VIII
(p. [173])
Excursus on the Three Holy Kings
Epiphany is a feast of our Lord and not the feast of the Three Holy Kings, although it is popularly called so, and, in the liturgy for the day, they are referred to. In a small number of dioceses, and only at a late date, they have been the object of a cultus, but in the calendars and menologies of the principal Churches they find no place; ancient ecclesiastical literature and tradition has also nothing to relate of them. Only in the twelfth century did they emerge from oblivion when the imperial chancellor, Rainald von Dassel, afterwards Archbishop of Cologne, translated their reputed relics to Cologne, 23rd July 1164, having received them as a gift from Frederick Barbarossa after the destruction of Milan. Until this time they had rested in the little Church of St Eustorgius at Milan, to which they are said to have been brought from Constantinople. The life of St Eustorgius, Bishop of Milan, 315-331, relates how this happened:—there lived in Constantinople a pious man called Eustorgius, a Greek by birth, and a favourite and adviser of the emperor. (The name of the emperor is passed over in silence by the author.) He sent Eustorgius as ambassador—the purpose of the embassy is not disclosed—to the province of Liguria, of which the capital is called Milan—which, however, is a mistake. Eustorgius won the affections of the Milanese to such a degree that they desired to have him as their bishop; after long resistance he consented, and went to the emperor in order to obtain his approval. The emperor rejoiced over the love which his ambassador had inspired, as Gratian had rejoiced over the appointment of St Ambrose, ratified the election, and forthwith remitted all taxes to the Milanese (!). Eustorgius was unwilling to return empty-handed and begged for some relics from the emperor with which to enrich his bishopric. The emperor allowed him to take whatever he liked, and he chose the relics of the Three Holy Kings, which had been sent from the East by Helena. A church was now built in Milan in which the relics were laid, where they attracted a great concourse of pilgrims and devotees.
The author regrets that he is not in a position to give us further information concerning the doings of Bishop Eustorgius, but he merely tells us that he died on the 18th October and was succeeded by Dionysius. This is incorrect for Protasius came first. The author of this document must have lived in Milan, for he gives some correct dates in the ecclesiastical history of Milan; nevertheless, gross blunders against historical truth and other indications show that we are dealing with a thoroughgoing fabrication of the eleventh century based upon events in the life of St Ambrose. The names Gaspar, Melchior, Baltassar make their first appearance here. A still more naïve account is given in a sermon belonging to the end of the twelfth century, Eustorgius being made a contemporary of the Emperor Comnenus; this is printed in Floss.
Contemporaries who had the opportunity of seeing the relics, state that the remains were embalmed and incorrupt; to judge from the face and hair, one of the bodies was that of a boy of about fifteen years; they were in an excellent state of preservation considering their age. The story of their translation to Milan is obviously a romance and the search for their bodies by Helena is formed upon the recognised model according to which Helena steps in to effect what cannot be otherwise explained. And so there is no doubt that we are face to face with a remarkably successful fabrication, such as were, unfortunately, by no means rare in the Middle Ages. In Cologne, the Three Holy Kings—all three of them—were at once set down as martyrs, although it is difficult to see how they would have suffered, granting them to have been kings. The Carmelite John of Hildesheim composed a popular Vita Trium Regum, composed in a simple style, which was widely read. See Usener, ii. 7-10, and the instructive treatise of H. J. Floss, “Dreikönigenbuch,” Cologne, 1864. The Vita Eustorgii is only to be found in Mombritius, Sanctuarium, i. 166.