After reposing there for some
centuries, the relics, which are said to have been transported from Rome
to Antioch, were, about the seventh century, carried back from Antioch
to Rome. [111:1] The natural and more simple conclusion is that, instead
of this double translation, the bones of Ignatius had always remained in
Antioch, where he had suffered martyrdom, and the tradition that they
had been brought back from Rome was merely the explanation which
reconciled the fact of their actually being in Antioch with the legend
of the Ignatian Epistles.
The 20th of December is the date assigned to the death of Ignatius in
the Martyrology, [112:1] and Zahn admits that this interpretation is
undeniable [112:2] Moreover, the anniversary of his death was celebrated
on that day in the Greek Churches and throughout the East. In the Latin
Church it is kept on the 1st of February. There can be little doubt that
this was the day of the translation of the relics to Rome, and this was
evidently the view of Ruinart, who, although he could not positively
contradict the views of his own Church, says: "Ignatii festum Graeci
vigesima die mensis Decembris celebrant, quo ipsum passum, fuisse Acta
testantur; Latini vero die prima Februarii, an ob aliquam sacrarum ejus
reliquiarum translationem? plures enim fuisse constat.
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