Hymn to St. Gennaro, Bishop and Martyr
Lokrantz identifies this meter as Minor sapphic.
The Gennaro venerated by Peter Damian is the famous bishop of Benevento to whom a Benedictine abbey in the Arezzo Valdarno was dedicated: S. Gennaro in Campolona.
Januarius was born in Benevento to a rich patrician family. At a young age of 15, he became the local priest of his parish in Benevento, which at the time was relatively pagan. When Januarius was 20, he became Bishop of Naples and befriended Juliana of Nicomedia and Saint Sossius whom he met during his priestly studies. During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, he hid his fellow Christians. Unfortunately, while visiting Sossius in jail, he too was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the Flavian Amphitheater at Pozzuoli, but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbances, and they were instead beheaded at the Solfatara crater near Pozzuoli. Other legends state either that the wild beasts refused to eat them, or that he was thrown into a furnace but came out unscathed.
Damian considered the city of Arezzo as the sanctuary of Tuscany, because it preserved the relics of seven martyrs, including those of Gennaro. The abbey of S. Gennaro in Campo Leonis, founded in 972 by the Marquis of Tuscany Ugo and his wife Giuditta, was protected by various emperors: Otto III in 997, Corrado II in 1026 and Arrigo III in 1047. The relics of the saint from Benevento have had a troubled history: in 831 the prince of Benevento, Sicon, laid siege to Naples and stole the bones of the martyr, transferring them to his city, where they were placed in the church of S. Maria in Gerusalemme. In 1154, under the reign of William 1, the relics changed location once again, transferred to the Montevergine Abbey. In the first half of the 9th century the martyr’s body was transported from a Byzantine city, Naples, to a Lombard one: Benevento. Arezzo was a Lombard city and, not infrequently in the Middle Ages, the spread of a saint’s cult followed the tracks of political events. In 997 some monks arrived in Arezzo who had left the Cassino archicenobium in conflict with the abbot Mansone. The Duke of Tuscany Ugo welcomed them and entrusted them with the monastery of Campoleone. It may be that this fact is at the origin of the belief that the relics of San Gennaro were preserved in Arezzo as Damian believed, either because they were brought by the Cassinesi exiles, or because they were already previously present in Arezzo.
The Feast of San Gennaro is celebrated on 19 September, a highlight of the year for New York’s Little Italy. His blood is preserved in the church at Naples and is said to liquefy three times a year.
Peter Damian knew the many medieval writings of hagiography and liturgy, relating to the Campanian martyr, as can be clearly seen from some of the details on which the hymns insist: the furnace, the wild beasts become tame, the judge who becomes blind, details cited by the Vatican Acts themselves. Damian believed that the relics of seven martyrs were preserved in Arezzo: Bishop Donato and the hermit Liariano, the virgins Flora and Lucilla, the brothers Lamentino and Pergentino and even Gennaro, the very famous bishop of Benevento.
Hymnus Sancti Ianuarii Episcopi et Martyris (60)
Hymn to St. Gennaro, Bishop and Martyr
1.
Clare famosi titulis triumphi,
Raptor aeterni violente regni,
Sit tuis per te via, Ianuari,
Ianua caeli.
Bright one, honored for your glorious triumph
Impetuous conquerer of the eternal kingdom
Gennaro, door to heaven, may the way for your people
Be through you.
2.
Funde pro nostris pia vota noxis,
Ut Dei iusta reprimatur ira,
Reddat amissam merito coronam
Gratia Christi.
Pour forth dutiful prayers for our sins,
So that the just anger of God is checked,
May the grace of Christ give deservedly back to you
The lost crown.
3.
Te queunt nullae superare poenae.
Membra discerptis patuere nervis,
Carcerum taetrae cohibent tenebrae
Sidus Olympi.
No punishments can conquer you.
Your limbs lay open with mangled sinews,
The foul darkness of your prison contains
The star of Olympus.
4.
Flamma succensi triduo camini
Cessit ingenti fidei calori;
Dum vapor carnis furit, inde mentis
Aestuat ignis.
The Flame of the furnace burning for three days
Yielded to the powerful heat of faith;
While the smoke of flesh rages, the fire of the mind
Is burning because of it.
5.
Senserat frenum rabies ferarum,
Praepes ut sacros laniaret artus; verbal hyperbaton
Belvae blandos imitantur agnos
Vertice prono.
The wrath of the beasts competing in order to
Mangle his sacred limbs felt the restraining bridle;
The wild beasts are as white lambs
With heads bowing.
6.
Terminus longae datur ense pugnae
Flante felicem iugulo cruorem.
Splendidus rubra rutilante stola
Tendis ad astra.
The end to the long fight is granted by the sword
Blasting his blessed blood from his neck
You splendid with your red robe
Are headed for the stars.
7.
Laus honor patri parilique proli…
Praise (and) honor to the father and similarly to the son…
ad Nocturnum (61)
at Nocturnes
1.
Caelum, tellus ac maria,
Mellita promant carmina;
His nempe dignus laubibus
Est praesul Ianuarius.
May Heaven, earth, and seas,
Bring forth sweet songs;
Certainly worthy of these praises
Is our Bishop Gennaro.
2.
Hic martyr invictissimus
Divinis fultus viribus
Minas contemnit principum,
Manus nescit carnificum.
This most unconquerable martyr
Propped up by divine powers
Despises the threats of princes,
He is unaware of the hands of the executioners.
3.
Laetus adit supplicia
Ieiunus ut convivia.
Nova poenarum genera
Mens transit imperterrita.
Happily he approaches torture
As the hungry person approaches the banquet.
His undaunted mind endures
New kinds of punishment.
4.
Praeses, quem iniquissimus
Corde caecarat spiritus,
Carnis etiam lumine
Deo privatur iudice.
The governor, whom a most evil
Spirit had blinded in his heart,
With God as judge he Is deprived
Also of his once seeing eyes.
5.
Cui martyr ut egregius
Fusis medetur praecibus,
Multi tenebras deserunt,
Ad verum lumen redeunt.
And he the outstanding martyr
Heals with prostrate prayers,
Many abandon the darkness,
They return to the true light.
6.
Gloria sit ingenito…
Let there be glory to the unbegotten…
in Laudibus (62)
at Lauds
1.
Lux alma sacri martyris
Orbem perfundit radiis,
Qua purpuratus fulgidam
Caeli conscendit curiam.
The nourishing light of the holy martyr
Bathes the world with its rays,
Having been made royal he ascends to
The brilliant court of heaven.
2.
Abiecto carnis onere
Stolam suscepit gloriae,
Prostrato mundi principe
Palmam refert iustitiae.
With the burden of the flesh thrown away
He took up the robe of glory.
With the prince of the world lying prostrate
He bears restores the palm of justice.
3.
Gaude, felix Arretium,
Tantorum aula principum!
Donatum, decus martyrum,
Claudis et Ianuarium.
Rejoice, happy Arezzo,
Palace of such great princes!
You contain Donatus, pride of martyrs,
And Gennaro as well.
4.
Ut frons duorum luminum,
Lucerna, fulges, urbium.
Caelo sanctorum merita
Beata tollunt moenia.
You, the light of all cities, shine bright
As the sparkling of two eyes
The merits of the saints
Remove the blessed walls of heaven.
5.
Te, martyr alme, petimus
Mentis orisque precibus,
Ut tua solvant merita,
Quos sua ligant debita.
We ask you, nourishing martyr
With mental and verbal prayers
That your merits may release,
Those whom their own debts bind.
6.
Sit patri laus ingenito…
Let there be praise to the unbegotten…
De Sancto Ianuario (63)
Concerning St. Gennaro
1.
Auratis Deum citharis laudet et in cymbalis
Cum Tuscia, Italia, nobili monarchia,
Sanctorum domicilium quam sacrat Arretium.
Let him praise God with golden lutes and cymbals
With Tuscany, Italy, the noble monarchy,
Which Arrezo, home of saints, consecrates.
2.
In qua lucerna praesulum, via, forma, speculum,
Donatus martyr inclutam obtinet basilicam;
Servat et Ianuarium, caeli sidus aureum.
In it, the martyr Donatus, the light of church-leaders, the way, the glory, the mirror
Takes hold of the famous church;
It preserves also Gennaro, golden star of heaven.
3.
Quem non humana studia, non linguae facundia
Digne valet extollere pro merito gloriae;
Nam quae perferre potuit, quis referre poterit?
No human endeavors, no eloquence of language
Can fittingly exalt him in accordance with the merits of his glory;
For who will be able able to report, what he was able to bear?
4.
Caminus per continuum vaporatur triduum,
Ut, quo crematur longius, cremet post velocius;
Hunc martyr dum ingreditur, nec capillus laeditur.
A furnace is smoking for three days uninterrupted,
So that the longer he burns, the faster he destroys our sins afterward;
While the martyr enters into the furnace, even one hair is not injured.
5.
Solante mox angelico gaudet contubernio;
Dum globi strident ignei, crescit ardor fidei;
Sic flamma desiderii perit vis incendii.
Soon, because an angelic companion is giving him solace, he rejoices;
While globes of fire hiss, the blaze of faith grows;
Thus the flame of desire, namely the power of fire, dies down.
6.
Victor ab igne trahitur, ad tribunal rapitur;
Consulitur, impetitur: eadem vox redditur,
Nam fixa super stabilem domus viget lapidem.
The victor is dragged from the fire, he is seized to the tribunal;
He is sentenced, he is attacked; the same utterance is returned,
For the house placed over stable rock is strong.
7.
Dum caro poenis cingitur, mens in astra figitur;
Tormenta reddunt levia visa illic praemia;
Sic poenas mille mortium dulce credit otium.
While the flesh is surrounded by punishments, the soul is fixed in the stars,
The rewards seen there render the tortures light
Thus he considers the thousand punishments of death sweet repose.
8.
Saevae manus carnificum nervos vellunt viscerum,
Compages laxa solvitur, postquam nexus tollitur;
Fit per diversos exitus multiplex interitus.
The cruel hands of the torturers pluck out the sinews of his guts,
The loose joint is being undone, after the tendon is removed;
The multiifold death happens through different ways.
9.
Hinc traditur ferocibus beluarum morsibus,
Ferae sed indomabilem deponentes rabiem
Dimissa colla caelitus sacris flectunt precibus.
Next he is handed over to the ferocious biting of wild beasts,
But the beasts, putting aside their indomitable madness,
They hang down their necks in shame, while raising sacred prayers to the skies.
10.
O lucifer Hesperiae, o decus ecclesiae,
Quis tua possit omnia promere praeconia?
Nos hoc implere nitimur sed gaudendo vincimur.
O morning star of the west, O pride of the church,
Who would be able to express adequately all your proclamations?
What herald could express your all?
We strive to live up to them, but we are also overwhelmed by joy.
11.
Te pronis ergo mentibus supplicantes petimus:
Nos culpae nostrae debitis tuis solve meritis
Et electorum coetibus sacris iunge precibus.
We beg you, pleading with humble minds:
Release us from the burdens of our sin through your merits
Join us with the company of the elect by your holy prayers
12.
Sit patri laus ingenito, eius unigenito,
Sit utriusque parili decus omne flamini,
Cuius una potentia cuncta regis saecula.
May there be praise to the unbegotten father, and his only begotten,
And may there be similar honor to the holy ghost equal to both
By whose one power you rule throughout all ages.
