Roman Martyrs Zoticus

ON THE HOLY ROMAN MARTYRS ZOTICUS, IRENAEUS, HYACINTHUS, AND AMANTIUS.

Zoticus, Martyr, at Rome (St.) Irenaeus, Martyr, at Rome (St.) Hyacinthus, Martyr, at Rome (St.) Amantius, Martyr, at Rome (St.)

I. B.

[1] The birthday of these four Martyrs is recorded on the fourth day before the Ides of February in nearly all Martyrologies — Roman, Usuard, Rabanus, Ado, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, and the manuscripts of various Churches — with these words: the birthday of these Saints, At Rome, of the holy Martyrs Zoticus, Irenaeus, Hyacinthus, and Amantius. The ancient Roman one published by Rosweyde agrees. In some manuscripts the name of Amantius is omitted: in others he alone is mentioned with Zoticus: in Wandelbert, Irenaeus alone:

Soter, Irenaeus, and Scholastica the Virgin on the fourth, Equally shine forth with the illustrious praise of their merits.

In the published Martyrology of Bede, the following is found at February 6: At Rome, of Zoticus, Irenaeus, Hyacinthus, and Amantius. But the manuscripts bearing the name of the same Bede record them at February 10. On February 11 certain persons of the same name are celebrated; are they the same?

[2] Their memory was once celebrated among the Churches of Belgium, and in an ancient Missal of Tournai printed at Paris in the year 1508, there survives a special Mass for them. In the ancient Breviaries of Brussels, Antwerp, Cambrai, the manuscript of Mechelen, and the new one of Wurzburg, the following prayer about them is found: Lord our God, commemoration in the sacred rites; multiply upon us your grace; and grant us to follow in holy profession the victory of those whose glorious struggles we celebrate. Through our Lord. In the old Breviary of the Church of Liege (for in the new one their commemoration has been entirely omitted) the same prayer was expressed thus: Lord our God, multiply upon us your grace, and as we celebrate the glorious struggles of your holy Martyrs Zoticus, Irenaeus, and Hyacinthus, grant us to follow in holy profession the joy. Through our Lord.

[3] The time of martyrdom is indicated by Peter Galesinius, but without citing any authority: the time of martyrdom, At Rome, he says, of the holy Martyrs Irenaeus, Zoticus, Hyacinthus, and Amantius, who were put to death in the Decian persecution for Christ the Lord. Ferrarius follows Galesinius in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. Baronius dissents in his Notes to the Martyrology, and contends that they were crowned under Hadrian, relying on manuscript Acts, of which we shall speak presently.

[4] The place of their struggle is expressed in the Martyrology of St. Jerome in these words: the place, On the fourth day before the Ides of February. At Rome, the birthday of Soteris. And on the Via Labicana, of Zoticus and Amantius. At Alexandria, the passion of Apollo, Proteus, Orion, Plausus, and twenty others. Of Irenaea. At Terracina, the birthday of Silvanus, Bishop and Confessor. Thus he omits Hyacinthus; and separates Irenaeus, whom he calls Irenaea, from the rest. Concerning the place, Baronius reports the same — that they suffered on the Via Labicana, at the tenth milestone from the City, at the estate of Capreolus, and cites very ancient Acts, which we have obtained from his manuscripts. But these are the Acts of another Zoticus, who is also called Getulius, and is venerated on June 10, with SS. Amantius and Primitivus, who are recorded as having been killed at the estate of Capreolis on the Via Labicana, by order of Hadrian: and then as having been buried by Symphorosa, wife of Getulius, in her praetorium at Sabina, in a place called Capris, Acts: are they perhaps confused with those of St. Getulius? in the above-mentioned town across the upper river, in the sand-pit of her estate, with glory and honor. One might wonder whether that detail about the place of martyrdom was not transferred from the Acts of that Zoticus, or Getulius, to this one, especially since both had Amantius as a companion in victory. As for the ten Soldiers who obtained the palm of martyrdom at the same place, whether they were companions of these is uncertain.

[5] Baronius reports that a certain monument of St. Zoticus exists at Rome, in these words: On the Aventine, in the vineyard of the Capranica family, a monument at Rome. opposite the Farnese gardens, there still survives a building erected in memory of St. Zoticus; on the walls of which, according to the custom of our ancestors, the history of his martyrdom is depicted: there is also a Confession, where it can be conjectured that the body of the holy Martyr was once preserved. So he writes: he does not, however, prove that the monument belongs to this Zoticus rather than to the other. Octavius Pancirolus mentions their relics, in passing and not very clearly, in his Hidden Treasures of the Holy City, region 2, church 42.

[6] George Cardoso in the Portuguese Hagiologion testifies that in the last years of Pope Urban VIII, the relics of St. Amantius were brought to Lisbon in 1642. the body of St. Amantius was translated from Rome to Lisbon by Doctor Pantaleao Rodrigo Pacheco, Apostolic Inquisitor of the Kingdom of Portugal and Bishop-elect of Elvas; and placed in the Royal Chapel: and that indulgences were also granted by the same Pontiff to all who would visit the said Chapel on February 10 to venerate the holy Martyr; and that these would have force for seven years: and that the Apostolic Brief, as they call it, was given concerning them on December 2, 1642.

ON THE TEN HOLY SOLDIER-MARTYRS AT ROME, ON THE VIA LABICANA.

Ten Soldier-Martyrs, at Rome (SS.)

By I. B.

[1] One may not unreasonably suspect that these glorious soldiers, together with the four already mentioned, attained their triumph not only on the same day of the month, but in the same persecution and at the same place, since in most Martyrologies they are reported jointly. The birthday of these Saints; And indeed an ancient Trier manuscript so joins them: At Rome, of the holy Martyrs Zoticus, Irenaeus, Hyacinthus, and Amantius, and of ten other Soldiers. The Carmelite manuscript of Cologne has the same, and the manuscript of St. Cyriacus at Rome, to be cited below. The following alone is found about them in Bede, Usuard, Ado, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, and others: At Rome, on the Via Labicana, of ten soldiers. The ancient and modern Roman Martyrology has no more. Galesinius writes that they were crowned under Decius, like the former, but does not prove it: Likewise at Rome, he says, the time of martyrdom, of ten holy soldier-martyrs, illustrious for the torments of the same persecution, which they bravely endured. Ferrarius follows him in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: In the same persecution of Decius, he says, ten soldiers seized for Christ's sake, completed their martyrdom on the Via Labicana on the fourth day before the Ides of February, having steadfastly endured their torments. But whence did he learn that they were first tested by torments? Why could they not, when they refused to offer incense to the Gods, or to perform some other act of profane superstition, have been led immediately to execution?

[2] The Via Labicana, so called because it led to Labici, or Labicum, an ancient town distant fifteen miles from the City, a place outside the Esquiline gate, where executions took place. though leaving it to the right: it began from the Esquiline gate, outside which punishments were customarily inflicted on criminals — as many learned men observe from that passage of Tacitus, Annals 2: Against Publius Marcius the Consuls, having ordered the trumpet to be sounded outside the Esquiline gate, punished him in the ancient manner. There were also in the same place on the Esquiline Field the Puticuli, into which the corpses of condemned or base men were cast. That field was between the Via Praenestina and the Via Labicana, as is clear from Strabo, who writes thus in book 5 about the Via Labicana: Beginning indeed...