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E05762: Latin inscription with a poem commemorating the embellishment with silver of the tomb of *Agnes (virgin and martyr of Rome, S00097) by Pope Honorius I (625-638). Now lost, but originally probably displayed at the tomb of Agnes in her basilica on the via Nomentana, Rome (S. Agnese fuori le mura).

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posted on 2018-06-18, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski
inclita vota suis adquirunt premia laudis,
dum perfecta micant mente, fide, meritis.
virginis hoc Agne clauduntur membra sepulchro
que incorrupt tamen vita sepulta tenet.
hoc opus argento construxit Honorius amplo
martyris et sancte virginis ob meritum

4. incorrupta Marini, Ferrua, incorrupti both codices, de Rossi, incorrputa vita Jubaru, refuted by Ferrua

'Vows bring the famous prizes of glory to those who make them, when fulfilled they glitter with the spirit, faith, and merits. The limbs of the virgin Agnes are enclosed within this tomb, which it holds uncorrupted although dead and buried. Honorius made this structure (hoc opus construxit) and fitted it lavishly with silver for the merits of the martyr and holy virgin.'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VIII, no. 20755 = EDB12054. Translation: P. Nowakowski.

History

Evidence ID

E05762

Saint Name

Agnes, virgin and martyr of Rome : S00097

Saint Name in Source

Agnes

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.) Archaeological and architectural - Extant reliquaries and related fixtures Literary - Poems Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)

Language

  • Latin

Evidence not before

625

Evidence not after

638

Activity not before

625

Activity not after

638

Place of Evidence - Region

Rome and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries Rome Rome Roma Ῥώμη Rhōmē

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Vow

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops Ecclesiastics - Popes

Cult Activities - Relics

Bodily relic - entire body Construction of cult building to contain relics

Source

The inscription is now lost. The text is known only through the manuscript tradition, it features in the Sylloge Turonensis (codex Closterneoburgensis 723 f. 265v and Goettweihensis 64). The Sylloges do not give the precise location of the inscription, but the Sylloge Turonensis presents it after texts from the via Salaria and before those from the via Nomentana, where the cemetery and basilica of Agnes (Sant'Agnese fuori le mura) are located. Modern scholars follow the opinion of Giovanni Battista de Rossi who attributed the text to the cemetery of Agnes on the via Nomentana. The text first appeared in print in 1831, published by Luigi Gaetano Marini, based on the codex Closterneoburgensis. Later de Rossi offered an edition based on both available codices. The present-day reference edition is that by Antonio Ferrua in the seventh volume of the new series of the Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae. The inscription is now lost.

Discussion

The inscription, composed in three elegiac couplets, commemorates the embellishment of the tomb of Agnes with silver by Pope Honorius (625-638). This generous donation is described by the Liber Pontificalis, in the paragraph describing the construction of the basilica of Agnes by Honorius: 'Then he built from the ground up the church of St Agnes the martyr at the 3rd mile from Rome on the via Nomentana, where the body rests. He decorated it to perfection on every side, and there he put many gifts. He also decorated her tomb with silver weighing 252 lb; over it he placed a bronze-gilt canopy of marvellous size, and he provided 3 gold bowls each weighing 1 lb; the apse of the same basilica he made of mosaic, and there too he presented many gifts.' (see E01443). Honorius' work is, on the other hand, presented as a major restoration by the Notitia ecclesiarium urbis Romae: 'Then [you go] by the via Nomentana to the church of St Agnes, which is beautiful and in which she rests alone. This [church] was also wonderfully repaired by bishop Honorius.' (see E00676) For a dedicatory inscription from the triumphal arch of the apse of the same church, see E05764.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB12054, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/12054 De Santis, P., Sanctorum Monumenta: "Aree sacre" del suburbio di Roma nella documentazione epigrafica (IV-VII secolo) (Bari: Edipuglia, 2010), no. 99. De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.) Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 8: Coemeteria viarum Nomentanae et Salariae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1983), no. 20755. Duchesne, L., Le Liber pontificalis, vol. 1 (Paris: E. Thorin, 1886), 325, note 3. Armellini, M., Il cimitero di s. Agnese sulla via Nomentana (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta della S.C. di Propoganda Fide, 1880), 374. de Rossi, G.B., Mosaici Cristiani e Saggi dei pavimenti delle chiese di Roma anteriori al secolo XV (Roma: Libreria Spithöver di G. Haas, 1872), XVIII f. 2. De Rossi, G. B., Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores 2.1 (Rome: Ex Officina Libraria Pontificia, 1857-1888), 62, no. 5 (from both codices). Luigi Gaetano Marini through a copy by Giuseppe Garampi in: Angelo Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanis codicibus edita, vol. 5 (Rome: Typis Vaticanis, 1831), 418, no. 3 (from the codex Closterneoburgensis 723). Further reading: Lapidge, M., The Roman Martyrs. Introduction, Translations, and Commentary (Oxford, 2018), chapter XVII.

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    Evidence - The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

    Categories

    Keywords

    S00097History

    Licence

    CC0

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