ON THE HOLY AFRICAN MARTYRS
MAPPALICUS, BARUCUS, QUINTUS, VICTORICUS, DONATUS, JANUARIUS, MACORUS, GALLUS, THEODORA, JULIANUS THE PRESBYTER, MECEONUS, LIKEWISE MIGINUS, DIOMEDES, FILIPPIANUS, ALSO FORTUNION, CREDULA, FIRMUS, VENTUS, FRUCTUS, MARTIALIS, ARISTON.
AFTER THE YEAR 250.
CommentaryMappalicus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Barucus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Quintus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Victoricus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Donatus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Januarius, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Macorus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Gallus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Theodora, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Julianus the Presbyter, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Meceonus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Miginus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Diomedes, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Filippianus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Fortunion, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Credula, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Firmus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Ventus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Fructus, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Martialis, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
Ariston, Martyr, in Africa (St.)
BHL Number: 5221
G. H.
CHAPTER I.
Letter IX of St. Cyprian to the Martyrs and Confessors concerning Mappalicus.
Cyprian to the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ our Lord, greeting in God the Father. I rejoice and exult, and I give thanks, most brave and most blessed brethren, having learned of your faith and virtue, in which our mother the Church glories: and lately she gloried when, with confession persevering, the punishment was undertaken which made the Confessors of Christ exiles. Joy of the Church for the constancy of the Martyrs Yet the present confession, the braver it is in confession, the clearer and greater it is in honor. The fight has grown, and the glory of the fighters has grown with it. Nor were you held back from the line of battle by fear of torments, but by the very torments you were more provoked to battle. Brave and steadfast, with ready devotion, you went forth to the fight of the greatest contest. Of these I have already learned that some are crowned, some are near to the crown of victory; but all, whom the prison in its glorious ranks has enclosed, are animated with equal and like fervor of virtue to wage the contest, as it befits the soldiers of Christ in the divine camps, that neither blandishments may deceive the incorrupt crown of faith, nor threats terrify, nor tortures and torments hold it back: because he who is in us is greater than he who is in this world, and earthly power has no more to cast down than divine protection has to raise up. This thing has been tested in the glorious contest of the brethren, who, made leaders for the rest in conquering torments, offered an example of virtue and faith, joined in the line of battle, until the line yielded conquered. who departed this life With what praises therefore shall I proclaim you, most brave brethren? With what proclamation of voice shall I adorn the strength of your heart and the perseverance of your faith? You have endured the hardest examination unto the fulfillment of glory, nor have you yielded to the tortures; but rather the tortures have yielded to you. The end of pains, which the tortures did not give, the crowns have given. The heavier tearing persevered long for this, not that it might cast down the standing faith, but that it might send the men of God the more swiftly to the Lord. The admiring multitude of those present beheld the heavenly contest of God, the spiritual contest, the battle of Christ: that his servants stood with free voice, unbroken mind, divine virtue, naked indeed of worldly weapons, but believing, armed with the arms of faith. They stood, tortured, stronger than their torturers, and the battered and torn limbs conquered the striking and tearing claws. The raging blow, repeated for a long time, could not overcome the inexpugnable faith; although, the frame of the entrails broken, no longer limbs but wounds were tortured in the servants of God. The blood flowed, which should extinguish the fire of persecution, which by its glorious gore should quench the flames and fires of Gehenna. O what a spectacle that was for the Lord, how sublime, how great, how accepted to the eyes of God by the oath and devotion of his soldier, as it is written in the Psalms, with the Holy Spirit speaking to us and likewise admonishing: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Ps. 115:19 (Vulgate) Precious is this death, which purchases immortality at the price of its own blood, which receives the crown from the completion of virtue. With Christ conquering in them How glad was Christ there, how gladly in such servants of his he both fought and conquered as the protector of faith, giving to believers only as much as he believes him to be able to receive, who takes it: he was present to his own contest, he raised, strengthened, and animated the combatants and defenders of his name. Matt. 10:19 And he who once conquered for us, always conquers in us. "When they deliver you up," he says, "do not think what you shall say: for it shall be given to you in that hour what you shall say: for it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you."
[2] By the example of St. Mappalicus The present battle has given a proof of the matter. A voice full of the Holy Spirit burst forth from the mouth of the Martyr, when the most blessed Mappalicus said to the Proconsul amid his tortures, "You shall see a contest tomorrow." And what he said with the testimony of virtue and faith, the Lord fulfilled. The heavenly contest was exhibited, and the servant of God was crowned in the battle of the promised contest. Isa. 7:14 This is the contest which the prophet Isaiah foretold, saying: "It is no small contest for you with men, since God offers a contest." And to show what this contest would be, he added, saying: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel." This is the contest of our faith, in which we meet, in which we conquer, in which we are crowned. This is the contest which the blessed Apostle Paul shows us, in which we must run and attain the crown of glory. "Do you not know," he says, "that those who run in the stadium, all indeed run, but only one receives the prize?" 1 Cor. 9:24 "So run that you may obtain. For everyone who struggles is temperate in all things: and they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one." Likewise, showing his own contest, and promising that he himself would soon be the Lord's sacrifice, he says: 2 Tim. 4:6 "I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Now there remains for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just Judge, will render to me on that day: and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his coming." This contest therefore, foretold by the Prophets, entrusted by the Lord, waged by the Apostles, Mappalicus in his own and his companions' name promised to the Proconsul. and of his companions Nor did the faithful voice fail in its promise: the fight which he pledged, he exhibited; and the palm which he merited, he received. This now most blessed Martyr, and others sharing in the same contest and companions, steadfast in faith, patient in pain, victorious in trial, he invites others to perseverance that the rest also may follow, I both pray and exhort in equal measure: that whom the bond of confession and the guesthouse of the prison joined together, the fulfillment of virtue and the heavenly crown may also join: that the tears of mother Church, who laments the ruins and funerals of so many, you may wipe away with your joy; and that you may strengthen the firmness of the rest who are standing by the provocation of your example. If the line of battle call you, if the day of your contest come, fight bravely, struggle constantly; knowing that you fight under the eyes of the present Lord, that by the confession of his name you attain to his own glory: who is not such that he only watches his servants, but himself wrestles in us, himself engages, himself in the contest of our struggle and crowns and is crowned alike. But if before the day of your contest, by the indulgence of the Lord, peace should come, whose will, though martyrdom is lacking, is crowned for you there still remains a whole will and a glorious conscience. Let no one of you be saddened, as if less than those who before you suffered torments and, having conquered and trodden down the world, came to the Lord by a glorious journey. The Lord is the searcher of reins and hearts, he looks upon hidden things and beholds secrets. To merit the crown of God it suffices
the testimony alone of him who is to judge.
Therefore each thing, dearest brethren, is equally sublime and illustrious: the one safer, to hasten to the Lord by the completion of victory; the other more joyous, having received leave after glory, to flourish in the Church in praise. O blessed Church of ours, which the honor of divine favor so illuminates, which in our times the glorious blood of Martyrs makes illustrious. Before she was white in the works of the brethren, now she has been made purple in the gore of Martyrs: among her flowers neither lilies nor roses are lacking. Let each one now strive for the most ample dignity of either honor, so that they may receive either crowns white from work, or crowns purple from suffering. In the heavenly camps both peace and the line of battle have their own flowers, with which the soldier of Christ is crowned for glory. I pray you, most brave and most blessed brethren, always to fare well in the Lord and to remember us. Farewell.
The passage of Isaiah cited above, according to the version of the Seventy, reads thus: "Is it a small contest for you to offer to men, and how do you offer a contest to the Lord?" Which, from some version or other, Cyprian received in a not slightly altered form.
CHAPTER II.
The memory of these Martyrs in the sacred calendars.
[3] We have prefaced the whole letter of St. Cyprian, Memory in the sacred calendars that the memory of St. Mappalicus and his companions, who on this day are believed to have obtained a glorious victory, may be made easier. In the Notes to the Roman Martyrology this is read of them: "In Africa, the birth of Blessed Mappalicus, who, St. Mappalicus and companions as St. Cyprian writes in his letter to the Martyrs and Confessors, was crowned with martyrdom together with many others." Quite the same things in the same words are reported in Usuard, Bellinus, and in many manuscript Martyrologies. Ado also and Notker add to the said words very many things from the aforementioned letter, which we do not wish to repeat. Wandelbert celebrates St. Mappalicus with Sts. Peter and Hermogenes (of whom we treated above) in these verses:
Mappalicus on the fifteenth, and Hermogenes and Peter Shine forth, illustrious for merit, virtue, and blood.
[4] The first ten companions in the title are proposed thus in four copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology: class I of these "In Africa, of Barucus, Quintus, Mappalicus, Victoricus, Donatus, Januarius, Macorus, Gallus, Theodora, Julianus Presbyter, and Meceon." But in place of Theodora, in one copy it reads Theodorus, just as in place of Macorus also Maconus. Of the said Martyrs four are recorded in the Roman manuscript of Cardinal Barberini, and they are these: "In Africa, of Julianus Presbyter, Barucus, Theodora, and Macon." In the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden valued by Holstenius, there are mentioned Victuricus, Januarius, and Meconus. In the manuscripts of the Augustan St. Udalric and of the Parisian Labbe, Barucus and Donatus; but most in the Reichenau manuscript, and they are these: Quintus, Mappalicus, Barucus, Victoricus, Donatus, Gallus, Julianus. Grevenus in the Supplement to Usuard has Donum and Magnum, for which Donatus and Maconus or Macorus seem to be restored. In the Tallaght manuscript the names of Quintus, Barucus, Mappolicus, Gallus, Victoricus, Donatus, Januarius, Macon, Minister, Jacobus are noted, perhaps for Meceon and Julianus.
[5] Three others are joined to the said Martyrs in the manuscript Corbie Martyrology of St. Jerome printed at Paris, and they are these: Miginus, Diomedes, Filippianus: of whom elsewhere we read nothing.
[6] third class The last seven, added in the title, Galesinius set forth in his Martyrology: "In Africa," he says, "of the most blessed Martyrs Mappalicus, Fortunion, Credula, Firmus, Ventus, Fructus, Martialis, Ariston, and others, who, joined by the bond of faith and the guesthouse of prison, together also in one consent of souls, strengthened to every torture, having completed the course of the contest which they had constantly undertaken, depart to heaven, companions of illustrious virtue and confession, for the eternal reward." The names of most of these are found in the letter of Lucian to Celerinus, which is Letter XXII in St. Cyprian, where Lucian writes thus: "Greet Numeria and Candida, who according to the precept of Paul and of the other Martyrs, whose names I append, of Bassus in the pejerarium, of Mappalicus in the trial, of Fortunion in prison, of Paul after the trial, of Fortuna, Victorinus, Victor, Herenaeus, Credula, Herena, Donatus, Firmus, Ventus, Fructus, Julia, Martialis, and Ariston, who, God willing, were killed in prison." So he. In a most ancient copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology, Bassus with 20 others is indicated as having suffered in Africa on March 19, but whether this is the one here indicated, we cannot judge. Of the others mentioned, Paul, Fortuna, and Victorinus with many others are venerated on February 22; just as Hirenaeus or Hirena on February 25. The name of Donatus is often repeated. Finally Cyprian, in letter XXIII written to the Roman Clergy, asserts that Mappalicus the Martyr, cautious and modest, mindful of the law and discipline, wrote no letters contrary to the Gospel, but, moved only by domestic piety, ordered peace to be given to his mother and sister, who had lapsed.
[7] Petrus de Natalibus, book 4 of his Catalogue, chapter 58, asserts that the martyrdom of these took place in the city of Tagaste. This is in Numidia, the birthplace of St. Augustine. But why should they not rather be said to have suffered in the Proconsular province of Africa itself, whose capital is Carthage, since St. Mappalicus himself bravely addressed the Proconsul amid his torments? The time of the martyrdom is set by Baronius in the persecution of Decius, place and time of Martyrdom continued after his death, in which Cyprian himself was killed under Valerian and Gallienus in the year 257. The "pejerarium" in which Bassus is said to have died, Father Gerardus Gontus of the Society of Jesus, in his Ecclesiastical Lexicon of rarer words collected from the Fathers, judged to be a place in which perjurers were shut up. The autograph of this Lexicon we have in manuscript; and a printed eulogy of this most diligent man is found in Alegambe's Bibliotheca, where he is named Gonchus.