ON S. APRONIANUS, KEEPER OF THE PRISON RECORDS, MARTYR AT ROME ON THE VIA SALARIA.
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
CommentaryS. Apronianus, Commentariensis, Martyr at Rome.
I. B.
[1] At the time when Maximian Herculeus, having conquered the Quinquegentiani nations and pacified Africa, was having the Baths of Diocletian built at Rome and condemned Christian soldiers to servile labor for their construction, Thrajon, a wealthy Christian, began to supply them with food through the Deacons Cyriacus and Sisinnius, and through Smaragdus and Largus. When this was noticed by the impious, Sisinnius and Cyriacus were seized and compelled to dig sand themselves and carry it on their shoulders: and when they were doing this cheerfully and also relieving old Saturninus, broken by age, of part of the labor, when S. Sisinnius the Deacon was sentenced to the works, Sisinnius was brought before the tribunal of Maximian, and having despised the tyrant's threats, was thrown into prison; was handed over to the Prefect Laodicius and by him thrust into the custody of the Mamertine prison. All of these events are narrated at greater length in the Acts of S. Marcellus the Pope, the sixteenth of January, chapter 1.
[2] After seventeen days, the Prefect Laodicius ordered Sisinnius to be brought into his presence. When he had been presented by Apronianus the Commentariensis, Apronianus the Commentariensis is converted by a heavenly light and voice, suddenly a light shone from heaven, and a voice came from the light saying: Come, O blessed of My Father; receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then Apronianus, trembling, fell at the feet of the Deacon Sisinnius, saying: I adjure you by the Christ whom you confess, do not delay to baptize me and to make me attain with you to the crown. At that very hour water was brought, and he catechized him and blessed the font and laid him naked in a basin, and said to him: Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, and in His only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit? And he answered: and is baptized by him: I believe. And the Deacon Sisinnius said to him: May Christ enlighten you. And he raised him from the basin and brought him to S. Marcellus the Bishop, who confirmed him with chrism and consecrated the altar: and thus all partook of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[3] On the same day after noon, the Prefect Laodicius ordered the Deacon Sisinnius to be brought before him. Apronianus the Commentariensis, now baptized, coming with the Deacon Sisinnius, he voluntarily presents himself to the Judge: began to cry out, saying: Why does the devil constrain you to inflict such great evils upon the servants of God? Then the Prefect said to Apronianus the Commentariensis: How is it that I see you — you too have been made a Christian? Apronianus answered: Woe to me, unhappy man, for I have lost my days. The Prefect answered: Truly you will now lose your days. And he ordered him to undergo the capital sentence, saying: If this man is not destroyed, many will perish. At the same time he was led out on the Via Salaria, he is beheaded: and at the second milestone was beheaded on the fourth day before the Nones of February.
[4] Thus, as Abbot Ursio writes in the other Acts of S. Marcellus, chapter 2, number 10, S. Apronianus preceded his masters to the crown. He is venerated on the second of February. SS. Sisinnius the Deacon and Saturninus are venerated on the twenty-ninth of November. The Deacon Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus on the eighth of August. The birthday of S. Apronianus on the second of February is recorded in the Martyrologies: the Roman, those of Usuardus, Rabanus, Bede, Ado, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Felicius, Canisius, and others, with a notable eulogy drawn from the same Acts of S. Marcellus. Petrus de Natalibus, book 3, chapter 74, and Ferrarius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy also treat of him. The Martyrology of S. Mary ad Gradus, Cologne, calls him Pronianus by error, as we reported above when treating of the African Martyrs, number 2. Galesinius on the twenty-ninth of January, after recording the death of SS. Papias and Maurus, soldiers, adds: On the same day, at Rome also, SS. Cyriacus, Apronianus, not on the twenty-ninth of January. and their companions, Martyrs: who under that Emperor (Diocletian), having given their necks for the faith of Christ, were crowned. In his Notes he cites Vincent, book 12, chapter 99, who however clearly writes that Apronianus was beheaded on the fourth day before the Nones of February.