ON STS. ISIDORA AND NEOPHYTA
SISTERS, MARTYRS AT LEONTINI IN SICILY.
AROUND THE YEAR 236.
CommentaryIsidora, Sister, Martyr, at Leontini in Sicily (St.)
Neophyta, Sister, Martyr, at Leontini in Sicily (St.)
G. H.
The episcopal city of Leontini in Sicily preserves the memory of various Martyrs of Christ, of whom two sisters are celebrated on this day, in the Sicilian Martyrology of Octavius Cajetan, in these words: "At Leontini, of the holy Martyrs Martyrdom from Cajetan, Isidora and Neophyta the sisters, under Armatus, Consular governor of Sicily." Following Cajetan, Ferrarius recorded them in his general Catalogue and in another of the Saints of Italy. The same Cajetan, in volume 1 of his Lives of the Sicilian Saints, page 43, explains their martyrdom somewhat more fully. "Isidora," he says, "and Neophyta, Martyrs of Leontini, were sisters noble by birth, the one mother of Blessed Thecla, the other of St. Neophytus, Bishop of Leontini. When the Caesars were persecuting the Church, under Armatus, Consular governor of Sicily, being accused and arrested as Christians, when they could not be brought by any savagery of torments to sacrifice to the gods, they gave up their lives and bore illustrious testimony of faith to Jesus Christ." So he. We have given some Acts of St. Thecla the Virgin on January 10, but we are setting aside the Life of St. Neophytus, though he died on this day, as the proper lessons have, until the Kalends of September, on which day the Church of Leontini celebrates his translated feast, and with public rite recites the sacred office to him: as Roccus Pirrus testifies, in volume 1 of the Notitia of the Sicilian Churches, page 445 and following. The proper Lessons and the manuscript Life of Sts. Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus, brothers and Martyrs of Leontini, to be illustrated on May 10, hold that the name of St. Neophytus had earlier been Alexander.
[2] and from the Acts of Sts. Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus In this it is said that St. Thecla, having found an opportunity, began to speak to Alexander of Christ and the mysteries of the faith, and greatly advanced him. For he was close to her by blood: Neophyta in fact, his mother, was the sister of Isidora, the mother of Thecla. These two sisters, both having suffered much for Christ, had ended their lives under the gravest torments under Armatus, who had governed the district of Leontini before Tertyllus; and they were buried at Antianum, which was their suburban estate. burial Under Tertyllus, Mercurius and nineteen companions are said to have suffered, whose memory is celebrated on December 10. Then Thecla, money having been sent to Tertyllus through Alexander, translation into a church brought the Saints forth from the lake, and wrapped them in linens and buried them in her suburban estate at Antianum. And after the death of Tertyllus, she built a church over them: into which she also brought Isidora and Neophyta, who, as has been said, suffered under Armatus, and she called the Church that of the Twenty Holy Martyrs. But after much time had passed, Alexander, he invokes them who is also called Neophytus, running to the tomb of Blessed Neophyta his mother, and of Isidora his aunt and mother of Thecla, lamented and wailed, saying, "Alas for me, Lady Mother, intercede for me with Christ, for whom you shed your blood, that he may save my soul, as also Blessed Isidora the sister prays for her daughter Thecla." And there was given to him the grace of hospitality and alms. So far those Acts.
[3] Time of martyrdom Cajetan thinks that the time of the martyrdom of Sts. Isidora and Neophyta falls in the sixth persecution, raised under the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, created on March 18 of the year 235 and killed in the month of October of the year 237: and that at that time the Consular Prefect of Sicily was Armatus, and that Quinctianus succeeded him, under whom in the persecution of Decius St. Agatha suffered; and that Tertyllus was appointed in his place.
[4] whether St. Benedicta is to be joined Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy and again in the general Catalogue, joins to these sisters St. Benedicta, citing the records of the Church of Leontini and the offices of the same Church approved by Paul V: all of which are indicated by Cajetan without mention of St. Benedicta, both in the Sicilian Martyrology and in the topographical and chronological Index of the Sicilian Saints. She is said to have been the mother of Sts. Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus; for which reason we refer further inquiry about her to their aforesaid Acts.