Felix

ON SAINT FELIX, PRESBYTER, AND FORTUNATUS AND ACHILLEUS, DEACONS,

MARTYRS AT VALENCE IN GAUL.

ABOUT THE YEAR 212.

Felix, Presbyter, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

Fortunatus, Deacon, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

Achilleus, Deacon, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

By the author G. H.

Valence, an ancient city of Gaul,

situated on the river Rhône

after its confluence with the Isère,

acknowledges as heralds of the Christian faith,

either the first or among the first,

Saints Felix the

Presbyter, Fortunatus and

Achilleus the Deacons, sent there by Saint Irenaeus

Bishop of Lyon. The Acts of martyrdom by a contemporary author, The Acts of their mission and martyrdom

were learnedly composed by one who attests at the outset

that he prefers to set forth things contemplated by himself with clear faith,

rather than to receive things heard and doubtful

with uncertain acknowledgment. Laurentius Surius published them

on this day, which we moreover give from

an ancient Trier codex of the Imperial monastery of Saint Maximin.

[2] The Prologue, which the beginning of the Acts

indicates was prefixed, starting from the word "Igitur" ("Therefore"), as often elsewhere, omitted by

the copyists who compiled Legendaries or Passionals, is thus far

wanting. As to the place of the Passion, all the most ancient Martyrologies

agree with the Acts. The ancient Martyrologies assign it to Valence in Gaul. That which

is ascribed to Saint Jerome has, in four copies, this: "At the city of Valence

in Gaul, Felix the Presbyter, Fortunatus the Deacon,

Achilleus the Deacon." The same, but with Achilleus omitted,

are read in the Reichenau MS, and in another of the Most Serene

Christina Queen of Sweden. In the Roman MS of Cardinal Barberini

these things are handed down: "In Gaul, SS. Felix the Presbyter,

Fortunatus and Achilleus the Deacons." With an elogium taken from

the Acts, Usuard thus writes: likewise Usuard, "In Gaul, at the city

of Valence, the birthday of SS. Felix the Presbyter, Fortunatus

and Achilleus the Deacons; who when they had converted the greatest part

of the aforesaid city to the faith of Christ,

were thrust into prison by Duke Cornelius: then scourged for a very long time,

and with their legs broken, they were bound

around the whirling of wheels, they also endured smoke

in the suspension of the rack, and at last were dispatched by the sword.

Ado, Ado also describes the same things somewhat more fully:

which it is pleasing to add. "In Gaul," he says, "at the city of Valence,

the birthday of SS. Felix the Presbyter, Fortunatus and Achilleus

the Deacons, who, sent by Blessed Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr of Lyon,

to preach the word of God,

when they had converted the greatest part of the aforesaid city

to the faith of Christ, were thrust into prison by Duke Cornelius:

then, after very long scourging with the harshest flogging of sinews,

their hands afterwards bound behind

their backs, and their legs broken, were bound

around the whirling of wheels, with the bitterness of smoke

placed beneath, suspended day and night continuously in the extension of the rack,

at last they were dispatched by the sword." Thus

he writes: similar things are held by, and they report them as having suffered at Valence in Gaul,

all MS Martyrologies everywhere, with which are Notker, and others.

the author of the Martyrology published under the name of Bede, Bellinus,

Maurolycus, Galesinius, Canisius, Molanus, Grevenus, and

others with today's Roman Martyrology.

[3] We marvel at one oversight of Peter de Natalibus, who

in book 4, chapter 83 of his Catalog, took the elogium of these Martyrs

from Ado (as very often elsewhere), and expanded it here and there with his own words,

They are attributed to Spain by Peter de Natalibus, and wrote that Valence was a city of Spain;

perhaps unaware that there exists in Gaul a lofty city, also

called Valence. Taking this occasion, the one who recently

fabricated the Chronicle under the name of Flavius Dexter, at the year 255 number 5

devised the following: "In Lusitania, at the city of the Vettones Valentia,

the holy Martyrs of Christ suffered, and in the Chronicle of Dexter. Felix, Fortunatus

and Achilleus, sent by Saint Irenaeus to preach

against the Gnostic heretics on April 23." These things,

as most certain, were immediately seized upon by Tamayo Salazar, Rodrigo

Caro, Francisco de Bivar, and others. But some, older than the fabrication

of Dexter, on account of the words of Peter de Natalibus, attributed it

to Valencia, the metropolis of the Valencian kingdom in Tarraconese Spain:

but whether they also established in those parts

the city of Besançon, from where SS. Ferreolus and Ferrutio sent a messenger

to Saint Felix and his companions, we have not yet read.

Theophilus Rainaudus in his Little Index of the Saints of Lyon,

treating in the first place of Saint Achilleus and his companions, takes it ill

that those things which among the Valentians in Gaul are settled and clearer than light

should be shaken or even called into doubt.

[4] Joannes Columbus, in book 1 Of the Deeds of the Bishops of Valence,

asserts that these Martyrs were slain by the sword in that place

where afterwards was the Priory of Saint Felix; and it is said

that Remegarius translated the bodies into the temple, The bodies were translated to the greater church, dedicated to the holy

Martyrs Cornelius and Cyprian,

which is now the principal church of the city, formerly named from

Saint Apollinaris the Bishop. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology,

after a long eulogy from the Acts, adds these things:

"A not small portion of whose bodies, at last translated

from Valence to Arles, a portion taken to Arles, and received with every testimony

of reverence by John the Archbishop,

was placed in the church of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Order of the Redemption

of captives, with distinguished veneration: whence it came about

that these Martyrs are also numbered among the Patrons of the diocese of Arles:

and to them today the due worship of veneration is rendered,

by the performance of a celebrated Liturgy in the mother church itself,

and by the sacred anniversary of their glorious birthday throughout the whole diocese."

Thus he writes.

Because indeed the people of Arles under a double rite celebrate on April 23

the feast of Saint George the Martyr, at second Vespers the

office is performed by the Chapter for SS. Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus

the Martyrs, where they are celebrated on April 24. whose feast they celebrate also under a double rite

on April 24, and at the Lessons of the second Nocturn, taken

from the Acts, these things from the Chartulary of Arles are added:

"The relics of these holy Martyrs which are at Arles,

the illustrious Count Walfrid Mengri, Marshal

of France, having received from the clergy of Valence in Gaul,

presented to John Archbishop of Arles in the church of the Most Holy

Trinity, of the Order of the Redemption of captives,

to be placed there. For as he willed that the accession

of dotal goods should be made to the Hospice (which he established adjoining it), so

he willed that the accession of this sacred gift be made to the church."

[5] Saint Davila, Bishop of Jaén, in book 3 Of the Veneration

of sacred relics, chapter 8, Whether any relics are at Valencia in Spain? hands down that in the greater church

of Valencia is preserved the body of Saint Louis, Bishop

of Toulouse in France, and of Saint Felix the Presbyter,

and of his Deacons Saint Fortunatus and Saint Arquilogus,

according to others Achilleus, Martyrs. The body of Saint Louis, after Marseilles was stormed

and plundered, Alphonsus King of Aragon and of Naples

seized and carried to Valencia. Concerning the others, Davila seems

to have believed this, thinking that they had suffered there. But because Alphonsus

Solorianus in the Sacristy of the church of Valencia, and Gaspar

Escolanus in his decades, do not mention Saint Felix and

companions, that which is said of their Relics as existing there

is rightly rejected by Tamayo Salazar. Antonio de Yepes, or in the monastery of Saint George in Navarre?

in Century 6 of the Benedictine Chronicle at the year 1052 chapter 10 asserts

that in Navarre in the monastery of Saint George of Azuelo are preserved

the head of Saint George, and four bodies of holy

Martyrs Eulogius, Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus:

enclosed in two arks skillfully made, together with

the instruments of martyrdom, and the linens in which they were wrapped.

Whenever ancient monuments and testimonies

confirming such a translation, if any exist, shall be produced,

a clearer light will perhaps shine upon this history.

[6] The time when these Saints suffered martyrdom seems

able to be investigated in this way. First, they were sent to Valence

by Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon,

later a Martyr. Sent by Saint Irenaeus the Bishop, He, succeeding Saint Photinus, crowned with martyrdom

in the year 177, presided over the said Church until

the year 202, when on June 28 in the persecution of Severus he attained

the laurel of martyrdom. Secondly, the three Martyrs were

at Valence for some time, they labored long, inasmuch as they drew about a third part of the people

to the worship of Christ. Thirdly, Duke

Cornelius marvels that, after Severus the Prince's severe

slaughter of the people of Lyon in these places, after the death of Severus, so nearby,

any traces of Christianity had remained. From these indications

we gather that Severus the Emperor was then dead,

which occurred in the year 211, on February 4, leaving

two sons, I. Septimius Geta Caesar and Antoninus surnamed by later generations

Caracalla, raised to the Empire with equal right;

but Geta, in the very next year, was killed in his mother's bosom

by his brother Antoninus, a savage man and one precipitous in excessive fury.

Afterwards a vast multitude of the supporters of Geta was slain, to many thousands,

and among these the famous jurisconsult Papinian.

Therefore Antoninus alone reigned, under Antoninus Caracalla, called Aurelius, whom, as Aelius Spartianus testifies,

his parent Severus had seen in dreams as about to succeed him.

Wherefore immediately he went out to the soldiers, and Bassianus,

his elder son, he called Marcus Aurelius Antoninus:

then, as the same writer explains, "when Severus was going against

Albinus, on the journey at Viminacium, his elder son

Bassianus, having added the name of Aurelius Antoninus,

he called Caesar." Hence we do not doubt

but that in the Acts, the persecution of the Aurelian Prince is to be understood as

begun by his father Severus, slain about the year 212. continued under his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla,

and thus these Martyrs would seem to have suffered about the year

212.

ACTS OF THE LIFE AND MARTYRDOM

By a contemporary author.

From the Trier MS of Saint Maximin collated with the edition of Surius.

Felix, Presbyter, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

Fortunatus, Deacon, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

Achilleus, Deacon, Martyr, at Valence in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 2896

By a CONTEMPORARY author. FROM MSS.

[1] Sent to Valence by Saint Irenaeus, Therefore the most blessed Irenaeus, Bishop of the city of Lyon,

afterwards a Martyr, in

whom, by divine disposition, the foundations of the faith to be established

were laid with marvelous firmness; appointed Felix

the Presbyter, so called as much by conversation as by name,

Fortunatus, in whom the very name already promised the riches of consummation

to be in him; and

Achilleus the Deacon, for the city of Valence, as a seminary

for the preaching to be imparted. Whom

the multitude of pagans there received with the zeal of spiritual grace,

cultivated with marvelous honor, cherished with the affection

of veneration. they shine with miracles. When they desired continually to exercise the duties

of the burden and honor imposed upon them by earthly labor and heavenly warfare,

such strength of miracles shone forth in them in a short time

that those vexed by the infestation of spiritual wickedness,

oppressed by deformity of limb,

half-dead from the weakness of various sicknesses, armed with the power

of heavenly assistance, they restored to pristine vigor of mind and strength of body.

All which things, by the virtues of signs, by the suffrages

of graces as well as of praises, delayed, cannot

be sufficiently unfolded by the course of narration: since it is rather

worthy to set forth things contemplated with clear faith,

than to receive things heard and doubtful with acknowledgment.

[2] they set up a hut, Therefore the aforesaid men, already stretching from great things to better,

not far from the city of Valence toward the

East, that is, that part from which, divinely called,

they had come, chose a small hut, through which

they might obtain a heavenly dwelling-place; and with humble diligence,

but with most sublime devotion, they established themselves there.

And there, constantly instructed by the continued modulation of psalms,

fortified by the labors of vigils, fed by the sparing of fasts,

strengthened chiefly by the Lord, the multitude of Gentiles

they drew to the grace of baptism, by the pious and praiseworthy

violence of exhortation and faith. they convert many,

[3] When, in due course of time, Saint Felix had allowed his limbs,

wearied by the assiduity of watching, to rest a little

in sleep, he narrated to the brethren a vision,

shown by the designation of heavenly indication,

saying: "I saw a place, by a vision of Saint Felix, gleaming with the flashing of starry splendor,

blooming with a variety of ineffable flowers,

redolent also with fragrant aromas;

tabernacles too, distinguished with starry gems, shining with the beauty

of gleaming gold: in which five

lambs, gleaming with snowy whiteness, ^b gathered up the flowers

of white-leafed petals painted with saffron, delighted

by the inviting pasture, with distinguished pleasantness. When, terrified by the immensity of the magnitude,

and rejoicing at the wonder of the virtue, they are invited to heavenly joy:

I gazed; I heard these things said, proclaimed

by the revelation of a divine voice: 'Well done, servants,

proved by the devotion of faith, disciples of Irenaeus my servant,

who have prepared the small talents, enlarged with multiple enrichment;

enter into the joy of your Lord, who will make you

rejoice with the exultation of perpetual gladness,

joined to the fellowship of your brethren.'" While therefore they enjoyed

this delightful narration, Fortunatus and Achilleus,

kindled with the ardor of spiritual grace, said: "Glory

to thee, fabricator of heaven, founder of the world, they praise God. promiser through the shown generosity

of thy ineffable gifts, because

through thy servant Felix, thou showest to us, unworthy and undeserving,

the mysteries of heavenly treasures,

and urgest us ^c by the exhortation of thy own voice,

and strengthenest us by the invitation of so great a reward:

grant that, fortified by the help of thy protection against the impending

assault of the adversary,

we may merit, by the protection of thy support,

to despise the darts of his raging fury, and by thy conquering in us,

to arrive at the crown of consummated passion: because although

it be thine, that which the human mind attempts to overcome out of piety,

yet it is of thine doing, that for recompense,

in contest, it has done what it has done."

[4] Therefore, when such a prayer had been completed, a certain

brother arrived with a letter, sent by SS. Ferreolus and Ferrutio,

they are strengthened by the letters of SS. Ferreolus and Ferrutio, whom the aforesaid most blessed Bishop had appointed

to instruct ^d the church of the city of Besançon.

The letter contained the following series of writing:

"To the most pious lords, brothers in Christ,

Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus, Ferreolus and Ferrutio

greetings in the Lord. The moderator of the ages, and redeemer

of souls, and the most abundant rewarder

of his Confessors, deigned to show me his servant

some hidden things of his secrets by the declaration

of a revealing vision, which things I have also

striven with eager desire to bring to the notice

of your holy brotherhood. When I, after the watches

of vigils were passed, was relaxing the limbs of my little body to be quieted,

to be restored a little by sleep; I saw, with the framework of heaven opened,

by angelic hands, with the banner of the Cross held forth,

five crowns brought forth, gleaming with the splendor of gold, and by another vision they are provoked to martyrdom:

and sparkling with the flashing of gems. I also heard

a voice, as terrible with marvelous awe as pleasant

with the promise of an invitation to be sought, saying thus:

'Disciples of Irenaeus, who received his

command with prompt devotion, receive the kingdom of heavenly

glory, promised by my reward.'

I believe therefore, most holy brethren, that the miracle

of this vision summons you to the triumph of martyrdom.

And because a stronger spirit ought always to be prepared where

the outcome of a higher contest ^e is hoped for, by the suffrage of divine help,

let us strengthen ourselves by the support of mutual exhortation:

so that when the trials of impending persecution come,

we may be able to have faith prepared for the torments of punishments,

if we wish to obtain the victory of the exultation attained." Here again

Blessed Felix, what had been revealed to him, and what

he had disclosed to his brethren Fortunatus and Achilleus with faithful report,

declared in a written page to Ferreolus and Ferrutio.

[5] They prepare themselves with psalms and hymns: Then indeed the men, whom the manifest rewards had kindled,

to seize the marks of so great a triumph, continually

by psalms and hymns, with continued modulation repeated,

prepared their minds. Therefore at that time ^f under Aurelius

the Prince, with the fury of persecution raging, Duke

Cornelius entered the city of Valence. Whence

when for the sake of boasting, exalted by the extension of his power,

terrible with the swelling of arrogance, surrounded by a throng of people,

he was going forth; he heard SS. Felix, Fortunatus

and Achilleus singing with the accustomed invocation of prayer. They are heard by Duke Cornelius,

Whose voices, when any heard them, soothed them

with the delight of such sweetness, that as if angelic

choirs singing together, the clearest sounding organs

seemed to be resounding with tuneful modulation. The place of the Psalm

was this: Psalm 65:4 "Let all the earth adore thee, O God, and sing to thee,

let it sing a psalm to thy name, Most High, alleluia." Cornelius,

learning this from a report, as much astonished with wonder

as inflamed with the fury of a cruel mind,

said: "What sound has struck the secret of my ears?

Have perhaps, after Severus the Prince's severe and praiseworthy

slaughter of the people of Lyon, any traces of Christianity

remained in these places, which both

sacrilegiously despise the deities, and audaciously condemn the decrees

of the Princes?" To whom the soldiers going before said:

"There are here three men, most lofty seducers, who

by the persuasion of their unceasing address, and even the shrines

of our gods, lofty with ancient workmanship,

and holy with the religion of our most sacred ceremonies,

they have overturned by the powers of profane authority."

[6] They are sent into custody, are reproached by the judge, Then Cornelius, inflamed with the seething of diabolical madness,

ordered them to be consigned to the bolts of the lofty prison.

Who also, when, on his return, they were presented to him

by the duties of the guards, he said to them: "Do not the examples of the rest,

who boasted themselves in the superstition of the Christian religion, deter you,

who presume to worship as God

him who is known to be born of Jewish stock,

and under their just rage, scourged

with blows, fixed to the gibbet, condemned to the vengeance

of death, buried as a man in common condition?

And yet the reverend deities of the gods you despise with profane

abuse, and at the same time you condemn the decrees of the most invincible

Princes with contumacious insolence; and

the people, serving in the ancient ceremonies of the temples,

you scatter by the subversion of a new error?"

[7] They answer steadfastly, Felix indeed, armed with the authority of the confession he had taken up,

with steadfast faith and mind replied: "Those damned

with lamentable loss by the senses of impious persuasion,

for this reason the error of profound ignorance darkens,

because they do not receive the mysteries of heavenly

secrets, nor does the splendor of any truth illuminate them. Therefore

the contemplation of souls must rather be unfolded

by the clarity of faith, than that of bodies: and it must be understood

that these gods, whom with such boasting and assertion of falsehood

you exalt, cannot be called gods at all, since

they are known to be fabricated by the shaping of your hands.

Tell me, what aid of healing will they be able to provide

to those praying, by whom they are proved to have taken their beginning?

And when their makers succumb to the fragility

of constant death, by the eternity of what deity do they themselves

subsist? They explain the nature of God: For God is, almighty,

the initiator of things past, the ruler of things present, the disposer

of things to come: who created the human race, formed

in the procreation of his image and likeness,

and commanded them to serve him. Therefore it is unworthy that a creature,

serving a creature, should be ignorant of its own author.

Whom if thou shalt receive with a mind full of faith,

having neglected the ridiculous veneration of thy deities, thou wilt easily be able

to merit the rewards of eternal life, and to arrive

at the blessedness of the ineffable gifts of the heavenly

dwelling."

[8] To these things Cornelius, persisting in the deliberation of obstinate perdition,

said: "You ought rather to take more wholesome

counsel, that, having received the talents of gold and silver

by the bounty of my liberality, the security of salvation might claim you;

than that for the perpetrated crime of so great a wickedness,

the pain of manifold torments should consume you,

and your bodies should not even come to ordinary or common

burial." Felix, Fortunatus

and Achilleus said: "Those who persevere in denying the power of Christ

by damned treachery shall perish with the bondage

of eternal destruction. But us neither ^h does the credulous

promise offered by thy piety solicit, They despise both the threatener and the flatterer, nor does the unending

torture of punishments disturb: because our God

always bestows upon his servants faith in the encounter,

virtue in the contest, victory in the consummation.

For it is more glorious to obtain the perpetual life

of eternal blessedness, than to succumb

with deadly credulity to the error of diabolical persuasion:

because whoever abandons the rudder of the right course,

deservedly, dashed against the rocks of shipwreck, falls."

[9] Then Cornelius, inflamed with poisonous indignation of mind,

ordered them to be scourged with the harshest flogging of sinews

by the instance of the lictors. They are beaten with sinews cruelly. Who amid the very

blessed sufferings, by the instruction of the prophetic lesson

sang: "Let the proud be confounded, because they have unjustly done iniquity

against me: but I will be occupied

in thy commandments." Psalm 118:78 Cornelius indeed said: "Behold our gods,

whom you have despised to adore with profane resistance,

direct the punishments of their avenging wrath against you. Where

now is your Christ, who neither helps you laboring with the protection

of his virtue, nor rescues you set free by the support

of his power?" S. Felix thus answered: "If

the blindness of deadly error did not hold thy mind,

thou wouldst discern that we, whom thou believest to be furrowed

by the laceration of thy scourges, but they remain unharmed. not even the traces of the impressed welts

stain us." Cornelius, confused by the wonder of the present virtue,

said: "Because ⁱ you, afflicted with the torments of so many scourges,

do not cease to revile our most invincible gods,

the bolts of the foulest prison shall receive your perishing bodies,

afterwards by the weighing deliberation of my examination,

to be intently slaughtered with severer vengeance."

[10] So when the blessed men were placed within the deadly darkness of the prison,

and singing together with the strengthening exultation of accustomed

modulation; about the middle of the night

an Angel was present, and with the guards terrified, bursting

the bolts of the most fortified

obstacle, led forth by the Angel, and breaking through the thick obscurity

of manifold darkness by the flashing of burning

light, said to them: "Go

now, faithful confessors of God, defended not by the shield or helmet

of earthly protection, but armed with the confidence

of divine power: and the mute images, composed

by the art shaping perdition, subverted or shattered, with unfeigned

faith, quickly scatter." They shatter the statues of the gods, They, hastening with devoted

mind to fulfill the heavenly commands, unbolting the obstacles

of the temples, reduced the statue of Jupiter, gleaming

with the preciousness of amber, to dust with a smith's hammer they had seized:

similarly they broke the statues of Mercury and Saturn.

[11] Wherefore Cornelius, exceedingly angry, ordered the soldiers

of Christ to be seized again, and every kind of

torment to be expended on them. To whom, brought before him,

he said: ^k "Tell me the power of your Christ, in whom

you have so much confidence, that you did not hesitate to break

our gods." The Martyrs of God, explaining to the Duke the power of Christ, as if replying with one mouth,

said: "Although thou art unworthy to hear

the mystery of the Deity; nevertheless on account of the people

standing faithfully by for the preaching of God, of Christ,

who is truth, we will bring forth a discourse. Christ the son of God

is the power of God, and the wisdom of God; through whom all things

were made, and without whom nothing was made: who

so grieved over one lost sheep that he sought it

in the desert, and when he had found it placed it on his shoulders,

and carried it back to the flock, and said rejoicing to

his friends and neighbors: 'Rejoice with me, because I have found

my sheep which I had lost.' Thou indeed, if

thou shouldst will to believe in him, thou shalt be able to perceive his power:

who is proved to have had the virtue of such great power,

that Lazarus, already stinking in the torpor of a four-day burial,

he recalled to the breath of pristine life:

he also walked upon the sea with dry foot; and miracles,

and with five loaves only and two fishes fed five

thousand mortals, satiating them with immortal

viands; he curbed the storms of raging winds

by the tranquillity of his commanding word. For he is rightly adored

by the miracles of such great signs, who

the passages of ears, obstructed by the condemnation of thickness,

he commanded by his medicine to be reformed to pristine hearing; the eyes

of the blind, shut by the cloud of inflicted obduration,

he restored to the uses to be enjoyed of the opened new light: the steps

of the feet, taken away by the shattering of debility, he reformed

by the mercy of divine assistance: those also drenched with the filth

of leprosy, with the scab of the rotting decay wiped away,

he ordered to be made bright by the restoration of revived flesh. For he,

God worthily both of his divinity and majesty,

is alone believed, and loved with all the affections of the heart and strength

of the body, and feared with the testimonies of distinguished miracles."

[12] Then Cornelius, overcome by the series of truth and

on this account more and more inflamed, they are most cruelly tormented; ordered them, with their hands bound

behind their backs, their loins and legs broken,

to be bound around the whirling of wheels, with the bitterness of smoke

or cloud placed beneath, to be suspended day and night

continuously in the extension of the rack. Whom

also, insane cruelty pressing, the lictors berated,

saying: "Those who presume to shatter the gods with saucy rashness

ought to lose their nefarious life by such

punishments. If however that Christ prevails by this

deity, by which you boast him to have the greatness of his name,

let him rescue you by his power, let him remove the torments,

let him burst the bonds."

[13] Steadfastly persevering On the following day Cornelius ordered them to be

loosened, a little release being imparted, from the bonds

of their fetters: to whom he said: "Sacrifice to the gods, whom

you boldly defiled by shattering: perhaps you shall obtain

their indulgence, that with the application of the zeal of physicians

you shall be able to come to pristine soundness." But they

answered saying: "If you knew anything to exist in these gods,

they would have provided themselves with the necessary supports

of protection; and they would be believed to be considered great

by an alien remedy, if ^l they had been recognized to have

freed themselves from their own destruction. he is beheaded with the sword:

Therefore we consider it better to succumb, about to purchase the rewards

of eternal life, for the confession of our God,

than to serve the ceremonies of your perdition."

Then, with the victorious triumph of a more glorious contest now imminent,

Cornelius ordered them to be struck down by the cutting of the sword.

Who, by the ministers according to the commands of the Duke,

being led outside the city, and nevertheless preaching to the surrounding

multitude of peoples, in the place of prayer

which they had built for themselves, and which had been ^m defiled

by the attack of the persecutors, attained the reward of consummated

martyrdom: and in the nighttime, buried, they shine with miracles.

by the faith or zeal of the Christians, they were buried

with fitting celebration: where by the testimony of divine remuneration

miracles are proved to occur assiduously. They are invoked by the writer. There,

by the entreaty of our weeping prevailing, may they deign,

with supernal suffrage aiding us,

to protect their own city, to strengthen the needy with the help

of mercy, and also to loose the bound

chains of the manifold offences of the people, with our Lord

Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is honor, power and virtue,

with the Father and Holy Spirit, ⁿ in perfect Trinity,

forever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.