ON THE HOLY MARTYRS DOROTHEA THE VIRGIN, THEOPHILUS SCHOLASTICUS, CHRISTE AND CALLISTE, AT CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA,
Under Diocletian.
Preliminary Commentary.
Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Theophilus Scholasticus, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Christe, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Calliste, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint)
By J. B.
Section I. The public veneration of Saints Dorothea, Christe, Calliste, and Theophilus.
[1] Caesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia Prima, has been ennobled by the trophies of many Martyrs — even on this very day, of Saints Dorothea the Virgin, Theophilus Scholasticus, St. Dorothea unknown to the Greeks. Christe, and Calliste — whose names it is remarkable to find nowhere in the Greek Menologion and Menaea. But they are found in all the Latin Martyrologies. The ancient Roman Martyrology published by our Rosweydus reads thus: At Caesarea in Cappadocia, of St. Dorothea the Virgin and Theophilus Scholasticus. The more ancient Roman Martyrology, which we customarily cite under the name of St. Jerome, records them on February 6 and 12: on the sixth, in these words: And elsewhere, of Revocata, of Dorothea, of Theophilus Scholasticus. celebrated among the Latins, And on the twelfth: And elsewhere, of Dorothea, of Theophilus. A commemoration of St. Dorothea is customarily made in certain churches on this day; on the sixth, however, she is venerated by the Roman Church with a Simple Office (as they call it); by certain others with a Semi-double, as is evident from the Breviary of Wurzburg; and with a Double by others, among which are St. Gudula's in Brussels and the sacred Order of Preachers.
[2] The monk Usuard adorns her with this eulogy: At Caesarea in Cappadocia, in the Martyrologies of Usuard and others. the birthday of St. Dorothea the Virgin, who was first tortured on the rack, then beaten with rods for a long time, and at last punished by beheading. In the confession of her faith, a certain Theophilus Scholasticus was converted, and soon, being stretched on the same rack (some few manuscripts read "the same"), was tortured with the utmost cruelty, so that all the bystanders shuddered; and finally, his head having been cut off, he consummated his martyrdom. Bellinus of Padua and others have the same. under what Governor did she suffer? The modern Roman Martyrology adds: under Sapricius, the Governor of that province. Notker gives the same name to that Governor, as does the manuscript Martyrology of Centula. Rabanus, Ado, the published Bede, Galesinius, Maurolycus, the manuscripts of St. Maximinus, Utrecht, Bruges, St. Gudula's in Brussels, and others along with the Florarium call him Apritius. The Doctrinale Clericorum printed at Lubeck in 1490, the Viola Sanctorum, and an ancient hymn or sequence in the old Missal of Wurzburg and Cracow call him Fabricius.
[3] Bishop Ado writes more, which, because they serve to explain the Acts, it will be worthwhile to give here. At Caesarea in Cappadocia, he says, the birthday of St. Dorothea the Virgin, who under Apricius, the Governor of that province, was first tortured by being stretched on the rack, a summary of the Acts from Ado, then beaten with rods for a very long time, and at last punished with a capital sentence. And as she went forth from the praetorium and was being led to death, a certain Theophilus Scholasticus said to her: "Come now, O bride of Christ, send me apples from the paradise of your bridegroom." She immediately promised that she would send them. When therefore she had come to the place where she was to be slain, having prayed briefly, she brought forth her orarium and, calling to herself a certain boy of six years, sent it to Theophilus, saying: "Dorothea, the handmaid of God, sends you apples from the paradise of her bridegroom Christ." Receiving them and giving thanks that she had fulfilled his request, he began to wipe his face, and was suddenly suffused with so great a sweetness that, completely changed in mind, with great exultation and in a loud voice he repeatedly cried out: "Blessed be the name of my Lord Jesus Christ." For this confession he was immediately seized, suspended on the rack, and tortured with such cruelty that all the bystanders shuddered; and finally, his head having been cut off, he consummated his martyrdom. The same is found in the manuscript Martyrologies of Morini, St. Maximinus (which otherwise agrees closely with Rabanus elsewhere), and Prague; but in the last, the boy sent to Theophilus is said to have been four years old.
[4] Rabanus has somewhat different details: At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the passion of St. Dorothea the Virgin and from Rabanus. and Theophilus, under the Prefect Apricius. When she had been entrusted to two sisters — namely Christe and Calliste, who had recently apostatized from the faith, overcome by their sufferings — so that they might turn her from Christ, she instead converted them again to Christ, so that they were cast into a vat by the Prefect and burned, and thus attained the palm of martyrdom. Afterwards Dorothea was led to the place of punishment, where she also suffered; and when she was mocked by a certain Theophilus Scholasticus — saying that her bridegroom Christ would send her both apples and blooming roses — she obtained this all the sooner. When Theophilus saw this, he immediately confessed Christ as the true God and was martyred under the same Prefect, being beheaded. The earlier part is also found in the published Martyrology of Bede, up to the words "would send her roses and apples." For what follows in it is taken from Ado. Whence it is manifest (as we have often warned) that it was not thus compiled by Bede. The manuscript of Centula, or of St. Richarius, which bears the name of Bede, reads thus: At Caesarea in Cappadocia, of St. Dorothea the Virgin under Sapricius the judge, and of Theophilus Scholasticus. Wandelbert inscribed her in his metrical Martyrology thus:
On the eighth day before the Ides, the Martyr Dorothea shines forth.
[5] Christe and Calliste, whose contest is recorded in the Acts of St. Dorothea, are noted on this same day by the cited Bede, Saints Christe and Calliste, Rabanus, and Notker, as well as Maurolycus and Canisius; also Molanus and Hermannus Greuen in their additions to Usuard. They are called Christa and Callista by Maurolycus, Canisius, and others; Chreste means "Excellent, kind, sweet" in Greek, and Calliste means "Most excellent, most beautiful." Baronius, volume 2, at the year 304, number 70, calls Christe in the Acts Christena and Christina, and in the Notes on the Martyrology says she is called by Bede Christiana or Christeta; only Bede (or whoever is the author of that Martyrology) writes that she was entrusted to the sisters Christe and Calliste alone. Octavius Pancirolus in his Hidden Treasures of the City of Rome, region 8, church 18, calls one Christiana and the other Caelestene. The Cologne Martyrology printed in 1490, whether her sisters: the Viola Sanctorum, Canisius, and Laherius in his Menology (who also asserts they were Virgins) record that these were sisters of Dorothea herself; but neither point is sufficiently clear from the Acts.
[6] Molanus in his first Annotation on the Martyrology of Usuard for this day judges that St. Theophilus is more correctly called an Advocate than a Scholasticus, St. Theophilus Scholasticus, or Advocate. since this name is used only once in the Acts, and that contemptuously; for a Scholasticus, he says, is a declaimer versed only in fictitious and idle cases, not in real lawsuits. Baronius better explains in Annotation b that the word signifies Rhetors and declaimers of fictitious suits who would then proceed to handle real cases, and that even Advocates themselves were called Scholastici. He confirms this from the ancient Laws and other authors, and learnedly discusses what it means to speak "scholastically," who the scholars were, and what the schools were. Rosweydus in the Onomasticon to the Lives of the Fathers treats more extensively of scholars and Scholastici, and notes that the term was often used for a learned and eloquent man, even if he pleaded neither fictitious cases as a declaimer nor real ones as an advocate. Thus St. Jerome in On Illustrious Writers of the Church, chapter 99, speaking of St. Serapion, who is venerated on March 21, says: Serapion, Bishop of the city of Thmuis in Egypt, who on account of the elegance of his intellect merited the surname of Scholasticus.
Section II. The Acts of St. Dorothea and her companions.
[7] The Acts of St. Dorothea were published by Laurentius Surius from a certain excellent manuscript codex, with the style here and there moderately (as he says) corrected. We have restored the original phrasing from the manuscript codex of Cornelius Duinius, whence are the Acts here published? which formerly belonged to the Brethren of the Holy Cross at Horen, transcribed about two hundred years ago by Brother Theodoricus Poll of the Conventual Cruciferi of Venlo. We collated these with the manuscript of the imperial monastery of St. Maximinus at Trier, somewhat more ancient, but in which, as we have often observed, many Acts of the Saints are somewhat interpolated. Here certainly the Horen codex approaches more closely to the Surian edition. We also used the manuscript of St. Martin at Utrecht, in which, however, the contest of St. Theophilus was lacking. The same Acts are more briefly summarized by Vincent of Beauvais, book 12 of the Mirror of History, chapter 47, and by Boninus Mombritius — in whose text, where St. Dorothea is said to have suffered "in the reign of Augustus," an epitome of these is found elsewhere. it should be corrected to "in the reign of Diocletian Augustus." Petrus de Natalibus also treats of her, book 3, chapter 101. Thomas a Kempis, in part 3 of his Sermons to Novices, sermon 8, number 9, says that Theophilus entered paradise joyfully through the palm of martyrdom, just as the excellent bride of Christ, Dorothea, had promised him. I omit the Acts of the same saint that have been published in various languages, most of them drawn from those of Surius.
[8] Jacobus de Voragine presents other Acts, in which certain things are exaggerated hyperbolically, [Other suspicious ones in the Golden Legend: where she is said to have come from Rome,] so that they might appear not very dissimilar to apocrypha. The substance of these is approximately as follows: Dorus and Thea, both of senatorial family in Rome, in order to escape the raging violence of the persecution, willingly left behind their ample possessions and went into exile in Cappadocia with their daughters Christe and Calliste. Then, having settled their home at Caesarea, they begot a third daughter, whom the Bishop, having baptized her, named Dorothea from the names of her father and mother. When she had been endowed with honorable arts and especially Christian virtues, she provoked the devil's envy against herself. For since she bloomed with an extraordinary beauty of form, the infernal Cupid inflamed the Governor of the province, Fabricius, with love for her. The bride of Christ spurned the abundant riches offered by him together with marriage. courted by the Governor, When the Governor perceived himself to be scorned, his love turning to hatred, she was immersed in boiling oil, without harm, he ordered Dorothea to be plunged into a cauldron of boiling oil. The power of Christ brought her forth unharmed, as if anointed with balsam. This gave many pagans the occasion to embrace the Christian religion.
[9] Then, having been enclosed in prison for nine full days so that she would perish of hunger, she received sustenance from heaven through the ministry of Angels. Brought forth from there in more beautiful appearance, fed by Angels amid starvation; she was vainly urged with threats to worship the gods. But at her prayer, the Angels utterly destroyed a column erected by the Governor and the image of a demon placed upon it. [by prayer she overthrew the statue, with the demons howling; tortured on the rack, with whips, hooks, and torches; after the sisters were converted and crowned, she was beaten with rods, without harm;] At the same time the howls of impure spirits were heard, and their dire voices: "Dorothea, why do you thus scatter us?" This prodigy won many thousands of pagans over to Christ, who were then crowned with martyrdom. Meanwhile the Virgin was stretched on the rack; her whole body was cruelly torn with whips and hooks; her breasts were burned with torches. Half-dead, she was shut up again in custody. The next day she was brought forth with her body perfectly whole, which was a miracle to those who beheld it. Previously her two sisters, Christe and Calliste, overcome by torments, had fallen away from Christ. Dorothea was handed over to them to be perverted; but she instead recalled them to the faith. For this reason Fabricius ordered them to be bound together and burned, and Dorothea's face to be beaten with rods. But when the executioners were already weary with labor, no trace of the blows could be seen on her. The next day a sentence of beheading was pronounced against her.
[10] As she was being led forth to the arena of her triumph, the Advocate Theophilus met her and mockingly asked that, when she had arrived in the paradise of her bridegroom, whom she had so often mentioned, she would send him roses from there. But Dorothea among other things prayed to God that he would be merciful to all who were mindful of her contest, having prayed for those who would keep her memory, would console them in adversity, and at the end of life would bestow upon them the grace by which they might be stirred to repentance of their sins; and that he would also assist pregnant women who implored her patronage. And a voice was heard from heaven: "Come, my chosen one; with God confirming her prayers; all that you have asked shall come to pass." She had already stretched forth her neck to the executioner, when a boy appeared of elegant form, clothed in purple interwoven with golden stars, barefoot, with curly hair, through an Angel she sent roses and apples to Theophilus. carrying three apples and the same number of roses in an orarium — which the author incorrectly interprets as a small basket, although some indeed hold that those divine fruits were carried by the boy in a small basket, others in an orarium or handkerchief, and others in the fold of a garment. To this boy Dorothea said: "I beseech you, my lord, carry these things to Theophilus the scribe." She herself was then beheaded. The boy soon came into the praetorium to Theophilus and said: "My sister Dorothea sends you these roses and apples from the paradise of her bridegroom." And having said these words, he ceased to be seen. Theophilus burst forth in praises of Christ, and with so great a depth of feeling and power of words did he proclaim his virtue and divinity that nearly all the remaining populace embraced the Christian rites. Various torments were inflicted upon him by the Governor, and finally (but having first been purified by baptism and refreshed by the reception of the body of Christ) he was cut to pieces and departed to heaven victorious.
[11] These things are related by the Bishop of Genoa, The same related elsewhere. following what earlier sources I do not know. The same things are transcribed into the Legend printed at Cologne in 1483 and at Louvain in 1485. Nearly the same things were reported in the great Menology of Virgins by our Franciscus Laherius, who calls her father Theodorus and her mother Theodora.
[12] Jacobus de Voragine judges that the martyrdom of St. Dorothea and her companions occurred in the year of Christ 287; when did she undergo martyrdom? Alfonsus Villegas in 289; the manuscript Florarium in 292; Canisius in 300; Ribadeneira, Rosweydus, and Baronius in 304. Nothing is certain except that she suffered under Diocletian or while his persecution still continued.
[13] Baronius, volume 2, at the year 304, number 70, does not think that so glorious a contest was passed over in silence by St. Basil. it is believed she was praised by St. Basil: But just as the panegyrics of many other Martyrs who likewise suffered at Caesarea have perished, along with most other literary monuments of that most holy man, so too his encomium of her has been lost.
[14] St. Aldhelm, Bishop of the West Saxons in England, who is said to have died in the year 709, by St. Aldhelm, nearly 1,000 years ago. and was therefore older than the authors of most of the Martyrologies that have been printed to date, in his book On the Praises of Virginity, chapter 25, mentions St. Dorothea thus: Moreover, Scholastica and Christina, together with Dorothea, who came from Caesarea in the province of Cappadocia, although they were separated by an unequal span of ages, were nevertheless crowned by Christ with an equal grace of integrity. And a little further on: But since Sapricius, the bloody executioner of the Orthodox, was unable to compel the third not only to marry but also to the abominable worship of idols and the foolish ceremonies of the pagans, he immediately and furiously exercised the cruelty of the rack, displayed the livid welts of the rods, and applied the streaming flames of torches. He also handed her over to two women, who had recently made shipwreck of the faith and had apostatized from the fellowship of Christ, to be corrupted by them. But the reverse occurred: she so healthfully healed the disgraceful scars of those same apostates with the medicine of repentance that they immediately, in reverse order, preceded their own instructress to the palm of martyrdom. But when she was leaving the cruel praetorium, Theophilus with scornful mockery demanded that she send him pleasing gifts of fruit from the paradise of the heavenly bridegroom, to whom she professed she was hastening — which, though uttered with insult, was fulfilled in truth. For on the day before she suffered and was to be placed under the cruel sword for execution, she is described as having sent three apples together with the same number of crimson roses to the same Theophilus; who, on account of this occurrence, having gained an opportunity for his own salvation, was crowned with the red garlands of martyrdom. Thus St. Aldhelm.
Section III. The relics of St. Dorothea.
[15] Octavius Pancirolus, in the place cited above, reports that in the Transtiberine region of Rome a church of St. Dorothea is to be seen, so named perhaps after the body of this glorious Virgin was brought into it, the body of St. Dorothea at Rome, the evidence for which is an inscription placed above the Confession. He adds that apples are blessed there each year on the sixth day of February, where there is an annual blessing of apples; likewise at Bologna: to receive which people flock together and in turn offer some gift, as a token of gratitude. In the Index of Relics he states that the body of the Virgin is indeed in that church, but that particles of it are preserved in other churches of the city. Masinus in his survey of Bologna reports that in several churches of that city some relics of St. Dorothea are to be found, and that her feast is celebrated by the confraternity of Saints Simon and Jude, with the veneration of relics and the blessing and distribution of apples.
[16] Relics at Arles: At Arles in Gaul, outside the walls of the city, in the fields which were called the Elysian Fields, commonly Aliscamps, in the church dedicated to St. Honoratus, the relics both of that same holy Bishop and of other Saints, and specifically of St. Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, were formerly venerated — as we reported on January 16 in the History of the Translation of St. Honoratus from Vincentius Barralis of Salerno. Saussaius alluded to this when he wrote at February 6: At Arles, the reception of the body of St. Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, whose birthday and glorious triumph the Church today celebrates everywhere. Translation on March 28: whether of these relics? Whether or not this is the Translation which is recorded on March 28 in the ancient Martyrology of the monastery of St. Lawrence at Liege, I would not readily pronounce; it reads thus: Likewise, of Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr. The same is read in the Florarium; and in another certain manuscript it is expressly added: The Translation of St. Dorothea, Virgin.
[17] But relics of St. Dorothea — whether of this one or of the Alexandrian one — exist elsewhere as well. others at Lisbon. For we stated on January 25 that two particles were brought to Lisbon in the year 1587 from Germany by Joannes Borgia, an illustrious man, and donated to the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at St. Roch. In the Carthusian house of Rettel also, near the town of Sierck, at Rettel, situated between Trier and Thionville, certain relics of St. Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, are preserved along with many others, as Arnoldus Raisse testifies in his Belgian Hierogazophylacium — though he must be corrected in that he writes that the Charterhouse is situated on the river Meuse, when in fact it is on the Moselle.
[18] The distinguished Aegidius Gelenius, in books 3 and 4 of his work on the greatness of Cologne, many relics at Cologne: testifies that in several churches of that city some relics of St. Dorothea are to be found: in the collegiate churches of St. Gereon, St. Severinus, and St. Andrew; in the parish church of St. Paul; in those of Saints John and Cordula, in Weidenbach, in the Garden of St. Mary of the Cistercian nuns, in St. Michael's of the Regular nuns, and on the Mount of Mary of the Carmelite nuns. But surpassing all the rest is the jawbone of St. Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, enclosed in a silver bust, which is venerated in the church of the Carmelite friars. As the same author writes, Bartholomaeus Raccolius, the General of that Order (who afterwards became Bishop of Marseilles), sent it to the Cologne Carmel. Erhardus Winheimius also mentions this sacred jawbone in his Sacrarium Agrippinae. But since one of the companions of St. Ursula was a St. Dorothea the Virgin (as may be seen in the Ursulana historia of our Hermannus Crombach, page 636), it may rightly be questioned whether some of the Cologne relics just mentioned were not those of that other Dorothea.
[19] The head in Bohemia. At Prague, or at Karlstein, in Bohemia, the head of St. Dorothea is said to have been preserved, brought there, as I suppose, by the Emperor Charles IV.
ACTS
from three manuscript codices.
Dorothea, Virgin and Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Theophilus Scholasticus, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Christe, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint) Calliste, Martyr, at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Saint)
BHL Number: 2323
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER I
The confession and torments of St. Dorothea.
[1] In the province of Cappadocia, in the city of Caesarea, there was a certain maiden named Dorothea. Dorothea, a holy Virgin Each day, in chastity, sobriety, and purity, she offered diligent service to God, and with humility and gentleness she devoted herself to fasting and prayer. She was so exceedingly prudent and wise, that scarcely a few men could imitate her. All who had been able to know her glorified the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had such a handmaid, whose appearance was pleasing, whose life and wisdom were incomparable, and whose virginity was immaculate. Because, therefore, she was so perfect in the love of Christ as to attain his bridal chamber, she doubled the palm of her contest; and holding one crown of virginity and another of martyrdom, she came with joy to Christ. The clear page of the Acts teaches the order in which she suffered.
[2] When the fame of her holiness ran through the ears of men, it came to the hearing of the persecuting Governor. Entering the aforementioned city, that is Caesarea, she is arrested he ordered the most renowned handmaid of God, the Christian Dorothea, to be seized. When she had been brought before him as he sat on the tribunal, she stood before the Governor with bowed head, praying to her God. she is brought before the Governor: Then the Governor, named Sapricius, questioned her, saying: "Tell me, what is your name?" She answered: "My name is Dorothea." Sapricius said: "I have wished to bring you here so that you may sacrifice to the immortal gods, according to the command of our Princes, the Augusti." Dorothea said: "God, she refuses to sacrifice to the gods: who is the Augustus in heaven, has commanded me to serve him alone. For thus it is written: 'You shall adore the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.' Matthew 4:10 And again: 'Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish from the earth.' Jeremiah 10:11 It must therefore be considered to which Emperor we ought to submit — the earthly or the heavenly, God or man. For what are Emperors but mortal men, just as were those gods whose images you adore?"
[3] Sapricius said: "If you wish to escape and to go away safe, undefiled, and unharmed, set your mind to it and sacrifice to the gods. But if not, being brought to judgment by the laws, you shall become an example of terror." she scorns threats of temporal punishments: Dorothea said: "I shall give all men an example of the fear of God, so that they may fear God and not fear rabid men. For they do what rabid dogs do: they tear innocent men; and because there is no reason in them, they rage, they rave, they grow angry, they bark, and with their bites they lacerate those who pass by." Sapricius said: "You, as far as I can see, have resolved to persevere in this most foolish profession, and you wish to die with the rest. Listen to me and sacrifice, so that you may escape the punishments of the rack." Dorothea said: "The punishments of your rack are temporal, but the torments of Gehenna are eternal. Therefore, so that I may be able to escape eternal punishment, I ought not to fear temporal things. For I remember that my Lord said: 'Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.' Matthew 10:28"
[4] Sapricius said: "Therefore you ought to fear the gods, lest in their anger they destroy both your soul and your body, if you do not sacrifice to them." Dorothea said: "I have already told you, Sapricius, that by no means will you be able to persuade me to sacrifice to demons she mocks the gods: who dwell in those vain men who lived in such a way that it is shameful even to speak of it; who died like animals, because while they lived they did not know him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. The souls of these men burn in fire, while you adore their images cast in various metals. And it will be necessary that those also be sent into eternal fire, along with them, who have chosen to worship them, having abandoned their Creator."
[5] When Sapricius heard these things, he was violently enraged and, turning to the torturers, said: she is stretched on the rack, "Set her up on the rack, so that, seeing herself placed in torment, she may at least thus consent to present herself as a worshipper of the gods." But the handmaid of God, when she saw herself raised upon the rack, boldly, fearlessly, and without being questioned, said to the judge: "Why do you delay with me? Do what you are going to do, so that I may see him for whose love I do not fear to die, and at whose tortures I do not tremble." Sapricius said: "And who is he whom you desire?" Dorothea said: "Christ, the Son of God." Sapricius said: "And where is Christ?" Dorothea said: "As far as his omnipotence is concerned, she freely confesses Christ. he is everywhere; as far as human capacity is concerned — since the understanding of human frailty considers vain what it has not learned to be in some particular place — therefore we confess that the Son of God ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of his Father, God Almighty; who, holding unity of divinity with his Father and the Holy Spirit, invites us to the paradise of his delights, b where the groves are adorned with fruits at all times, and she proclaims the delights of his paradise, where lilies are always white, roses bloom, fields are green, mountains are verdant, hills are adorned, springs are sweetened, and the souls of the Saints rejoice in Christ. If you believe these things, Sapricius, you will be freed and will enter the paradise of God's delights." Sapricius said to her: "You must abandon this vanity and sacrifice and take a husband and rejoice in your life, lest you perish in the same way your parents perished because of their foolishness." and she desires him alone as bridegroom. Dorothea said: "I will not sacrifice to demons, for I am a Christian; nor will I take a husband, for I am the bride of Christ. And this is my faith: that he will lead me into his paradise and bring me to his bridal chamber."
Annotationsa MS. Utrecht: "Do you frighten me?" St. Maximinus: "Do you delay?"
b This amplification of the delights of paradise is absent from the MS. of St. Maximinus.
CHAPTER II
The conversion and martyrdom of Saints Christe and Calliste; further torments and death of Dorothea.
[6] Then Sapricius ordered her to be taken to the two sisters, Christe and Calliste, who had recently apostatized, and Sapricius entrusted her to them, she is handed over to Christe and Calliste to be perverted: saying: "Just as you, having left behind the vanity and superstition of the Christians, sacrificed to the unconquered gods, and I had you rewarded — I will have you honored with still better gifts, if you can recall this woman from this folly." When they had received her into their house and said to her: "Consent to this judge and free yourself from the danger of punishments, they invite her to apostasy, just as we did; it is better for you to act so that you do not consume this light of life in punishments and do not perish before your time" — Dorothea answered and said: "Oh, if you would heed counsel and repent of having sacrificed to idols! she calls them to repentance. For God is good and abundant in mercy to those who turn to him with their whole heart." Christe and Calliste said to her: "We have already perished from Christ; how can it come about that we are able to return?" Dorothea said: "It is a worse sin to despair of the Lord's mercy than to sacrifice to vain idols. and she raises their hope: Therefore do not despair of the good and most skilled physician, for he can heal your wounds. There is no wound that it is not fitting for him to heal; for he is called Savior because he saves, Redeemer because he redeems, Liberator because he does not cease to liberate. Only turn to repentance with your whole soul, and without doubt you will attain forgiveness."
[7] Then they cast themselves at her feet, weeping and entreating her to pray for them, so that through her they might offer their repentance to God for those who were repenting and receive divine forgiveness. And she with tears raised her voice to God, saying: "O God, who said, 'I do not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he be converted and live'; Lord Jesus Christ, she prays to God: who said that there is more joy in heaven among the Angels over one sinner doing penance than over ninety-nine righteous who have not sinned Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 15:7 — show your mercy upon these women, whom the devil has tried to snatch from you. Call back your sheep to your flock, so that by their example those who have departed from you may return to you."
[8] While she was saying these and similar things, behold, the Governor sent for them and had them brought together with Dorothea to his house. Taking them aside, he began to inquire of them whether they had bent Dorothea's resolve. they confess Christ, But with one voice they answered, saying: "We erred and acted most wickedly, fearing transitory pains and sorrows, when we sacrificed to vain idols; and therefore we implored her, and she gave us penance, so that we might attain the forgiveness of Christ." Then Sapricius tore his garments, and in exceeding fury he ordered them, bound back to back, to be cast into a vat, if they would not immediately sacrifice. But they cried out and said: "Lord Jesus Christ, accept our repentance and grant us your forgiveness." Persevering in these words and in this confession, they were cast into the vat and burned in the sight of St. Dorothea. they are burned, But Dorothea rejoiced at the hour of their departure and cried out to them, saying: "Go before me, assured of the forgiveness of your sin, and know that the palm of martyrdom which you had lost, Dorothea encourages them: you have without doubt found again, and the Father who rejoices over the lost and recovered son meets you in his embrace."
[9] Then Sapricius ordered St. Dorothea to be raised again on the rack. When she had been raised up, she was gladdened with such joy she exults on the rack: that she was proven truly to have attained the desired effect of her devotion. a Sapricius said to her: "What is this? Why do you display simulated joy on your face, deceiving us, and pretend to have exultation while placed in torment?" Dorothea said: "Never in all my life have I rejoiced as I do today — first of all, for those souls which the devil through you had taken from God, and which through me Christ has recovered. Today there is a feast in heaven: the Angels rejoice over them, the Archangels are glad, all the Apostles, Martyrs, and Prophets together exult. Make haste then, Sapricius, and do what you are going to do, so that I may go to meet this exultation of the Saints and rejoice together with those with whom I have wept on earth." she is burned with torches: Then Sapricius had torches b applied about her sides. But Dorothea, showing her face all the more cheerful and defiant toward the judge, said to him: "Wretched man, you are reduced to nothing together with your idols."
[10] Having her taken down from the rack again, he had her face beaten with the palms of the hand for a long time, saying: "Let that face be struck she is beaten with blows: which mocks me." And when, after being beaten long and hard, she rejoiced once more, and those who were beating her had grown weary and fainted, Sapricius dictated the sentence in this form: "We have ordered that the most haughty maiden Dorothea, she is condemned to death: who refused to sacrifice to the immortal gods in order to live, but chose absolutely to die for the sake of I know not what man who is called Christ, be struck with the sword." At this Dorothea cried out and said: "I give thanks to you, O lover of souls, for you have called me to your paradise and invite me to your bridal chamber."
[11] And as she was leaving the praetorium of the judge, a certain Advocate named Theophilus said to her mockingly: "Come now, O bride of Christ, she promises Theophilus roses and apples from paradise, send me apples or roses from the paradise of your bridegroom." And Dorothea said: "Certainly, for so I shall do." When therefore she had come c to the stroke of the executioner, she asked the executioner to permit her a brief moment to pray. When she had completed her prayer, behold, a boy appeared before her, d carrying in an orarium three most excellent apples and three roses. She said to him: "I beseech you, and sends them through an Angel; carry these to Theophilus and say to him: 'Behold what you asked me to send you from the paradise of my bridegroom.'" She herself was then struck with the sword and, with the triumph of martyrdom, went to Christ, to whom is glory forever and ever, Amen.
Annotationsa MS. Horen: "effect."
b MS. Utrecht: "fire to be applied."
c Surius: "to the stroke." MS. St. Maximinus: "to the place where she was to be beheaded."
d The MS. of Utrecht adds: "clothed in purple, barefoot, with curly hair, on whose garment golden stars were scattered." These are transcribed from the Golden Legend, as we said above.
CHAPTER III. The conversion, torments, and death of St. Theophilus the Advocate.
[12] Theophilus, therefore, the Advocate of the Governor, mocking the promise of St. Dorothea, related it to his companions, saying: "Today, when Dorothea was being led away by the executioner — she who called herself the bride of Christ he who mocks the promise to his companions and said she was going to his paradise — I said to her as she went: 'O bride of Christ, when you reach the paradise of your bridegroom, send me roses or apples from there.' And she said: 'Certainly, for so I shall do.'" While he was recounting these things, mocking the promise of the holy Virgin, behold, the boy also appeared before him with the orarium, in which he was carrying three marvelous apples and three most florid roses, and said to him: "Behold, just as the most sacred Virgin Dorothea promised when you asked, offers them to him: she has sent you these gifts from the paradise of her bridegroom."
[13] Then Theophilus, receiving them, cried out with a loud voice, he confesses Christ, saying: "Christ is the true God, and there is no deception in him." His colleagues said to him: "Are you mad, Theophilus, or jesting?" Theophilus said to them: "I am not suffering madness, nor do I have a jesting spirit; but there is in me a rational faith, that I believe Jesus Christ to be the true God." They said to him: "What reason has suddenly turned you to this outcry?" He said: "Tell me, and shows them those things, what month is it now?" They said: "February." Theophilus said to them: "When icy cold covers all Cappadocia, and no shrubs whatsoever are clothed in the covering of their leaves — whence do you suppose these roses or these marvelous apples with their branches come?" They said: "We have not seen such things even in their proper season." He said to them: "You see me as I am — it was I who mockingly addressed Dorothea as she went to receive the executioner's sentence. and earnestly relates what happened: Since she seemed like a fool, saying that Christ was her bridegroom and that she would reach his paradise, I insulted her as if she were stupid and said: 'When you reach the paradise of your bridegroom, send me roses and apples from there.' And she said: 'I will certainly do so.' And behold, suddenly, after she suffered for the name of Christ, a beautiful little child came to me, very small, no more than four years old, whom I supposed unable to speak because of his very infancy. He struck a my side. When I looked at him, he took me aside and began to speak with me so perfectly that I thought myself a boor in his presence; and bringing forth this orarium with these apples and roses, he said to me: 'The most sacred Virgin Dorothea, as she promised when you asked, has sent you these gifts from the garden of her bridegroom.' When I received them and cried out, that child disappeared from sight; and I do not doubt that he was an Angel of God." And saying these things, he cried out: "Blessed are those who believe in Christ and who suffer for his name. For he is the true God; and everyone who commits his faith to him is truly wise."
[14] While he was saying these and similar things, certain men went in to the Governor he is brought before the Governor: and said to him: "Your Scholasticus Theophilus, who until today prosecuted Christians and persecuted them even to death, is now shouting before the doors, praising and blessing the name of a certain Jesus Christ, I know not whom, and many are believing through his preaching." Then the Governor ordered him to be brought before him. When he had been brought in, the Governor said: "What were you saying outside?" Theophilus said: "I was happily praising Christ, he confesses Christ before him, whom until today I unhappily denied." The Governor said to him: "I marvel that you, a prudent man, have now wished to utter that name which hitherto you have persecuted whoever uttered." Theophilus said to him: "In this it appears that he is the true God, who converted me from error to the right way and made me recognize that he is the true God." The Governor said to him: "All men grow in the savor of wisdom, so that from wise they become wiser; you have suddenly been made foolish from being wise, by calling him God whom you heard from the Jews themselves was crucified, and from the Christians as well." Theophilus said: "I too heard that he was crucified, and suffering from error, I thought he was not God, and I blasphemed his name daily. But now, repenting of my past crimes and blasphemies, detesting his former error: I confess that he is God." The Governor said: "And where or when were you made a Christian, you who until today sacrificed?" Theophilus said: "At the hour when I confessed and believed in Christ, I felt myself made a Christian. And therefore, thus believing with my whole heart in the immortal Christ, the Son of God, I proclaim his name as true, his name as holy, his name as immaculate — a name in which there is no deception, no imposture, which reigns in idols."
[15] The Governor said to him: "Then does imposture reign in our gods?" Theophilus said to him: he mocks the gods: "Does it then not reign in all those images which a man has carved in wood, cast in bronze, filed in iron, fixed in lead — which owls guard, which spiders weave, whose hollow insides are full of mice and shrews? I lie, if these things cannot be proven. But because I do not lie, it is just that you consent to the truth and remove your mind from falsehood. For it is fitting that you who judge others for lying should free yourself from lies and turn to the truth he tries to persuade the Governor to the faith: which is in Christ." The Governor said: "Then are the gods not living?" Theophilus said: "We see statues without sense; but the mind of God is invisible. These are guarded; He guards. If it is not so, I ought to be refuted by reason. But if it is a matter of power, it is clear that you have been overcome by reason."
[16] The Governor said: "I see, unhappy Theophilus, that you desire to perish by an evil death." Theophilus said: "Indeed, I desire to find a good life." The Governor said: he scorns his threats, "Know that if you wish to persevere in this folly, I will first apply to you various tortures, and then at last order you to be cruelly killed." Theophilus answered and said: "This is what I have already begun to desire." The Governor said to him: "You ought to take thought for yourself, your family, your household, your patrimony, your children, and your relatives; and not thus headlong deliver yourself to a public death, which the foolish, the criminal, and the unwary deserve." Theophilus said: "The highest wisdom is this: that I deal philosophically with all my affections, and fear absolutely nothing of all your torments. Nor do I claim to have resolved this by irrational rashness, but by rational consideration, since I prefer eternal things to all temporal things and set the everlasting above the transient." The Governor said: "You choose torments rather than rest, and desire death rather than life." Theophilus said: "I both fear torments and dread death; teaching that eternal punishments are rather to be feared: but I fear those torments which have no end, and I dread that death which carries eternal punishments. But these pains that you can inflict come to an end in a short time; whereas the torments that are visited upon the worshippers of idols rage ever more fiercely and find no end."
[17] The Governor said: "Let the eloquent Theophilus be suspended on the rack, that with sharper blows he may abandon his vain words." But when he was suspended on the rack, he said: "Behold, now I have become a Christian, he exults on the rack: because I am suspended on a cross. For the form of the rack bears the likeness of the cross. I give thanks to you, O Christ, because you have permitted me to be raised up on your sign." The Governor said to him: "Unhappy man, spare your flesh." Theophilus answered him: "Unhappy man, spare your soul. For my part, I do not spare my flesh for a time, so that my soul may be spared for eternity." Then the Governor, driven to fury, ordered his sides to be scraped with hooks he is scraped with hooks: burned with torches: and burned with flaming torches. But Theophilus cried out nothing else amid the torments except this: "O Christ, Son of God, I confess you; join me to the number of your Saints." He was fearless in countenance and steadfast in expression, nor does he seem to feel it so that he did not appear to be the one being tortured.
[18] When the torturers themselves collapsed in the midst of the torments, the impious Governor dictated this sentence: "Theophilus, who until now sacrificed to the immortal gods and stood as their worshipper, he is condemned to death. has now been found to be a prevaricator, so that he has departed from them and delivered himself to the Christian sect; we have ordered him to be beheaded." Theophilus said: "I give thanks to you, O Christ." And rejoicing, he went to the crown of the heavenly calling — he who, hired at the eleventh hour, was worthy of an equal portion with those who labored from the first hour to the eleventh, through the grace of him who glorifies his Saints, to whom is honor and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever, Amen.
Annotationa MS. St. Maximinus: "at my door."