it happened in the year 362. Forty years after
the martyrdom of Saint Cassian, that is, at the beginning of the fifth century,
Saint Cornelius appeared.
If we grant that he
was born from the famous Roman family that gave its name to the Forum, it is
worthy to confirm that same Cornelian nomenclature with his most holy
episcopate, illustrious for the glory of doctrine and sanctity. We read of him
as the first expressly named among the bishops of that city, but who preceded
him is unknown.
Saint Ambrose of
Milan recommended by metropolitical right the Cornelian church subject to
him—certainly vacant—to a certain Constantine. Therefore it was presided over
by a bishop. But who was that one? Was he the first? Or perhaps the succession
of bishops must be deduced from Saint Apollinaris himself? Saint Apollinaris
had no other see but Ravenna; it cannot be stated that he gave a bishop to the
Cornelians before receiving the metropolitical dignity, which is not
documented.
Indeed, the most
ample power to preach the Gospel and the Faith in some province or region, or
to found churches, does not transcend the boundaries of a bishop. Let us call
the most holy Apollinaris Patriarch if we wish, because he was in Emilia and
Flaminia a father of fathers, being a bishop, and certainly then the first,
preceded by no other. None of the splendid and glorious names demonstrates that
Saint Apollinaris was a metropolitan, that he gave a bishop to the Cornelians,
when he gave only priests and presbyters.
The city thus
flourished while Cornelius guided the Cornelians, and while he instructed his
archdeacon Chrysologus for great things, until the death of both—indeed even
somewhat after, when in the year 476 AD, submitting to Odoacer king of the
Goths, Heruli, and other nations, it was enlarged with buildings and
fortifications by his order, and called Odoacria.
The city suffered no
injuries from the Goths adverse to Odoacer when Theodoric, king of the
Ostrogoths, undertook the expedition to Italy against Odoacer. In fact,
submitted also to the dominion of Theodoric, it experienced a benevolent and
beneficial lord.
Cleph, king of the
Lombards10, in the year 572 rebuilt it but in a narrow site, raising a
Mole or Castle where once the Mole built by Appius had been constructed, then
collapsed. It began to be called first Castle in the Mole; but since the
Lombards had fixed another Mole beyond the Po, they called this one, to
distinguish it, the Cispadane Mole with a more noble term, which remained for
some centuries, while it was also called In Mole. When it began to be called
constantly In Mole or simply Imola, and Imola with the penultimate short as it
is called now, is not so easy to decide.
This is certainly
undoubted: that after the year one thousand AD the blessed bishop Basil was
said to be of the Cispadane Mole, as a marble stone with an inscription in the
church of Santa Maria in Regola still testifies11.
This marble tablet is
carved on both sides; being fixed to the rear side of the altar, the part that
appears has thus in the upper part: “SERVITUI TIBI SE”, continues in the
descent of the left side “SERVITUI TIBI SE RVIES DIMI”; from the opposite side
instead with descending letters under the cross “BASILIUS CISI” bending toward
the lower side “MI EPS FIPS SINDIXIII.” It has been explained thus: “SERVorum
TVorum TIBI SERVIEntium Deus Misereris. BASILIUS CISpadanae Molis EPifcopus
Fecit Ponere INDictione XII.”
This indiction falls
in the year 1074 AD. The part of the stone fixed to the altar that is now
hidden was read, before it was fixed: “In honor of the blessed and glorious
ever Virgin Mary.”12
Although the city of
Imola in our times is commonly called, and is indicated in public acts simply
as “Imola,” the name of Cornelian or Forocornelian is no less noble and
ancient, as happens for other cities in Europe or other parts of the world.
Therefore it is permitted to us, speaking of antiquity, to use the ancient
name.
Nor was Authari, son
of Cleph, king of the Lombards, inferior to his father in fortifying the Mole
or Imola, when he extended his dominion from the high Apennines to the Po in
the year 585. This happiness was taken from the city when it withdrew from the
Lombards while the war between them and the Greek Empire raged. King Grimoald,
to avenge the offense, in the year 670, on Holy Saturday and on Easter day,
having seized the walls of Imola, drove from there the clergy who were
celebrating divine offices.
I do not believe,
however, that he raged against the sacred relics and the body of the blessed
Chrysologus, whenever the fury of the irrupting Lombards cast down buildings,
which were perhaps only those of the citizens, which were then rebuilt under
another lord.
When Ravenna was
subject to the Exarchate of the Greek Emperor, the Cornelians, who were nearby,
feared for themselves and were forced to serve now the Exarch, now the
Lombards. These having been driven out by Charlemagne, the city of Imola was
declared under the Exarchate of Ravenna, and included in certain boundaries of
its jurisdiction, it was donated to the Roman Pontiff together with the same
Exarchate. The Supreme Pontiff from the year of the Lord 776, behaving with
mildness, granted Imola to live according to its own laws and its own
governors, as was the ancient custom. Nor did the Apostolic See despise that
city when it submitted to her. In fact, the Roman domination being variously
harassed by the Saracens and other barbarian nations irrupting into Italy, and
also by the Western Emperors hostile to Rome, she could not bring help to
Imola, which, having obtained liberty, was governed by its Duke, making wars
with neighboring cities, especially with Bologna.
The emperor Lothair,
who had attacked Bologna, took it and, having twice received hospitality
honorably in the city of Imola—mistress however of her own right—already
crowned by the Roman Pontiff, did not depart without the granting of
privileges. In the year of the Lord 903, the Imolese hearing that the multitude
of the Huns was hastening to irrupt for the second time into Italy, they hid
the bodies of Saint Peter Chrysologus and the other holy Protectors to keep
them unharmed. And in truth Imola also suffered fires and devastations from
them, but nonetheless, still mistress of herself, making wars with neighbors to
recover its camps, villas, and fortresses. In the year of Christ 946, Troilo
Nordilio13, a most illustrious man, Pontifical Vicar and head of his
native city, renewing the Cathedral at his own expense, saw to it that the body
of Saint Peter Chrysologus was sought.
Found and recognized,
Bishop John replaced it in the same marble ark with the same ancient stone,
PETRUS which, as we said, Saint Proiectus had placed; a confirmation written
with red letters was also added to remove all ambiguity, with three crosses,
one in the middle of the letters, two at the sides inside the same ark, thus:
S. PETRI RAVENNATIS EPISCOPI CORPUS.
And this not being
enough, to give greater credibility to the matter, the same John fixed a stone
in the exterior wall with an inscription composed of intertwined letters, the
reading of which, freed from its bonds thanks to my dear Ferri, is enclosed in
six verses, and I do not mind reporting it here:
Here you lie buried,
O holy and sacred Peter under this arch:
You are here, and
Ravenna draws from it praise and glory;
Although you could
not escape the bites of death,
You, knowing the
bites of death, have here welcomed them.
Therefore I pray, I
the Bishop who now reconstruct your Temples,
That you be
propitious to me and to your People.
In the sacred
mysteries, Chrysologus seemed to profess the same Faith and to leave to the
Clergy and Priests, in the same sacred vessels, some fruit of the Roman
pilgrimage, where the pestiferous doctrine of the Eutychian heresy had been
crushed through Leo's Dogmatic Letter to Flavian, especially after
hearing that in Ephesus, Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, had raged both in
the Synod and outside the Synod against the Catholic soldiers of Christ, while
piety protested, because Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, kicked by the
impious Dioscorus, had died deposed and excommunicated, and Leo, Father of Bishops,
had consoled him with many letters before he died as a glorious Martyr.
This distinguished
monument of the Catholic Profession against the Eutychian Heresy, represented
through symbols, was a silver paten, of which we have treated until now. In
fact, the sublime mysteries shown there refute the Eutychian heresy regarding
the two natures in Christ, Divine and human, which perform actions, and also
crush the Nestorian one in eight leaves. And therefore it is not likely that
the Author, before having learned those things in Rome in the Dogmatic Letter
to Flavian, had explained them so diligently in the Paten, except after his
return in the year of the Lord 450, precisely, according to the then customary
temporal note, in the seventh consulate of Valentinian. Thus it was easy for
the mind of Chrysologus, so full of age, sanctity, and doctrine of every kind,
to fill such a Paten with mysteries in the last year of his life, that is, at
forty-five years (for so many there are from 406 to 450), in the seventeenth
year of his Episcopate, or rather of his Metropolitical dignity, since he was
elected in 433.
First of all, he
refutes the Iconoclasts in the middle of the Paten through the image of the
Lamb and the Cross, which he expressed with signs of adoration, for indeed by
appending A and Ω to the Lamb, he
declared him God, who without doubt is adorable, painted, that is, with regard
to the true Lamb of God, Christ the Lord. Chrysologus imitated the ancient
custom common to his time. In fact, Sixtus III, who had appointed him
Archbishop of Ravenna by celestial vision, in the Liberian Basilica of the
City, now called Santa Maria Maggiore, in addition to the paintings of numerous
mosaic works which can be seen in the walls of that Temple, and which Ciampini,
in Tome I of Ancient Monuments, reported, in the major arch still existing with
the title also in mosaic SIXTUS BISHOP TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD, proposed the
monogram of Christ with the same letters A and Ω.
Also in Ravenna,
Galla Placidia, in the Church of SS. Nazarius and Celsus built in the year 440,
on the lid of the third and fourth Sarcophagus, had the same monogram of Christ
painted with A and Ω at the sides; and
likewise in the mosaic of the arch above the tomb of Valentinian. But he most
openly refutes the Sacramentarians who deny the Sacrifice of the Eucharist in
the Church, such as the Anabaptists and Calvinists, and others, as well as the
true presence of the body of Christ, and only commemorate the simple Lord's
Supper.
First, by forming a
silver paten full of so many mysteries, for the use, that is, of a very
distinguished event full of majesty, such as the unbloody Sacrifice of the Body
and Blood of Christ the Lord under the species of bread in the Paten and wine
in the Chalice.
Second, by placing
the table and the Altar, where the same Lamb who was on the Cross is immolated.
Thus indeed he refutes those heretics who admit no other sacrifice than the
bloody one on the Cross.
Third, because with a
Latin distich he placed the same thing before one's eyes, every shadow of doubt
removed, stating that the Host or Sacrifice, once performed on the Cross, now
take place in the Paten for sin: "The Lamb whom the dear tribe fixed on
the Cross, becomes a host for the fault of the first parent." “To touch”
and “to draw from” the Body of Christ is frequently used by Chrysologus,
because to consume can be understood spiritually and physically and really;
therefore to teach, against the Sacramentarians14, that the faithful
consume that Body of Christ in the Eucharist not only spiritually, but truly
come into contact with it, he uses that expression. Perhaps also in the West
then it was the custom, as in the East—shortly before suppressed by the
Missionaries—that even laypeople received, in crossed hands, the Body of Christ
from the Priest, that is, the particle of consecrated bread, and thus touched
it with their hands, then truly with their mouth, the hand brought there.
Chrysologus therefore asserts the truth of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist
and its real and physical consumption, but ascends to even higher truths,
calling the Body of Christ in this life today's bread, which leads to consuming
that same Christ daily and eternal bread in Heaven.
We have explained the
characters expressed in four leaves as Greek and Hebrew, starting however above
the head of the Lamb, where we said were the Greek letters of the word ΣΤΑΥΡΟΣ, Stauros, which means Cross. And since under the head
the same two letters appear, that is in the first and fourth leaf adorned with
letters, we deduced that there were the beginning and the end, which perfectly
fits the Lamb called Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. But to those two Greek
letters is joined a Hebrew letter: in the first leaf, in fact, that is above
the head, there is the first letter of the name Adam, without however the upper
part which indicates Divine Grace, from which the first Parent had fallen, and
with him all the human race. We also noted that the third part of the letter,
that is the lowest, assimilates to the upper part that had fallen, to indicate
that the man fallen by original sin, joined to the Cross of Christ, had
recovered the lost grace.
1 Antonio Ferri, a
great Imolese scholar, correspondent of Pastritius and inspirer of this work;
in 1674 he graduated in utroque iure in Bologna.
2 Reference to a
parable contained in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (“The
Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; a man finds it and
hides it; then he goes, full of joy, sells all his possessions and buys that
field”). Scholarly research is accompanied by religious sense, and both nourish
each other reciprocally.
3 The second Eve was
the Virgin Mary.
4 According to the Letter
to the Hebrews, Melchizedek, an ancient Hebrew sovereign, was a prefiguration
of Christ.
5 Reference to the
mystical experience of Saint Paul narrated in the Second Letter to the
Corinthians, pervaded by the same feeling of ineffable mystery (“et audivit
arcana verba quae non licet homini loqui”) that permeates Pastritius' interpretation.
6 Saint Dorothy (third
century) allegedly converted the incredulous Theophilus at the very moment of
her martyrdom by making apples and roses appear in mid-winter by the hand of an
angel.
7 Majestic
iconographic scheme present both in Chrysologus' Sermones and in the
Ravenna mosaics.
8 The two letters are
associated by the common symbolic allusion to the figuration of ascent.
9 Life itself is a
varied and subtle system of signs waiting to be deciphered. Every existence is
a text. The same hermeneutic art concerns writings as it does the very
existence of humans.
10 The news (also
reported by Ferri) according to which Imola was rebuilt by Cleph, once
considered legendary, has recently been re-evaluated. See the study by Andrea
Padovani, “Construxerunt Longobardi Forum Corneli. Note su un passo di
Andrea Agnello”, Atti e Memorie della Deputazione di Storia Patria per le
Province di Romagna, XLVIII (1997).
11 The enigmatic Basilius
sanctissimus episcopus mentioned on the stone preserved at Santa Maria in
Regola—who according to an ancient tradition defeated a dragon infesting the
Forocornelian territory—could embody the fight against the unhealthy marshes or
that against barbarian invasions or heretical movements; but, at the same time,
the name of this semi-legendary figure would reveal a Greek-Byzantine matrix
for the original nucleus of the abbey. See in this regard L’abbazia
benedettina di santa Maria in Regola, La Mandragora, Imola 2010 (in
particular the pages by Andrea Padovani). It is interesting to note that the
legend of the dragon is already found in the oldest city chronicle, the Memorabilia
Civitatis Imolae of the sixteenth century, attributed in the past to
Flaminio, but more likely the work of Florio (preserved in manuscript and
unpublished form in the Municipal Library of Imola): in that case the dragon is
defeated through prayers addressed to Saint Cassian and Saint Peter
Chrysologus.
12 Among Antonio
Ferri's papers in the Municipal Library of Imola is a Relazione della chiesa
di Santa Maria in Regola e delle reliquie ivi conservate, followed by the
short treatise, printed in 1666, De Mirabili marmoreo lapide sive Columnula
Beati Basilii Cispadanae Molis Episcopi, the work of the Olivetan friar
Pietro Lorenzo Galassi.
13 Commander of the
papal troops under Otto. The source for both Ferri and Pastritius is the Memorabilia
civitatis Imolae by Florio.
14 Those who denied the
actual presence of Christ's body in the host, reducing it to a mere symbol.
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