Martyrs

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

THEODORE THE PRESBYTER AND PAUSILYPIUS.

IN EUROPA, A PROVINCE OF THRACE.

UNDER THE EMPEROR HADRIAN.

Theodorus, Presbyter, Martyr, in Europa, a province of Thrace (St.)

Pausilipius, Martyr, in Europa, a province of Thrace (St.)

G. H.

Europe, the third part of the ancient world, extending westward from Asia and northward from Africa, owes its name to a particular province of Thrace: for in the ancient Notitia of the Roman Empire two consulars presided over Thrace, namely, those of Europa and of Thrace: and the metropolis of this province of Europa In the province of Europa. was Heraclea, situated on the Propontis. In this province we judge these two Martyrs to have been slain, concerning whom this notice is found in the Greek Menology of Sirleto: On the same day of the holy Martyrs Theodore and Pausilippus, under the Emperor Hadrian and the prefect Precius of Europa, suffered under the Emperor Hadrian. struck down by the sword for the confession of the Christian name, they commended their spirits to God. Hadrian reigned after the death of Trajan, from the year 117 until the year 138, so that from this both the time and place of martyrdom of these Saints may be gathered.

[2] The printed Menaia and some manuscript ones present only a bare memorial of these same holy Martyrs, with a distich of this kind:

Παυσιλυπίῳ καὶ Θεοδώρῳ θύτῃ Δῶρον τι παυσίλυπον ὄντως τὸ ξίφος. Struck down by the sword.

To Pausilypius and the priest Theodore, A gift truly grief-ending was the sword.

We chose to retain the Greek word, by which is meant that which takes away or causes to cease sorrow and trouble of the mind; so that the force of the allusion to the name of each may be more easily understood: of which one is corrupted in various spellings — Pausilippus by Sirleto, Pausolypius in the Menaia; while Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, in his Lives of Saints, giving a bare memorial of them, has: Of Sts. Theodore the Presbyter and Pausalypius, Martyrs. In today's Roman Martyrology we read: Likewise of the holy Martyrs Theodore and Pausilippus, who suffered under the Emperor Hadrian. We have preferred to adopt the true spelling: but we shall not disapprove if anyone wishes to write Pausilypus.

[3] For the Menology of Basil Porphyrogenitus the Emperor, on April 8, names St. Pausilypus, Notice of St. Pausilypus for April 8. and of him alone has the following: Pausilypus was a Martyr of Christ under the rule of the impious and unjust Hadrian. But being denounced because he worshipped Christ and openly taught in his name, he was arrested, bound with chains, brought before the Emperor, and questioned whether he confessed Christ as God. He, with free confidence of soul, proclaiming him to be the true God and Creator of the universe, was sent to the Prefect of the province of Europa, and was cruelly beaten with rods, three hundred blows. Freed from this torture, he was again commanded to deny Christ and sacrifice to idols. When he refused to do this, loosed from some of his bonds, he was led to the place of execution, that there his head might be cut off. But the remaining bonds being broken on the way, he took flight, and so was delivered from perishing by the sword. When he had come safely to a certain place, offering assiduous prayers to God, a true Martyr he gave up his spirit to God with an eager soul,

having obtained an unfading crown and immortal life. The same things are contained, a little more concisely, in the manuscript Synaxarium of Clermont and in three manuscript Menaia of the Ambrosian library, and in two of Turin belonging to the Duke of Savoy: and the Prefect of Europa is in some called Priscus, in others Praïcus: and everywhere Pausilypus is the form found written.

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

MARO, EUTYCHES, AND VICTORINUS THE PRESBYTERS, LIKEWISE MESSOR, PROCLINA, MESSITES, IOCUNDUS,

IN VARIOUS PLACES OF ITALY.

TOWARD THE END OF THE FIRST CENTURY.

Maro, Presbyter, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Eutyches, Presbyter, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Victorinus, Presbyter, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Messor, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Proclina, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Messites, Martyr in Italy (St.)

Iocundus, Martyr in Italy (St.)

BY G. H.

[1] The illustrious deeds of these Martyrs, and especially of the three first named in the title, are inserted into the Acts of the Martyrdom of Sts. Nereus, Achilleus, and Domitilla: which we have in many and very illustrious manuscript codices, from which we excerpt these things, until the whole is set forth more fully on May 12. They write back to Marcellus: Marcellus had written a letter to the said Martyrs Nereus and Achilleus, but since these had then already been crowned with martyrdom, those Saints reply to him in these words:

[2] Eutyches, Victorinus, and Maro, servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Marcellus. When your letter came to Sts. Nereus and Achilleus, thirty days had already passed since they had attained the crown. For Flavia Domitilla was a most illustrious virgin, nay rather most Christian: when these her eunuchs had taught her to believe in Christ and to preserve her virginity for him, they inform him of the martyrdom of Sts. Nereus and Achilleus Aurelian her betrothed, being despised by her, caused her under the title of Christianity to be relegated to this island of Pontia. But Aurelian himself, coming here, began to test the resolve of Nereus and Achilleus, thinking by means of them to move the mind of the virgin. The Saints, however, loathing his gifts and rather strengthening the faith of Domitilla, were therefore most grievously beaten by him; and being taken down to Terracina, were handed over to Memmius Rufus, the consular. By whom, when they were forced upon the rack and by flames to sacrifice to idols, and said that, having been baptized by the blessed Apostle Peter, they could by no reason sacrifice to idols, they were beheaded. Their bodies Auspicius their disciple, the guardian of the holy virgin Domitilla, took up: and of their burial. who, placing them in a small boat, brought them and buried them in the estate of Domitilla in a sandpit crypt, on the Via Ardeatina, a mile and a half from the wall of the City, near the sepulcher in which Petronilla, daughter of the Apostle Peter, had been buried. We have learned these things from Auspicius himself relating them, who both took up and buried their bodies: It would be the part of your charity to be solicitous for us, and to send some such person to us, who may make both us more joyful of your welfare and you of ours. Their birthday is on the fourth day before the Ides of May. The brother of Marcellus stays with Maro and his companions. On receiving this letter, Marcellus sent his own brother to the island of Pontia, who was with these Confessors of Christ for a year: and afterwards, returning to Marcellus, reported these things.

[3] When Aurelian, after the martyrdom of Nereus and Achilleus, was working to be able to obtain the consent of Domitilla, it was told him by a certain person they despise the threats of Aurelian: that she had greater affection with Eutyches and Victorinus and Maro than she had had with her eunuchs Nereus and Achilleus, who had taught her to believe in Christ. Whence it came about that he asked from the Prince Nerva that they be given to him if they would not sacrifice. When they conducted themselves manfully — Eutyches, namely, Victorinus, and Maro — and did not care at all for the threats of Aurelian, he removed them from the island of Pontia, and dispersed them like slaves, each one through his own estates: scattered in various places, they dig the ground: Eutyches on the sixteenth milestone from the City, on the Via Nomentana; Victorinus on the sixtieth, on the Via Salaria; and Maro on the one hundred thirtieth, on the same Via Salaria: and he ordered them to dig the ground all day long, and in the evening to eat bran. But almighty God gave them grace in those foreign places: for Eutyches delivered the daughter of the tenant of the place from the devil; they shine with miracles: Victorinus by his prayer made whole the manager of the place, a paralytic who for three years had not risen from his bed; while Maro delivered the Procurator of the city of Septempeda, who was suffering from dropsy.

[4] Meanwhile, preaching to the people, they taught many to believe in Christ: and, being made Presbyters, they enlarged the number of believers. Made Presbyters, they convert many: Then the devil filled the mind of Aurelian with anger, and he sent men to put them to death by various kinds of torments. For he ordered Eutyches to be beaten in the middle of the road as long as he should still breathe, Eutyches is slain, long beaten, until he expired: whose body the Christian people took up, and having buried it with great honor, built a basilica over him in the name of Christ. Victorinus, however, near that place which is called Cotylia, where stinking and sulphurous waters flow forth, he ordered to be held head downwards in these same waters for three hours, and again to be hung up. Having suffered this for three days for the name of Christ, Victorinus Victorinus hung over sulphurous waters passed over to Christ. But Aurelian ordered that his body should not be buried: and when it had lain for one day at Cotylia, the Christian people of Amiternum came and took him up, and carried him into their own territory, and there buried him. But as for Maro, he sent his friend Turgius and ordered that he be led away and crushed by the weight of a huge stone: but with the Lord protecting him, they were able in no way to harm him. Whence it came about Maro, after carrying an enormous stone, that they placed upon his shoulders a monstrous rock, which seventy men could scarcely lift by a pulley. But St. Maro himself carried it like light chaff for two miles unharmed: and he placed it down in that spot in which he was accustomed to pray. And the people of the whole province, marveling at this deed, believed in Christ and were baptized. The consular, however, having received the order from Aurelian, is killed. put him to death. But the people hollowed out the stone which he had carried on his shoulders, and there buried him: and built a church of Christ in his name, in which the gifts of the Lord are bestowed, to the glory of his name, even to this present day.

[5] Thus far the Acts of these Martyrs, from very many manuscript codices of the best quality, whence we gather They seem to have been slain on different days, that they were not put to death in the same place or time, nor indeed buried in the same place, nor honored with churches built to their honor in the same place. In the case of St. Victorinus the matter clearly appears. For he, near the lake by the city of Cotylia of the Sabines, seventy stadia distant from Reate, hanging among the stinking and sulphurous waters, completed his martyrdom. Victorinus on September 5. And his body was taken up by the people of Amiternum and buried in their territory. Amiternum was a city of the same Sabines on the borders of the Vestini, to whom it is sometimes ascribed, not far from the source of the river Aternus: from whose ruins Aquila, a famous city of modern Abruzzo, is believed to have grown up: in whose territory is seen the small town of San Vittorino, named from this Saint: and the day dedicated to him is the Nones of September itself: but because, being made Presbyter, he is said by his preaching to have enlarged the people of believers, he obtained this notice in Usuard: recorded in the Martyrologies of Usuard At Rome, Blessed Victorinus the Martyr, who, illustrious in sanctity and miracles, obtained the priesthood of the city of Amiternum by the election of the whole people. Thence afterwards under the Emperor Nerva he was ordered to be hung up head downwards, where stinking and sulphurous waters flow forth. When he had suffered this for three days for the name of Christ, gloriously crowned as victor he passed over to the Lord. Ado follows him with a very long notice, but he has blended this Victorinus and another, brother of St. Severinus of Septempeda, of Ado, who is venerated on June 8, into one and the same man: the things, however, in the said notice which pertain to this St. Victorinus are these: In the suburb of Rome, of Blessed Victorinus the Martyr … Elected then by the whole people, he obtained the priesthood of the city of Amiternum. Thence afterwards, under the Emperor Nerva, with other servants of God, Eutyches and Maro, he was first relegated by the judge Aurelian to the sixtieth milestone from the City on the Via Salaria, then at that place which is called Cotylia, where stinking and sulphurous waters flow forth, he was ordered by the impious judge to be hung head downwards in those waters for three hours. When he had suffered this for three days for the name of Christ, gloriously crowned as victor he passed over to the Lord. And when his body had lain unburied for one day at Aurelian's command, the Christian people of Amiternum came, and snatching him away, carried him into their own territory, and buried him with honorable burial on the Nones of September. And of others: From Ado, Notker, the spurious authors of Bede, and the author of today's Roman Martyrology drew their notices. That these were taken from the Acts set forth above is manifest, and that "priesthood" is not here to be taken as Episcopate but as Presbyterate. Nor is there any doubt that St. Eutyches also had his own day of both death and veneration: Eutyches's day not sufficiently indicated. indeed very many Martyrs under the name of Eutyches and Eutychius are celebrated throughout this whole work of ours.

[6] The citizens of Reate believe that St. Maro was buried among them under the same stone which he had carried for two miles, having laid it down and given up his spirit before the city, Maro at Reate on April 15. as has been written to us from there. They certainly keep his feast on April 15, and have a church consecrated under his name in the year 1153, where his bones are believed to be preserved. That church is outside the Porta degli Archi, on the summit of a high but very accessible mountain, as Pompeo Angeloti asserts in his description of the city of Reate published in the year 1635: and the place is now held by the Capuchin Fathers, who have adorned it remarkably. It is credible that those particles which are kept from the body of St. Maro, and the notable portion of his head, among the Relics of the metropolitan church of St. Vitus at Prague, were brought from Reate, although, the ancient document of donation being lacking, it is now unknown whence they were had. Further, because it is read that the people of the whole province marveled at the miraculous deed of this same St. Maro, by a not improbable conjecture one might say that some of those were crowned with martyrdom concerning whom perhaps these words in four copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology in the first place may be understood: On the seventeenth day before the Kalends of May. In Picenum, at Mount Aureus, of Maro, Messor, Proclina, Messites. with three or four companions, In the Corbey codex of the Martyrology printed at Paris, Iocundus is added. Instead of Piceno is also read Picino, Piscino, Piccino, Picano, and Cipino. And thus to this region alone Maro is ascribed in a certain Corbey manuscript, and in an old Calendar before the manuscript works of St. Isidore: but Maro and Messor are recorded in the manuscripts

of Reichenau, Rheinau, and the Neapolitan manuscript of Antonio Caracciolo: and to these two is joined Mosites in the Augsburg manuscript of St. Ulrich and in the Paris manuscript of Labbé: to which Proclina is added in the Tamlacht manuscript. Florentini conjectures that Mons Aureus is now called Mons Sanctus, not far from the ruins of Septempeda and San Severino.

[7] The companions of Maro being passed over, on this day also Eutyches and Victorinus are joined to him in Usuard with these words: In Italy, of the blessed Martyrs Maro, The veneration of Sts. Maro, Eutyches, and Victorinus on April 15. Eutyches, and Victorinus, who, first on the island of Pontia enduring a long exile in the confession of Christ, afterwards under Prince Nerva, having converted many to the faith, were ordered to be put to death by various torments. With a longer encomium, taken from the Acts indicated above, Ado and Notker have the same, and place the exile with Blessed Flavia Domitilla, and the martyrdom inflicted under Prince Nerva: under which Emperor they are also said to have suffered by Bellini, Maurolico, Felici, Galesini, Canisius. In today's Roman Martyrology, they are said under Prince Nerva, in the persecution of Trajan, to have been ordered slain by the judge Valerian. But the Acts state that Aurelian, the betrothed of Blessed Domitilla, asked for them from Prince Nerva, and at last ordered them killed. Nerva reigned from the end of September of the year 96 until January 27 of the year 98, when Trajan succeeded him. The rest will be examined in the Acts of Sts. Nereus, Achilleus, and Domitilla. Concerning the relics of these three translated to Metz by Bishop Theoderic we have treated on January 24, after the Acts of St. Felician, Bishop of Foligno, page 588. The memory of Sts. Eutyches and Victorinus Martyrs is inscribed in the Calendar of the ancient Ambrosian Missal and Breviary.