ON SS. SIMPLICIUS, CONSTANTIUS, AND VICTORIANUS, MARTYRS,
AMONG THE MARSI IN THE ABRUZZI OF ITALY,
Perhaps under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Their cult, translation, miracles, Acts.
Simplicius, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
Constantius, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
Victorianus, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
BY J. P.
Marsi, a city of Italy in the Farther Abruzzi, near the lake Fucinus, and on its eastern side, ... now cut down and lying utterly ruined; the ruins are still called Marsi, Their public veneration among the Marsi and the episcopal see was transferred to the town of Pescina, three miles distant from the town of Celano, by Clement VIII, supreme Pontiff. Its bishop is called of the Marsi and Marsican, and it is in the Abruzzi; although there are those who believe that there was never a city called Marsi, as Baudrand relates. Ughelli has more in the Italia Sacra of the earlier edition, volume 1, column 952 and following. But it will be useful to have made mention of the town of Celano or Cælanum afterward, on account of the documents which will be given concerning the particular cult of these Martyrs in that same place. But first let us prove their public veneration from elsewhere.
[2] It is established, first, from the Acts of the said Martyrs, from various divided into six lessons; and also from the proper antiphons and the prayers or collects used at the time of Mass, all of which we shall produce hereafter. Second, from both Catalogues of Ferrari; for in that which is of the Saints of Italy he brings forward on this day a compendium of the martyrdom from the lessons customarily recited in their Office; but in the other Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology he refers them from the XX day of this month to the XXVI, where he cites in the notes the Records of the church of the Marsi. Third, after the death of Cardinal Baronius they are read in the Roman Martyrology, in the edition of which that came forth into the light in the year 1635 I first find them entered in this manner: Among the Marsi, of Saints Simplicius, and of his sons Constantius and Victorianus, who under the emperor Antoninus, being first tormented in various ways, and then at last struck with the axe, obtained the crown of martyrdom. But that they are honored there on this day is concluded from the title which is prefixed to their Acts, or six manuscript lessons, to be given hereafter, and which has these words: On the XXVI day of August, the feast of the holy martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus, at Celano in the parts of Marsia. Our copy writes the two last names Costantius and Vittorianus, by an Italian idiom, which, as I have just corrected it, so I shall correct it wherever I hereafter find it.
[3] After the lessons of which I was just now treating, there follow these antiphons, it is proved of which the first, which is the ANTIPHON AT THE MAGNIFICAT, runs thus: Rejoice, happy land of Celano, which holdest the memory of so great Martyrs, whose bodies rest here in peace; and thus for their passion thou shalt be celebrated in all the world, etc. Let the just exult, etc. Another antiphon: Rejoice, land of Celano, most worthy of praise, redeemed by the blood of thy Saints through their merits. Be glad in the Lord, etc. Another antiphon: The Saints fulfilled their martyrdom under the most cruel Antoninus Pius, because they would not obey his commands, nor sacrifice to unclean gods. The Saints shall exult, etc. Prayer: Grant us, most merciful God, worthily to keep the solemnity of thy blessed martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus, that we, whose most holy bodies we frequent with worthy praises, may by their prayers be mercifully delivered from all impending evils. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. Secret prayer: Receive propitiously, we beseech thee, O Lord, our prayers together with the offerings of victims, and, thy holy martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus interceding, through these homages of devout piety which we have devoutly performed in their honor, may we be able to attain to the glory of the heavenly paradise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. Postcommunion prayer: Grant us, almighty God, to frequent with worthy offices the feast of these thy holy martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus, by whose helps we triumph, their bodies being here laid up. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
[4] by documents, The things which I have hitherto related concerning the public veneration of the Saints may be illustrated from the history of the finding, which narrates how their bodies were found and translated. From this history, which we have in manuscript in the Italian tongue after the antiphons and also the collects or prayers just recited, I excerpt the following; but by what author, and at what time, they were composed, I do not read in the context of the same history. Having premised, then, a compendium of the said Acts, the anonymous writer narrates that beneath Mount Peticino at the Golden Spring these holy Champions were slain, etc. But when the territory of Celano had been destroyed by wars, as he goes on, he asserts that the bodies of the same Saints were afterward found, and laid in the parish church of the said territory, and enclosed in a marble chest, which, he says, now serves for an altar in the said church; where he adds that this inscription is read: Here rest the bodies of the blessed martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus.
[5] in which also mention is made of miracles: That anonymous writer moreover records that, because that land was not very long ago restored, the aforesaid sacred pledges were translated with a solemn procession to the collegiate parish church of the same new land of Celano beneath the mount of St. John the Baptist, where they are honored with the greatest veneration down to the present day, the Lord continually working innumerable miracles by the intercessions of those same Saints. That their feast is celebrated on the XXVI day of August with a very great concourse of people from every quarter, and that their relics are carried in solemn manner through the said land by the priests; likewise that in adverse circumstances, in drought, in continual rains, and in adverse matters of whatever kind, the said people have recourse to the intercessions of those Saints, and that, while they are publicly exposed in the aforesaid church for three continuous days, it is suddenly heard; and that this has been found out by experience an infinite number of times, and evident miracles seen. Finally he subjoins that each of their bodies is preserved in each of the three sacred reliquaries which he praises, and makes mention of a noble chapel, indicating that it belongs to the lords Piccolomini, a lamp burning there continually, etc. These things from the anonymous writer. Would that those miracles, which he touches on so profusely and liberally, though only in passing, had come into our hands!
[6] After this narration there follows in our copy this inscription, a metrical inscription in their chapel: which from the Italian runs thus in Latin: These are the verses carved upon the stone of the altar of the holy martyrs Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus, in the chapel of the holy Martyrs in the collegiate church of St. John the Baptist at Celano. But of these verses I excerpt some:
Here I, Simplicius, lie beneath the rock, with my twin Sons here beside me, of whom Constantius cleaves To his father's right side, and on the left the second, Victorianus; and here we stand in this Brotherly tomb of earth, while our living breaths shine In the starry heaven, redeemed by much blood Of martyrdom, by sword, by flames, and by manifold scourges.
The other verses which are subjoined concerning their martyrdom I do not transcribe hither; but I proceed rather to the characteristic chronological notes which are inserted into these verses, and from which I select the following:
The leader of the Apostolic flock, kindly Innocent, Sprung from Sulmona, bestows his blessing; he was given as father of the City, The Seventh…
This Pontiff was elected on the seventeenth day of October of the year 1404; he died on the VI day of November 1406. With which also agree the following notes of time, which I find thus expressed in the aforesaid verses:
The sun had then run four times a hundred thousand years, The sixth was companion to the first; the tenth and fourth Indiction was running, beneath the tenth light of June.
Receive, O stone, the songs from the voice of John of Parma,
And hold the holy bones reverently through all the years.
There are indicated, therefore, the year 1406, the 10th Indiction, and the X day of the month of June: whence it is gathered at what time either the bodies of our three Martyrs were translated into the aforesaid chapel, or when an altar was there built in their honor, or the chapel itself built or restored. These things having been thus far premised, let us come to the Acts of the Saints.
[7] We have two copies of them, but alike in argument and style. our copies. One of them is indicated as taken from the manuscript of Don G. B. Mari of Rome, and is divided into nine proper lessons for the church, as it may be surmised, of Celano, on account of the things which have been said above concerning this place. But the other copy is marked as transcribed from an ancient codex edino (rather hœdino), that is, of parchment, Avers. ecclæ. (if I read this rightly, for the words are so wretchedly written that they can scarcely be read), that is, as I at least interpret it, of the church of Aversa, which is in the province of Terra di Lavoro of the kingdom of Naples. However that may be, we shall call that exemplar the Aversan. But the manuscript which I named in the first place I have compared with the second; and because the first was in many places faulty, and written in a not sufficiently clear hand, I have endeavored to emend it — the substance of the matter being preserved — both from the Aversan, sent hither by the gift of Ughelli, and by my own effort, that I might consult the reader's convenience and the connection of the narrative. Further, a compendium of the Martyrdom of our Champions is related by Ferrari, as was indicated above at number 2.
[8] An examination The Acts which we are about to give to the press from the first manuscript are of slender credit with us, and that for more than one cause. For, first, their author makes mention, at number 2 of our division, of the time of the persecution of Antoninus Pius; but it is not known that that emperor stirred up any persecution against the Christians; nay rather, the contrary is altogether persuaded from all those things which Tillemont has copiously collected concerning his genius and character in the History of the Emperors, volume 2, page 297 and following. Yet I do not deny that in his reign not a few Christians were put to martyrdom by his ministers, as Baronius relates at the year of Christ 142 at the end, recording thus concerning the affairs of the Christians in the time of the same Antoninus Pius: Although it be certain and ascertained that no edict was promulgated against them by the emperor, nevertheless that the Church was somewhat harassed, either by the envy of the magistrates, because they saw the Christian religion marvelously propagated, and growing and spreading day by day with greater accessions, or by the calumnies of gainsayers, both the slaughters of Pope Sixtus and of others who suffered at Rome under the same Antoninus, and those things which have been handed down to memory concerning those same times by that same Justin of whom he had lately treated, give sure and ascertained proof. But St. Sixtus, or Xystus I, is said in our work, volume 1 of April, on the VI day, page 533, to have died under Hadrian. This hallucination, which we have just refuted, Ferrari also saw in his annotation: Antoninus, he says, who stirred up the fourth persecution against the Christians, was not Pius, but M. Aurelius and L. Verus. Although M. Aurelius, after the death of L. Verus, showed himself milder toward the Christians, on account of the victory over the Marcomanni won by their prayers. Ferrari says that our Martyrs suffered then, but does not prove it. Yet because the author of the Acts might have confounded Antoninus Pius with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who was called the Philosopher, and who reigned with Lucius Aurelius Verus, we have therefore set the said Martyrs above under that second Antoninus, restricted by the adverb perhaps, that we might set down at least some note of time. Titus Antoninus Pius reigned from the year of Christ 138 down to 161; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus from the year 161, with the said partner of his reign; the latter died in the year 169, the former in the year 180. Let us return to the Acts.
[9] of the Acts Second, suspect to us in them also is the name of Pontius, prefect of the City, as he is called at number 2; nor do I find him among the others who discharged this office, who are contained after the Roman Consular Fasti published at Amsterdam in the year 1705, by Theodor Janson van Almeloveen. Third, difficulty is also raised by what is recorded in the Acts at the same number 2 concerning Gaudentia, who, if we believe them, having left her husband and children, attached herself to a certain monastery of Saint Mary, and there persevering in the service of God with the sisters who were there, etc. For who would believe that at that time — namely in the second century, in which Antoninus Pius reigned — there existed a monastery under the name of Saint Mary, and that sisters or nuns dwelt there? I do not indeed deny that it might then have come about that a convent of virgins existed — even, if you will, one called by the name of Saint Mary — in which some pious women lived together. But since the author who composed those Acts, whoever he may be, deceives or is deceived in a good many other things, would it be so great a wonder if here too he were to hallucinate, and to thrust upon the reader a monastery in the strict sense, and sisters or nuns? Add that he does not say where that monastery of which he speaks was situated.
[10] Fourth, what shall I say of the letter of the prefect Pontius to Antoninus Pius, of the Acts. which is contained in the Acts at number 11? That it is indeed apocryphal, and fabricated in the brain of the suspect writer of the Acts, I am led to believe from the foregoing things which have been observed concerning Pontius and Antoninus. Fifth, who would not believe that a person is masked and fictitious under whose dictation the Acts are said to have been conceived at number 14? One of them, he says, named Cæsareus, who from the very beginning had been present at the passions of the Saints …, being reborn in the water of holy baptism by a certain priest named Crescentius, together with him … buried the bodies of the Saints. Which being done, they visited the deacon Florentius, entreating that I should write down in that style the passions and death of the holy Martyrs. But I, etc. Believe it, posterity, forsooth. Sixth, a writer of better mark would indeed be needed, that so many marvels stuffed into the Acts might find historical credit with readers skilled in matters of this kind. Since these things are so, a fair judge of matters easily perceives that those Acts are not genuine, but deservedly suspect, from the few specimens which have already been brought forward. More we reserve for the Annotations, which we shall subjoin to the narration of the same Acts. But their author, who has feigned a false person, we shall call the anonymous writer.
ACTS
By an anonymous author,
From the manuscript of Don G. B. Mari of Rome, collated with another copy.
Simplicius, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
Constantius, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
Victorianus, martyr, among the Marsi in the Abruzzi of Italy (St.)
BHL Number: 7789
A. By the anonymous writer.
The Saints While a the Augustus was reigning, a huge persecution blazed out against the Christians throughout the whole world, so that whoever was found a worshiper of Christ should either sacrifice to the idols or be beheaded. On that same day the prefect b Pontius was sent by the emperor Antoninus into c France, bearing imperial letters, in which precepts of this sort were contained: that whoever should confess Christ should be condemned by sentence of death, or, if he were of noble family, should be sent to Rome to receive innumerable torments. But while the legate Pontius was everywhere throughout France executing the imperial precept, he came to the Port of d Illiris, where, when he was compelling the people to sacrifice, it was announced to him that there were three Christians there who would not sacrifice to the idols, but rather venerated the Lord of heaven with their whole heart and mouth. But since it is unseemly to pass over in silence the origin of such great Martyrs, I shall briefly recount their birth, life, and passions.
[2] For there was a distinguished man, noble and rich, Simplicius, having a wife named Gaudentia, preaching Christ in the time of the persecution of Antoninus Pius, of whom he begot two children, Constantius and Victorianus; who, walking in the faith of God, seeking heavenly things more than earthly, in the time of the persecution of Antoninus Pius, being reborn in the font of holy baptism by St. Januarius together with his wife and his two children, began to preach with all their might Christ the true God, born of the Virgin Mary, dead and buried, and risen again on the third day from the dead, ascended into the heavens, and having given the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. But Gaudentia, having left her husband and children, attached herself to a certain monastery of e Saint Mary, and there persevering in the service of God with the sisters who were there, did not die before the Virgin Mother of God, in whose convent she had served day and night, came and carried her soul, many beholding, to the ranks of the heavenly hosts with hymns [and] choirs. But since it is long to recount what things and of what sort befell in the contest with the emperor Antoninus, and with the aforesaid Pontius prefect of the City, for the faith of Christ, let us now come to those things which they suffered from the most wicked prefect and from the emperor Antoninus. But do thou, etc.
[3] are urged by the prefect Pontius, Lesson II. But the prefect Pontius, on the appointed day, sat upon the tribunal, and ordered the holy Simplicius, Constantius, and Victorianus to be summoned; to whom, while they stood in his presence, he spoke, saying: I see that you are young men illustrious and splendid; but I am ignorant of your family: of what profession you are, I inquire. To this St. Simplicius answered: Our family indeed we have drawn from the illustrious stock of the f Burgundians; by profession we are Christians, and we believe and adore Christ God, maker of heaven and earth, born of the Virgin. The prefect: If you are indeed illustrious by family, and yet more illustrious as persons, why do you not consult your own safety? What doubt has shut you up? You have forsaken the ancient worship of the gods, cleaving to one crucified by the Jews. But if you desire to gain goods of this kind, and to fall\* into the friendship of the most pious emperor, I counsel you as most dear to me, that you leave this superstition, and delay not to come to sacrifice to Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Minerva, and Pallas, whom the most pious emperor holds in great veneration; but if you shall be slow to come, I will have you destroyed with various torments.
[4] that they may depart from their faith; but in vain: To these things holy Simplicius together with his children said: Those names which you recount to us, O governor, were the names not of gods, but of corruptible men; and these, by sound counsel, ought to be reckoned as nothing by us and by all men. But if you wish to know the name of the one and almighty God, that name which we set forth to you in the perfect Trinity — that is, the Father in whom are all things, the Son through whom are all things, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from both — this is the true Trinity, one and almighty God. For the Son, so says the Apostle, took the form of a servant; and when he was in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made into the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, and died for our offenses, by whose blood we have been redeemed. This is Christ, the mediator of God and of men; and this is that Lamb who
taketh away the sins of the world: whom thou, wretched man, knowest not; in whom, if thou wert willing rightly to believe with faith, thou wouldst be able both to have pardon of thy offenses and to obtain the joys of eternal life.
[5] To whom the governor: Hear me, young Christians. I have heard that Christ, whom you confess, was crucified by the Jews at Jerusalem in the time of Pontius Pilate. their torments and miracles: Why then do you urge belief in one who allowed himself to be crucified? But the Saints answered: His betrayal and crucifixion were our redemption from sins; for man would not be delivered from the burning, unless Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary had redeemed him with his precious blood. But Pontius, hearing these things, moved in mind, commanded the bystanders that the holy Martyrs should be beaten with iron rods until they should leave that superstition and obey his words. But while the ministers were fulfilling the tyrant's commands, by the will of Jesus Christ our Lord, who forsakes not them that hope in him, it came to pass that all who stretched forth their hands against the holy Martyrs were seized with violent fevers and breathed out their lives. At that same hour men and women, who, beholding at so great a spectacle the miracles which God was working through his Martyrs, believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, twenty-two of both sexes, whom the wicked prefect ordered to be beheaded on the following day. Meanwhile the holy Martyrs, in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, were giving light to the blind, healing the sick, and driving demons out of possessed bodies. But do thou, O Lord, etc.
[6] Lesson III. But the prefect Pontius, unwilling to execute a capital sentence upon the holy Martyrs — because it had not then been permitted him, and because they had sprung from the more noble men of that region — ordered them to be thrust into close custody until he should send them to Rome with guards. a heavenly apparition. But the Saints, while they were consigned to custody, began each day to entreat the Lord that he would deign in his mercy to show them what their dwelling-place should be the heavenly Jerusalem. On the following night there appeared to them an angel of the Lord, shining like the sun, his garments white as snow, girded for walking; whom when the Saints beheld, terrified by the exceeding brightness, they fell prone upon the ground; whom the angel of the Lord addresses with gentle words, saying: Simplicius, arise, and rouse thy children; for it has pleased the Lord to bestow upon thee, thy wife, and thy sons the dwelling of paradise, that with all his own, filled with heavenly joy, eternally flourishing, you may with one mind enjoy everlasting life. At that same hour the angel of the Lord showed them the heavenly Jerusalem, all the glory of the Saints, and all the misery of evildoing men. And when all these things of God had been shown by the angel, firmly strengthening them in the faith of Christ, he returned to the heavens in their sight.
[7] Moreover Pontius, seized with a sacrilegious greed, sat upon the tribunal, they are sent to Rome, and caused the holy Martyrs to be presented to him; he admonished them again to sacrifice to the almighty gods. But the Saints, unwilling to obey the words of the most wicked man, manfully confessed God with heart and mouth. Whereupon the most wicked governor commanded that their hands be bound behind their backs by the ministers, and that they be swiftly brought to Rome, well guarded, before the sight of the emperor. And while the ministers were obeying the commands of the most wicked man, they bound the Saints, and began to make the journey along with them; and as they went out of the city, the people of Illiris began to make so great a lamentation for love of the Saints, that many, following their steps, came with them to Rome; but certain who were not able to walk deserved to be beheaded by the most impious prefect. Meanwhile the holy Martyrs on the journey were working many marvels, which I am not now able to recount one by one; but what the Lord wrought in the city of Ravenna I cannot pass over in silence.
[8] a miracle wrought on the journey A certain girl of the city of Ravenna, sprung of illustrious birth, had for eight continuous years lost the light of her eyes; for three years she had never had clear sight; and her mother had frequently, and her father too, visited the physicians to recover the sight of their daughter by the art of medicine. But when they could find no remedy of health, her parents continually mourned her as one already dead. It happened that on a certain night, when the Lord willed to place his Martyrs not under a cloud but upon a candlestick, that they might be seen by all and might give light to the city, so that he might be great in his Saints — the father of the girl, therefore, sleeping, was called by a certain heavenly voice: Cornelius, tomorrow at earliest morning take thy daughter, and sit beside the Roman road, and there await the holy Martyrs stationed there, who are being sent to Rome to receive the palm of life. And when they shall have come, ask them only to lay their hands upon thy daughter's eyes, and she shall be restored to her former health. And when light was given back to the earth, according to the angelic admonition the man arose, and together with his daughter sought the place which had been foretold to him. And as he waited on the road, behold, the holy Martyrs came with most joyful countenance; whom when he saw, falling at their feet he besought them with entreaty that they would at least lay their hands, for the love of God, upon his daughter's eyes; for he said: I believe that my daughter can be restored to her former health by the imposition of your holy hands alone. But do thou, O Lord, etc.
[9] by a miracle. Lesson IV. At this voice the holy Martyrs fixed their knees upon the ground, pouring out these prayers to the Lord: Lord God, ineffable Creator, thou who didst deign to open the eyes of the man born blind for the showing forth of thy magnificence, look propitiously upon this thy handmaid, and, that she may be able worthily to praise thy glorious name, deign to restore her former sight, that they who see may praise together thy name, which is blessed unto the ages. And when they had completed the prayer, Simplicius took the girl, and, the sign of the cross being made, as it were scales fell from her eyes, and she at once received sight. Then all the people who had come to see, falling at the feet of the Saints, entreated them that they would remain at least two days in the city of Ravenna; but since the ministers of the most wicked governor would [not] allow them to delay, they brought the Saints to Rome as they had been commanded.
[10] while they were at Rome, marvels come to pass: But upon their entrance into the City the Saints wished to go to the basilica of Saint Peter before they should be presented to the sight of the emperor. And when the ministers hindered the Saints' way, by the will of God [and] of the Apostles Peter and Paul it came to pass that the bonds with which they had been bound were loosed, and, no notice intervening, they came to the basilica of the Apostles. But the ministers who had brought the Saints were so alienated in their minds that they could neither see nor hold them. While the Saints were doing these things, the multitude of Christians who were dwelling there in secret began to follow them in such number that, when they came to the thresholds of the blessed Apostles, nearly two hundred thousand were following the Saints; whence on that same day so great a dissension arose between the idolaters and the worshipers of Christ that the Christians slew a thousand\ of the pagans. The messengers of the prefect Pontius, seeking the court of Antoninus, who had appointed them,\ related in order to the courtiers of the emperor how they had brought the Saints to Rome; for at that time the emperor had not been at Rome. He was perhaps keeping the summer season in the parts of Marsia. But do thou, O Lord, etc.
[11] Lesson V. But the courtiers, fearing lest\ the sedition which had arisen through the Saints should be enlarged, hence they are sent began to cause the holy Martyrs to be seized. And so through these same men they transmitted them to the imperial highness with the letters sent on the part of Pontius. The copy of the letter is this: To the Augustus, the lord Pius Antoninus, Pontius the prefect, thy servant. Whereas it pleased your clemency\ to send me to those parts, in which indeed I daily sustain no small labor for your empire: for I found the people erring greatly against the worship of the gods, and beside this I found these men, noble indeed, but struggling against the gods by whom your empire is governed. Though with many threats and kinds of torments I might compel them to sacrifice, they utterly scorned to obey them and to sacrifice; and I am unable to execute a capital sentence upon them, because it had not been permitted me by your majesty; I have ordered them to come before the examination of your majesty. Farewell, and hold me, your servant, in remembrance. g
[12] When the letter had therefore been read through in the presence of the emperor, he began to inquire distinctly of the Saints to the emperor, by whom, being ordered to sacrifice to the gods, why they would not sacrifice to the gods by whom the whole world is governed. Holy Simplicius together with his sons, answering boldly, said: Hear us, O emperor: let it hang upon thy own judgment whether we ought to believe in the Maker of all creatures, or in idols made with hands, which cannot in the least help themselves. Is not the Creator greater than the creature? Presently the emperor answered: There is nowhere any other god beside those whom we adore. Wherefore I command you that you frame no syllogistic words, but delay not to sacrifice to the gods; and if you shall be slow to do it, your life shall not be long prolonged. But the Saints, answering with one voice, said: We are rather prepared to die than that we should sacrifice to idols. Then the emperor, moved with anger, caused them to be brought into close custody in a place which is called Passularis, full of serpents and scorpions. But while they were being shut in, they poured out prayers to the Lord that he who in his mercy delivered the three children from the furnace of burning fire would himself in his goodness deliver them unhurt from the venom of those animals. Whence by the will of him who created all things it came to pass that those animals began to grow tame; so that from that day they carried with them neither venom nor anything else by which they could harm the Saints. But do thou, O Lord, etc.
[13] Lesson VI. The most glorious Martyrs, persevering three days in prison, they are refreshed by a heavenly voice, and undergo martyrdom: taking neither food nor drink, heard in the silence of night a voice from heaven saying to them: Simplicius, arise, for thou hast fought manfully for the faith of Christ together with thy sons; behold, the ways of the kingdom of heaven are laid open to you; tomorrow at the hour of nones you shall enter with the palm into the heavenly kingdom. At this voice the Saints were roused from sleep, and through the whole night gave themselves to prayers. But when day was already dawning, the most impious emperor caused the holy Martyrs to be brought again before his sight, asking whether they wished to have indulgence in their youthful years and to sacrifice to the idols, or whether they wished to be condemned by sentence of death. The holy Martyrs answering said: O emperor, we more gladly wish to be condemned by sentence of death for Christ than to adore idols made with hands, since it is written that all the gods of the nations are demons, and that they who trust in them perish and are confounded for ever. Then the emperor, hearing these things, with angry mind commanded the ministers that the Saints be firmly bound with new ropes upon a wagon, so that, as it ran, they should be condemned to a death of this kind. And when the ministers took young bullocks that they might run, by the nod of God it came to pass that they ran neither more nor less than was the Saints' own will. And so indeed, sound and unharmed, they brought the Saints from the place where they had been shut up to the h Golden Spring, which rises at the roots of the mountain i Peticinus; and there, touched by a diabolical spirit, fulfilling the command of the most wicked emperor, they beheaded the holy Martyrs together.
[14] signs, burial, the author of the Acts, the day of their death. At that same hour a great earthquake through the whole
of Marsia came to pass, so that the slayers of the Saints could through the whole day and night neither speak nor rise up by daylight. But on the next day, when they came [to] themselves, one of them, named Cæsareus, who from the very beginning had been present at the passions of the Saints, remembering the former betrayal of the Saints, in gathering up their bodies believed in the Lord; and being reborn in the water of holy baptism by a certain priest named Crescentius, he together with him placed the bodies of the Saints in coffers at the aforesaid root of the mountain. The holy Martyrs having been laid there, the aforesaid Cæsareus, together with the priest Crescentius, visited Florentius, entreating that I should write down in that style the passions and death of the holy Martyrs. But I, though unfit for so great a work, yet bound by devotion, was seen\* to dictate for a memorial those things which I had conceived from them concerning the holy Martyrs. k For they suffered on the seventh of the Kalends of September, the Lord helping; to whom be honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. But do thou, O Lord, etc. Antiphon at the Magnificat.
ANNOTATIONS.
\ Otherwise cedere*.
\ Otherwise nearly a thousand*.
\ Otherwise what had befallen them*.
\ Read ne*.
\ Otherwise celsitudini*.
\ Perhaps ausus*.