Timothy

ON ST. TIMOTHY, MARTYR,

AT ROME,

UNDER THE HEATHEN EMPERORS.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Timothy, M., at Rome (S.)

BY J. P.

§ I. The most ancient and most celebrated cult of the Saint; whether he was a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle.

So great and so constant is the agreement of the records which have been transmitted to posterity concerning this holy martyr, in the honors paid to him, This most celebrated martyr that the antiquity, the celebrity, and the propagation of his cult seem to have contended among themselves as it were for a prize, so to speak: to which would that his Acts corresponded! The most ancient Kalendar, published by our Bucherius, thus records him among other martyrs: On the eleventh of the Kalends of September, of Timothy of Ostia. More clearly the small or old Roman one: At Rome on the Ostian Way, of Timothy the martyr. The Kalendar which Leo Allatius appended to his dissertation On the Sundays and Weeks of the more recent Greeks, from a most ancient codex of the Vatican library, as he prefaces, written nine hundred years ago, thus most briefly: On the XI of the Kalends of September, the birthday of St. Timothy. Add the most ancient Kalendar of the church of Carthage, which Mabillon published in the Old Analects, volume 3, and in which on page 399 the name of St. Timothy is marked … September; whether ours or another's, who could safely enough determine, since the days of the month, and the title and arena of the martyrdom, are wanting? Mabillon in his notes to the praised Kalendar, page 412, seems

to have looked to today's Saint when he observes these things: In the ancient Martyrologies … there is praised on the XI of the Kalends of September Timothy the martyr, who, having set out from Antioch to Rome under Pope Melchiades, was there beheaded. In the Kalendar of Fronto of the eighth century: On the XXII day of the month of August, the birthday of St. Timothy. At the church of Blessed Paul the Apostle — that is, as Fronto adds in a little note, the station is at Blessed Paul's, because St. Timothy had no church at Rome. And in the Prefatory notes to the praised Kalendar, §7, page 73, he says: The station was nothing else than a gathering of clergy and people, the bishop being present, in the place where on that day the public solemnities of the Masses were to be held.

[2] To these let other Martyrologists be joined, namely Bede, who sings thus: he is marked in the ancient Martyrologies,

      Then Timothy holds the eleventh in worthy order.

Ado: At Rome on the Ostian Way in the cemetery of the same, the birthday of St. Timothy: who, coming from Antioch to Rome under Pope Melchiades, was received there; and who, when he had preached there a whole year and some months and had converted many to the faith of Christ, being seized by Tarquinius, prefect of the City, and wasted by a long custody of prison, when he would not sacrifice to the idols, was thrice beaten, and handled with the gravest torments, and at last beheaded, and buried beside the blessed Apostle Paul. It is found written in the history of St. Silvester. The last clause of that eulogy properly belongs to the Saint's Acts. This announcement Usuard abridged; concerning which his Martyrology published by us may be seen. Wandelbert honors the illustrious Saint with this little verse:

      Timothy, having suffered at Rome, honors the eleventh.

Further, there will be place for several announcements of this Saint when it is weighed whether he was a disciple of St. Paul. It is established therefore from what has been said that his public veneration was by far the most ancient and most celebrated.

[3] Nor are other things to be passed over by us which bear upon this. and in other ancient records, In the ancient Prefaces through the circle of the year, published by Pamelius in book 2 of the Liturgica, page 592, this is prescribed to be recited On the Birthday of St. Timothy the martyr: Eternal God, for to you the festal solemnity is kept, to you the hallowed day is celebrated, which the blood of blessed Timothy your martyr, poured out in the testimony of your truth, has marked for the magnificent honor of your name. But of what date that Preface may be, although it is not established, yet Pamelius in the place cited judges it to be Gelasian. But of whatever author it may be, it certainly seems to be ancient. Another and no less notable monument of an ancient cult joined with a certain solemnity is taught us by the book of Sacraments of St. Gregory the Great, Pope, in Menard, page 125, where that holy Pontiff prescribes three prayers to be said at the time of the unbloody Sacrifice On the Birthday of St. Timothy the martyr. Besides, the antiphonary book of the same Saint, which in the new edition of his Works published at Paris in the year 1705 is found in volume 3, part 1, appoints at column 708 various things to be chanted On the Birthday of Sts. Timothy and Symphorian. And I think that here our martyr is meant, because he is joined to another most celebrated athlete who is celebrated on this day. And these things indeed which we have already gathered concerning the most ancient and most celebrated cult of St. Timothy are clear enough and well attested; but more obscure and more uncertain is the question whether the same Saint was a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle.

[4] And such indeed he is asserted to be in various Martyrologies. That which Florentini brought to light under the name of St. Jerome sets down these words: At Rome on the Ostian Way in the cemetery of the same, of St. Timothy, disciple of Paul the Apostle. It is inquired The Corbie one agrees, in the same Florentini in his notes: On the XI of the Kalends of September, at Rome on the Ostian Way in the cemetery of the same, the birthday of St. Timothy, disciple of Paul the Apostle. Among the abridged Hieronymian Martyrologies which have been published by us, the Rheinau and the Reichenau ones support this disputed point. But the Martyrology of the Queen of Sweden, which we gave in the same place, and Bede as published by us, and Ado, and the Animadversions of Holstenius on the Roman Martyrology, take an altogether different way, when they attach today's Timothy to the time of Pope Melchiades, who lived in the fourth century. Let the announcement of Ado, which has already been set forth above, be consulted for all. A remarkable leap indeed from the first century to the fourth. But whether he lived in this century, or in another after the first, will be considered afterwards: at least that he did not live in the first, and so was not a disciple of St. Paul, seems to me more probable.

[5] whether today's Saint For first, if you object the Hieronymian transcripts, they are not sufficiently consistent with themselves; for in some that clause is found, in others it is not, but something wholly different, as we have already seen: nay, there is none at all in the most ancient Antwerp Martyrology in Florentini, as he himself confesses in his notes, who nevertheless dwells so earnestly upon that clause there. That Timothy was a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, he says, the most ancient Antwerp Martyrology thus passes over in silence: "On the XI of the Kalends of September. At Rome on the Ostian Way, of Timothy." There is none in the most ancient Bucherian one; there is none in the small or old Roman one; there is none in Fronto; that discipleship is not in the other documents which we brought forward before at number 3 to illustrate the cult of our St. Timothy: so that we seem able to suspect, not without probable foundation, that those words by which the same Saint is said to have been a disciple of St. Paul were stitched on to the aforesaid Hieronymian transcripts from elsewhere, and are to be held spurious and added.

[6] St. Timothy In volume 2 of January, on the XXIV day of that month, in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Timothy the apostle, bishop of Ephesus and martyr, who was a disciple of St. Paul, on occasion of the various days on which he is honored, these things are recorded by Henschen on page 563: On the XXII of August the very ancient Rheinau manuscript has this: "At Rome, of Timothy, disciple of St. Paul." But the last three words seem to have been added by the copyist. Otherwise on that day is honored St. Timothy, the Roman martyr. By these things my suspicion is confirmed, to which this conjecture may be joined, that there was a ready occasion for an addition to the genuine text, both because our Saint was of the same name as the disciple of St. Paul, and his station was held at Blessed Paul the Apostle's, as has been said from Fronto; and because the text of the Hieronymian Martyrology in Florentini is so dislocated, corrupted, and disturbed, that it would be no wonder if for the words just produced, ad B. Paulum Apostolum, there had been substituted discipuli Pauli Apostoli.

[7] was a disciple Florentini in his notes on this day, favoring the clause contained in his copies, by which, he says, it is constantly affirmed that St. Timothy commemorated on this day was a disciple of Paul the Apostle, suspects that what is here said ought to be taken only of Timothy the Roman, brother of Novatus. For Timothy was likewise a priest, and a disciple of the Apostles. When the Roman Martyrology treats of Novatus on the XX day of June …, it affirms … that he was … the brother of Timothy the priest: but Bede as published adds: "At Rome, of St. Novatus, brother of Timothy the priest, who were instructed by the blessed Apostles." Here three things must briefly be weighed: namely, first, that in the historical Collection on the same XX day of June, in volume 4 of that month in our work, page 4, the death of St. Novatus is fixed in the year 151 of the vulgar era, with which it is there said not to agree that he and his brother were instructed by the blessed Apostles. Secondly, it is also said there that Bede is vacant on that day, and that it is an addition in which that is asserted. The Martyrology published by us under Bede's name in volume 2 of March, page XXIII, may be seen. Thirdly, it must be weighed that in the most ancient Bucherian Kalendar and in other ancient Martyrologies Timothy is marked on this day as crowned with the laurel of martyrdom: but that title is not given to the one who is in our Collection which I just designated: nor is today's St. Timothy distinguished with the title of priest, by which he is there called in our work, as may be seen in the sacred calendars alleged above. Florentini indeed brings forward a letter of St. Pius the Pope to Justus, bishop of Vienne, in which it is said among other things: St. Timothy and Mark have passed through a good contest; but that letter, which is published in Labbe, volume 1 of the Councils, column 576, is there said in a marginal note to be acknowledged as genuine by Baronius, but not approved by certain others; and what is objected against it Tillemont reports in the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, volume 2, note 4 on St. Pius, page 614: but of the passage of that letter which we have just cited from Florentini he treats there in note 5. From these things I conclude that today's St. Timothy the martyr, sought by Florentini through so many windings, has not hitherto been found in the brother of St. Novatus of the same name.

[8] We must here also consider how Tillemont tried to extricate himself from these difficulties in note 5, of St. Paul which we have just alleged. He asks therefore, the opinion of Florentini being rejected, who that Timothy, the disciple of St. Paul, may be; and he indicates that it would be no wonder if the great Timothy of Ephesus had been honored at Rome and in the church of St. Paul, as the Kalendar of Fronto reports (see above in our copy, number 1); but he objects the authors who record that he died at Ephesus and was translated from that city to Constantinople in the year 356; that nevertheless the Hieronymian Martyrologies say that St. Timothy of this XXII day of August was honored in a cemetery of his own name; and so that it must necessarily be said that at least his relics were there. Then from Florentini, page 767, he makes mention of an inscription which indicates that the body of some St. Timothy, martyr at Rome, is still kept in the church of St. Paul, whither it could have been translated from the cemetery of his own name, which is believed to have been there nearby; but that in the same inscription it is noted that this St. Timothy suffered under Tarquinius, and accordingly was not a disciple of St. Paul.

[9] Could it be said, he says, that likeness of name was the cause the Apostle; that this Timothy was taken for the Ephesian; even though he is quite rightly distinguished from him in certain records which are cited in the same Florentini as extracted from the Vatican; and that he therefore became so celebrated, even in Africa itself? For the things which besides that are said of him ought not to have rendered him so very celebrated, since, properly speaking, nothing is known of him. Thus Tillemont, sending the reader to the persecution of Diocletian, which is found in volume 5 of the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, and §49 there may be consulted. And this solution indeed the author so often alleged says to be easy; but that from it there follows that the Roman church and the African church would have fallen into a troublesome confusion: so that he says he does not know whether it might not be expedient to say that, while the body of the great St. Timothy was being translated from Ephesus to Constantinople under Constantius, certain relics of him were

distributed, as he reports certainly happened in the case of St. Andrew; and that, when some of them had been brought to Rome, they were deposited at St. Paul's in a chapel which had the name of St. Timothy, and that this gave its name to the neighboring cemetery.

[10] and we more probably But he judges that this does not prevent another St. Timothy from having been buried toward that same place and afterwards translated to the church of St. Paul: nay rather he affirms that it must be said that his feast fell on the same day; for it is believed that the Bucherian Kalendar, in which he is marked, was made in the year 354, two years before St. Timothy of Ephesus was translated to Constantinople. Thus far Tillemont upon this intricate difficulty, which he proposes to the learned, saying that he awaits their judgment. You see, reader, in how many conjectures and little doubts that author entangles himself in order to trace out who and of what sort today's St. Timothy was, and to find him on the Ostian Way and a disciple of St. Paul: him whom he sought so laboriously he does not seem to me to have found even by a probably tenable conjecture; since today's Saint of the same name, although he be most illustrious in cult, is yet in other respects so obscure that not even by divination can any distinct knowledge of him be hoped for — Tillemont himself confessing, as we have reported above, that nothing is known of him.

[11] judge that this opinion is to be rejected. Further, on this matter the modern French compiler of legends, so often and deservedly chastised by us elsewhere, does not seem to have given a bad judgment, when, setting forth our St. Timothy on the present day, and, this opportunity being offered, writing about St. Timothy the disciple of St. Paul and his translation to Constantinople, whence his relics are said to have been carried to Rome, he judges that it suffices for the destroying of this error — which is otherwise ancient enough — if it be observed that the body of our martyr was already then honored at Rome, and rested even then on the Ostian Way, as the Kalendar of the year 354 marks, before the body of St. Timothy, disciple of St. Paul, was at Constantinople, which happened only in the year 356. And the same biographer indicates that nothing else should be attempted, but that it should be observed that the martyr Timothy, whose memory the Church honors on the XXII day of August, is one of the number of the Saints who are indeed very well known in their cult, but altogether unknown in their deeds. How truly the same author said this will be plain from the Saint's Acts, which we shall undertake to examine, after we have prefixed to them some things concerning the burial and the body of this holy champion.

§ II. The Saint's burial and body; his Acts and their censure.

The place of his ancient burial, and of his body Concerning the primitive place in which the sacred body of the martyr was laid, it has been said before from the most ancient Bucherian Kalendar, and it has likewise been indicated from others where it rested in the following centuries. But William of Malmesbury, On the Deeds of the Kings of the English, book 4, which is on William II, chapter 2, page 135 of the Frankfurt edition of the year 1601, says: The twelfth gate and way is called Ostiensis; now it is called the gate of St. Paul, because beside it he rests in his own church. And there also Timothy the martyr. Thus Malmesbury among other things which he writes of the city of Rome. That the body of the same holy athlete is there also in our times, Piazza testifies on the XXII day of August in his Sacred Hemerology*, saying that his feast is celebrated at St. Paul's outside the walls, and that his sacred body is there; and that from him the famous cemetery took its name which is called that of St. Timothy on the Ostian Way, which lies under the same basilica, with a plenary indulgence.

[13] In Ferrarius, in the alphabetical Index which stands before his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, continued in the following centuries. these things are noted: Timothy, martyr at Rome, XXII August; his body at Piacenza in the church of St. Sixtus. But that body either is of another St. Timothy, or, if it be of the same who is honored on this day, as Ferrarius will have it — which last, however, seems to require some proof — then a part is taken for the whole: otherwise these things do not cohere with the foregoing. Aringhi in volume 1 of the Roma subterranea, book 3, chapter 3, page 413, writes of the sacred pledges which are kept in the church of St. Paul, and indicates that the body of St. Timothy was translated to a more seemly place, saying: It must not be passed over by us in silence that beneath the altar of St. Bridget, which is next to the high altar, rest the bodies of the holy martyrs Timothy and of the others whom he names: which had formerly been laid in the subterranean confession of the Apostle and in the oratory of St. Julian. The same author adds to these an inscription of a sort; but when and by whom it was made is uncertain, and therefore I call it "of a sort."

[14] This most celebrated martyr has undergone in his Acts the same fortune The Acts published by Combefis as so many other Saints, who are indeed most illustrious in public veneration and esteem and in the brightness of their name spread in every direction; but who are so little sincerely and truly depicted in the narratives of their deeds, and so badly dressed up, that their Acts deserve not so much the approval and belief of learned readers as their just complaints and indignation. Father Francis Combefis published at Paris a book with this title, Select Triumphs of the Illustrious Martyrs of Christ, etc., in which book there stands the Life of St. Silvester, Pope, with the Acts of St. Timothy woven into that Life from page 260. In what place the Acts of St. Silvester are to be held — namely as apocryphal and fabulous — is very well known; nor ought the memory of the fables and absurdities contained in them to be rubbed up here. Let us examine therefore the history of St. Timothy which is found in Combefis: Blessed Silvester … when St. Timothy … had come in the time of persecution from Antioch to Rome, most kindly entertained him as his guest: which not even the priests themselves had dared to do, on account of the danger of the thing. And this indeed is the opening of the Acts of our holy martyr, in which, since the time of persecution is referred to about the times of Pope Melchiades, as will be evident from what follows, who in the year of Christ 310 was raised to the chair of Peter, therefore I do not sufficiently understand how not even the priests themselves had dared to do what St. Silvester was said to have done for this martyr when he gave him lodging.

[15] For from the year 306 until the year 312 Maxentius was ruling at Rome, are examined, in which city he exercised a tyranny at once shameless and cruel; but he was so far from continuing or stirring up a persecution against the Christians that he made it cease, as Eusebius testifies in the Ecclesiastical History, book 8, chapter 14, page 310 of Valois's edition: Maxentius, he says, who seized the tyranny at Rome, at first indeed feigned the profession of our faith, that in this he might humor and flatter the Roman people. And so he commanded his subjects to desist from the persecution of the Christians, putting forward, that is, a feigned appearance of piety, and that he might seem much more kindly and humane than the earlier princes. But in the course of time he showed himself in his deeds by no means such as he had been hoped to be. Then the praised author records the lust and the crimes of that fury; likewise the cruelty with which he raged against the Roman people; but of any persecution renewed by his order against the Christians, as such, from which he had ordered a cessation, I do not read: so that the great fear of the priests and the danger of the matter at Rome, of which it has been said above, seem to me altogether suspect, by which the priests themselves were terrified and did not dare to receive as a guest a stranger from Antioch.

[16] and are censured But on what foundation that journey from the city of Antioch to Rome rests, I do not know: even though I am not ignorant that it is found in Ado, alleged above, under Pope Melchiades: but after this and other things which he there relates, It is found written, he says, in the History of St. Silvester. The same Acts which we are examining relate that St. Timothy, when he had preached the true doctrine of Christ a year and some months … fell, being executed with the sword; and that this happened under the holy Miltiades or Melchiades, bishop, that is Pope, of Rome, is indicated in what follows. Whence it follows according to those Acts that he came to Rome about the year 310, or a little later, but not after the year 311, in which this holy Pontiff died. But how can the coming of St. Timothy to the City be deferred so long, if it be true, as those same Acts insinuate, that St. Silvester had not yet been initiated into the priesthood when St. Timothy came to Rome? For Silvester, when he was a boy, clung to Cyrinus the priest, and likewise discharging offices (or, as it is in the Greek text, διακονίας, ministry), etc. Besides, does not the phrase not even the priests themselves, of which we have just treated, indicate that this holy Pontiff was not then a priest? And yet that he was a priest already before the year 305 St. Augustine testifies, because he numbers him among the priests of St. Marcellinus the Pope, who died in the year of Christ 304. For thus this holy Doctor writes in the book On the one Baptism, against Petilian, chapter 16, page 87 of the Plantin edition: What need then is there now that we should wash away the crimes objected by him against the bishops of the Roman Church, whom he has assailed with incredible calumnies? Marcellinus and his priests Melchiades, Marcellus, and Silvester are charged by him with the crime of handing over the divine books and of offering incense. Does not this conflict clearly enough with those Acts?

[17] as apocryphal; another copy of the same bran Let us go on. In the same Acts our holy martyr is said to have suffered under him who is there called Tarquinius the prefect. But I do not find a prefect of this name in the catalogues of the prefects of the City which the most distinguished men Emmanuel a Schelstrate published in the Appendix to volume one of the Antiquity of the Church, from page 528; and Theodoric Janson van Almeloveen after the Roman Consular Fasti, printed at Amsterdam in the year 1705, from page 295. Does it follow, then, that those Acts are of no or at least of little credit, which bring upon the scene Tarquinius the prefect, unknown elsewhere? But since Ado cites the Acts or history of St. Silvester, as we indicated a little before, we ought not to wonder that he affirms that our athlete was seized by Tarquinius, prefect of the City, etc. We have another copy of the Acts with this title: The Passion of St. Timothy the martyr, on the XI of the Kalends of September, which is noted as transcribed from the parchment manuscript of Provins of Master Wion de Dourvalle. And it thus begins: And it came to pass that a certain Timothy, a Christian and religious man, coming from Antioch and publicly preaching Christ in the time of persecution, was received as a guest at Rome by St. Silvester. But since those Acts, although shorter, are yet of like bran with those already mentioned, they deserve the same censures.

[18] But are not Acts of a better stamp to be hoped for by us in Baronius at the year 311 from number 58? copies By no means. For what sort the copy is which he used, learn from this one specimen,

which that most eminent man tried to correct thus: But what at last happened concerning Timothy the martyr? For since it is established that he suffered in the time of the emperor Constantine, we wrongly read in the written codex that he underwent martyrdom in the persecution of that same Constantine. But it is no wonder that these and other apocryphal things concerning St. Timothy are contained in the same codex, since they were drawn from the Acts of St. Silvester, as Baronius signifies: in whom also there comes on the scene Tarquinius Perpenna, prefect of the City in the time of Pope Melchiades and in the year of Christ 311, wholly unknown in the Catalogues which I cited above. Let it moreover be permitted me to ask of Baronius whence it is established that our martyr suffered in the time of the emperor Constantine. If from these Acts alone — since they waver, why should not the time which they record, and which has already been chastised above, waver also? Baronius also warns that concerning Timothy the martyr this is not to be passed over, that his martyrdom is wrongly placed under the sixth consulate of Constantius five years earlier: for since it appears that he suffered while Pope Melchiades was sitting, it can by no means be fitted to that time in which it is established that Marcellus presided over the Roman Church. But either to correct or to fix the time — what is this here but to grope in darkness? Besides, let it be permitted to ask again of Baronius whence it is established that today's Timothy is marked in Cuspinianus, whom he cites, On the Consuls, under the sixth consulate of Constantius, and not rather another, since the days of martyrdom are altogether different, and Annius Anullinus is set down as prefect? To which are presently subjoined these words: In a very ancient little book of Chronicles without an author's title I found these words: "In the consulate of Constantius for the sixth time and of Maximian for the sixth time, Timothy suffered at Rome on the X of the Kalends of July." And indeed both those consuls and the prefect of the City just named are noted in the catalogues which I lately designated, at the year 306. I have before me a transcript from the manuscript of the Congregation of the Oratory and of St. Mary Major at Rome, as it is ascribed to it; and it thus begins: Under the persecution of the emperor Constantine, etc. To this insipid opening I add nothing further. Perhaps Baronius used the same or a similar copy.

[19] But behold another chronological metamorphosis in Peter de Natalibus, book 7, chapter 91, are designated where he recites the martyrdom of St. Timothy, which needs a liberal sponge. For in it he is called a priest; but on what previous author's or guide's word is this said? Then in the same place he is noted as having suffered under the emperor Valerian and Tarquinius, prefect of the City. And so the time of the martyrdom is there anticipated by about fifty years. But that narrative speaks contradictory things: for it thus goes on: Who, coming from Antioch in the time of Pope Melchiades, was devoutly received in hospitality by St. Silvester. An insipid combination indeed of things, persons, and times! But enough now of trifles. And since the time of the martyrdom is altogether obscure and uncertain, and this only is certainly established concerning the Saint's death, that it cannot be deferred beyond the year 354; therefore, bidding farewell to vain conjectures, I have fixed the martyrdom above under the heathen emperors. Of the suspect Acts, the worst are those which are found in Peter de Natalibus: but of the others we commit to the press those which the aforesaid Combefis published, not because they are better than the others, but that at least some copy may be at hand for the reader which may serve for the censures noted in the course of this Commentary.

elsewhere Ostiensis*

APOCRYPHAL ACTS

By an anonymous author,

from the Life of St. Silvester, Pope, which Combefis published in the little book entitled Select Triumphs of the Illustrious Martyrs of Christ, from page 260.

Timothy, M., at Rome (S.)

A. By an Anonymous Writer.

The Saint, being received in hospitality by Blessed Silvester, Now blessed Silvester, when he was a boy, clung to Cyrinus the priest, and, likewise discharging offices, diligently fulfilled every care of his own accord. Whence, when St. Timothy, a most religious man, and one who preached Christ freely and openly, had come in the time of persecution from Antioch to Rome, he most kindly entertained him as a guest; which not even the priests themselves ^a had dared to do, on account of the danger of the thing. But Silvester not only rejoiced at having received him, but also, all fear being shaken off, and having marked both the manner of the man's life and his preaching, commended him with many praises to all.

[2] after some time is put to martyrdom, And so the holy Timothy of whom I have spoken, when he had preached the true doctrine of Christ a year and some months, and would not bring his mind to sacrifice to the idols, being thrice tortured and beaten, and having gone through that threefold struggle, at last fell, being executed with the sword. And when Silvester had secretly carried off his body at deep midnight, he brought it into his house; and, having summoned the holy bishop Miltiades, he obtained that it should be ratified by all the fellow priests and deacons that it should be granted; and, passing the whole night in those sacred canticles, he dedicated his martyrium.*

[3] and is honorably buried: But a certain noble Christian woman fearing God, Theona by name, since she had a garden neighboring on holy Apostle Paul's, most dutifully asked that most blessed Pope whom I have mentioned to build at her own expense in that very garden a martyrium, and in it to lay the body of the most sacred Timothy. Which, being so done, filled all Christians abundantly with joy, namely that a martyr of the same name as Timothy, once the disciple of Paul, had been laid near him.

[4] These things being accomplished with such success, Tarquinius the Prefect, thinking that Timothy had had some money, the tyrant perishes miserably. ordered St. Silvester to be seized; and said: "Unless you give me all the wealth of that most wicked Timothy, and sacrifice to the gods, I will destroy you with various torments." To whom St. Silvester said: "I will speak to you the word of the Gospel: This night your soul shall be taken from you; that you may know that Timothy, whom you have destroyed with punishments, is not a wicked man, as you have said, but a martyr of Christ ^b."

ANNOTATIONS.

* that is, a building sacred to the Martyr