Albinus the Martyr
Acta Sanctorum, June 22
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/june/day-22/albinus-the-martyr.html
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ON ST. ALBINUS THE MARTYR,

CARRIED FROM ROME TO COLOGNE.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

On the present state of the body, its translation from Rome to Cologne, and whether
it is likely that it was previously brought from England to Rome, the body of St.
Alban Protomartyr of England.

Albinus Martyr, carried from Rome to Cologne (St.)

BY G. H.

When in the year 1660 we made our journey from
Belgium through Germany to Rome,
we stayed for several
days at Cologne, [The body of St. Albinus shown to us at Cologne,] most welcome guests
to the Reverend Father Jerome Warmold
the Rector and the rest of the Fathers of the college
of our Society, among whom shone
the most humane charity of the Reverend Father Hermann Crombach,
who led us to all the sacred things, which very many
are in that city, to be accurately surveyed, and especially
took care that to himself and to us should be shown the sacred
Relics of St. Albinus: which with remarkable kindness
the Religious of the place performed. The same things therefore which the said
Hermann Crombach writes about the holy body seen by him before,
in book XI of his History, page 1105, we wish
to be applied to us.

[2] I do not know, he says, whether a more pleasing spectacle, and more apt
for establishing the orthodox faith, [as he describes it, Hermann Crombach.]
my eyes have drunk in. I saw with great gladness of soul,
not without sacred amazement at such a prodigy,
the venerable head, on every side surrounded by flesh
and skin; smooth however, for
what three hundred years ago, the little garment with
the arms of the sacred body, was found, given to other
places with the same I think; since among
the Maccabean Virgins at Cologne one bone of St.
Albinus, with flesh quite thick and skin surrounded,
I have seen elsewhere. The face too is clothed with flesh,
the eyelids appear closed, the orbits of the eyes
hidden within: the end of the nose
has fallen away a little. The sacred mouth gapes, tongueless,
the lips contracted, the chin covered with flesh. But the neck
exhibits the figure of a head recently cut off:
so the bloody flesh covers all, where the head
is joined to the neck, that the extremities of the veins,
arteries, and nerves one may almost distinguish.
Of the shoulder-blades one remains fleshy, so that
of the bones nothing protrudes. But the breast and the whole
belly is covered with flesh and skin on every side,
dry and juiceless; which, opened from the right side,
and lifted with a little silver fork, the inmost parts
of the breast lays open: in which it shows certain hardened
viscera. The whole posterior part of the body,
each thigh, the shins, and the feet are wanting:
which the English monastery of St. Alban piously
and religiously preserved, adorned also with various prodigies.
A remarkable proof indeed of divine power,
and of the faith against the heterodox, and of the worship
of the Saints to be asserted an evident testimony,
ennobled by almost annual miracles in our age,
which, when they shall be confirmed with authentic documents,
I will not begrudge to posterity. These things
there. Those miracles, if they be communicated to us,
we will subjoin toward the end. For the rest the said Crombach
showed us each thing, as he accurately described it. Concerning
St. Alban, Martyr of Verulamium in England, and his
sacred Relics there preserved in their own church,
we have treated above. That these are the same, which at Cologne
are kept, was believed there from the year at least
1186, when, the coffer being opened, the Relics were shown,
as we have a testimony then written by an eyewitness Author
from the codex of the very monastery
of St. Pantaleon, but the whole matter more accurately explains
the diploma of the elevation of St. Albinus made, in the year 1330,
which Aegidius Gelenius published in his "Magnitude
of Cologne," book 3, syntagma 12, 53, printed in this
manner.

[3] In the name of the Lord. Amen. We Theoderic
by the grace of God Abbot, the Prior, and the whole
Convent of the monastery of St. Pantaleon of Cologne
of the Order of St. Benedict, to all the faithful of Christ, [The Relics in the year 1330 translated into a new case,]
and especially to the Prelates of Churches, Rectors,
Parish-priests, and also to the Brothers of the Order of Preachers,
Minors, Carmelites and of St. Augustine,
greeting in the Lord the Savior of all. Since according
to the Prophet, it is fitting to praise the Lord in his Saints &c.
hence it is that we, sinners though unworthy,
of so great a Patron, the glorious Martyr St. Albinus, a soldier,
the first in Britain to suffer martyrdom:
whose Relics, first by Blessed Germanus the Bishop
from Britain to the city of Rome, and afterward
through the Empress Theophania, the mother of the Emperor
Otto the third, from Rome
to Cologne to us translated, for three hundred and fifty
years among us have been laid up, and
now, by the will of God especially, and on account of an evident
cause, from the case, in which they were laid up,
taken out and opened, to the faithful people
to excite devotion, that in his holy
Martyr God may be honored and praised,
are shown to be seen: of whom from the passion
until now, since there are one thousand and twenty years, yet by his own merits with Christ demanding it,
his Relics seem so precious
and recent, [they appear fresh,] as if not by a long interval
of time he had undergone temporal death:
for the head with the beard, the neck still infected
with the blood of his passion, the arms and hands
and shoulder-blades, protected by skin and flesh, the breast
with the parts of the sides, and the spine of the back with
the loins; the cloth too, with which his sacred body
for three hundred and fifty years among us
was wrapped and covered, is white as snow
and incorrupt, as if it had been placed there
recently. [Psalm 150. 1] Moreover concerning the miracles and signs,
now newly through the bounty of divine mercy
magnificently done at our church,
the truth we have thought ought to be made known to you.
For from the Lord's day before the feast of the Nativity
of St. John the Baptist in the year of the Lord 1327
until now, his holy and
venerable Relics being publicly shown to the people, both
paralytics and others lame, with legs bent,
others contracted, others creeping upon the earth, others
hunchbacked in the back and bent, others born blind, others
mute, others demoniac, others maimed, others feverish
and oppressed by various ailments, and
several dead and drowned in waters, [the miracles wrought.] to the number
of five hundred and more persons
of both sexes, by the merits of that Albinus, through
the divine mercy and bounty; at
our Church have been cured. And not only
from the ailments of men, but
also in palfreys, horses and beasts of burden
the grace of curing and of soundness has been manifoldly
shown, by the testimony not only of ourselves,
but of many worthy of credence, and of the whole city
of Cologne and the surrounding country,
by a fair and true testimony can truthfully
be proved: concerning which it is worthy and
just, that the holy and undivided Trinity,
throughout the whole Christian world, for these
graces and benefits of his mercy be honored
and praised, that in our times such
and magnificent benefits of his mercy he should deign us
to receive. This we write to you with our seal,
to excite devotion in the faithful people
by preaching in your churches.
Given on the Vigil of Pentecost in the year of the Lord
one thousand three hundred and thirty.

[4] Thus far that diploma, according to whose reckoning
the body of St. Albinus would have been carried from Rome to Cologne
in the year 980. [The time of its reception from Rome.] There flourished
then Theophano the Empress, wife of Otto II,
who, dead about the year 983, his son Otto
III, a little child, helped both in administering the Empire,
and in the year 989, says Lambert
of Hersfeld, the Empress Theophania
went to Rome, and subjected all that region
to the King. And why should she not then from the Roman Pontiff
John XI have received that precious treasure of half
the body of St. Albinus, and in the year 911
have carried it to Cologne; in which year the sun was eclipsed on the 12th
day before the Kalends of November at the fifth hour of the day. This
I add: because, that eclipse being indicated, Thietmar writes
in book 4 of his Chronicle: In the following year, the course of her life being completed
in good works, at Nijmegen
the Empress Theophano falls sick, and
from this life on the 17th day before the Kalends of July departs,
buried by Everger, Archbishop of the holy Church of Cologne,
in the monastery of St. Pantaleon
(which, costs being given, Bruno the Archbishop
resting there ordered to be built), her son being present,
and bestowing much on these Brethren for the remedy
of his mother. All these things being thus discussed, we judge
that body of St. Albinus to have been brought by the said Empress
to the monastery of St. Pantaleon. But that
it is the body of St. Alban, carried by St. Germanus
to Rome, we cannot yet believe. Let us hear other
instruments.

[5] There is printed at Cologne in the year 1483,
and two years after reprinted at Louvain, a History of the Saints,
in which after the Life of St. Alban the Martyr, [And mention in the history printed in the year 1483.]
page 88, is recounted the Life of St. Alban who suffered in Britain;
and after the Acts of the martyrdom related from Bede, these things
are added: The body of this Alban was carried to Rome,
until Otto the third, still a little boy,
reigned with his mother. But she
obtained from the Pope the body of St. Alban, and prosperously
came to Mainz with it: where at that time
the Bishop honored both the body of St. Alban, and
the Empress herself, and because his
Saint Alban would be overshadowed by this St. Alban,
through the equivocation of the name (for each
was called Alban) he asked of the Empress that this
Saint, for distinction from the other, be named Albinus.
Then the Empress led Albinus to Cologne,
and in the place where he is now venerated,
deposited him, and prepared for herself a burial before the altar.
These things there, in which the change of the name
is added, of which in the former relation no mention
was made. The same change is asserted also in the Trier
manuscript of St. Maximin, where these things are added: But afterward,
when Litanies were solemnly celebrated with the Relics of the Saints
at Cologne, and
Leo the Apostolic at once and the Emperor Henry
with the Bishop of the same See Hermann
were present, this one of whom we treat,
we heard called by the Romans their own
Martyr Alban, and at Rome from the doorkeeper of the Apostolic
Church we learned the same about him. This is
St. Leo Pope the ninth, whose Acts we accurately discussed
on the day of his birth, the 19th of April, and we said
from Hermann Contractus, that in the year
1049 with the Emperor Henry he came to Cologne,
on the birthday of the Apostles Peter and Paul,
and it is added in the Acts, book 2, number 12, that he
granted to Hermann the Archbishop various privileges,
but without mention of the Litanies and Relics
of St. Albinus.

[6] There was printed a little book at Cologne in the year 1502 about
the conversion, passion, [A little book published in the year 1502,] and the coruscation of the miracles
of the renowned and glorious Protomartyr of England Alban,
whom in Germany and France they call Albinus,
and it was dedicated to Henry VII the King,
under this inscription:
To the most illustrious Prince, Lord Henry, most invincible King of England, France,
And Lord of Ireland, our ever most gracious Lord.
Most serene and greatest King, since now from
many times past in the city of Cologne
in our monastery of St. Pantaleon, sprung from Britain, [with a preface to the King of England:]
which now we call England,
in his native soil led even to martyrdom,
the blessed Protomartyr of England Alban,
is worshipped with renowned veneration, and by the pious
devotion of the people, both for the Relics of his sacred body,
and for the presence of his powers,
is frequented; just as, besides others,
many also distinguished men, from your Highness's
kingdom, Ecclesiastics and seculars,
both often before and lately, who happened to pass this way,
have beheld; it came into our mind, as many of
his life, miracles, translation, as by true
testimonies have become known to us, briefly to collect
and publish, that his name, as also his grace,
might be more widely diffused; and this very thing to your
Royal Highness with most obedient mind
to offer, that by his grace, leave and
permission, of which we have good hope, in your
kingdom it might be made common. For just as his martyrdom
and some other things from your writers, especially
the venerable Bede, we have learned; it will not seem absurd,
if, as it were returning thanks,
the things which from our own we have received, we should add to their writings:
that just as the one glorious soul of the Martyr in the heavens
suffered the Relics of his body
to be disjoined, on the other hand again one history
may connect into the minds of men all his
praise and glory, as far as
through us, his zealots, is permitted. Which by a happy and fortunate
man we do not doubt has happened to us, in the times of your reign,
most serene King: whose
religion toward God and the Saints is no less,
than in his rule his prudence and equity,
against enemies his felicity and fortitude. Let your
Highness therefore receive, most serene King,
from your humble and devout servants the connected history of this holy
Martyr Alban: that
to the things which in his fatherland are known, of what kind
and how great he is here (where he willed part of himself to be)
held, with pious mind your Highness
may learn. From Cologne. In the year of the Lord 1502
on the Ides of January.
To your Royal Highness most devoted; the Abbot
and Convent of the monastery of St. Pantaleon,
in Cologne Agrippina.

[7] Whether to this letter and the added little work
any answer, and what kind, was given,
nowhere appears. Meanwhile let the Reader observe
that he who hitherto has been called Albinus the Martyr, [by which it is indicated that the body was found by King Offa,]
in the already-said letter first began to be called Alban;
that so a somewhat more probable access to the English
or British Martyr might be given.
For the rest, the things which in the first § about the conversion and passion
are had in the said little work, we omit, already above
published from Bede. Then in the second §, the things which about the Finding
of his most sacred Body in England are had,
we have set forth in the Analecta from number 2 up
to the end of the first chapter, from the Life of King Offa, who
in the year 793 found it, after the Angelic revelation
made, and indeed (as in this little work
too is had) in these words: You will find the venerable
body of Blessed Alban, the Protomartyr of the English,
and you will build for him a monastery, placing his sacred
Relics venerably in a precious case.
But all things being performed, thus there
it is concluded: The King himself, offering gifts upon the altar of Blessed Alban,
to God and his Mother, most devoutly
supplicated, that the Church dedicated to the honor of St. Alban
might always receive a happy increase.

[8] Then in the following third §, in which the mystery
is contained, namely How the body of Blessed Alban
from England came to Rome: [carried to Rome 300 years earlier,] it is said that that
body, which in the year 743 in England by
King Offa was found, three hundred years earlier
(marvelous and paradoxical) by SS. Germanus of Auxerre
and Lupus of the cities of Troyes, Bishops,
was carried off, namely the Relics of the holy Martyr
Alban being received, when, going toward Rome,
they had reached Ravenna, by the Emperor Valentinian
they were honorably received. But St.
Germanus there migrating to Christ, the Relics of the aforesaid
Martyr by the venerable Queen
Placidia, namely the mother of Valentinian, with due
devotion carried to Rome, in greatest
veneration were held: until the monarchy
Otto the third obtained, who, his father dead,
with his mother Theophano administered the helm of the kingdom.
These things there. But the venerable
Bede in the Analecta, number 1, writes these things: Germanus
the Bishop, from the very place, where the blood of the blessed Martyr
had been shed, took away a mass of dust to carry with him,
in which it appeared, the blood being preserved, that
the slaughter of the Martyrs had reddened it:
others add that he carried such a mass to Auxerre, [but it is shown that it was left in England:]
in whose both church and diocese was celebrated
the feast of St. Alban and his Companions
the Martyrs, three lessons being taken from the relation
of the Venerable Bede, in whom Germanus is said
to have ordered the tomb of St. Alban to be opened up, and added
various Relics of the Saints, that those whom equal
in merits heaven had received, the hospitality
of one tomb he might hold. Which same things Constantius has
in the Life of St. Germanus on the 31st of July. Germanus therefore left
at Verulamium the body of St. Alban, afterward
raised and translated by King Offa; whose
bones all in the year 1123 Paris asserts were counted,
above number 27, as from those who had been present
he received, and there was lacking of the left shoulder-blade the bone
to the integrity of the rest of the body, which into Spain

(nay rather to Hesbaye) it is added to have been carried.

[9] It is asked therefore on what occasion especially
the Cologne monks of St. Pantaleon believed, [on what occasion the body of St. Alban the Briton is said to be at Cologne.]
that that body of St. Albinus which Theophano had brought from Rome,
was that same body of St. Alban which at Verulamium
in England was preserved. For an answer several things seem
able to be said; and first, that the elevation or translation
was perhaps made on this 22nd of June, and on that
day the annual solemnity was held, and consequently
it was the more easily believed that one and the same was the body of St. Albinus and
of St. Alban; or certainly by the common error of this
time, by which after Relics had been received from Rome a day is seized,
ascribed in the Roman Martyrology to a Saint of the same name, as in
this our work very often is shown. Then there had to be devised a reason,
by which such a body from England
had been carried to Rome, and therefore in the diploma
of the year 1330 above related, these Relics are said to have been
first by Blessed Germanus the Bishop from Britain
to the city of Rome translated. But
because from the Life of St. Germanus it is established that he did not come to Rome,
but only to Ravenna, and there breathed his last
day: therefore in the little book printed in the year 1502,
these Relics are said to have been by the Empress Placidia
from Ravenna to Rome carried. Now she at Rome
departed from life two years after the death of St. Germanus.
But with what certainty that could be asserted after a thousand and more
years, we do not yet comprehend.
Besides, where and in what place or Church there at Rome
it was deposited, and for five hundred and more
years preserved, will it be said? Let these be compared
with the English instruments, therefore with greater
diligence by us brought forward; and easily everyone
will judge that there was altogether one St. Alban Martyr
of Verulamium, and another St. Albinus Martyr
the Roman, whose glorious Body from the Roman
Pontiff received the Empress Theophano.

[10] Concerning the translation of this, while in the said little book
§ 4 it is treated, it is said that the Horse, bearer of the holy
spoils, in the highest Alps suddenly fell, [The body is said to have been preserved with the horse fallen in the Alps]
and rolled down headlong, halted at the roots of the mountain.
Which, when by the Empress and all
who were present with the greatest grief was sought, and
now was reckoned to have been broken to pieces, was found
sound and unharmed in the deep valleys,
even the shrines, in which the Relics of the holy man
were laid, being unharmed. There a Church in honor of St.
Alban built, with worthy honor his festivity
is now worshipped, and his martyrdom with renowned memory
is celebrated, which commonly is called Silymon.
These things there. Which also in the Trier manuscript
of St. Maximin are had. Then the § is about the change
of his name, made at Mainz at the instance
of the Archbishop, out of regard for the other St.
Alban, who rests and is worshipped at Mainz. But
about these in the first relation nothing is had and everywhere
he is called Albinus, which we also do.
The things which in the sixth § are narrated, are especially drawn from the foregoing
relation, and at last for a conclusion
it is asked what kind of Relics remained in England;
which thence above by Hermann Crombach
are reported, and from what has already been said are sufficiently refuted.

[11] The same Crombach, in volume 3 of the History of the three
Magi Kings, book 3, chapter 54, reports the Translation
of these Bodies made in the 14th century, and
the cases of the Relics of the city of Cologne then in a solemn
procession carried about, when the case of St.
Albinus, which is at St. Pantaleon's, the Aldermen
carried. [The Relics in a public Procession immovable.] But this case of St. Albinus when it came
to the White Virgins, could not be carried further,
nor be moved from that place; but again it had
to be carried back to the Church of St. Pantaleon, and
in place of St. Albinus is carried the case of St. Maurinus, Abbot
of the same monastery. To those Relics, while
they are carried about, there could now be added the Head of St. Sabaria,
which with some of her Relics, in a little bag
of more precious material, was found at Cologne, in the year
1690, under the high altar of the church of St. Pantaleon.
And on the little bag indeed was inscribed, "Relics of the glorious
Virgin Sabaria": but within another title
was found, where, in place of "Glorious," was put "B.," that
is, "Blessed." Asked what I thought about them, I answered,
that those found in such a place and manner, without doubt could
be worshipped as Saints, nor would it be ill, at the discretion of the Ordinary,
to assign to her worship a special day, whenever
it might please to institute some solemn
elevation or translation of them. If there were added
the title of Martyr it could be presumed to be one
of the Companions of St. Ursula: but since it is lacking, it would be a rash
conjecture. Meanwhile I wished here to make mention of her,
because no fitter place in this work
occurs, to excite by this commemoration the diligence
of those whom it concerns.
