Saint Mark the Evangelist

The first, Saint Mackallée, was a bishop in the land of Hi-Flaigis. This is an ancient name. Hi-Flaigis is thought to be Lagéole or Leinster, in the county of Mouth. It was from the hands of Saint Mackallée that Saint Brigid received the veil. According to the Bollandists, he died in 456.

The second, Saint Maughold, was initially a prince of the land who collected his contributions in the manner of brigands. The preachings of Saint Patrick displeased him greatly, as well as his men. The death of the Apostle was resolved in a council held by the band. "Here is how we must proceed," said one of their orators: "Let one of us place himself alive in a coffin: we will go to meet the impostor and beg him to resurrect the supposed dead man. At the moment when the miracle-worker begins to mutter his incantations, the so-called dead man will rise and that will be the signal for the blows of the stick under which we will overwhelm him." What was said was done. They waited for the holy man on the path. But what was the astonishment, the terror of the murderers, when, upon uncovering their comrade, they found him truly dead, he who was previously full of life. At this sight, Maughold and his men were converted. As penance, Saint Patrick imposed upon the former chief of brigands to leave his homeland, the theater of so many crimes, and to entrust himself to the mercy of the waves, God being tasked with carrying him toward the place he was to inhabit. His skiff landed on t he Isle of île de Man Place of apostolate of Saint Maughold. Man, famous for the mysteries of the druids, but already then enlightened by the lights of the Gospel by two holy Bishops, under whose guidance Maughold placed himself and to whom he succeeded in the pastoral functions when the last of them had died. The A.A. S.S. place the beginning of the episcopate of Saint Maughold in 430.

The two bishops who were evangelizing the Isle of Man when Saint Maughold arrived there were Conindrice and Romulus, sent by Saint Patrick. But they had been preceded there by Saint Germanus, another disciple of Saint Patrick, who has always been considered the apostle of the island: the cathedral of Peel Castle is dedicated under his name. To return to Saint Maughold, one can still see, on the Isle of Man, a mountain where he first came as a hermit, and which has been called by his name, Saint-Maughald. A church also bears his name, where his relics were preserved until the so-called Reformation.

and of the whole world. Finally, through Mark, his interpreter and disciple, he founded the Church of Alexandria. These are the very words of Eusebius: "Peter," says the historian of the 4th century, "also established the churches of Egypt, with that of Alexandria, not in person, but through Mark, his disciple. For he himself was occupied during this time with Italy and the surrounding nations; he therefore sent Mark, his disciple, destined to become the doctor and conqueror of Egypt." This is why the Churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria will remain the first after the mother Church and mistress of all others: they will form as many rays of the apostolic primacy, the fullness of which is concentrated in the See of Rome.

There is every reason to believe that before the arrival of Saint Mark, some seeds of Christianity had already been sown in Alexandria. Saint Luke cites among the Jews present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, inhabitants of Egypt and the territory of Libya near Cyrene: upon returning to their country, these men, still moved by the wonders of the apostolic preaching, could not fail to report what they had seen and heard. Despite the few relations that existed between the Jews of Palestine and those of Egypt, it would be difficult to understand how the great events accomplished in Jerusalem would not have found an echo among the latter. But these were only foundation stones that needed to be gathered and shaped with care to serve as the basis for a durable and regular edifice.

Saint Mark was a Hebrew by origin: his style, filled with Hebraisms, Saint Marc Author of the second Gospel, disciple of Saint Peter, and founder of the Church of Alexandria. does not allow one to doubt it. The Venerable Bede, who states this according to tradition, adds that he was of the priestly race of Aaron. A work attributed to Saint Jerome says the same. The Jews and Pagans of Alexandria called him the Galilean; which would suggest that he could have been from the province of Galilee, the homeland of Saint Peter, of whom he was the interpreter and companion.

Several ancient and modern authors say that Saint Mark was among the illustrious number of the seventy-two Disciples of Jesus, and that he shone among them by his faith and ardor, like a splendid star among the innumerable stars of the celestial militia. However, this bright light was momentarily eclipsed, according to what Saint Epiphanius reports; this Father says, in effect, that he was one of the seventy-two Disciples who were scandalized with the Capharnaites because, in his Discourse on the Eucharist, Our Lord had said: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you"; that he withdrew with many others; but that Saint Peter converted him and brought him back to Jesus Christ after the Resurrect ion. This is saint Pierre Apostle and first pope, mentioned as the father of Petronilla. , without doubt, one of the reasons that led Saint Mark to attach himself thereafter more particularly to Saint Peter. This Apostle calls him his son in his first epistle: "The Church that is in Babylon (that is to say in Rome)," he says to the Churches of the East, "and my son Mark salute you." This Disciple, by following Saint Peter in his apostolic journeys, served as his interpreter, as several holy Fathers teach us. They are nevertheless divided on this title of interpreter. According to some, one must understand by this that he gave form and style to the epistles of the Apostle. According to others, this function consisted of rendering in Greek or Latin what Saint Peter said in his own language. Or else it consisted of explaining in private to the believers what Saint Peter had taught to all in a general manner, which required different explanations and interpretations. This is, at least, what the Acts of his apostolate of Aquileia suggest, where one sees that the disciples and listeners of Saint Peter come to find Saint Mark for this purpose, as for another motive of which we will speak hereafter.

When Saint Peter, delivered from Herod's prison around the year 42, went to Rome, Saint Mark accompanied him. He worked with the Prince of the Apostles to sow the good seed of the word of truth in a city that, until then, had been the citadel of error. An immense multitude of the faithful could not get enough of hearing the word of life; they flocked to hear Saint Peter, whose doctrine flooded all minds with light. It was not enough for them to hear it with avidity; they came to find his disciple Mark, whom they begged insistently to set forth the preaching of his master once more, and to transcribe it for them, even in writing, so that they might thus make it the perpetual object of their meditations day and night. Such just wishes were granted.

In the meantime, Saint Peter sent Saint Mark to preach the Gospel in Aquileia, a city then very considerable and very fa mous. T Aquilée Place where Diocletian began the mentioned persecutions. he Disciple acquitted himself of his apostolate with great zeal and great success; an innumerable multitude embraced the faith and formed from then on a Church very remarkable for its religious knowledge as well as for the firmness of its faith. It was there, as is reported in his Acts, that, seeing the happy avidity of the believers for the word of God, he finished or transcribed the writing of his Gospel, in which he gave in summa ry the facts son Évangile Account of the life of Jesus written by Mark based on the preaching of Peter. contained in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, but sometimes adding very important things. It is said that the love Saint Peter showed for silence had taught him this conciseness and brevity. According to Saint Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Origen, he put into writing the things that Saint Peter was accustomed to preach; which the Romans had begged him to write down for their use. This is why, according to the remark of Saint Chrysostom, he does not report what the Savior said to the advantage of the Prince of the Apostles when he had solemnly recognized him as the Christ and the Son of God: he does not speak of the circumstance where he walked on the waters. But he recounts his denial with much extent and detail. Out of humility, the holy Apostle suppressed in his preaching everything that was advantageous and honorable to him. He published with the sentiments of the liveliest compunction the crime he had committed in renouncing his divine Master. He also reports traits that Saint Matthew had not mentioned, such as the praise of that poor widow who put two small coins into the temple treasury, and the appearance of Jesus to the two Disciples who were going to Emmaus.

Eusebius and Saint Jerome say that Saint Peter learned by the revelation of the Spirit of God that Saint Mark had written his Gospel, and was filled with joy to see the zeal that the Christians had shown for the word of truth. He approved this work, and, by his authority, established its use in the Church. It is for this reason, says Baronius, that some have attributed it to him, as we see in Tertullian and in Saint Jerome; or rather, as Tertullian himself observes, it is because what is brought to light by the Disciples is easily attributed to the Master. One even reads in a work that bears the name of Saint Athanasius that this book contains only the words of Saint Peter. — This Gospel has been generally received and recognized as authentic throughout the Catholic Church, and even commonly among heretical societies.

The ancient patriarchal see of Aquileia has always been very illustrious in the Church, and considered as one of the most powerful, the most extensive, and the highest in dignity, as dating back to apostolic times, and as having been founded by the Evangelist Saint Mark.

Andrea Dandolo, Duke of Venice, in his *Chronicles*, assures that Saint Mark, arriving in one of the suburbs of Aquileia, called *Muretana*, where later a church was built in memory of this event, announced the word of God to the people, confirmed it by wonders, and thus converted an innumerable crowd of inhabitants. One is cited among several others. A young man named Arnulph, son of Ulphus, was covered with leprosy, and lived retired in the suburb of Aquileia; Saint Mark healed him and restored him to perfect health. At the sight of this wonder, Ulphus converted and received baptism with his whole family.

The Acts cited above report that the city of Aquileia showed itself so happy and so flattered to have been honored by the visit and the preaching of such an Apostle of the Son of God, that it built him an ivory chair, where he sat for some time, and particularly during the time he was writing his Gospel. This chair, where none of the Pontiffs, his successors, has dared to sit since, has been preserved to our days, and is still shown today in Italy.

Among the faithful of Aquileia, there was one named Hermagoras, who, in a short time, attained such great perfection that the holy Evangelist, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, foresaw immediately that he would be worthy to occupy the summit of the priesthood. He took him to accompany him on his return to Rome. He then brought him into the presence of the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles. The first pastor of the Church invested him with the priestly character and power, raised him to the pontifical dignity, and entrusted him with the government of the Church of Aquileia. It was in this city that he received the crown of martyrdom, on July 12, with Fortunatus, his deacon, and that he went to enjoy, near Jesus Christ, the Prince of Pastors, the eternal beatitude of the heavenly kingdom.

When Saint Mark had accomplished the purpose of his journey in Italy, he received from the Prince of the Apostles the command to go and preach in Africa, and from there to Alexandria, the capital of Egypt and the South, in order to establish there a principal church in the name of the Head of Christendom. This is attested to by the Acts of Saint Mark, the decrees of Pope Gelasius, as well as the entire tradition of antiquity.

The holy Evangelist landed near Cyrene, in the Pentapolis. He announced the advent of Christ and His Gospel in these vast African regions, in Libya, in Marmarica (today the kingdom of Barca), in the land of the Ammonites, in the Thebaid, in Cyrenaica, in Nubia, a part of Ethiopia, in all of Egypt, and in the neighboring and bordering regions. Having brought his Gospel there, he converted an innumerable multitude of pagans; these miserable slaves of idols, or rather of demons, gave themselves over in their profane temples to all sorts of sins, impurities, and abominations. The enemy power that Our Lord Jesus Christ came to fight and destroy at His advent on earth led them to eat meats sacrificed to idols, and to commit every kind of crime. Saint Mark, arriving in their midst and armed with the divine word, healed the sick and the infirm, cleansed the lepers, and cast out a great number of evil spirits. The spectacle of so many miracles that the grace of Jesus Christ Our Lord worked through His Apostle led the Africans to believe in the Son of God. Consequently, they destroyed their temples of idols. With axe in hand, they cut down their sacred groves, and, having thus given a striking proof of their conversion to the true God, they were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

From then on, the Gospel of this holy disciple of Jesus Christ spread throughout the African provinces of Tripoli, Cyrene, the Pentapolis, the Thebaid, and Egypt, countries then flourishing through commerce, industry, the fertility of the soil, and through Roman science and civilization. These countries continued to enjoy the benefits of Christianity for seven to eight centuries of inviolable attachment to the faith of Christ. Finally, they fell back into barbarism after heresy and paganism had regained dominion in these immense regions. Today, now that the faith is extinguished there, one sees everywhere only heaps of bare and abandoned mountains, and sterile and almost deserted valleys. — Manifestly, life has withdrawn from them along with Christianity.

After having preached for about twelve years in various parts of Libya, in the Pentapolitan regions, in Marmarica, and in Ammonia, he resolved to carry the torch of the Gospel into the Thebaid and Egypt, according to the revelation he had received from the Holy Spirit. Like an intrepid athlete, the blessed Evangelist Saint Mark set out with great promptness to go and wage new battles against the gods of paganism. He bade farewell to the faithful of Africa and said to them: The Lord has spoken to me and has given me the command to leave for Alexandria. The faithful led him to the ship, and after having e aten bread Alexandrie Place of refuge and study during the persecution. (the Eucharist) with him, they left him, saying: May the Lord Jesus Christ make your journey happy! The holy Evangelist prayed to God to preserve his brothers and to strengthen them in the faith until he returned to visit them. Then he left for Alexandria, where he arrived in two days, in the seventh year of the reign of Nero (begun in the year 60 in the month of October). Having disembarked from the ship, he arrived at a place called Bennide, at the entrance to the city. At the moment he entered it, his shoe broke. At this sight, the Saint, enlightened from above, said: My walk will henceforth be freer. He immediately noticed a man who was working as a cobbler; he gave him his shoe to mend. While the latter was busy with this work, he made a large wound in his hand and cried out in pain: UNUS DEUS! Ha, my God! (For all the corruption of idolatry has never been able to prevent, in unforeseen occasions where natural movements appear better, the soul of even pagans from appearing Christian, says Tertullian, by recognizing one God and addressing only Him.) Thus this word gave joy to Saint Mark and made him hope that God would assist him in this encounter. Indeed, he said, God has made my journey happy. Then, addressing Anianus, the cobbler, he spoke to him of this unique God whom he had invoked, as well as of Jesus Christ, by whose power he gave him hope of healing him. At the same time, he mad e a lit Anianus Shoemaker of Alexandria, first convert and successor to Saint Mark. tle mud with his saliva, put it on the wound, and invoked the name of the Savior, saying: In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God, may your hand receive healing.

And at that same instant, the hand of Anianus was healed. The cobbler, struck at the sight of the power of this man and the prodigious efficacy of his word, considering moreover the mortified exterior of the Saint, said to him: I conjure you, O man of God, to deign to come down into the house of your servant to take your refreshment; for today you have made me experience the effects of your goodness. The face of the blessed Mark appeared joyful: May the Lord, he said to him, give you the bread of life descended from heaven! At the same time, Anianus compelled him with double violence to enter his home.

When Saint Mark entered the house, he said: May the blessing of the Lord be here! Let us pray, my brothers. All those who accompanied him then began to pray. After they had given thanks to the Lord, Anianus said to the Apostle: I wish to know where you are from, and from whom comes this powerful word of life of which you have spoken to us. Mark answered him: I am the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I would be very desirous to see him, replied the man of Alexandria. I will make you see him, replied Saint Mark. He immediately began to make known to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to show him how the oracles of the Prophets had been fulfilled in Jesus. As for me, replied the host of Alexandria, I have never heard of the Scriptures of which you speak to us; I only know the Iliad and the Odyssey: these two poems take the place of all science in the eyes of the Egyptians. Then Saint Mark began to announce Jesus Christ clearly to him and to show him, likewise, that all this science, that all this (Homeric and profane) philosophy is but folly in the eyes of God.

After having listened attentively to the doctrine of the blessed Mark and having considered the miraculous signs and the striking wonders that he performed, the man of Alexandria believed in God and was baptized with all his family and with a great crowd of people from the same place (the city).

In the whole universe, there was no country more given over than Egypt to the superstitions of paganism. Throughout antiquity, Egypt had been the seat of the empire of Satan, the principal center of idolatrous worship. But the times of blessing predicted by the prophets had finally arrived; and Saint Mark was the instrument that God used to verify the predictions of his servants. In a short time, he formed a very numerous Church in Alexandria; and soon the number of Christians there multiplied in a prodigious manner. And Saint Mark, as Eusebius reports, established several churches in Alexandria, that is to say, he divided the city into districts or parishes, according to our way of speaking: ordering that the Christians of each district should assemble in a determined place, under the direction of a priest who would be in charge of it, to receive the sacraments and hear the word of God there. This distribution of the parishes of Alexandria was preserved and observed at the beginning of the 4th century, as Saint Epiphanius reports. In most other cities, all the people gathered in one and the same place, under the presidency of the bishop.

The progress of Christianity in Alexandria, in the neighboring cities, and throughout all of Egypt was so astonishing; the number of Egyptians and Africans converted was so considerable, even in the time of Saint Mark, that one can say that this holy Evangelist literally and almost completely fulfilled the ancient oracles of the Prophets, who had announced the conversion to the Messiah of these rich and flourishing lands.

But the infernal powers could not bear the sight of the destruction of their reign in Egypt without offering the most vigorous resistance to the one who was so powerfully breaking their forces. They stirred up the souls of those who, in Alexandria, remained attached to their idols: they raised them tumultuously against the man of God. "The pagans of the city," it is written in the Acts of Saint Mark, "at the sight of the multitude of those who believed in the true God, burst into murmurs against this Galilean who had come to Alexandria to ruin the sacrifices of the gods, to prevent their ceremonies and their solemnities. They therefore sought the occasion and the means to put him to death, and they set many traps for him."

Now, the blessed Mark, knowing the design of these pagans, believed he should withdraw for a time. Before his departure, he ordained Saint Anianus as bishop of Alexandria, and with him three priests, namely: Melius, Sabinus, and Cerdon, and seven deacons, then eleven other priests to remain with the patriarch Anianus: from this number, one would one day be taken to succeed the deceased patriarch.

This accomplished, the holy Evangelist took the road to the Pentapolis, and arrived, adds Eutychius, at Barca, the principal city of this African province. According to Eusebius, it was the eighth year of Nero, and the sixty-second of Jesus Christ. Saint Mark remained for another two years in the Pentapolis; he confirmed the faithful whom he had left there before going to Egypt, and he established bishops and other ministers in these various countries of Africa. Then he returned to Egypt.

Upon his return to Alexandria, the holy Evangelist had the joy of finding the faithful increased in faith and grace, as well as in number. They had built a church or place of assembly in a spot called Bucoles, located near the seashore. Filled with joy at the sight of the great progress of Christianity, he knelt down and gave glory to God. He encouraged the Christians to persevere; he prayed for them, then he withdrew. The author of the Oriental Chronicle says that he left for Rome, and that he was present there at the martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

He returned from Rome to Egypt and to Alexandria, where he saw that the churches were multiplying more and more and becoming more flourishing every day.

But the pagans could no longer suffer the great miracles that God worked through him, nor bear any longer the mockery that the Christians made of them regarding their idols, which had become manifestly powerless before the miraculous virtue of the holy Apostle. Saint Mark cast out these false divinities from the places where they had been worshipped for so long: he restored hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, and health to the sick. At the sight of so many wonders, the Gentiles cried out that he was a magician. They sought to seize his person, without being able to find the means to execute their desire. Thus they trembled with envy and rage; and in the midst of their public spectacles, feasts, and the festivals of their idols, they cried out: — How great is the power of this man! God willed that they should not be able to discover him, and that his servant should still administer this church for some time. But his hour had finally arrived. Therefore, on a Sunday, when the Christians were celebrating their great feast of Easter, and the pagans the feast of their god Serapis, the twentieth day of the month of Pharmuthi, the eighth day before the Kalends of May, that is to say, April 24 of the year 68, the pagans gathered and sent some men to seize the person of the Apostle: these men found him at the very moment he was celebrating the prayer of the oblation and the sacrifice. They seized him, put a rope around his neck, and dragged him, crying: — Let us drag this buffalo to Bucoles! (This was a place full of rocks and precipices, situated on the coast and intended for grazing oxen.)

While they were dragging him thus from morning until evening, and covering the earth and the stones with his blood and the pieces of flesh that were torn from his body, Saint Mark blessed God and gave Him thanks that He had deemed him worthy to suffer for His holy name. When evening arrived, they put him in a prison, while waiting to deliberate and decide on the manner of death they would make him suffer.

Towards the middle of the night, the doors being closed and the guards being asleep before the doors of the prison, there was a great earthquake. The angel of the Lord had just descended from heaven. He touched Saint Mark, saying to him: — Mark, servant of God and chief of the ministers of Christ, who make known to Egypt the most holy decrees of God, your name is recorded in heaven in the book of life, and your memory will never perish in this world. You are associated with the heavenly powers; they will lead your soul into the heavens, where you will enter into participation of the eternal rest and the imperishable light of the kingdom of God.

This vision consoled the blessed Mark. He raised his hands toward heaven and said: — I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, that you have not abandoned me and that you have counted me among the number of your Saints. I conjure you, O Lord Jesus Christ, receive my soul in your peace, and do not permit that I ever be separated from you, O Savior full of grace and mercy.

When he had finished this prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in the same form and with the same appearance that he had during his mortal life, when he was with his disciples, before his Passion. Saint Mark, who was of the number of his seventy-two first disciples, recognized him immediately. The Lord said to him: — Peace be with you, Mark, our Evangelist! — My Lord Jesus Christ, replied the Martyr. And Jesus disappeared. The next morning, the pagans gathered, took him out of the prison, put a rope around his neck a second time, and dragged him as on the previous day, saying: — Drag the buffalo to Bucoles! Saint Mark, while they were dragging him in this way, thanked God, and at the same time implored his great mercy: — Lord, he said, I commit my spirit into your hands. And in pronouncing these words, the blessed Evangelist gave up his spirit.

He consummated his martyrdom on the twenty-fifth day of April of the year 68 of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is on this day that the Latin Church and the Greek Church, as well as the Egyptians and the Syrians, celebrate his feast.

Everyone knows that the principal attribute of Saint Mark is the lion, because he begins his Gospel with the account of the preaching of Saint John in the desert. Most often, this lion is winged, because in the language of Scripture and the thought of the liturgy, animals are only mystical, incorporeal symbols. In his capacity as an inspired writer as well as secretary to Saint Peter, a quill is placed in the hand of Saint Mark and a book before him. This quality of secretary to Saint Peter caused him to be chosen as patron by notaries and clerks. Glassmakers and glaziers made the same choice, probably because the glass industry flourished especially in Venice and its possessions. Now, everyone knows that Venice was placed under the protection of this Evangelist, and that even today one says to designate a beautiful piece of glass: Venetian glass.

He is invoked against final impenitence and the itch. The miracle performed by Saint Mark on Saint Anianus could also explain why professions that expose one to cuts have chosen the Evangelist as their patron.

## RELICS OF SAINT MARK; — HIS GOSPEL; — HIS SUCCESSORS.

The pagans were not satisfied after having taken his life. They undertook, moreover, to burn his body in a place called the Messengers, or the Angels! They therefore dragged him from Bucoles to this place. But, by a marvelous effect of the Providence of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, a violent wind arose, followed by a great storm, which hid the light of the sun from men, caused lightning to strike, and poured such torrents of rain upon the place that several dwellings collapsed and several people perished in the fire. Seized with fear, those who were guarding the sacred body then abandoned it and took flight. Others turned the matter into derision and said: "Our god Serapis, on the day of his feast, wanted to see this man."

Then religious men gathered the inanimate body of the Just one, and transported it to the place called Bucoles, where they were accustomed to assemble to pray with him, and buried him in that place, on the side of the Orient, in a place dug into the rock, near a valley where there were several tombs. It is noted that they buried him there with the ceremonies of the country, adding prayer and other funeral honors.

The body of Saint Mark was still preserved and venerated in Alexandria in the 8th century, although the city was then under the domination of the Mahometans. It rested there in the earth under a marble tomb, before the altar of a church that was found on the right upon entering the city from the land side, outside the Eastern gate. There was a monastery there, which still existed with the church in 870. Around the year 815, under the empire of Leo the Armenian, the body of the Saint was removed from it and transported to Venice. The Bollandists give us a history of this translation. One sees there several m iracle Venise Final location of the transfer of relics in 1200. s performed by the power of the mediation of Saint Mark, sailors delivered from a shipwreck, the sacred body casting rays of light from the middle of the ship and thus manifesting itself to those who were ignorant of the crew's secret, the incredulous punished, and the possessed delivered from the attacks of evil spirits.

Cardinal Baronius, after having reported the account of the translation of the body of Saint Mark, adds that the Venetians had placed it in a completely secret place, so that the French, or other peoples, would not come to take it from their city.

Since 1837, it has rested under the high altar of the church that bears his name and which is the principal one of Venice. This city has chosen Saint Mark as its principal patron; it has in its arms a lion with these words: *Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus*, that is to say, Mark, my Evangelist, may peace be with you!

It is generally believed that Saint Mark wrote his Gospel in Greek. A Latin translation is preserved in the treasury of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, a very ancient manuscript that has become completely useless due to its deterioration.

A multitude of questions are raised regarding this manuscript. Is it Saint Mark's original? Is it in Greek or Latin? etc. Instead of resolving them with Mabillon, Montfaucon, or Scipione Maffei, we thought it more expeditious to address the curator of the treasury of St. Mark directly. Here is the English translation of his response written in Italian:

Exact information on the copy of the Gospel of Saint Mark, preserved in the treasury of St. Mark's Basilica, in Venice.

This copy truly exists and includes the first five quires of the Gospel of Saint Mark; the last two, detached from this copy, are kept in the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague.

It is a mistake to believe this copy was written by the hand of the evangelist Saint Mark; it is only a copy estimated to be from the 6th century.

It is written in Latin and in uncial letters.

It is so deteriorated by humidity that the parchment on which it is written is reduced to a kind of paste: a single leaf, less damaged, is preserved between two pieces of glass. Only faint traces of writing can be seen.

The first information we have on this copy dates back to 615. At that time, it was kept in the monastery of St. John of Duino, in Friuli. It is known that later, in 1685, it was in the monastery of Belinese, and that at the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th, it passed to the Cathedral of Aquileia.

It was part of a volume that contained the four Evangelists. Charles IV, Emperor, having come to Italy, asked for a portion of it: he was gifted, on November 3, 1357, the last two quires containing the end of the Gospel of Saint Mark. The other five quires, containing the rest of this same Gospel, were transported to Venice in 1450 from Cividale, where they had been for two years.

Today, therefore, the portion of this volume that includes the Gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Luke, and Saint John is kept in Cividale, a city in Friuli; what remains of the first five quires of the Gospel of Saint Mark is in Venice, and Prague possesses the last two.

Besides his Gospel and the part he may have had in the first Epistle of Saint Peter, the Syrians say that it was Saint Mark who translated the New Testament into their language. We also have under his name a liturgy still used today by the Egyptians. It is titled: The Divine Liturgy, or Mass of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, disciple of Saint Peter. It begins with these words: "We give thanks to You, O Lord, our God."

It breathes great piety, a lively faith, and a profound sense of the presence of God. It recalls several of the great events of the New Testament, the miracles of the Apostles, and most of our Catholic dogmas. Here is a passage:

- Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who chose the twelve Apostles, and who sent them as twelve others into the universe, to enlighten men, to preach and teach the Gospel of your kingdom, to heal among the peoples all diseases and all infirmities; who breathed upon them saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven..."; breathe thus upon us, your servants, at this moment when we enter your sanctuary, to accomplish the work par excellence of the sacred ministry...

Nicetas the Paphlagonian, and several other authors, attribute this liturgy to Saint Mark, although they acknowledge that several things were added to it later.

Anian Anien Shoemaker of Alexandria, first convert and successor to Saint Mark. us, a disciple of Saint Mark, was his successor on the patriarchal throne of Alexandria. His fervor and ability led Saint Mark to establish him as bishop of Alexandria during his absence. He governed this church for four years with Saint Mark, and nearly nineteen years after his death, as reported by the Oriental Chronicle. Saint Anianus died in the year 86, on Sunday, November 26. The Roman Martyrology marks his feast day on April 25, along with that of Saint Mark. Eusebius says, in speaking of him, that "he was a man greatly beloved by God and admirable in all things." Saint Epiphanius says that a church was founded in Alexandria under his invocation. It was still visible in the 4th century.

His successor was Saint Melianus. He is the first of the three priests whom Saint Mark had ordained in Alexandria. The Apostolic Constitutions state that he was consecrated bishop by Saint Luke.

It was in the 6th century that the patriarchs of Alexandria fell into the error of Eutyches, who taught that there is only one nature in Jesus Christ. Although they profess to anathematize Eutyches and Apollinaris, they nevertheless recognize, it is said, only one nature in Jesus Christ, and assert that the Word took a perfect body to which He united Himself without alteration, without mixture, and without division, in a single nature and a single person. They have no other errors on other points of religion. The Church of the Jacobites is very extensive. The patriarchate of Alexandria includes within its jurisdiction the churches of Syria, Ethiopia, Abyssinia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia.

Accounts from Ethiopia inform us that Emperor David sent ambassadors to Pope Clement VII to pledge his obedience; that Pope Pius IV deputed Andrew Oviedo, a Jesuit, there under Emperor Claudius, son of David; and that Gabriel, Patriarch of Alexandria, sent his ambassador and two religious to Pope Clement VIII in 1595 to assure him of his obedience and his desire to reunite his entire church with the Holy See, founded by Saint Peter. These deputies recognized the Roman Church as the mother of all churches.

Since this solemn profession of the Catholic faith, a large part of the Jacobites or Copts has been reunited with the Roman Church, and the other part seems to remain separated.

(towards the end of the 4th century).

It was towards the middle of the 4th ce ntury t Phébade Contemporary bishop and close friend of Delphinus. hat Phoebadius was raised to the episcopal see of Agen, the second city of Aquitaine. He always showed himself very zealous for the defense of the consubstantiality of the Word, which appeared above all in his inviolable attachment to Saint Hilary of Poitiers. He was not content with rejecting the second formula of faith drawn up at Sirmium by the Arians and subscribed to by the famous Hosius in 358; he also took up his pen to show all its venom, and thereby prevented it from being received in Aquitaine. We still have his work. One notices much accuracy and solidity in the reasoning. The subtleties and equivocations of the Arians are unveiled there, and the Catholic doctrine is defended with force.

At the Council of Rimini, which was held in 359, Saint Phoebadius courageously opposed the efforts of the heresy with Saint Servatius of Tongeren. It is true that these two bishops allowed themselves at the end to be deceived by the artful maneuvers of Ursacius and Valens, and that they admitted a captious proposition with a double meaning; but no sooner had they discovered the trap that had been set for them than they loudly protested and condemned everything that had been done at Rimini. The holy bishop of Agen repaired his fault by the zeal he showed for sound doctrine in the councils of Paris and Zaragoza.

The precise year of his death is unknown. He was still living in 392, when Saint Jerome wrote his *Catalogue of Illustrious Men*, and he was then extremely old. The church of Agen honors him on April 26.

Italy has always made a distinction between the bishops who subscribed to the formulas of Rimini and those who made such a courageous resistance under the inspiration of Phoebadius and Servatius. Here is an authentic and flattering testimony. Spon, in his *Voyages*, recounts that Cardinal Spada had a column erected in a small village, near the Adriatic Gulf, in memory of the protest of the Catholic bishops against the conciliabula of Rimini. This column is erected in front of the church of Saint Apollinaris, the parish of this village, where the faithful bishops came to celebrate the holy Mysteries after the defection of the greater number, who remained in possession of the church of Rimini. The village itself took the name of *Catholica*.

The relics of Saint Phoebadius were, subsequently, transported to Périgueux, then to Venerques, in the diocese of Toulouse: they still rest there in the old church of an abbey founded by Louis the Pious. This building is remarkable: it belongs to the Romanesque style and appears to have been built in the 12th century. There was formerly in Agen a church dedicated under his invocation: there remains, as the only memory of him, a street that bears his popular name of Saint Fieri. In 1653, this city had placed itself under his protection to be delivered from the scourge of the plague. In memory of this vow, the authorities of the city of Agen still attend every year the solemn mass of Saint Phoebadius which is celebrated at the cathedral on April 26. At the end of the 17th century, the diocesan seminary was built outside the walls of the city and placed under the patronage of Saint Phoebadius, which sufficiently recommends, says the *Proper* of the diocese, the merits and celebrity of the patron.

See the *Annals of Baronius*; *History of the Diocese of Agen*, by Abbé Barrère and M. Salvan, *Hist. of the Church of Toulouse*.