Apollonius

ON SAINT APOLLONIUS,

ROMAN SENATOR AND MARTYR,

ABOUT THE YEAR 185

Apollonius, Roman Senator and Martyr (Saint)

By G. H.

Eusebius Pamphili in book five of the Ecclesiastical

History, chapter 21 inscribed thus: "How

Apollonius suffered Martyrdom at Rome,

and then on what occasion martyrdom

he underwent, he describes thus": "At the same time,

while Commodus held the Roman Empire, Under the Emperor Commodus peace given to the Church.

our affairs were in a more tranquil state,

peace through the grace of God embracing all the

Churches of the world. And in the meantime the saving

word of God drew very many from every kind of men

to the religious worship of the Supreme Deity:

so that many of those who in the city of Rome

were eminent in birth and wealth, together with their whole

house and family, ran to obtain salvation.

But the demon, most hostile to all good men,

and envious by his own nature, could not bear this;

therefore again devising various machinations against us,

he armed himself. Saint Apollonius denounced. Finally at Rome he brought

into judgment a certain Apollonius, from the number of the faithful,

who was considered outstanding in humane letters

and philosophy, having stirred up against him an accuser,

a certain most desperate man: who seemed a fit minister of the demon

for such crimes in the first place.

But the wretched man, having undertaken the accusation unseasonably,

when by the Emperor's edict a capital penalty had been established

against those who brought such accusations, was immediately killed with his legs broken,

Perennis pronouncing this sentence against him. But the Martyr most accepted to God,

when the Judge had besought him with many prayers,

and asked from him that he give an account of his

faith before the Senate, having pronounced a most elegant oration

for the defense of his faith in the presence of all, after the oration delivered in the Senate, he was beheaded

was condemned to capital punishment by the Senate. For

by an old law among them it had been established that Christians,

who had once been called into judgment, unless they departed from their purpose,

were in no way to be released.

[2] The written trial records perished, Moreover all that was said by him in judgment, and whatever he

answered to Perennis questioning him, and that oration

which he delivered in the Senate for the defense

of our faith, whoever wishes to know, from

the Passions of the ancient Martyrs collected by us

will be able to learn. Thus Eusebius there; but the

Passions of ancient Martyrs which he cites as collected by him,

we in the first place with all lovers of sacred antiquity

lament to have perished. This in the preface of his fifth book he himself calls

archaion martyron synagogen (a collection of ancient Martyrs). We gather that many things

from it survive here and there in book 4 chapter 15, where he refers the curious reader, collected by Eusebius:

so that he may more fully learn what happened to Saint Polycarp in his last contest,

to an epistle concerning his martyrdom most fully

written, which he testifies to have inserted in its order in his work

on the ancient Martyrs whose passions he collected.

This epistle Peter Halloix edited in Greek in volume I of the Lives of the illustrious writers of the Eastern Church,

and we have illustrated it from old Latin Manuscripts

on January 26; and we seek similar monuments

from everywhere; but of Saint Apollonius we have not been able

to obtain any until now.

[3] Another eulogy from Rufinus the Presbyter. Rufinus the Presbyter touches on the same things in his

Ecclesiastical History book 5 chapter 21, which we have from the recension

of John Schall published at Mantua in the year 1479,

and where he has indicated the prior things done under the Emperor Commodus,

he continues thus: "First in the city of Rome [Of the defense of faith of Apollonius the Martyr,

among the Greeks the history of his Passion, I learned that he preached quite elegantly

about the superstitious perversity of men]. A certain Apollonius,

illustrious both in our faith and in all

the learning of Philosophy, his accuser brings to judgment,

having cited a certain most unhappy and desperate

man; and since the law (which had ordered Christians once denounced to be punished)

in the case of the accuser, had determined that he should first be struck,

by Perennius the Judge, that his legs be shattered,

was the first to receive the sentence. Then

Blessed Apollonius the Martyr is entreated, that the defense

of his faith, which with the Senate and all

the people listening he had brilliantly and splendidly delivered, he would publish

in writing. And after these things by the Senate's decree

he was beheaded: for thus was set by the earlier law,

most inequitably promulgated." Thus in that edition

Rufinus: but what is enclosed at the beginning in brackets [ ] is missing

in the Lyon edition of 1526, made from the recension

of Geoffrey Boussard.

[4] Saint Jerome, Saint Jerome in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers

chapter 41, briefly, but with some added circumstances, thus

relates: "Apollonius, a Senator of the Roman city,

under Prince Commodus was betrayed by a slave Severus,

because he was a Christian; being ordered to give an account

of his faith, he read a remarkable volume;

and nevertheless by the Senate's sentence, for

Christ's sake, he was beheaded, an old law still prevailing

among them, that Christians not be dismissed without denial

who had once been dragged to their judgment." Thus Saint Jerome: from

whom their eulogies were formed by Usuard, Ado, Notker,

Bellinus, and other later writers with the present Roman

Martyrology: in which these words are read in the first place: and various Martyrologies. "At Rome

of Blessed Apollonius the Senator, who under Prince Commodus

and Prefect Perennis, betrayed by a slave as being

composed a remarkable volume, which in the Senate

he read; and nevertheless by the Senate's sentence for

Christ's sake he was beheaded." In the Vatican Manuscript of Saint

Peter's his memory is referred to the following day, April 19.

[5] Here one might ask how by Saint Jerome he is called Senator

of the city of Rome, since Eusebius does not report this

in his History: for what is inserted by some

in Eusebius's Chronicle rendered into Latin by Saint Jerome, is absent

in twenty codices both manuscript and printed

in Pontacus, who nevertheless inserted them, but in a different character,

at the 8th year of Commodus in this way: Whether it be referred in Eusebius's Chronicle? "Apollonius,

which he had composed on the faith of Christ, for

the faith of Christ was beheaded." These are absent in our illustrious

Manuscript codex, as also with Mirus and Scaliger both

in Greek and Latin. But let this be supposed to have been intruded

from the cited place of Saint Jerome; the same Jerome confirms

in epistle 84 to Magnus the Roman Orator: in which

he reviews Christian writers, and among others has this:

"Hippolytus also and Apollonius, Senator

of the Roman City, produced their own works." Since a Senator, he gave an account of the faith before the Senate.

This Saint Jerome could have known from the Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Apollonius,

which Eusebius testifies were written, and that he had

collected them among other Passions of Martyrs. Certainly for this

reason Perennis, who was Prefect of the Praetorium and of the Equestrian

order, seems to have ordered Saint Apollonius the Senator to give

account of his faith before the Senate. This namely

honor the Senate ought to have or at least wished to defer to him, as

not first condemning a man of Senatorial order until

the Senate itself had examined his crime. The Senate therefore,

when it had heard Apollonius, answered that the man should be

judged according to the prescription of the laws: which Perennis carried out

by the Senate's decree.

[6] It is also obscure in Saint Jerome's cited eulogy how

Saint Apollonius was betrayed by a slave Severus, by what slave he was denounced? whether

Severus was the name of the slave; indeed whether it was even a slave of Saint Apollonius,

as Christopherson seems to have understood the passage of Eusebius, where only

is read "one of his own attendants," which with Valesius we have referred

to the demon, the instigator of evils, of whom above we treated.

Sophronius translated the passage of Saint Jerome into Greek as: "betrayed

by a slave to Severus," as though Saint Apollonius was

denounced by a slave to Severus the Judge; who was Perennis,

not Severus.

[7] Baronius in his Notes to the Martyrology, wondering perhaps

to the reader that the Church of God is said to have been at rest under Commodus,

whom Lampridius writes to have been called with public outcry of the people crueler

than Nero and fouler than Domitian, from Marcus Maximus the ancient historian, replies under Commodus the Emperor the quiet of the Church bought:

that this was not out of clemency or piety, but for his own convenience that

Commodus did this: who, as Lampridius testifies, sold

variations of punishments etc. Which are made clearer

from what Tertullian writes in On Flight in Time of Persecution,

where he says: "At these times the Church of God had bought peace,

when they paid the Church's tribute to the treasury,

that Christians might act safely." Which usage Tertullian disapproved,

being then imbued with the heresy of Montanus. More can be seen

in Baronius and Lampridius, who indicate the death of Perennis

and other evils that followed. Of the Emperor's edict

against informers, above indicated by Eusebius, we treated

on April 13 in the Life of Saint Justin the Philosopher, where in chapter 3

the very edict of Antoninus Pius is produced. Edicts concerning informers That however by sanction of the old law

Christians were to be punished when called into judgment,

seems to have been done from the rescript of the Emperor Trajan to Pliny

the Younger, and Christians called into judgment. which with his epistle we published in the Life of Saint

Ignatius Bishop of Antioch on February 1, § V.

[8] Nicephorus Callistus, book 4 of Ecclesiastical History chapter

26, treated of Saint Apollonius; but wrongly thought him the same

as that Apollonius who had written against the new prophecy of Montanus:

whom Saint Jerome in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers

very well distinguishes, for of that one in chapter 40, Apollonius another writer. of Saint Apollonius

the Senator, as we said, he treats in chapter 42.

[9] George Cardosus in the Hagiology of Portugal celebrates on this

day Saint Apollonius, because his sacred head was brought from Rome

in the time of Pope Paul V, and placed in the Sanctuary at Évora

of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers; Whether the head at Évora, and the body at Bologna? but Masinus in

Bononia Perlustrata asserts that the body of Saint Apollonius together with the head is kept

in the Church of Saint Francis, obtained from Rome in the year

1622 under the Pontificate of Gregory XV. Whether these are sufficiently proved,

let themselves see. A great bone of Saint Apollonius the Martyr

is preserved in the church of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp,

and the day April 18 is also indicated.

ON SAINTS SEPTIMUS THE DEACON AND VICTORICUS,

MARTYRS AT SALONA IN DALMATIA.

Septimus the Deacon, Martyr at Salona in Dalmatia (Saint)

Victoricus, Martyr at Salona in Dalmatia (Saint)

G. H.

Concerning the once most celebrated city of Dalmatia, Salona,

and concerning the people of Salona taught the faith of Christ by Saint Titus,

and concerning Saint Domnius the Bishop sent to them by

the Apostle Saint Peter, we treated at length on April 11; because Saint Domnius,

killed with nine soldier-companions,

is referred on that day in the ancient copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology,

which themselves begin this day with the two aforenamed Martyrs thus on the 14th day before the Kalends of May:

"In the city of Salona, the natal day of Saints Septimus the Deacon, Victoricus or Victuricus,

and corruptly in the Manuscript of the Queen of Sweden praised by Holstenius,

Victurus." Both are also celebrated in the Manuscripts of Rheinau

and of Saint Lambert of Liège; and without place of martyrdom in Greven

in the additions to Usuard: likewise in the Manuscripts of Augsburg

of Saint Ulrich, of Labbé's Paris, and of Tallaght in Ireland;

but in place of Victoricus, Mauritius is read in the Augsburg.

Notker has this: "In the city of Salonica the nativity of Saint

Septimus the Deacon." Who also alone is inscribed in a very ancient

Trier Manuscript of Saint Maximin. Among the soldiers, crowned with martyrdom at Salona with

Saint Domnius on April 11, is a certain

Septimus; whom we think different from this Deacon. Whether

the Deacon whom we now venerate was the Deacon of the said Bishop Domnius,

killed on the seventh day after his Martyrdom, cannot in the lack of Acts

be certainly established.

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

HERMOGENES AND DIONYSIUS.

Hermogenes, Martyr (Saint)

Dionysius, Martyr (Saint)

G. H.

After the two Martyrs who suffered at Salona, in the most ancient

Martyrology of Saint Jerome, which

we had from the Epternach books, there is added: "And

elsewhere of Hermogenes," but by contraction in

the Lucca and Blumian Manuscripts "Hermonis." A companion is given to him in

the Corbie Manuscript printed at Paris, in these words: "And elsewhere of Hermogenes

and Dionysius." Hermogenes is also referred in the Tallaght Manuscript.

We have not read more about them on this day. On

April 17 Saint Hermogenes the Martyr is venerated, a minister of Saint Peter

the Deacon, crowned with him at Antioch. Again on April 19

Saint Hermogenes is referred with many others who suffered in Armenia,

from whom the Hermogenes referred on this day may be different.