ON THE HOLY MARTYRS ANDREW AND APONIUS, OR APORIUS, AT BETHLEHEM IN JUDEA.
Year of Christ 41.
CommentaryAndrew, Martyr, at Bethlehem in Judea (St.) Aponius, or Aporius, Martyr, at Bethlehem in Judea (St.)
By G. H.
[1] A noble pair of Martyrs, slain for the faith of Christ in the very place where Christ, about to redeem the human race, willed to be born of the most holy Virgin Mary, opens the tenth day of February. These Martyrs are recorded in many ancient manuscript Martyrologies, among which the Roman one stands out, which we have often brought forward under the name of St. Jerome, in which however the name of one is missing. It reads thus: In the city of Bethlehem of Judah, the passion of the Saints Andrew... The defect is supplied by Rabanus, SS. Andrew, who adds in the same words, and Apponius. The time is suggested by the Tournai manuscript Martyrology of St. Martin: In the city of Bethlehem of Judah, under King Herod, the passion of SS. and Aponius, Andrew and Aporius. The same is found in Notker, and Bede in the manuscripts of the monasteries of Sub and Richenberg in Bavaria; or Aporius, the last copy of which calls the companion Apponius: from which the printed Bede must be corrected, in which the following is read: In Bethlehem, the city of Judea, under King Herod, the passion of St. Andrew the Apostle. It should be restored to: of the Saints Andrew and Aporius. Otherwise, we have often said that the title of Apostles was attributed to the first disciples of Christ and others of his time. they suffered at Bethlehem Among these we indicated in January that Titus, Timothy, Parmenas, and Ananias were surnamed Apostles.
[2] under Herod Agrippa The persecution in which these Martyrs were killed appears to be that in which, as Acts chapter 9 records, St. James the Apostle was slain and St. Peter was cast into prison, when Herod Agrippa, in the first year of the Emperor Claudius, the year of Christ 41, having been made King of all Judea, began to rage against the Church to win the favor of the Jews. in the year 41 On February 7 in the ancient Martyrology of Reichenau a St. Andrew is found, perhaps the same one recorded by others on this day: unless St. Andrew the Apostle is meant, whose ordination as Bishop is recorded by others on February 5.