ON ST. MAGNUS, MARTYR,
AT CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA,
Under Aurelian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The distinction of this holy Martyr from the other, his Acts, and his immemorial cult.
Magnus, martyr, in Cappadocia (St.)
BHL Number: 5155
BY G. C.
On this day, in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Magnus, bishop and martyr, Although this St. Magnus in the Acts who is reported to have undergone martyrdom in Italy under the emperor Decius, I distinguished this St. Magnus from that holy Prelate on account of the differing circumstances of place, time, and the Acts. But it is more doubtful whether this St. Magnus is to be distinguished from the other St. Magnus, or Andrew, commander of the soldiers, who with 2597 associates was slain by Antiochus in the narrows of Mount Taurus for the Christian faith, and whose memory is also celebrated on this day in the most ancient Martyrologies, as is clear from the first paragraph of the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Magnus the bishop, and will appear more clearly from the Acts of St. Magnus or Andrew the commander, which will be given today by my colleague. The doubt is increased by the silence of all the Martyrologies, which on this day make no mention of St. Magnus the Cappadocian.
[2] If, moreover, we attend to the number of associates with whom St. Magnus or Andrew the commander underwent martyrdom, which Peter of Equilio published, some confusion seems to have been made with our St. Magnus, since he too is said to have suffered with so great a multitude of companions, at least in the Acts which Peter of Equilio published in his Catalogue of the Saints, book 7, chapter 76, in this manner: Magnus the martyr suffered at Caesarea in Cappadocia in the time of the emperor Aurelian, under the governor Alexander; who, being sprung from that very city, and his Christian parents having died, being himself most steadfast in the faith of Christ, while he was praying to the Lord, was strengthened for martyrdom by a voice falling to him from heaven: which voice when the pagans had heard, they seized him and shut him up in prison, and after four days brought him before the governor; and when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, the governor handed him over to Alexander and Zozimus, priests of the idols, that they might consume him with fire: and they cast him into a furnace of fire; and straightway the flame is quenched, and after three days the martyr of Christ is led out thence unharmed. Hearing this, the governor caused the furnace to be kindled still more, and put him in again, where he remained shut up for five days. The flame too being divided into two parts, he himself remained wholly untouched. After five days the soldiers, approaching to find at least his bones, and hearing him singing psalms, looked in and saw as it were thousands of angels with him, in the midst of whom Magnus, unburned, was praising God.
[3] is said to have undergone martyrdom with 2597 companions, But when by the governor's order he had been brought out, and the governor attributed the power of Christ to magic, he ordered him to be led into the amphitheatre and wild beasts to be loosed upon him. And first indeed a most savage she-bear, let loose upon him, prostrated herself upon the ground and licked his feet. Then a leopard, leaping up, embraced his neck and wiped the sweat of his face with its tongue. Thirdly a most ferocious and huge lion, captured by hunters, was let in. And while a multitude of pagans was within the amphitheatre, before they could depart, the lion sprang from the hands of the hunters and rushed upon the heathen. But an angel closed the arena, so that no one could escape. And while the lion was tearing the multitude of pagans, at the Saint's bidding the governor alone with his retinue remained unharmed, and the lion returned tame to its cage. Then the governor, going out, ordered all to go out, and left Magnus alone there, and caused the lion to be released; and it fell at his feet and kissed him. At which sight two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven pagans believed in the Lord; all were beheaded by order of the governor Alexander. Then, at his command, the heathen people took the holy Martyr, and, having cast him out of the city, stoned him. And when they had thrown a heap of stones upon him, and had supposed him already dead, suddenly the Martyr of Christ, in the hearing of all, prayed the Lord to receive his soul in peace; and straightway he gave up the spirit: and his body was buried by the Christians in that same city in a new sarcophagus, on the XIV Kalends of September. But the bodies of the other martyrs were entombed beside the walls of the city in the cemetery.
[4] yet, other Acts being silent about this number of associates, This summary of the Acts has nothing in common with the Acts of St. Magnus or Andrew the commander, as will become manifest to anyone willing to run through them: for the place, the time, the emperor, the governor or executor of the martyrdom, and in a word all the circumstances of the narrative differ in the two sets of Acts, if you except the name and the similar number of companions. Nay more, no mention at all is made of any associates of our St. Magnus in another copy of the Acts, which Peter Calo the Dominican, before Peter of Equilio, inserted into his collection of the Lives of the Saints. Now Peter Calo flourished about the beginning of the fourteenth century, as Échard testifies among the Writers of the Order of Preachers there reviewed, where in volume 1, page 511, he has the following about him: Brother Peter Calo, otherwise Calotius, a Venetian, born at Fossa Clodia, in the vernacular Chiozza or Chioggia, and there received into the Order in the house of St. Peter Martyr, is praised by Leander, folio 152, as having been renowned about the year 1300. Then in the same place he enumerates his writings, among which he reckons Lives of the Saints collected from ancient monuments and comprised in two volumes of enormous bulk, which Work is said still to exist in manuscript in various libraries. Further, for the above-mentioned and other reasons I have judged that St. Magnus the Cappadocian must be distinguished from Andrew the commander and from the other martyrs of the same name.
[5] Although in the copy which we are now about to publish [he seems to be distinguished from the other, who suffered with so many companions on this day.] his martyrdom is placed on the Kalends of September, nevertheless, following the shorter Acts of Peter of Equilio, who assigns this same St. Magnus to this XIX day of August as crowned with martyrdom, I have preferred to treat of him today, both that the various difficulties which occur in these Saints of the same name might be set forth together in one labor, and that the Acts of this St. Magnus the Cappadocian and the Acts of St. Magnus or Andrew the commander might more easily be compared with one another in the same volume of our Work. But since neither on this day nor on the Kalends of September have I found any distinct memory of this holy Martyr in the ecclesiastical calendars, I have gathered his immemorial cult from the Acts themselves, which were certainly written two hundred years and more before the well-known decree of Pope Urban VIII, and in which Peter Calo the Dominican and Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilio, bear witness to the martyrdom and honorable burial of that Martyr. Now it only remains that we commit the Acts themselves to the press and illustrate them with the customary annotations.
ACTS
Collected by Peter Calo the Dominican.
From the manuscript Codex On the Lives of the Saints, part 2, folio 87.
Magnus, martyr, in Cappadocia (St.)
BHL Number: 5154
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
The Saint, seized by the pagans, Magnus, taught by his Christian parents the law and the Christian faith, when his parents departed this life, grew up in the faith of Christ, walking in the precepts and justifications of the Lord without blame; and, gazing toward heaven, he prayed to the Lord. Then there came a voice from heaven, saying: "My servant Magnus, fear not, for I am with you." Then many of the Christian people, hearing this voice, greatly rejoiced. But the pagans, seizing him, cast him into prison. For in the days of the emperor Aurelian, who was making a persecution against the Christians, a decree went out over the whole world a that the Christians should sacrifice to the idols, and that those who despised it should be punished with divers torments. Now blessed Magnus was in prison for four days. Then, bending his knees, he prayed to the Lord, saying: "Lord God almighty of our fathers, hear me thy servant, and forsake me not, O Lord my God."
[2] After these things the governor ordered him to be brought out of prison and to stand before his tribunal. And when he had been brought forward, he is set before the governor, the governor said to him: "Sacrifice to the gods." Holy Magnus replied: "I have told you once already, and I tell you again, that I am a Christian, and I will not sacrifice to demons." The governor said: "Perhaps you trust in this, that your magic arts so prevail that fire cannot overcome you. Sacrifice to the gods." Holy Magnus said: "To what gods do you wish me to sacrifice?" The governor said: "To Mercury and Apollo alone." Magnus replied: "Does it seem just to you that I should sacrifice to Apollo, since those who sacrifice to him shall lose their soul? For Apollo is interpreted 'destruction' b."
[3] who condemns him to the flames, Hearing this, the governor ordered him to be cast into a furnace of burning fire. Then the governor commanded Alexander and Cosmus, priests of the idols: "Take him from before my face, and put him in the furnace, that the fire may consume him." And taking him, they led him to the place where the furnace of fire had been prepared and was burning. Blessed Magnus, looking up to heaven, said: "Lord my God, hear me thy servant, who suffer these things for thy name's sake, and grant me that I may remain whole in the faith of thy confession: do thou deliver me from this fire, since these malicious men have made trial of me, that all who have not known thee may know and believe that thou alone art God and glorious in the whole world." And when his prayer was completed, he signed himself in the name of Christ. Then, seizing him, they cast him into the furnace of fire, and straightway the flame was extinguished. But blessed Magnus glorified the Lord, saying: "I give thee thanks, O Lord, because, as thou didst deign to visit the three children in the furnace of fire and didst deliver them from the burning of the fire, so hast thou also deigned to deliver me thy servant." Now he was in the furnace three days. After the third day the governor ordered the furnace to be opened, and they found him unharmed.
[4] which twice he escapes unharmed. Then the governor, filled with fury, ordered the furnace to be kindled again much more than it had been kindled before. But straightway the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove came down from heaven and pressed down the fire. And the flame was divided into two parts, and did not touch him, nor distress him, nor bring him any trouble at all. But after five days the governor ordered the furnace to be opened again, that they might find at least his bones. A multitude of soldiers came thither to see what had become of him: and they heard St. Magnus singing psalms and speaking praises to God. Astounded, they returned to the governor and said to him: "Lord governor, this man is no magician; but his God is great." Hearing this, the governor marvelled that so great a flame of fire had not harmed him, and said: "Perhaps his magic arts have prevailed"; and he said to his servants: "Bring him to me." But the soldiers, opening the furnace, saw as it were a multitude of thousands of Angels in great glory, whom the Christian brethren also saw. And St. Magnus was sitting in the midst of the furnace, and glorifying God. And the soldiers said to him: "Magnus, come out; the governor calls you." But as he came out, the angels departed thence. And when Magnus had stood before the governor, he said to him: "How is it, Magnus, that your magic arts so prevailed that the fire did not harm you? But tell me how it was extinguished, and I will do you no harm, but will order you to be released." Holy Magnus replied: "I made the sign of the Cross by the power of my Lord Jesus Christ, and the fire was extinguished from my side." Then the governor said to him again: "Tell me truly, how did your sorceries extinguish so great a fire?" Holy Magnus replied: "I give thanks to my God, because I am no sorcerer, but a Christian."
[5] Then also to ferocious beasts Then the governor Alexander said to the masters of the hunters: "Bring me divers wild beasts to consume him." Then the hunters did as he had said, and led blessed Magnus into the amphitheatre, and let loose upon him a most savage she-bear; and she, running up, stretched herself on the ground and licked his feet. Afterwards they let loose upon him a leopard, which, running up, leapt at his neck and embraced him, and with its tongue wiped the sweat from his face. Seeing these things, the governor, since they in no way harmed his body, commanded the hunters to spend many days in capturing a most ferocious lion, that so at least it might consume the Martyr of Christ. Soon, at his bidding, a lion of wondrous size was caught by the hunters and brought to the city; and it was announced to the governor that an exceedingly monstrous lion was being fed in the cage. And the governor rejoiced with exceeding gladness, and commanded that lion to be let loose upon the holy Martyr; and when the servants did not at once let it loose, for fear, that lion came and went down into the city, roaring and raging, and harmed no man, but hastening entered the amphitheatre, the bars standing open. And holy Magnus, looking upon him, said: "O creature of God, behold, now I suffer delays on your account." As he spoke these things, the doors of the amphitheatre were closed by angels, and no one could escape thence; and the amphitheatre being filled, the lion went up upon the people and tore the multitude of the pagans. But the governor alone with his retinue c remained unharmed. And this God did through the prayer of his servant Magnus, that his passion might be completed. And from the mangling of the people there was a great outpouring of blood; and not even so was the most cruel judge converted: for God had hardened his heart. After these things blessed Magnus commanded the lion to return to its own place.
[6] But the governor called St. Magnus and said to him: "Hear me and sacrifice to the gods, twice he is exposed in vain, as has been commanded by the emperor, lest you fail under divers torments." Holy Magnus said: "Hypocrite and partaker of demons, you shall not tempt the servant of God, for I serve the living God who reigns in heaven, and the Lord my God will never forsake me." While blessed Magnus was saying these things to the governor, the governor, exceedingly angry, said to him: "Hear, Magnus, I have a most ferocious lion; I command it to be let loose to tear you; and if you do not sacrifice to the gods, your bones shall be broken by it." Holy Magnus replied: "I do not sacrifice to the demons who dwell in you: for it is written, they who sacrifice to demons and not to God shall be rooted out." Then the governor, indignant, rose and went to the stadium, and commanded the hunters to let the lion loose upon him; and so they did. But blessed Magnus was walking in the midst of the amphitheatre, and looking up to heaven glorified God; and when the lion had come beside him, it cast itself at his feet and kissed them.
[7] But the people, seeing that he was not harmed by the lion, began with hisses and outcries and insults to harass the governor, crying out and saying: "Take this magician and sorcerer from our midst"; and gathering stones they stoned him, and at last in prayer he gives up the spirit. until they made a mountain over him; and they at once supposed that he was already dead, and each returned to his own place. After a little while, silence being made, blessed Magnus rose up unharmed and blessed the Lord. And straightway a voice came from heaven, saying: "Come, Magnus, that you may rejoice together with your holy brethren in paradise, all the wrestlings of the enemy being overcome; and the Holy Spirit shall receive you and lead you into holy rest." Then blessed Magnus, blessing God and giving thanks, said: "Lord God, lay not this sin to their charge according to what they have done to me; but receive my soul in peace." And when he had said these things, he gave up the spirit. And the Christians took away his body and laid it in a new sarcophagus. Now he suffered at Caesarea in Cappadocia under the emperor Aurelian, and the governor Alexander, on the I Kalends d of September.