Chapter 34. The Jansenistic school attacks the Acts of the Holy Martyr

We are now near the close of our history. The Jansenists, ever eager to pluck from the brow of the

• To the one God in three Divine Persons. To the memory of Paul Sfondrato, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, nephew of Gregory XIV., Legate of Bologna, Bishop of Cremona, Praefect of the Sign of Grace, worthy of all commendation for his piety towards God and the Saints, his zeal for the salvation of souls, and his charity towards the poor. Through his exertions the body of St. Cecilia was honored with a magnificent sepulture; one hundred lamps burn night and day before her tomb, presenting a faint image of the splendor which surrounds her in heaven. He named this temple, embellished through his largesses, heir of all his fortune, endowed its priests and ministers, and enriched it with valuable vases and holy relics. During his lifetime, he never permitted any one to speak in his presence, of the monuments of his piety. He died at the age of fifty-seven, in the year of salvation, 1618. Odoard, Cardinal Farnese, and Augustin Paccinelli, of Sienna, his executors, have erected this monument..

Church, the ornaments with which it has pleased her divine Spouse to adorn her, seem to have taken pleasure in casting ridicule and contempt upon many of the touching traditions which have come down to us from the earliest ages. And, indeed, they have manifested as much earnestness in modifying history to suit their views as in reforming dogmas and Evangelical morals according to their own plans.

Their efforts have been fruitless. Jansenism has been supplanted by Voltarian philosophy, which, in its turn, is gradually falling into decay, and upon its ruin is rising a new and Catholic generation, clinging to the traditions of the early Church, sympathizing with it in faith and feeling, and trampling under foot the prejudices which a succession of disastrous circumstances seemed to have rendered national. Truly, this generation exhibits a wonderful example of the unerring instinct of faith in matters regarding God and His Saints! Every thing is against us: Ecclesiastical History, the Lives of the Saints, the profound and systematic oblivion in which maliciously disposed persons have sought to bury a thousand traditions which nourished the faith of our fathers, and gave rise to the miracles of former ages.

It is alarming even to glance at the formidable task awaiting Catholic criticism; yet the church of France imperatively calls for the vindication of the authenticity of many grave and valuable documents, many historical details and Acts of the Saints, cruelly compromised in this conspiracy against truth. Suph a task, considered in its (nil extent, is far beyond our power ; we liave merely touched upon a Bingle point.

May the august Virgin Cecilia pardon us for having defended her so feebly ; He, who has already indemnified her for the forgetf illness of mankind, will, in his own good time, raise up a powerful avenger of her cause.

The renown of the numerous miracles wrought in the trans-Tiberian Basilica^ during the latter part of the sixteenth century, was soon widely circulated, not only throughout France, but through the whole of Christendom, and resulted in the publication of several religious and literary works. We will cite among others a musical drama, entitled: The Cecilian, or the Martyrdom of St. Cecilia, published in Paris by Nicholas Soret, in 1606. The choruses were set to music by Abraham Blondet. In 1617, de Welles published at Arras, a French translation of a volume edited in Rome by Bosio, containing the Acts of St. Cecilia and an account of the two Inventions of the martyr's body. De Welles entitled his translation : Chastity victorious in the admirable conversion of St. Valerian husband of St. Cecilia, Tiburtius, Maximus, and others*. Later a member of the Oratory in France, Nicholas de Bralion, who resided at Rome from 1625 to 1640, and who has left an interesting work upon the churches of this capital of the Christian world, f dedicated a volume to the glory of our holy Martyr in her tomb. He did not publish it until 1688, a short time before his death, under the title of: The admirable Sepulture of St. Cecilia in her Church in Rome. Even at this early period, hagiography was preparing the most magnifi-

• One vol. in 12°.

t Curiositie de Tune et de Tautre Rome, 1655-1659. Three vols, iu 8^.

cent tribute which the genius of Catholicity had ever dedicated to the honor of the Saints. The immense and erudite collection of the Acts of the Saints, commenced in 1643, at Anvers by Bollandus, successfully pursued its course ; a new volume being annually published, worthy of those which had preceded it both in the importance of the matter and the erudition of the commentaries and notes. The work was arranged according to the plan of the " Ecclesiastical Cycle and the Martyrologies," but owing to many interruptions it is unfortunately still incomplete. It has been resumed in later years, much to the satifaction of all Catholic hearts; but the Acts of the 18th of October, upon this immense Calendar, will not be published for several years. It is more than probable that the present century will draw near to a close before the Acts of St. Cecilia will be given to the public.

In 1648, a new triumph was awarded to St. Cecilia, at the Capitol in Eome. The chapel of this magnificent palace was newly decorated, and the daughter of the Cecilii, as a Roman citizen and matron, was honored with a painting and accompanying inscription in this sanctuary.* This great Virgin is represented as the patroness of music : she is seated, playing a harpsicord. The painting is by Romanelli — the inscription as follows : S. CAECILIAB VIRGINI ET MARTYRI S. P. Q. R. * MDCXLVIII.

• Three other personages, all Roman citizens, have been honored in this chapel of the Capitol. St. luistacc, J^t. Alexis, and Blessed Louise Albertoni.

The idea of thus restoring the name and memory of Cecilia, in the very place where her ancestor Caia Cecili had for so many years been honored with a statue, is deeply touching and admirably blends Pagan and Christian Eome in the person of our heroine. A Christian Cecilia assuming in the Capitol the place of the Pagan Caia proves alike the triumph of Christianity and the eternity of Eome.

Before the close of the seventeenth century, the most eminent hagiographers had published their opinion respecting these Acts, against which so violent a tempest was about to break forth. Henschenius spoke in the highest terms of this venerable document, in commenting upon the 14th of April, dedicated to Sts. Tiburtius, Valerian and Maximus.*

The opinion of a man so well versed in the difficult art of comparing documents and deciding their respective merits, was certainly a powerful counterpoise to the arguments adduced by St. Cecilia's enemies ; but the truth of her history was conclusively established in 1680, when Papebroke, who had shared the labors of Henschenius, announced to the public his decision in favor of her Acts. In the very beginning of the first volume of the Acts of the Saints for the month of May, this critic who certainly cannot be accused of credulity, declared the

• Heec pervetusta homm sanctorum solemnis veneratio, plurimum crevit ex certissima virtutum ac martyrii notitia, quam dabant antiqua S. Caeciliae Acta quse tunc temporis omnium manibus terebantur, et hactenus in prsecipuis et perantiquis membranis conservantur. Acta SS. Aprilis, Tome ii. page 203.

Acts of St. Cecilia most ancient and true.* Divine Providence doubtless permitted this fearless testimony as a counterpoise to the opinion of certain influential writers who would have consigned to oblivion one of the most precious recitals of the primitive Church.

The Acts of St. Cecilia, as the unprejudiced reader must have already perceived, are not wanting in intrinsicevidence of their own truth ; still, Ave are no less happy to record in their favor the opinion of so competent a judge, a man who was censured throughout Europe for the severity of his criticism.

It is something to be able to prove that the very century which beheld the attack, saw also the most learned and reliable men coming forward to repress the audacity of a clique which felt itself called to exercise a lasting influence over the minds of men. The greater the number of Saints7 lives which Papebroke has rejected, as doubtful or apocryphal, the stronger the weight of his authority in support of those which he has deemed it his duty to admft.

The impulse given to hagiography by the Bollandists, first called forth the Acta Sanctorum Ordinis sancti Benedlcti published by Dom Mabillon, and then inspired Dom Euinart with the idea of his Acta primorum Martyrum slncera et selecta. This precious collection, a treasure of erudition and

• Antiquissima et sincerissima habeiitiir hujtLS Ballots Virginia Acta, quorum notitia videtur admodum Bero perlata ad Grsecos, etc. EphemerideM Grcecorum tt Mo8coruM} page 51.

criticism, appeared in 1689. The author's plan was to make a collection of what seemed to him the most authentic Acts of the Martyrs in order to set forth in its strongest light, the powerful argument which the Church derives from the courageous confession of those heroes of the Faith. The Acts of St. Cecilia are not in this collection, for as the school of Port Eoyal was then beginning to prepare its decrees of proscription against an innumerable number of christian monuments, Dom Euinart was unwilling to insert in his book any Acts that were not unhesitatingly admitted by men whose influence was already so strikingly felt. However, he thought himself bound to declare in the Preface that he was far from pretending that his collection contained all the genuine Acts of the Martyrs, or from branding as apocryphal those which he had not thought proper to insert ;* and in the body of the work he qualifies as excellent (egregia) the Acts of St. Sebastian, which he had not dared to insert, on account of some trifling difficulties presented by them. This system offers serious inconveniences and if applied to historical records in general, would soon give birth to

• Porro etsi nihil oniiserira, ut quantum in me fuit, haec Actorum collectio accurata atque numeris omnibus absoluta redderetur : non ita tamen rem me confeeisse existimo, ut nulla penitus, prseter ea quae hie exhibemus sincera Martyrum Acta reperiri posse existimem. Nee etiam animus est, ea omnia inter spuria rejicere quae hie non habentur ; quin et si aliquis nonnulla ex iis qua? a me forte rejecta sunt sincera judicaverit, non refragabor, modo id argumentis certis probare queat : alias unusquisque hi suo sensu abundet. Acta sincera Martyrum : Prsefatio. page 12.

the most ridiculous and dangerous pyrrhonism. Among the best historians of ancient or even modern times, are there many whose narrations may not be contradicted in some particulars, and is it not the province of sound criticism to throw light upon doubtful statements, to explain inconsistencies, and in a word, to clear away the clouds which, through some fault, voluntary or involuntary, of the narrator, have veiled the truth? What would become of our knowledge of the past, if it were permitted to reject the testimony of an author whose honesty is undoubted, simply because his writings exhibit traces of haste and inaccuracy ?

The favor with which Dom Kuinart's collection was received, and the esteem in which it is still held, enables us to draw from it rules of criticism which the severest critic must admit. The facts related in these Acts, which he declares to be absolutely unquestionable, are so many terms of comparison, whose value cannot be disputed, and we shall soon see that the Acts of St. Cecilia, when compared with those guaranteed as true by Dom Euinart, come off triumphant from the trial.

We must also remember, that two thirds of the Acts published by Dom Kuinart were compiled after the age of Persecutions, from ancient memoirs long since lost. He even admits the Acts of St. Cyr and St. Julitte, although ho acknowledges that they were not compiled before the reign of Justinian.11

It is easy to perceive how strongly the example

• Acta Martyrum Bincera et Beleota, page r>20.

thus given by the severe Benedictine, tends to confirm the confidence of the Church in the Acts of St. Cecilia, although we no longer possess the primitive Acts compiled by the Notaries of Eome, nor other documents from which the compiler of the fifth century framed his narrative. But we will digress for a moment from the field of controversy, to congratulate the Eoman Basilica of St. Cecilia upon an event which towards the end of the seventeenth century re-awakened its dearest and most brilliant reminiscences.

On the 12th of December, 1695, Innocent XII., elevated to the honors of the purple Celestin Sfondrato, Abbot of St. Gall. Celestin, who was born in 1644, was a nephew of Paul Emilius, and from his youth had aspired to the cloistered life. He pronounced his vows according to the Benedictine Eule, in this illustrious Abbey, Avhere he consecrated his leisure hours to the study of sacred science, and' cultivated it with remarkable success. The heart of the young monk was inflamed with such ardent zeal for the liberty of the Church, that he was one of the most generous defenders of her independence against the eneroachments of Louis XIV. And this, at a time when Catholic Europe was looking on these encroachments in silence.

Celestin had been sent to the Abbey of St. Peter, in Saltzburg, to fill the chair of canonical law in the University of that city, when the assembly of the French Clergy, in 1682, published the famous Declaration respecting the rights of the Sovereign

Pontiff in the constitution of the Church. A council of Bishops in Hungary, and several universities in Spain declaimed against the outrage thus offered in France to apostolic power. The University of Saltzburg likewise published its disapproval of the four propositions of the Parisian Assembly. This courageous act was principally due to the influence of Sfondrato.

But he did not limit his zeal to the condemnation of novelties, of which he could easily foresee the disastrous influence upon religious and political society. He boldly entered the arena and whilst awaiting the " Defence of the Declaration," which Louis XIV., exacted from, the Bishop of Meaux, he avenged the liberty of the church in an excellent Treatise upon the Regale, against which this fatal storm had been directed;* in his Sacerdoce Royal, he elevated the apostolic monarchy, which had been degraded through the interested policy of several court prelates ;f he proved the novelty of the principles of the French Clergy in a learned work against Mainbourg in which he brought forward the testimony and authority of ancient French authors % and finally, when the scandalous conduct of the Marquis de Lavardin in regard to the privileges claimed by the French ambassador at the Court of Eome, bad manifested to the world the pride and obstinacy of

• Tractatus Regaliae contra Rlerum Gallicarmm, 1682 in 4°.

f Regale Sacerdotium Comano Pontiiici assert um, et quatuor propositicmibus explicatum, sous le pscudonymc d'Eugenius Lombards, 1684, in-1.

X Gallia vindieata. 1688, in-4.

Louis XIV., in his dealings with the Pope, Sfondrato transmitted to posterity a faithful account of these unworthy proceedings on the part of one, who called himself "the oldest son of the Church."*

This invincible zeal of Sfondrato excited the animosity of the heads of the French Clergy, who were accomplices in the work of 1652. But they failed in obtaining the condemnation of the book in which he treats all questions concerning grace, in a manner opposed to the theories of thomism.f Rome did not think that Sfondrato had advanced any thing contrary to the decisions of the Church. At the same time the author could not be classed amonsr o those who were called in France the flatterers of the Eoman Court ; for although he energetically supported the sacred prerogatives of the supreme Pontiff, he was no less firm in censuring the abuses to which human frailty sometimes yielded in so elevated a position. There is a severe treatise against Nepotism which i.s a production of the courageous pen of Celestin Sfondrato.:}:

Such a man could not fail to interest the noble heart of Innocent XL, In 16SS, this Pontiff appointed Sfondrato, Bishop of ZSTovare; this nomination was at first declined by the learned monk. He afterwards decided to accept it, but just as he was on the point of so doing, the Abbey of St. Gall became vacant,

• Legatio Marcliionis Lavardmi Romam, ejnsque cum Iniiocentio XI dissidiurn. 1655. in-12.

t Nodus prsdestina-tionis dissolutns, 1697. in-4. 4: 2sepotisiiiU5 theologiae expensus. 1692 in-12.

•and the unanimous suffrage of the chapter elected Sfondrato to the dignity of Abbot, together with the honors of Prince of the Holy Empire. In this new dignity he was ever faithful to the Church, and to the Holy See, humble amidst the grandeur which surrounded him, zealous for the salvation of souls, assiduous in study, vigilant in the government of his principality, austere in his habits and remarkable, as his uncle Paul Emilius had been, for his inexhaustible charity towards the poor and suffering.

Such was Celestin Sfondrato, the most powerful Abbot of his time, as well as the most celebrated for his virtues and science, when he received the news of his elevation to the Cardinalate, Innocent XII. called him to Kome/ and he was obliged to resign his Abbey. The Pope, in memory of his uncle, conferred upon him the Church of St. Cecilia. Celestin merited this glorious honor in reward for his attachment to the liberty of the Church ; but he had scarcely arrived in Eome, when he was attacked by a serious illness, and scarcely had a year elapsed after his promotion, when he yielded his soul to God, on the 4th of September, JL 69 6, in the 52nd year of age. Like Paul Emilius, he desired to repose in the Basilica of the Holy Martyr, and gave orders that the humble epitaph composed by his uncle should be engraven upon his tomb. It is still to be seen and runs thus :

CJELESTINVS TITVLI S. OJSCILLfli S. R. E. PRESBYTER CARDIXAL1S SFONDRATV3

MISERRIMVS PECCATOR

ATQVE EIVSDEM VIRGINIS HVMILIS SERVVS

AD CVIVS PEDES HIC HVMILITER REQVIESCIT

YIXIT ANKOS LII.

OBIIT PRIDIE NONAS SEPTEMBRIS

ANNO MDCXCVI.

ORATE DEVM PRO EO.

This Prince of the Church, so lately a temporal Prince, did not have sufficient means to provide for his burial, and the Apostolic Chamber were obliged to defray his funeral expenses.*

At the very moment when the Sovereign Pontiff invited Celestin Sfondrato to take possession of the sanctuary, whence the heroic Cecilia has for centuries bestowed her blessings upon the defenders of the Church, the outrage which had been long preparing in France against the memory of this incomparable Martyr, was consummated. In 1695, appeared the third volume of the Memoires pour servir a Vhistoire HJcclesiastique des six premiers siecles, by Le Nain de Tillemont, one of the most learned and dangerous adepts of Port Eoyal. Iff this volume, as well as in those which precede and follow it, we find a vein of profound and systematical contempt for the traditions most prized by Catholics ; the Acts of St. Cecilia are censured with a levity and partiality which must call forth, sooner or later, the disapprobation of all impar-

• Guarnacci. Vitce et res gestcB Pontificnrr, Romanoritm. et S» JR. E, Cardinalium, tome 1, page 443-446.

tial critics. Notwithstanding the popularity they ' had enjoyed for over a thousand years, they are not ' deemed worthy a special chapter; in a simple note of the two pages, Tillemont settles the question of their authenticity.

" These Acts," says he, " may be ancient, and are not badly written."* Having admitted this, Tillemont goes on to assail these grave and ancient acts with a multitude of objections, which we will refute in the ensuing chapter. At present, wre deem it a duty to lay before our readers the views entertained concerning the Acts of St. Cecilia, by the majority of Christians during the very century, which beheld them ridiculed and despised by bold and unscrupulous authors.

The Eoman Church, the Ambrosian Church, the Gallican Church, the Gothic Church of Spain, and the Greek Church had unanimously proclaimed these Acts worthy the respect of all Christendom. From age to age, Pontiffs and Doctors, who succeeded each other in their different Churches, venerated a narration, many parts of which were then, and are still, used in different parts of the Divine Service throughout the greater number of Christian countries. Can so many competent judges, so many nations, so many individuals, be accused of having received, with undeviating respect, for thirteen centuries, a fabulous

*Tillcmont. Memoires pour servin a T Hist Ecclesiastique, tome Hi. p. 259. It is perhaps well to observe that the expression badly written which Tillemont uses, should not be understood in its present signification. In the seventeenth century, it signified a compilation faulty in matter, not in style.

legend, which reason and criticism were always at liberty to condemn, since it was not in any way connected with the Sacred Scriptures.

Shall we pass over, as a thing of no importance, the unanimous agreement of hagiographers, for a period of a thousand years, beginning from the Venerable Bede and descending to Baronius and Papebroke ? And shall we venture to assert, that the question, concerning the authenticity of St. Cecilia's Acts, had never been discussed until the da}^, when Port Eoyal was pleased to intimate to the Christian world its decisions against their truth ?

If, after having cited the unanimous approbation of past ages, we now consider the Acts in themselves, will sound criticism, find any reason for discrediting the facts which they contain ? Are not these facts in perfect accordance with the age in which they are said to have transpired ? Do we find in them anything opposed to the customs of the early Christians of Eome ? Is there anything either singular, or improbable, in the incidents related, or in the language of the speakers ? Are we not, on the contrary, impressed with the similarity of these Acts to those given us by Dom Euinart ?

During the centuries that have elapsed since the publication of the Acts, St. Cecilia's tomb has been twice opened and her dwelling, now her Basilica, has been the constant object of pious and eager research. "What has been the result ? The most evident proofs of the narrator's sincerity, the most striking confirmation of the facts he relates. Shall the satirical and gratuitous assertions of a writer who disdains to notice archaeological discoveries suffice to overthrow positive proofs, the least of which would be sufficient to reinstate in the minds of scientific men, a monument of profane antiquity no matter how decried; especially, proofs so strong as those furnished by the opening of Cecilia's tomb and the discovery of her caldarium ?

If so, we must compliment the compiler of the Acts for all the beauties found in this astonishing work. That a man, who was ignorant even of the grammar of his native language and of all the rules of composition, could be the inventor of so sublime a drama, composed with such grace and energy, such delicacy and grandeur, never occurred to the Christian world, until it was informed of the fact by Tillemont ; nor should we be surprised if the learned were still to reject it, in spite of the authority of Port Eoyal.

There are some men, who, slaves to pride, and to the spirit of system, have deadened that judgment which the Creator has given us to discern truth from falsehood ; but it is strange that Tillemont, versed as he was in memorials of ecclesiastical antiquity, did not at once understand the difference between our Acts, which are so precise in their narration, so probable throughout, so easy in the developments of characters, and apocryphal recitals, the exaggerated style of which borders on the marvellous, and convinces the reader that the author has given full vent to his imagination, without troubling himself about circumstances, time, or place. Now there is as much difference between the two, as between a portrait taken from nature and a fancy sketch.

Even though Ave had been left without any documents concerning the first ages of Christianity, though the customs of the early Christians were perfectly unknown to us, what man, initiated in the religion of Christ, would not feel that the Martyrs led just such a life? And shall we, who, notwithstanding the ravages of time, can still represent to ourselves those heroic days, with the assistance of so many incontestable monuments, not recognize the Christians of the third centmy, the cotemporaries of Tertullian and Origen, in the noble yet simple characters of Cecilia, Tiburtius, and Valerian ?

Insults and denials are not sufficient, proofs are requisite. The arguments so triumphantly adduced by Tillemont and his successors shall be discussed by us in that Catholic spirit whfch ought to have led them to treat with reverence, traditions admitted by learned and virtuous men, and proposed by the Church to the respectful admiration of her children. To root out a beautiful flower from the garden of the Church, to trample it under foot, to deprive Cecilia of all glory save her name and an uncertain martyrdom, must have required powerful reasons. Our Catholic readers may judge of their merits.

LIFE OF SAINT CECILIA. £33