where dissembled adventur'd boldly to cōfesse the name of GOD to whom it pleas'd the Lord to give so much of Heavenly grace that he not onely scorn'd the tyrants but contemned their torments This I find cyted by Hermanus Schedel in his Chronica Chronicorum and out of him by Bergomensis since by Molanus jn his Annotations upon Vsuards Martyrologie Iacobus de Voragine relyeth also in one passage on the authority of Ambrose so doth Vincentius and Antoninus Florentinus The treatise out of which his testimonie is avouch'd is by them call'd Liber praefationum not now extant Wicelius who doth also build on the authoritie of this Reverend Father saith that the booke is long since perish'd so perish'd as it seems that there is nothing left of it but the name and some scattered remnants Whether St. Ambrose were or not the Author of that treatise I cannot easily determine because in Possevin I find no mention of this tract who yet hath tooke upon him to marshall all the Workes of that excellent man even those also which are lost Yet on the other side his testimony vouch'd by Authors of that antiquity as those before recyted assure mee at the least so farre that such a worke was in their times receiv'd as his Adde unto this that Vossius reckoneth him with the Latine Historians in his late booke of that argument as having writ the lives of many of the Saints of Theodora namely of St. Celsus and Nazarius of St. Gervase and Protasius and as the Papists say of Agnes Which being so I must crave longer time before I shall reject these words ascribed unto him or not esteeme them true and worthy to be credited though not so fully as to build upon them altogether 8 But of our next witnesse there is lesse doubt and a larger testimonie though in his words we meet with somewhat which requires a Commentarie A witnesse which hath beene examined on the adverse part already where he was able to say nothing I meane Gelasius Pope of Rome and his so memorated Canon This Pope began his Papacie Anno 492. and dyed in 96. some foure yeares after About his time and long before it the Heretickes had busily employed themselves to falsifie the publike Acts and writings of the Church w ch thing they had effected so according to their wish that now it was high time to have a carefull eye upon them or else it may be they might have growne too potent to be easily suppress'd For this cause Pope GELASIUS having assembled 72. of his neighbour Prelates unto Rome did then and there with their advise and by their diligent assistance contrive a Catalogue of all such dangerous writings as were thought fit to be rejected giving to those which they accounted true orthodoxe the place and honour due unto them Which Canon since it is alleaged against us thereby to overthrow the History of our St. GEORGE we will in this place bring into the open view as much of it as concernes the businesse now in hand that so we may encounter them with their owne weapons The Canon is as followeth Gesta S. Martyrum qui multiplicibus tormentorum cruciatibus mirabilibus confessionum triumphis irradiant quis ita esse Catholicorum dubitet maiora eos in agonibus esse perpessos nec suis viribus sed dei gratia adiutorio universa tolerasse Sed ideo secundùm consuetudinem antiquam singulari cautela in Sancta Rom. Ecclesia non leguntur quia eorum qui scripsere nomina penitus ignorantur ab infidelibus idiotis superfluè vel minus aptè quam rei ordo fuerit scripta esse putantur Sicut cuiusdam Quiriaci Iulittae matris eius sicut Georgij aliorumque passiones huiusmodi quae ab haereticis perhibentur conscriptae propter quod ut dictum est ne vel levius subsannandi occasio oriretur in S. Romana Ecclesiâ non leguntur No◠tamen cum praedicta Ecclesia omnes Martyres atque eorum gloriosos agones qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti sunt cum omni devotione veneramur So farre the very words and letters of the Canon 9 By this it doth appeare that as the Saints in generall so also particularly St. GEORGE had beene abused and counterfeited in his Story in the close of the same Canon therefore it is reckon'd as Apochryphall as were a great many others of the same temper The reason why it was so reckon'd is by our latter writers diversly related Raphael Volaterran makes it to bee rejected onely so much of it as concernes St. Georges combat with the Dragon which also is assign'd by Antoninus amongst other causes but by neither rightly For in those times and many hundred yeares behind them the fable of the Dragon was not so much as thought of in the Church Christian. Iacobus de Voragine more nearely to the truth Ex eo quòd Martyrium eius certam relationem non habet because the storie of his death is told us in most perplext and uncertaine manner In Calendario n. Bedae c. For in the Calendar of Bede we find saith he that he was martyred in Diospolis a Towne of Persia in others that he lyeth buried in Diospolis not farre from Ioppe In some that he did suffer under Diocletian and Maximinian Emperours in others under Diocletian King of the Persians no lesse than 70. tributarie Kings being in presence Somewhat I say of this was rightly aym'd at by this blind archer but Bede is brought in by him somewhat too early as beeing a Post-natus scarce borne within two centuries of yeares succeeding But what need more conjectures or what use indeed is there of any since the same Canon which hath decreed the History of George then extant to be Apocryphall hath also told us that it was generally beleev'd to have beene writ by Hereticks This is inough to make the History of any S. suspected Apocryphall and that it was so written may easily appeare by that which was related in it touching Athanasius and the Empresse Alexandra not to omit that terrible massacre which by a cheating tricke he made of many of the people branded by ANTONINUS as before we noted 10 Hitherto have we spoken of GELASIUS Canon and nothing all this while which may redound from thence to St. GEORGES credit Nothing indeed in that which hath beene spoken hitherto because we were to lay our ground before we rais'd our building But that now done and the full meaning of the Canon duely pondered it will appeare for certaine that though Gelasius taxed the storie of St. GEORGE as dangerous and Apocryphall yet he hath done the Saint himselfe all due respects and confirm'd him to us This I did note before ou◠of the words of Bellarmine in a reply to Dr. Boys who needs would have both Bellarmine and Pope Gelasius speake for him in making our St. GEORGE to be a meere Chimaera or thing of nothing
tainted the Hereticks inserting such passages into their Histories as might perswade the world to thinke them of their party the others labouring so to describe their lives and passions as might procure unto their shrines a greater measure of Devotion and attendance The one of these an effect onely of a superstitious Piety the other a designe of a malicious cunning 2 And first beginning with the Legendaries which of these two Impostors are the last in time and least in danger they tooke beginning from one Peter sirnamed Comestor the Author as his friends doe stile him and as himselfe inscribe's his worke of the Scholasticall Historie But they which looke upon his Writings with the eye of judgment and not of blind Affection have thought it fitter to bestow upon him that Character which I haue somewhere read of Herodotus and to intitle him Fabulosae Historiae Patrem the Father and Originall of all those fabulous Tales and Legends which at this day are so frequent in the Roman Church Sure I am that Bellarmine hath given him this Censure that he inserted into the sacred Stories of the Bible many things out of vulgar glosses and prophane Authors not rarely mingling with it uncertaine and unprofitable Fables Scripsit autem saith he inserens verbis sacris multa ex glossis ex prophanis Auctoribus non rarò admiscens incertas Historias He liv'd and writ about the yeare 1150. which Age with that that followed may most deservedly be intituled Fabulous 3 For as the learned Varro call'd the first Ages of the world before the Floud conceive it of Deucalion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obscure because of the ignorance thereof and those which were before the first Olympiad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fabulous because of those so frequent Fables of the Gods and Goddesses in them delivered but those that next succeeded them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Historicall the writings of it beginning now to be worthy credit so is it also in these latter Ages of the Church There was a time which Bellarmine doth call Infelix seculum a time of ignorance and darknesse which lasted from the yeare 900. unto the yeare 1100. or thereabouts There also was a time which wee may properly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Fabulous delighted only in the myracles apparitions of the Saints with other matters of that nature the fruits of superstitious fancies And last of all when learning was reviv'd by Petrarch and his endeavours seconded by Fl. Blondus Aeneas Sylvius Picus Mirandula and others of that time and Country the Church may justly stile her Acts and Monuments Historicall and true the knowledge of the present times having expell'd the ignorance of the first Ages and discovered the fabulous vanities of the other 4 Not to search further in this Argument let it suffice that we have found the first Father of the Legendaries in the Westerne Churches nor is it to be doubted but that he had a fruitfull issue in an age so prone to Superstition Of these the man of greatest Fame was Iames Archbishop of Genoa in Italie a native of that Country his surname De Voragine so call'd in the opinion of Helvicus quasi Vorago esset Bibliorum propter crebras allegationes because he was so great a Student in the Holy Scriptures so frequent in quotations Philippus Bergomensis and Possevin since him will rather have it to bee de Viragine a litle Village in the territorie of Genoa the place of his Nativity Oraeus in his Nomenclator placeth him ad Annum 1278. Helvicus in the yeere 1280. And Bergoâ—mensis ten yeeres after Anno 1290. None of them differing from the truth though from themselves The last of these give 's him the commendation both of Eloquence and Learning and Vossius makes him in his worke de Latinis Historicis to be the first Translatour of the Bible into the Italian language His workes were many and of good opinion in the Church but none of equall credit with the Historie which he collected of the lives of Saints Himselfe intituleth it Historia Lombardica call'd by the people for the excellency thereof as it was then conceiv'd the Golden Legend A booke in the esteeme and judgment of those times of high desert how ever now the learned Papists haue rejected it with shame inough There is saith Master Harding in his Detection an old Moathe-eaten booke wherin Saints lives are said to be contein'd certaine it is that among some true stories are many vaine fables written And Lud. Vives give 's him this censure for a farewell that he was homo ferrei oris plumbei Cordis some also adde Animi certè parùm prudentis severi a man of litlewit and lesse judgment a leaden heart and a brazen forehead 6 Of him and of his Legend more hereafter and for the present let us looke upon him in his so memorated Storie of St. George and of thâ— Dragon He begins it thus Georgius Tribunus genere Cappadox pervenit quadam vice in Provinciam Lybiae in civitatem quae dicitur Silena iuxta quam Civitatens erat stagnum instar Maris in quo Draco pestifer latitabat flatuque suo ad muros civitatis accedens omnes inficiebat quapropter compulsi cives duas oves quotidiè ' sibi dabant ut eius furorem sedarent Cum ergo iam oves pene deficerent inito consilio ovem cum adiuncto homine tribuebant Cum igitur sorte omnium filij filiae consumpti essent quadam vice filia Regis unica sorte est deprehensa Draconi adiudicata c. Once on a time for so wee will begin it St. George of Cappadocia a Colonell or a Tribune of the Soldiers at that time came to the Country of Lybia and to the Citie of Sisena A City as Don Quixote said of his Kingdome errant that is not to bee found in all the Map Neere to this Towne there whs a Lake as big as any Sea God blesse us and in that Lake a deadly Dragon which with his breath did poyson all the Country round about him and therefore the poore people were compell'd God helpe em to give him every day two sheepe to keepe him quiet At last when all their sheepe were spent alas poore people they were compell'd to give him every day one sheepe and one man or one woman with it to make up the number And then when almost all their Sonnes and Daughters had beene eaten at length the cruell and unlucky lot fell upon the Kings Daughter her Fathers onely Child and her mothers blessing It was a sorry house I warrant you but who could helpe it the poore Lady was drawne forth into the Fields and stript of all her gay attire and bound unto a stake and ready for the foule Feind that was to eate her c. 6 So farre the Storie or the Tale rather in the Legend the rest of it for the more variety we will make bold
Order of the Dragon so call'd because his Knights did beare for their Devise a Dragon falling headlong pour tesmoigner que par son moyen le Schisme et l' heresie dragons devorans de la religion avoyent ' esté vaincus et supplantez And this saith he that made the booke entituled Les estats du Monde translated since by Grimston to testifie that by his meanes the Dragons of Heresie and Schisme which otherwise no doubt had destroyed religion and devoured the Church were vanquished and suppressed Much like to this in the Device is the French Order dedicated to Saint Michael instituted by King Lewis the 11. not long after Anno viz. 1469. Vnto the coller of which Order there is fastened the picture of St. Michael the Archangell combatting with the Dragon of the infernall Deepes aureaque imagine S. Michaelis draconem infernalē prosternentis pectus insigniente So saith Hospinian But this in reference rather to the encounter of St. Michael with the Dragon in the Apocalypse 7 With these the portraiture of Constantine above-mentioned and the two militarie Orders of St. Michael and the Dragon St. George as he is commonly expressed in picture holdeth good proportion and correspondence His picture as in the present times we use to draw it but ab initio non fuit sic it was not thus from the beginning For I have read it in the life of Theodorus Syceotes commonly call'd Archimandrita or Chiefe-Abbot borne in the time of the Emperour Iustinian that then St. George was onely pictured as a faire yong man richly arrayed and of an haire somewhat inclining unto yellow For so Elpidia doth describe him in the relation of her dreame to this her Grandchild Theodorus if at the least we may take this or any thing upon Surius word who fathereth this discourse upon one George a Priest the Scholler of this Ahbot Videbam fili mi dulcissime these are old Grandams words adolescentem valde formosum splendidis vestimentis ornatum aureaque fulgentem coma illi similem quem pro S. Georgio in eius historia cernimus Thus was hee pictured anciently But in the middle times hee was presented to the common view more like a man at armes mounted upon a lusty Courser a young maide kneeling by him and a fierce Dragon thrust through with a Speare gasping for life just as we see him painted but there is no mention of the young maide on our common Signe-posts A picture which in the darker and more ignorant times was thought to represent that storie which was then publish'd in the Legend which since it hath bin otherwise resolv'd by the learned of both parties that it did only represent some mysterie or allegorie hath not a litle exercis'd their wits and fancies Perkins will have it as before we noted to bee in former times a representation of our Saviour who vanquished the Divell for the deliverance of his Church in which conceit of his many Divines have closed in with him which wee then noted also out of Charles Stephanus Baronius doth conceive it to be the picture of some state or Country petitioning according to the custome of those times the ayde and helping-hand of so great a Saint against the violence of the Divell In virgino n. illa typus exprimitur more maiorum provinciae vel civitatis alicuius quae adversus diaboli vires tanti martyris imploret auxilium Villavincentius and Hyperius have applyed it to the civill Magistrate whose principall endeavours ought to aime at this that they defend the Church from the covetous tyrannie of the Oppressour the old Serpent Dr. Reynolds as hee preferres this last conceit before that of Baronius so doth he seeme to prize his owne both before this or any other With him the meaning of the embleme or picture Emblematicall must be this that all true Christians whom the Apostle calls Gods husbandrie might learne hereby how much it doth concerne them to make warre against the Dragon and to destroy him with the sword of the Spirit Vt sciant omnes Christiani quos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dei appellat Apostolus 1. Cor. 3. militandum sibi adversus draconem Apocal. 12. eumque Dei gladio confodiendum So he in his praelections on the Apocrypho and the same words almost repeated in his booke de Rom. Idololatria For my part I rather choose for why in such variety may not I also assume the liberty of conjecture to make it at the least in part historicall as being thus contriv'd of purpose in those times and by those men which most affectionately were devoted to our Martyr to publish to posterity how bravely he refell'd the Divell how constantly hee persevered in the profession of his faith the whole Church praying with him and kneeling like the Virgin by him in that holy action that GOD would give him strength subdue that enemy the Dragon 8 How long the picture of St. George hath beene commended to us in this Knightly forme I cannot easily determine onely I will be bold to say that it is not very moderne or of small standing in the Church as may bee gathered out of the History of Nicephorus Gregoras This Author was by birth of Greece and wrote the History of that declining Empire beginning at the yeare 1200 and ending it anno 1344. about which time it is conceiv'd that he was gathered to his fathers In the 8. booke he wrote eleven in all there is a memorable storie of St. George's Horse which for the rarenesse of it and that it is so proper to the cause in hand it shall not grieve me to relate nor any Reader to peruse Primo quadragessimae Sabbato cum postridie orthodoxorum Imperatorum Patriarcharum proclamanda esset memoria tum quoque Theodorus Logotheta generalis à vespera ad nocturna sacrailla de more accessit Media verò sub nocte me astante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audiente quidam ab Imperatore adest novum illi nuncium apportans c. On the first Saturday in Lent the Commemoration of such godly Emperours and Patriarchs as had departed in the Faith being the morrow after to be solemnized it pleas'd the Lord high Chancellour Theodorus for so on the authority of Meursius in his Graeco-Barbara I thinke good to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say it pleas'd him to be present with us according to the custome at those night-watches About the time of midnight I stāding neere him and harkning to divine Service a Messenger in all the hast came to him frō Andro the Elder then our Emperour telling this strange newes and desiring his opinion But now saith he when as the Soldiers of the Guard Milites Imperatorij were going to their rest there was a fearfull neighing heard so upon the suddaine that it made all of us amazed the rather because there were not any Horses then about the Court all of them carried
Both circumstances that of his buriall and this other mention'd last together in old Fryer Anselme quarto miliario à Modyn est Lydda civitas quâ— Diospolis dicitur in qua corpus B. Georgij testantur fuisse S. Georgius vulgo dicitur Shall we have more Roger de Hovenden in his Annals recyting there the names of such great personages as dyed in the Christian Campe at the seige of Ptolemais gives us among the rest three Byshops viz. Nâ—vus Episcopus de Acon Episcopus de Baruâ—h Episcopus de S. Georgio For at that time the Christians had made this Towne a Byshops Seate as we shall see heereafter 4 Onely in such a generall consent of Authors Will the Monke of Malmesbury doth seeme to differ from the rest who seemeth to make the Scene hereof to be Rama or Ramula a litle City not farre distant Ibi a dextra dimittentes maritima pervenerunt Ramulam civitatulam muro indigam B. Georgij si famae credimus martyrij consciam We came saith he leaving the Sea-shore on the right hand to a little Citty unwall'd knowne by the name of Ramula guilty if we may trust report of St. GEORGES Martyrdome And hereupon perhaps it is that Fryer Anselme who as before we noted hath made St. GEORGE to end his dayes in a burning fire hath chosen Rama for the place of ExecutioÌ„ his ashes being afterwards transferr'd sd he to Lydda there buried To reconcile w ch difference we must conceive that these two Cities were not very farre asunder and their Feilds or Territories close together so that an action done in one without great errour might be reported of the other St. MATHEVV in his holy Gospell tells us of a myracle done by our Saviour in the Country of the Gergezens whereas St. LVKE and MARKE affirme that it was the Country of the Gadarens Yet may it not be therefore thought that the Holy Spirit is at difference with it selfe God forbid nor that we should conceive the Gadarens and Gergezens to be the same which is not so But rather we must reconcile the places thus according to the truth of storie and the scituation of the Country that the two people mention'd in the Gospell were conterminous their Townes at no great distance and their fields bordering one upon another Therefore that miracle done in the fields betweene them both might without any wrong or errour bee made good of eyther 5 To make the reconciliation more exact and the case more parallell wee must also note that with the ancients there was nothing more unlawfull than to put any man to death within their Cities Thus in the state of Rome the Vestall Virgin having committed fornication was buried quicke within the Campus Sceleratus and other malefactors throwne headlong from the Tarpeian Rocke both situate without the Towne So also had the Thessalians a place of Execution from the praecipice of an Hill which they called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Corvi from whence arose the Proverbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Away with him to the Gallowes Thus the Iewes also when they crucified our Saviour led him out of their Citie to Mount Calvarie and thus St. LVKE reports it in the Execution of St. STEPHEN that they cast him out of the Citie and stoned him A custome which continued long even till the times of Persecution were all past and of the which our publike Gallowes which we see every where without our Townes are some remainders Which being so no executioÌ„ in those times permitted in their Cities it must needs be that our St. GEORGE did suffer in the open fields Which granted it will then appeare that Malmesbury might not unjustly say of Rama or as he calls it Ramula that it was guilty of or rather had a hand in Saint Georges death though in the generall voyce of Writers it be affirm'd of Lydda because the fields were common or close adjoyning and the Townes but litle distant 6 These matters thus dispatch'd we now proceed to verifie the former Storie out of the words of such as have concurr'd with Metaphrastes in the maine and substance And first we will attempt to justifie the whole narration out of Eusebius whose countenance herein will I am sure be worth our seeking And I would gladly know what part or circumstance there is in all our History for the defence whereof we may not use his testimony Is it that any Cappadocian was adjudg'd to suffer for the Gospell He tells us there that one Seleucus Iulian and others of that Country receiv'd the Crowne of Martyrdome during the Persecution rais'd by Diocletian Or is it that the Persecution ever did extend to Palestine He hath a Chapter at the least of such as suffered in that Country It is not I am sure that any of the militarie men abandoned their advancements or yeilded up their lives to testifie how litle they esteem'd them in comparisen of CHRIST For this he hath expresly that many of them when the Persecution first began did willingly forsake their honourable Offices and some their lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor can it bee that that the Imperiall edict did not extend to such as were of his retinue and did belong immediately unto his person For in the same booke he mentions Dorotheus and Gorgonius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with many more of Caesars houshold Wee grant indeed that no such name as that of George occurres in all that Author but we affirme withall that he confesseth it an infinite and tedious businesse to recount the names of all that suffered or capitulate those severall torments they endur'd and therefore purposely omits them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as he there hath it So then Eusebius doth affirme that Cappadocia had its Martyrs that the Persecution raged in Palestine that it extended to the military men and to those also that attended in the Pallace and lastly that it is impossible to tell the names of all that suffered Put this together and it will amount to this that George one of those many Martyrs whom Eusebius could not name a Cappadocian by his Country a Soldier by profession and one that waited in the Court was put to death in Palestine by torments not to be express'd because he constantly continued in the Faith of CHRIST 7 In the next place we have the testimony of St. Ambrose if at the least the words be his a Reverend Father of the Church and a chiefe ornament thereof who dyed about the yeare 397. The words are these Georgius Christi miles fidelissimus dum Christianismi professio tegeretur solus inter Christicolas intrepidus Dei filium confessus est Cui tantam constantiam gratia divina concessit ut tyrannicae potestatis praecepta contemneret innumerabilium non formidaret tormenta poenarum Id est George the most faithfull Soldier of IESUS CHRIST when as Religion was else every
Monasterij S. Galli a place among the Switzers His evidence compounded equally out of Bede and Vsuard the first part taken from the former the conclusion from the latter himselfe inserting this onely in the middle betweene both that after many inexpressible torments being at last beheaded he perfected that glorious worke by the effusion of his bloud In Perside civitate Diospoli passio S. Georgij Martyris qui sub Daciano Rege Persarum potentissimo qui dominabatur supra 70. Reges multis miraculis clarâ—â—t plurimosque convertit ad fidem Christi c. hitherto out of Bede Ipse verò post multos inauditos agones novissimè decollatus Martyrium sâ—um sanguinis effusione consummavit Then followes out of Vsuardus Cuius gesta Passionis etsi inter Apocryphas c. as before we had it 8 In these the testimonies of Bede Rabanus Maurus and Notgerus we finde it mention'd of St. GEORGE Plurimosque ad fidem Christi convertit That hee converted many to the Faith of CHRIST And answerable hereunto Vincentius Belvacensis Ad eius praedicationem credidit S. Vincentius That by the Preaching of Saint George St. Vincent who receiv'd the crowne of Martyrdome in Spaine received the Gospell Which doubtlesse must be understood of private reasonings and friendly conference with those whose soules hee chiefly tendred not by the way of any publicke Ministery wherein hee never was intrusted And certainly the Faithfull of the times Primitive especially during the heat of Persecution did much promote the holy Gospell by such private and domesticke meanes if I may so call it passing from house to house and from man to man so to bring Peace unto the one Salvation to the other Wherefore perhaps Cecilius calls the Christians generally Latebrosam Lucifugam nationem in publico mutam in angulis garrulam A slie and corner-creeping kind of people active in private places but still and quiet in the publicke It seemes that some not well acquainted with the calling and condition of our Martyr have made him very famous in the arts of Preaching as one that first converted the Armenians and Iberi now call'd Georgians For Michael ab Ysselt a Low-Countrey-writer telling what Honours by that people are afforded to St. George relates it thus Cur verò tanto in honore habeant D. illum Georgium causam nonnulli afferunt quòd ille primus ad fidem Christi Armenos Iberosque convertisset But whosoever those nonnulli are that so report it they are no question in an errour there being in the Ecclesiasticall historians another and more likely meanes of their conversion on which this Michael doth reflect in these wordes that follow Licèt alij illud cuiusdam puellae miraculis virtutibus tribuunt 9 In the next place wee have the suffrage of Vincentius Bishop of Beau-vein in France Anno 1250. A man of that deepe learning that the great Schoole-man Thomas Aquinas is supposed and Bellarmine can hardly save him harmelesse in it to take a great part of his Prima secundae and secunda secundae word for word out of the first and third bookes of this Vincents speculum morale He in the 12 th booke of his speculum historiale doth report the story thus Sub persecutione Daciani in divers passages before he call's him Dacianus Praeses venit de Cappadocia Georgius miles Qui videns Christianorum augustias erogatis omnibus quae habebat militarem vestem exuit et indutus veste Christianorum in medium sacrificantium se obiecit atque in conspectu omnium exclamavit dicens Omnes dij gentiuÌ„ daemonia Dominus autem coelos fecit Cui statim Dacianus ira repletus ait Qua praesumptione vel dignitate hoc audes vt deos nostros daemones esse dicas Dic tamen unde es et quomodo vocaris qui respondit Christianus sum Georgius vocor genere et militia Cappadocus sed cuncta deserui vt liberiùs Deo coeli servirem c. During the persecution rais'd by the President or Lieutenant generall Dacianus came George a Cappadocian Knight into the Court. Who seeing into what miserable streights the poore Christians were driven making a doale of all hee had put off his military or Knightly habit and manifesting that hee was a Christian hee rush'd into the middest of the Idolaters and in the hearing of them all cryed out that All the deities off the gentiles were but divels and that it was the Lord onely which had made the heavens To whom the President With what presumption or upon confidence of what high dignity doest thou affirme that our gods are divels tell us thy name and whence thou art Who presently return'd this answere I am saith he a Christian my name George my countrey Cappadocia and there of honourable ranke but I have willingly abandoned all to serve the God of heaven with greater freedome c. And in the close of all martyrizatus autem est in Perside civitate Diospoli he suffered in Diospolis a cittie of the Persians on the 23. of April To this agree's in the maine of it Iacobus de Voragineâ— Georgius tribunus genere Cappadox c. George one of the Tribunes by birth a Cappadocian c. The next that followeth is that doughtie storie of the Lybian Dragon which told he closeth in with the relation of Vincentius The like doth also Antoninus Florentinus of both which I have spoke already Onely the last hath noted that the historie of George is reckoned as Apocryphall not that he was no Martyr but that there are some passages there scarce worthie credit Ponitur autem Legenda cius inter Apocryphas Scripturas non quin verè Martyr fuerit pro confessione nominis Christi sed propter quaedam quae notantur in ea de veritate dubia Which passages I also have observ'd already To end this section the booke entituled Fasciculus temporum written by a Carthusian Monke of the 14 th Centurie and printed in the yeere 1476. by Conradus Hoemborche ad Annum 291. pag. 33. doth ranke our George among the Martyrs of that yeere between Pantaleon and Iustus 10 The witnesse next to be examined is of Greece Nicephorus Callistus who liv'd about the yeare 1305. Andronicus the Elder then reigning in Constantinople to whom he dedicates his booke Who being sworne and examined saith as followeth Eisdem quoque temporibus the time of DIOCLETIANS furie Georgius ille magni inter ceriatores istos nominis agminis Martyrum Coryphaeus laborum pro Christo toleratorum veros fruetus percepit Hic in Cappadocia natus adhuâ— adolescens forma praestanti qui nondum primani produxisset lanuginem fortissimè certaminibus pro Christo perferendis martyrium obijt Captus enim quòd in daemones acriter invectus esset Imperatorumque impietatem derisisset supra naturae captum perquam acerbos sustinuit cruciatus Nam post carcerem vincula ungulae acutae cum excepare mox
also into the same conceit and superstitious folly Hereupon were the monuments and dormitories of the Saints againe opened their bodies translated some of them entire into new Sepulchres and others dismembred peece by peece and carried into farre Countries that Church or Nation being conceived most happy which had procured any the least bone into their possession of such especially of the Saints which were in greatest credit and opinion with the people So that now the cruelty of the barbarous tyrants in the height of persecution might seeme to be revived in the dawning of Superstition Which notwithstanding there might perchance bee somewhat said in their excuse as viz. that the Reliques then by them so zealously affected were most of them true and reall not counterfeited by any cheating Mountebanke and therefore worthy of all due respect and reverence For who so cold in his affection to the Saints that would not gladly give them honor even in their dust So much respect no question may be due unto the Reliques of the Saints if truely such as by Pope Leo was afforded to a parcell of the crosse sent to him by the Byshop of Hierusalem of which he tells that Prelate in an answere to him Particulam dominica crucis cum eulogijs dilectionis tuae veneranter accepi That he received it with great reverence and thankes 3 Not to descend more downeward we will looke backe into those former times and therefore least corrupted wherein we find first mention of the Reliques of St. GEORGE And in the first place we meet with Gregory of Tours who flourished in the next age after Pope LEO above-named and dyed about the yeare 596. A man of speciall quality a Byshop by his calling and as he testifieth himselfe Author of many severall books and treatises Quos libros licet rusticiori stilo scripserim c. Which though he wrote in a more plaine and homely stile yet he doth earnestly conjure all those which should succeed him in that charge per adventum Domini nostri c. Even by the comming of our Saviour CHRIST and by the dreadfull day of judgment that neither they suppresse them or cause them to be unperfectly transcribed Sed ut omnia vobiscum integra inlibataque permaneant sicut à nobis relicta sunt but that they be preserved as uncorrupted and entire as they were left by him Of these bookes seaven of them did especially concerne the myracles of the Holy Martyrs and in the first thereof he tells us in the generall Multa de Georgio martyre miracula gesta cognâ—vimus that he had knowne of many myracles done by Saint GEORGE And in particular habentur eius reliquiae in vico quodam Cennomannensi ubi multa plerunque miracula visuntur Some of his Reliques also are in the Village of Le Maine where oftentimes there were seene many myracles There is a further passage in that Booke and Chapter which though I shall relate yet I will hardly take upon me to defend it it is briefly thus Huius reliquiae cum reliquorum Sanctorum à quibusdam ferebantur c. Some certaine men that carried with them some of St. GEORGE'S Reliques and of others also of the Saints came once unto a place in the frontires of Lymosin where a few Priests having a litle Chanterie or Oratorie made of boards did daily powre out their Devotions to the Lord. There for that night they begg'd for lodging and were accordingly made welcome The morning came and they prepar'd to goe forward in their jorney they were not able to remove their Knap-sacks capsulas out of the place wherein they laid them Loth to depart without their Reliques it came at last into their minds that sure it was the will of GOD they should bestow some of them on their Hosts which being done the difficulty was removed and they proceeded in their journey This storie as before I said I will not take upon me to defend Onely I note from hence that in this Gregories time or before it rather the Reliques of St. George were in especiall credit and so by necessary consequence the Saint himselfe exceeding famous 4 Not to say any thing here of St. George's head and of the Temple built of purpose by Pope Zacharie in honour of it which we shall speake of presently in a place more proper wee finde the Reliques of our Martyr mention'd with great honour in Aymonius An Author of the middle times anno 837. not long before the shutting in of the first day of learning in the Christian Church one of the Monks of St. GERMANS monasterie in the Suburbs of Paris and publike Notarie thereof for the time being Before we come unto his testimonie we must first take notice that Childebert Sonne of Clovis the first Christian King of France who began his reigne about the yeare 515 did in the later of his time anno 542. erect a Monasterie neere Paris unto the honour of St. Vincent This monasterie thus founded as he endowed it with many Lands and large immunities so he enriched it with the Reliques of St. Vincent and St. GEORGE and part also of the Holy Crosse all which he brought with him out of Spaine whither he had before made two famous journeyes Witnesse whereof the Charter of the Foundation copied out by Aymonius and is as much of it as concernes our purpose this which followeth Childebertus Rex Francorum c. In honorem S. Vincentij Martyris this Vincent was converted by St. GEORGE as before is said cuius reliquias de Spania apportavimus ceu sanctae crusis beatissimi Georgij c. quorum reliquiae ibi sunt consecratae c. In the same Author also we have another story of St. Georges arme given by Iustinian the Emperour unto St GERMAN then Byshop of Paris as he return'd from his Pilgrimage to Hierusalem by the way of Constantinople Vnáque brachium D. Georgij Martyris pro magno munere contulit as mine Author hath it Which Relique was afterwards by Saint GERRMAN bestowed upon the Abbey of Saint Vincent wherein he was interred and which since then hath beene call'd St. GERMANS Thus much I finde recorded of the Reliques of our Martyr not to say any thing of his colours or his banner preserv'd as Schedell tells us in Bamberge â— City of Germany magna cum solennitate with great Solemnitie and this enough to shew that even from the beginning his Reliques and himselfe were alwayes had in speciall honour 5 And now at last we come unto the last of those foure wayes or courses whereby the Church endeavored to preserve alive the memory of the Saints and Martyrs viz. the calling of such Temples by the names of those blessed Spirits which she had solemnly erected to GODS speciall service and consecrated to his honour A custome which she long had practised even in the very times and heate of Persecution when as it was more dangerous unto the