The Lives of the Saints Volume 1 - St. Patrick's Basilica

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into the East on that errand. The manuscripts are deposited in the
Vatican library. Joseph Assemani is known in the republic of letters by
his invaluable Oriental library, his _Italicæ Historiæ Scriptores_, his
_Kalendaria Ecclesiæ Universæ notis Ilustrata_, &c., and Stephen, by his
share in the publication of the works of St. Ephrem, and by the _Acta
Martyrum Orientalium et Occidentalium_. The learned Jesuits at Antwerp,
Bollandus and his continuators, have given us the _Acta Sanctorum_,
enriched with curious remarks and dissertations, in forty-one large
volumes in folio, to the 5th day of September. To mention other
monuments and writers here made use of, would be tedious and
superfluous. The authorities produced throughout the work speak for
themselves: the veracity of writers who cannot pretend to pass for
inspired, ought to be supported by competent vouchers.
The original authors are chiefly our guides. The stream runs clear and
pure from the source, which in a long course often contracts a foreign
mixture; but the lucubrations of many judicious modern critics have cast
a great light upon ancient historians: these, therefore, have been also
consulted and compared, and their labors freely made use of.
Footnotes:
1. Cicero, l. 2, de Orat. c. 9.
2. Voss. Ars Hist. cap. 5.
3. Voltaire's Annals of the Empire of Germany.
4. Some call in question the existence of certain saints, as SS.
Bacchus, Quirinus, Mercurius, Nilammon, Hippolytus, &c., because
these names are of pagan original. But that Christians often
retained those names is evident, not only from the oldest
Martyrologies, but from Eusebius, Theodoret, and other ancient
writers, who often mention Christians named Apollonius and
Apollinerius, from Apollo &c., and St. Paul speaks of a disciple
called Hermes, or Mercurius; and had another named Dionysius, or
Bacchus. Dr. Geddes and others object to the existence of St.
Almnachius, St. George, St. Wenefred, &c., but we shall find their
honor supported in this work by irrefregable authorities. Longinus
not only signifies a spear, but was a Roman name, and that of a
soldier and martyr, on the 15th of March: whether he be the person
who opened the side of Christ with a spear or no, is a point of less
importance. Mr. Addison and Dr. Middleton thought they had hit on a
great discovery when they transformed Mount Soracte into St.
Orestes. But that mountain is commonly called, not St. Orestes, but
San Sylvestro, together with the monastery on its summit. Moreover,
we find both in the Roman Martyrology and Greek Menæa two saints of
the name of Orestes recorded, the one on the 9th of November, the
other on the 19th of December, who both suffered under Dioclesian,
one in Armenia, the other in Cappadocia. The latter is also named by