ON THE HOLY MARTYRS SATURNINUS THE PRIEST,
SATURNINUS AND FELIX THE LECTORS, MARIA AND HILARION HIS CHILDREN;
DATIVUS THE LECTOR, FELIX, ANOTHER FELIX, EMERITUS, AMPELIUS, ROGATIANUS,
QUINTUS, MAXIMIANUS, THELICA, ROGATIANUS, ROGATUS, JANUARIUS, CASSIANUS,
VICTORIANUS, VINCENTIUS, CAECILIANUS, RESTITUTA, PRIMAEVA, ROGATIANUS,
GIUALIUS, ROGATUS, POMPONIA, SECUNDA, JANUARIA, SATURNINA, MARTINUS,
DANTUS, FELIX, MARGARITA, MAIOR, HONORATA, REGULA, VICTORINUS, PELUSIUS,
FAUSTUS, DACIANUS, MATRONA, CAECILIA, VICTORIA, BEREDINA, SECUNDA,
MATRONA, JANUARIA, AT CARTHAGE IN AFRICA
In the year of Christ 303.
Preliminary commentary.
Saturninus, Priest (St.) Saturninus, Lector (St.) Felix, Lector (St.) Maria (St.) Hilarion (St.) Dativus, Lector, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix the other, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Emeritus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Ampelius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januarius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Cassianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victorianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Vincentius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Caecilianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Restituta, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Primaeva, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Giualius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Pomponia, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Secunda, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januaria, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Saturnina, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Martinus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Dantus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Margarita, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Maior, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Honorata, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Regula, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victorinus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Pelusius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Faustus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Dacianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Matrona, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Caecilia, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victoria, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Beredina, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Secunda, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Matrona, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januaria, Martyr at Carthage (St.)
By G. H.
[1] Baronius observes in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology for this eleventh of February that the Acts of all these Martyrs, as they were recorded by the notaries and entered in the proconsular records, are preserved intact, The Acts of these Martyrs are genuine and in the Annals of the Church for the year 303, number 58, he affirms that their integrity and sincerity of faith is complete. Certainly the Author in number 1 notes that the Acts of the Martyrs are to be read as inscribed in the archive of the Memorial, from the proconsular records and that he writes from the public Acts: though, to compose his history, he often interjects where it was necessary. But Baronius adds at the said number 58 that he does not know by what occasion the most severe interrogations of many of the Martyrs named therein before the same Proconsul, whether they are complete? in the manner of others, are found wanting. But it does not appear that a separate interrogation was conducted for each individual. For the worn-out fury of the torturers (number 21) was flagging: and the adversary, defeated by the battles of so many Martyrs, was unable to engage with each one individually: but with the spirits of the entire army of the Lord tested by the same interrogation, all with one voice professed the faith of Christ, were thrust together into prison, and destined for martyrdom. And in number 22, all the women joined battle and were crowned together with St. Victoria. And in number 24, St. Hilarianus still remained, as if to be conquered on account of his tender age.
[2] These Acts were cited by the Catholics in the Conference at Carthage, held by the command of the Emperor Honorius between the Catholics and the Donatists in the year 411, cited in the Conference at Carthage to prove that Christians, during the time of the persecution raised under Diocletian and Maximian, were accustomed to assemble for the celebration of the Collecta and the Lord's Day. And from this it was inferred that at about the same time a Council had been held at Cirta in Numidia (which the Donatists denied could have taken place on account of the persecution): in which, at the instigation of Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis and Primate of the Bishops of Numidia, various Bishops who by the Emperor's edict had delivered up the sacred codices or other sacred objects for burning, had assembled for the purpose of appointing and substituting another in place of the Bishop of Cirta. They ordained as Bishop of Cirta a certain Paulus, who in that same year, being called upon by the magistrates, handed over the books and the furnishings of the Church, as did also Silvanus, Subdeacon of the same see, who later became Bishop of Cirta himself. The proconsular Acts of their nefarious betrayal are recited by St. Augustine in book 3 against Cresconius, chapters 27 and 29: who in his Abridgment of the Conference with the Donatists, at the conference of the third day, chapter 17, treats both of the Council of Cirta and of these very Acts of the Martyrs which we here recite, in which both the day and the Consuls are lacking; in St. Augustine, whose words we append, they are supplied.
[3] The Cognitor ordered, he says, the Office to compute and report. Having considered the Consuls and the days cited by St. Augustine from both the account of the Council of Cirta and the Acts of the Martyrs that were being read, because it had been said by the Catholics that after the passion of those Martyrs, whence the time of the persecution was proved, nearly a year had elapsed up to the Consul and the day of the Council of Cirta. But the response of the computing Office had suggested that only a month had intervened. The Catholics therefore wished what they had said to be removed from the records. But the Donatists refused to have what the Catholics had said removed from the records: whence the Catholics did not contend, so that their calumnious spirit might be apparent. Moreover, what the Catholics had said was in fact more true. But the Office, erring in its computation, had reported a falsehood, which the records, when written out and more diligently considered, afterwards demonstrated: as anyone who cares to read and is not reluctant to compute can prove. For the Acts of the Martyrs, Whether these Acts date to the consulship of Diocletian IX and Maximian VIII by which the time of the persecution was shown, were drawn up under the Consuls Diocletian for the ninth time and Maximian for the eighth time, on the day before the Ides of February. But the episcopal Acts of the decree of Cirta were dated after the same consulship, on the fifth day before the Nones of March, and thus thirteen months are found to intervene, certainly more than the eleven which the Catholics had previously answered by less diligent computation. But the Office was deceived and answered that only a month intervened because it took the same consulship to be concurrent. It did not notice the post-consulship, where already another year was in progress. Accordingly the Catholics, as if compelled by the true response of the Office, were forced to show that during the time of persecution those eleven or twelve Bishops could have assembled in a private house. The Donatists pressed them to show this from other Councils, whether they could find any Councils of Bishops held at any time of persecution; to which the Catholics, since they could not then investigate and examine ancient documents in the ecclesiastical archives on the spot, replied that it was much easier for twelve men to have assembled in a house at a time when even gatherings of the people were customary, although the persecution was raging, as was shown by the very Acts of the Martyrs, who confessed in their Passions that they had held the assembly and celebrated the Lord's Day.
[4] Thus St. Augustine; but with an interval of two years from the Acts of Cirta themselves, or rather under the consulship of Diocletian VIII and Maximian VII a fragment of which the same St. Augustine in book 3 against Cresconius, chapter 26 at the end and chapter 27, reports thus: But from your predecessors there exists the Council of Secundus of Tigisis, held indeed with very few members at Cirta, after the persecution of the handing over of the codices, so that there a Bishop might be ordained in the place of the deceased one. Receive what was done there. For the matters that were necessary I have taken care to write below. Under the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian, on the fourth day before the Nones of March, at Cirta, when Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis, had taken his seat in the house of Urbanus Donatus as holder of the first chair, the same said: Let us first prove ourselves, and so we shall be able to ordain a Bishop here. The same Acts are briefly summarized by Optatus of Milevis in book 1 of his work On the Schism of the Donatists against Parmenianus: These and the rest, he says, whom we shall show shortly to have been your leaders, after the persecution sat together at the city of Cirta in the house of Urbanus Carisis on the third day before the Ides of May — on which day the Council was perhaps concluded with its final session. The year noted in the Acts of Cirta is confirmed by the proconsular Acts under Munatius Felix, published from the library of Pithoeus by Baronius for the year 303: where in number 12 the following is read: Under the eighth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June, from the Acts of Munatius Felix, F. P. P., Curator of the Colony of Cirta. When they had come to the house where the Christians used to assemble, Felix, F. P. P., Curator, said to Paulus the Bishop: Produce the Scriptures of the law, and whatever else you have here, as has been commanded, so that you may comply with the order. Paulus the Bishop said: The Lectors have the Scriptures; but what we have here, we give. Behold, the same Acts of the assembly at Cirta (which in St. Augustine's Abridgment of the Conference are reported to have occurred after the consulship of Diocletian for the ninth time and Maximian for the eighth time, that is, in the year of Christ 305) are attested by twin testimonies, and those more ancient, to the consuls Diocletian for the eighth time and Maximian for the seventh time, that is, the year of Christ 303 that is, the year of Christ 303 — which year is more approved by us, both on account of the Acts of Cirta cited by St. Augustine in his disputation against Cresconius, and on account of the proconsular records of events at Cirta, which treat of Paulus, who was ordained Bishop in the earlier assembly in that same year. Moreover, the Council of Cirta, as St. Augustine attests, was held after the persecution of the handing over of the codices and the passion of the said Martyrs, so that these must necessarily be said to have perished in that same year 303, in which that most savage persecution raged most fiercely.
[5] We therefore publish these Acts of the Martyrs, formerly known and accepted by the Catholics, examined by the Donatists, inspected and scrutinized by the Judge Cognitor, from a very ancient manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Maximin at Trier, collated with the Surian edition Acts published from manuscripts and another manuscript from Bodeken in Westphalia, in which, however, they had been abridged in many places. We omit the appendix found at the end both in the handwritten codices and added in the earlier Surian edition, corrupted by the fraud of the Donatists, who fabricated enormous lies against Mensurius, the most praiseworthy Bishop of Carthage, and against his then Deacon and later successor Caecilianus. without the appendix corrupted by the Donatists That fragment was also published by Gabriel Albaspinaeus, Bishop of Orleans, after the works of St. Optatus of Milevis which he had edited, where he also produces the records of the purgation of Caecilianus and Felix, by whom the former had been ordained, together with the epistle of the Emperor Constantine and the Council of Bishops celebrated at Arles on this account. But also in the preliminary observations before St. Optatus, he admirably depicts the errors and crimes of the Donatists and their inveterate hatred toward Mensurius, Caecilianus, and Felix. Thus in the Acts of the Third Conference at Carthage, when in chapter 33 Alypius, the Catholic Bishop, had said to the Donatists: Let them condemn the name of Donatus, and henceforth we shall not call them Donatists; Petilianus, Bishop of the Donatists, countered: Condemn the name of Mensurius and Caecilianus, and you shall not be called a Caecilianist. The principal part of this Third Conference at Carthage is missing, from chapter 273 to chapter 586, as the prefixed summaries indicate, in which the Acts of the Martyrs are frequently mentioned, as they confess that during the time of persecution they had been present at the assemblies.
[6] The memorial of these Martyrs is inscribed on the eleventh of February in the Roman Martyrology with these words: Their veneration is sacred on 2 February In Africa, the birthday of the holy Martyrs Saturninus the Priest, Dativus, Felix, Ampelius, and their companions, who, assembling to celebrate the Lord's Day according to custom, were apprehended by soldiers during the persecution of Diocletian and suffered under the Proconsul Anulinus. To which Baronius annotates that not only the old Roman Martyrology but also many other manuscripts treat of them on this day. But what is that old Roman Martyrology? Is it the one published by Bellinus near the end of the fifteenth century according to the usage, as he prefaces, of the Roman Curia? By Maurolycus he is called Claudius, who is in fact Dativus. Several manuscripts, and not very ancient ones, record them on the same day, in most of which they are said to have suffered under the Emperor Julian, under the Proconsul Anulinus. Galesinius however writes that by the order of the Proconsul Anulinus, having been variously tortured, they received the crown of illustrious martyrdom under the Emperor Nero: and meanwhile cites volume 1 of Surius on the Saints in the Notes, which records the Acts for the eleventh of February, in which the times of Diocletian and Maximian are expressed. Petrus de Natalibus in book 3 of the Catalogue, chapter 14, records that the same triumphed on the third day before the Ides of February. Franciscus Lahierius in the Menologium of Virgins treats of the holy Virgins and Martyrs Victoria and Maria on this day.
[7] But on the following day, that is, the day before the Ides of February, the torments inflicted on these Martyrs are described by the above-cited St. Augustine: and on 12 February on which day also Baronius records that they are commemorated in the African Church, in his notes to the Roman Martyrology. Usuard and other ancients kept this day in manuscript Martyrologies with approximately these words: In Africa, of the holy Martyrs Saturninus the Priest, Dativus, Felix, Apelius, and their companions, who suffered for Christ under the Proconsul Anulinus. In our manuscript of Usuard, which formerly belonged to Hunnaeus, they are said to have suffered under the Proconsul Julian. But the Brussels manuscript Martyrology joined both, naming Julian whom it also called Emperor, and Anulinus as Proconsul. He whom Usuard calls Apelius is in some manuscripts called Apuleius, above Ampelius.
[8] What end of life befell these Martyrs is not indicated, except in the fragment corrupted by the Donatists, in which near the end the following is read: Whether they perished by starvation? These blessed Martyrs, deprived of bodily nourishment, gradually and at intervals of days yielded to their natural condition, compelled by the atrocity of hunger, and migrated to the starry realms with the palm of martyrdom, through the grace of our Lord Jesus, who reigns with the Father for ever and ever. Amen.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM
From the Trier manuscript of St. Maximin and Surius.
Saturninus, Priest (St.) Saturninus, Lector (St.) Felix, Lector (St.) Maria (St.) Hilarion (St.) Dativus, Lector, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix the other, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Emeritus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Ampelius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januarius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Cassianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victorianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Vincentius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Caecilianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Restituta, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Primaeva, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Giualius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Rogatus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Pomponia, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Secunda, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januaria, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Saturnina, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Martinus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Dantus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Felix, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Margarita, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Maior, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Honorata, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Regula, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victorinus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Pelusius, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Faustus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Dacianus, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Matrona, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Caecilia, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Victoria, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Beredina, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Secunda, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Matrona, Martyr at Carthage (St.) Januaria, Martyr at Carthage (St.)
BHL Number: 7492
From manuscripts and Surius.
PROLOGUE.
[1] Let him who is endowed with sacred religion exult and glory in Christ, and let him who rejoices in the truth of the Lord, having condemned error, hold fast to the Catholic Church, and let him also distinguish holy communion from the profane. Let him read the Acts of the Martyrs, which have necessarily been inscribed in the archive of the Memorial, lest with the passing of ages the glory of the Martyrs and the condemnation of the Traditores should fade. I therefore undertake to relate the heavenly battles and the new contests waged by the most valiant soldiers of Christ, The Acts of the Martyrs are set forth for imitation the unconquered warriors, the glorious Martyrs. I undertake, I say, to write from the public Acts, endowed not so much with talent as bound to them by a citizen's love. I do this advisedly, in a twofold manner, so that by imitating them we may prepare our minds for martyrdom, and so that those whom we trust to live in perpetuity and to rejoice and reign with Christ the Lord, we may, by committing even their confessions, their battles, and their victories to writing, consign them to eternal memory. But I find not, most beloved brethren, what exordium to employ, nor with what beginning of praise to approach the most blessed confession of the most holy Martyrs. For I am carried away by great events and great virtues, and whatever I behold in them I admire as wholly divine and heavenly: in their devotion, faith; in their life, sanctity; in their confession, constancy; in their passion, victory. These things, the more they shine by their own virtues alone, the more brilliant are they all in each individual Martyr. It is fitting therefore at the outset to treat of the cause of this very war, and necessarily to run through with all speed and brevity the crisis of the entire world, so that having recognized the truth, one may know both the rewards of the Martyrs and the punishments of the Traditores.
NotesCHAPTER I
The Martyrs of Abitina are apprehended and led to Carthage.
[2] For in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, the devil declared war on the Christians in this manner: Christians refusing to hand over the sacred Scriptures that he demanded the most holy testaments of the Lord and the divine Scriptures for burning, overturned the basilicas of the Lord, and forbade the celebration of sacred rites and most holy assemblies in honor of the Lord. But the army of the Lord did not endure so monstrous a command and shuddered at the sacrilegious order: and at once it seized the arms of faith and descended into battle, intending to fight not so much against men as against the devil. And although some fell from the hinge of faith by handing over the Scriptures of the Lord and the divine testaments to the Gentiles to be consumed by profane fires, yet by preserving them and willingly pouring out their blood for them, very many acted with courage. And these, filled with God, having defeated and prostrated the devil, bearing the palm of victory in their passion, pronouncing sentence against the Traditores and their associates by which they had cast them out from the communion of the Church, all the Martyrs sealed with their own blood. For it was not fitting that in the Church of God there should be at once both Martyrs and Traditores.
[3] Therefore from every direction immense ranks of Confessors hastened to the field of battle, and wherever each one found the enemy, there he pitched the camp of the Lord. For in the city of Abitina, in the house of Octavius, when the trumpet of Felix sounded the call to war, the glorious Martyrs raised the standards of the Lord: and there, celebrating the Lord's Day according to custom, they were apprehended by the magistrates of the colony and by the military guard: Saturninus the Priest with his four children, that is, they assemble in great number Saturninus the younger and Felix, both Lectors; Maria the consecrated virgin; and Hilarianus, an infant. And likewise Dativus, also called Senator; Felix; another Felix; Emeritus; Ampelius; Rogatianus; Quintus; Maximianus; Thelica; Rogatianus; Rogatus; Januarius; Cassianus; Victorianus; Vincentius; Caecilianus; Restituta; Primaeva; Rogatianus; Giualius; Rogatus; Pomponia; Secunda; Januaria; Saturnina; Martinus; Dantus; Felix; Margarita; Maior; Honorata; Regula; Victorinus; Pelusius; Faustus; Dacianus; Matrona; Caecilia; Victoria; Heredina; likewise Secunda; Matrona; Januaria.
[4] Having been apprehended, they were led forth eagerly to the forum. And to this first field of battle Dativus went first, they are apprehended whom his holy parents had begotten as a white-robed Senator for the heavenly curia. Saturninus the Priest also went, surrounded by the numerous company of his children. A portion of his offspring had destined itself as his companion in martyrdom; another portion
he was leaving behind as a pledge of his name to the Church. The army of the Lord followed them, in which shone the splendor of heavenly armor: the shield of faith, the breastplate of justice, the helmet of salvation, and the gleaming sword of the word of God; made more steadfast by the sacred books cast into the fire fortified by whose protection, they promised the hope of victory to their brethren. But now they had reached the forum of the aforementioned city. There they first assailed the palm of confession and won it by the magistrates' decree. For in that same forum, heaven had already fought for the Lord's Scriptures when Fundanus, formerly Bishop of that same city, delivered the Scriptures of the Lord for burning. When the magistrates applied sacrilegious fires to them, suddenly rain poured from a clear sky, the fire applied to the holy Scriptures was extinguished, hail was brought down, and the entire region was devastated by the raging elements in defense of the Lord's Scriptures.
[5] From this city therefore the Martyrs of Christ received the longed-for first chains: and directed to Carthage, eager and joyful, throughout the entire journey they sang hymns and canticles to the Lord. When they arrived at the Office of Anulinus, then Proconsul, and stood steadfastly in battle array, they bravely repelled the raging assaults of the devil with the constancy of the Lord. But since the rabid fury of the devil could not prevail against all the soldiers of Christ at once, he summoned them individually to combat. they are led to Carthage The battles of their contests I shall pursue not so much with my own words as with those of the Martyrs: so that both the audacity of the raging enemy may be recognized in the torments and in his very sacrilegious invective, and the all-powerful virtue of Christ the Lord may be praised in the endurance of the Martyrs and in their very confession.
Notesk. Surius: "Regiola."
m. Surius: "bifrons."
CHAPTER II
The interrogation of Saints Thelica and Dativus.
[6] When therefore they are presented to the Proconsul by the Office, and it is reported that the Christians had been sent by the magistrates of Abitina because they had celebrated the Assembly or the Lord's Day contrary to the interdict of the Emperors and the Caesars; first the Proconsul interrogated Dativus as to his condition, and whether he had participated in the assemblies. When he professed himself a Christian and declared that he had been present at the assembly, the instigator of the most holy gathering was demanded from him. St. Dativus is suspended on the rack And immediately the Office is ordered to raise the same man on the rack and to prepare him stretched out for the hooks. But while the executioners fulfilled the cruel commands with savage speed and stood menacing in their pronouncements, and St. Thelica likewise, voluntarily stepping forward to confess and with the Martyr's flanks bared for wounds and the hooks raised threateningly, suddenly Thelica, that most valiant Martyr, threw himself into the midst of the torments and cried out: We are Christians! We, he said, have assembled. Immediately the fury of the Proconsul blazed forth, and groaning, gravely wounded by the spiritual sword, he battered the Martyr of Christ with the heaviest blows, suspended him on the rack and stretched him out, and tore him with the shrieking hooks. But the most glorious Martyr Thelica, on the contrary, from the very midst of the executioners' rage, poured forth prayers of this kind to the Lord with thanksgiving: Thanks be to God. In your name, O Christ, Son of God, deliver your servants.
[7] To him praying thus, the Proconsul said: Who is the author of your gathering with you? who indicates St. Saturninus the Priest as presiding And as the executioner raged more cruelly, he replied with a clear voice: Saturninus the Priest, and all of us. O Martyr, giving the primacy to all! For he did not set the Priest above the Brethren, but rather joined the Brethren to the Priest in the fellowship of confession. When therefore the Proconsul sought Saturninus, he pointed him out: not that he betrayed one whom he saw fighting equally at his side against the devil; but that he might show him that they had celebrated the assemblies in full, since the Priest also had been with them. And so the blood flowed together with the voice of one imploring the Lord: and mindful of the precepts of the Gospel, the Martyr, amid the very rending of his body, sought pardon for his enemies. Matthew 5 he prays for his torturers For amid the most grievous torments of his wounds, he reproached both the torturers and the Proconsul with these words: You act unjustly, wretches: and admonishes them you act against God. O most high God, do not consent to them in these sins. You sin, wretches, you act against God. Keep the commandments of God most high. You act unjustly, wretches: you tear apart the innocent. We are not murderers: we have committed no fraud. God, have mercy. I give you thanks: Lord, for your name's sake, give me endurance. Deliver your servants from the captivity of this world. I give you thanks, nor am I able to give you sufficient thanks.
[8] And when his flanks, shaken more violently by the blows of the hooks, were furrowed, constant amid torments and a wave of blood flowed forth in violent streams, he heard the Proconsul saying to him: You will begin to feel what it is fitting that you should suffer. And he added: Unto glory. He invokes God I give thanks to the God of kingdoms. The eternal kingdom appears, the incorruptible kingdom. Lord Jesus Christ, we are Christians: we serve you. You are our hope. You are the hope of Christians. Most holy God, most high God, almighty God. We render praises to you for your name, Lord God almighty. When to him praying thus the devil said through the Judge: It was fitting that you should keep the decree of the Emperors and Caesars; with his body now exhausted, his victorious soul proclaimed with a strong and steadfast voice: I care for nothing except the law of God, which I have learned: this I keep, for this I die, in this I am consumed — the law of God, besides which there is no other. With such words therefore the most glorious Martyr in his own torments was himself tormenting Anulinus all the more. Whose fury at last, glutted with savagery, said: Spare him — and shut up in prison, he is cast into prison destined the Martyr for the passion worthy of him.
[9] After him, Dativus is raised up by the Lord in the contest, who had watched from close at hand the most valiant battle of Thelica as he himself hung stretched upon the rack; and when, with his voice frequently repeated, he strongly proclaimed himself to be a Christian and to have participated in the assembly, there appeared Fortunatianus, brother of the most holy Martyr Victoria, a man indeed of the toga, but at those very times estranged from the most holy worship of the Christian religion: St. Dativus is suspended on the rack who accused the Martyr, suspended on the rack, with profane words as follows. This is the one, he said, my lord, who, during the absence of our father, while we were studying here, seduced our sister Victoria and from this most splendid city of Carthage, he is accused by Fortunatianus together with Secunda and Restituta, led her all the way to the colony of Abitina. he is defended by St. Victoria, his sister He who never entered our house except when by certain persuasions he was enticing the minds of young women. But Victoria, that most illustrious Martyr of the Lord, did not suffer her colleague and fellow martyr, the Senator, to be falsely assailed. And immediately, bursting forth with Christian liberty: By no one's persuasion did I set out, she said, nor did I come with him to Abitina. This I can prove through the citizens. Everything I did of my own accord and will. For I was at the assembly, and I celebrated the Lord's Day with the Brethren, because I am a Christian. Then the shameless advocate
heaped curses upon the Martyr. But the glorious Martyr from the rack resolved everything with a true response.
[10] Amid these things Anulinus, blazing with anger, ordered the hooks to be pressed upon the Martyr. Immediately the executioners came upon his flanks, bared and prepared for blows, with bloody wounds. he is most harshly tortured Fierce hands flew swifter than the swift commands, and the secrets of his breast, with the skin ripped apart and the flesh torn away, were laid open with attendant cruelty to the abominable gaze of the profane. Amid all this, the mind of the Martyr remains unmoved: and though his limbs are broken, his flesh is torn apart, his flanks are shattered, yet the spirit of the Martyr endures whole and unshaken. Finally, mindful of his dignity, Dativus, also called Senator, poured forth prayers to the Lord with such a voice while the executioner raged: O Christ the Lord, he endures bravely let me not be confounded. With these words of his most blessed acts, the Martyr so easily obtained what he had asked of the Lord, as briefly as he had requested it.
[11] For soon the tongue of the Proconsul, his mind shaken, leaped forth with the word: Spare him. The executioners ceased: for it was not fitting that the Martyr of Christ should be tortured in the case of his fellow martyr Victoria. For when Pompeianus came forward as a cruel accuser bringing an unworthy suspicion and joined a calumnious prosecution, he was despised and repelled by the Martyr: he scorns the greater calumny What are you doing here, devil? What are you still attempting against the Martyrs of Christ? By the Senator of the Lord and Martyr, both power and forensic fury were overcome. But since the most illustrious Martyr ought also to be tortured for Christ, when he was asked whether he had been at the Assembly and professed steadfastly, saying he confesses he was present at the sacrifice that he had come to the Assemblies and had celebrated the Lord's Day with the Brethren with the fitting devotion of religion, and that the author of that most holy gathering had not been one alone, he stirred the Proconsul against himself yet more sharply. he is tortured again Whose savagery having been renewed, the doubled dignity of the Martyr is again furrowed by the scoring hooks. But the Martyr, amid the most grievous torments of his wounds, returning to his former prayer, said: I beseech you, O Christ, let me not be confounded. What have I done? Saturninus is our Priest.
[12] While the harsh executioners scraped his flanks with curved hooks under the direction of instructing cruelty, Saturninus the Priest is summoned to battle. St. Saturninus the Priest professes his sacred works And he, contemplating the heavenly kingdom and considering that his fellow Martyrs were enduring but small and light things, himself also began to engage in like manner. For when the Proconsul said: You have acted against the decree of the Emperors and Caesars, so as to gather all these together? the Priest Saturninus answered: By the prompting of the Spirit of the Lord, we celebrated the Lord's Day in security. The Proconsul said: Why? He answered: Because the Lord's Day cannot be omitted. Who, as soon as he had said this, was immediately ordered to be placed against Dativus.
[13] Meanwhile Dativus was watching rather than lamenting the butchery of his own body: and he whose mind and spirit hung upon the Lord, esteemed the pain of his body as nothing: but prayed only to the Lord, saying: St. Dativus invokes God Come to my aid, I beseech you, O Christ: have pity, preserve my soul, guard my spirit, that I may not be confounded: I beseech you, O Christ, grant me endurance. When it was said to him by the Proconsul: Coming from this most splendid city, you rather should have called others to a right mind, and not acted against the command of the Emperors and Caesars; constant in faith, he is cast into prison he cried out more strongly and steadfastly: I am a Christian. By which voice the devil was overcome and said: Spare him. And at the same time, consigning him to prison, he reserved the Martyr for the passion worthy of him.
Notesd. Surius: percussus.
CHAPTER III
The interrogation of Saints Saturninus the Priest, Emeritus, and companions: the death of the two Felixes amid the torments.
[14] But the Priest Saturninus, anointed with the fresh blood of the Martyrs, St. Saturninus hanging on the rack as he hung upon the rack, was admonished to persist in the faith of those in whose blood he stood. When he was asked whether he himself was the instigator and had gathered everyone together, and he said: I was present at the Assembly, Emeritus the Lector, leaping forward to the contest while the Priest was being engaged, said: I am the instigator; it was in my house that the Assemblies were held. But the Proconsul, who had already been defeated so many times, shuddered at the onslaught of Emeritus: and yet, turning to the Priest, said: Why did you act against the command, according to what you profess, Saturninus? To whom Saturninus said: The Lord's Day cannot be omitted. The law so commands. Then the Proconsul: You should not, however, have despised what was forbidden, but rather observed it, and not acted against the command of the Emperors. And with a word long meditated upon against the Martyrs, he urged the torturer to rage: and obedience was rendered to him with no slow compliance. he professes the law of Christ For the executioners rushed upon the elderly body of the Priest, and with raging fury, having broken the connection of the sinews, they tore it apart — deplorable punishments and torments of a new kind devised against the Priest of God. You would have seen the executioners raging as if upon the pasture of wounds with ravenous hunger, and with the flesh laid open, he is atrociously tortured to the horror of the spectators, amid the redness of blood, the bared bones growing pale; and lest amid the delays of the torturers the excluded soul should abandon the body hanging in torment, the Priest prayed to the Lord with such words: I beseech you, O Christ, hear me. I give you thanks, O God; command that I be beheaded. I beseech you, O Christ, have mercy; O Son of God, come to my aid. To whom the Proconsul said: Why did you act against the command? And the Priest: The law so commands; he is cast into prison the law so teaches, he said. O the divine response of this Priest and Doctor, admirable and worthy of all proclamation! Even in torments the Priest proclaims the most holy law, for which he willingly endured punishment. Deterred at last by the voice of the law, Anulinus said: Spare him; and confining him in the custody of the prison, he destined him for the longed-for punishment.
[15] But when Emeritus was brought forward, the Proconsul said: Were the Assemblies held in your house against the commands of the Emperors? Emeritus, flooded with the Holy Spirit, St. Emeritus answers with the utmost constancy said: In my house we celebrated the Lord's Day. And he: Why did you permit them to enter? He answered: Because they are my brethren, and I could not forbid them. You should have forbidden them, he said. He replied: I could not, he is stretched upon the rack because without the Lord's Day we cannot exist. Immediately he too is ordered to be stretched upon the rack, and once stretched, to be tortured. When he endured powerful blows from a fresh executioner, he said: I beseech you, O Christ, come to my aid. You act against the command of God, O wretches. And the Proconsul, interjecting, said: You should not have received them. He answered: I could not do otherwise than receive my brethren. But the sacrilegious Proconsul said: But the decree of the Emperors and Caesars came first. To which the most religious Martyr replied: God is greater, not the Emperors. I beseech you, O Christ: to you I render praises, grant me endurance.
[16] To him praying thus, the Proconsul threw this at him: Do you then have any scriptures in your house? And he answered: I have, but in my heart. And the Proconsul said: Do you have them in your house or not? The Martyr Emeritus said: In my heart I have them. I beseech you, O Christ: to you I render praises: deliver me, O Christ: I suffer in your name. 2 Corinthians 3 Briefly I suffer, He has the sacred Scripture inscribed on his heart willingly I suffer: O Christ the Lord, let me not be confounded. O Martyr, mindful of the Apostle, who had the law of the Lord inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God: not on tablets of stone, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart. O Martyr, the fit and most diligent
guardian of the sacred law, who, shuddering at the crime of the Traditores, lest he should lose the Scriptures of the Lord, placed them within the secret recesses of his breast! Upon learning this, the Proconsul said: Spare him; he shudders at being joined to the Traditores and entering his profession in the Memorial together with the confessions of the rest, said: For your deserts, all of you shall pay the penalties you have earned, according to your confession.
[17] But now the bestial fury, its bloody mouth glutted with the torments of the Martyrs, St. Felix with others professes the faith was flagging. But when Felix, happy both in name and in suffering, had advanced into battle, and the entire army of the Lord stood firm, uncorrupted and unconquered, the tyrant, prostrate in mind, with weakened voice, dissolved in soul and body, said: I hope you will rather choose that course by which you may live, so that you may keep the commands. Against which the Confessors of the Lord, the unconquered Martyrs of Christ, they steadfastly profess the faith joyful and triumphant together, fervent in the Holy Spirit not from the Proconsul's words but from the victory of their passion, said more strongly and more clearly, as if with one mouth: We are Christians: we cannot keep the holy law of the Lord except even unto the shedding of blood. Struck by this voice, the enemy said to Felix: I do not ask whether you are a Christian, but whether you confess the Assemblies, or whether you have any Scriptures. O the stupid and laughable interrogation of the Judge! Be silent, he said, about whether you are a Christian. And he added: If you were at the Assembly, answer. As though a Christian could exist without the Lord's Day, or the Lord's Day be celebrated without a Christian. Do you not know, Satan, that the Lord's Day is constituted in the Christian, and the Christian in the Lord's Day, and that neither can avail or exist without the other? When you hear the name, learn the assembly of the Lord: and when you hear of the Assemblies, recognize the name. And so you are recognized by the Martyr and laughed at: and by such a response you are confounded: he is killed by cudgels We celebrated, he said, a most glorious Assembly; we always assembled at the Lord's Day to read the Scriptures of the Lord. Shaken gravely by this profession, Anulinus, having had him beaten with cudgels until lifeless, by heavenly counsel united the Martyr nearly before the very tribunal, his passion completed, to the company above.
[18] But another Felix follows Felix, alike in name and in confession and in the very passion itself. For having engaged with equal virtue, he too, shattered by the blows of the cudgels, as does another St. Felix laying down his life amid the torments of the prison, was joined to the martyrdom of the first Felix.
[19] After these, Ampelius took up the contest, a guardian of the law and a most faithful keeper of the divine Scriptures. When the Proconsul asked him whether he had been at the Assembly, cheerful and serene, he replied in an eager voice: With the brethren I held the Assembly, Saints Ampelius is cast into prison I celebrated the Lord's Day, and I have the Scriptures of the Lord with me, but inscribed in my heart. O Christ, to you I render praises: hear me, O Christ. When he had said these things, bruised upon the neck, like the lamp of the Lord's tabernacle, he was joyfully consigned to prison with the brethren. Rogatianus follows him, who, having confessed the name of the Lord, Rogatianus was joined to the aforesaid brethren unharmed. Quintus, Maximianus Quintus, being brought forward, having nobly and magnificently confessed the name of the Lord, was beaten with cudgels and thrust into prison, Felix the younger reserved for a worthy martyrdom. Maximus followed him, equal in confession, similar in combat, equal in the triumphs of victory. After him the younger Felix, proclaiming that the Lord's Day is the hope and salvation of Christians. When he too was similarly beaten with cudgels, he said: I, with devout mind, celebrated the Lord's Day. I held the Assembly with the brethren, because I am a Christian. By which confession he too deserved to be joined to the aforesaid brethren.
NotesCHAPTER IV
The interrogation of Saints Saturninus the younger, Victoria the Virgin, and Hilarion the boy.
[20] But the younger Saturninus, the holy offspring of the Martyr Saturninus the Priest, the younger St. Saturninus is constant in confession hastened eagerly to the longed-for contest, making speed to equal the most glorious virtues of his father. When the Proconsul, raging, said to him at the devil's prompting: And you, Saturninus, were you present? Saturninus replied: I am a Christian. I am not asking you that, he said, but whether you celebrated the Lord's Day. To which Saturninus answered: I celebrated the Lord's Day, because Christ is the Savior. Upon hearing the name of the Savior, Anulinus blazed with anger and set up the paternal rack against the son. And with Saturninus stretched out, he said: What do you profess, Saturninus? Do you see where you are placed? Do you have any Scriptures? He answered: I am a Christian. But the Proconsul said: I ask whether you assembled and whether you have Scriptures. He answered: I am a Christian. There is no other name which, after Christ, we ought to keep holy. Inflamed by this confession, the devil said: he is tortured on the rack Since you persist in your obstinacy, you must also be forced by torments to confess whether you have any Scriptures. And he said to the Office: Torture him. The torturers, wearied by the paternal wounds, fell upon the flanks of the youth, and the blood of the father still moist upon the hooks was mingled with the kindred blood of the son. You would have seen through the furrows of the gaping wounds,
from the flanks of the son, the blood of the father flowing, and the blood of the son mingled with the father's dripping from the hooks. But the youth, refreshed by the mingling of the twofold blood, felt remedy rather than torments: and receiving strength in the torments, he cried out with most valiant voice: I have the Scriptures of the Lord, but in my heart. I beseech you, O Christ, grant me endurance. There is hope of life. equally unconquered, he is cast into prison Anulinus said: Why did you act against the command? He answered: Because I am a Christian. Upon hearing this, he said: Spare him. And immediately, with the torment ceasing, he was consigned to his father's company.
[21] Meanwhile the day was sinking into night as the hours slipped away, and with the torments consumed along with the sun, the exhausted fury of the torturers languished together with the cruelty of their Judge. But the legions of the Lord, in which Christ, the perpetual light, shone with the flashing splendor of heavenly armor, leaped forth into battle more strongly and more steadfastly. All pant eagerly for the contest When indeed the adversary of the Lord, defeated by the most glorious battles of so many Martyrs, and overcome by such great and such numerous combats, abandoned by day, seized by night, routed as the fury of the executioners now failed, and no longer able to engage with each one individually; he inquired of the spirits of the entire army of the Lord and assailed the devoted minds of the Confessors with this interrogation: You have heard, he said, what those who persevered have endured, and what those who persist in their confession still have yet to endure. And therefore whoever among you wishes to attain pardon, so that he may be saved, let him declare himself. To this the Confessors of the Lord, the glorious Martyrs of Christ, they steadfastly profess the faith joyful and triumphant together, fervent in the Holy Spirit, not from the Proconsul's words but from the victory of their passion, said more strongly and more clearly, as if with one mouth: We are Christians. By which voice the devil was prostrated, and Anulinus fell, and in confusion, thrusting them all into prison, he destined those Saints for martyrdom.
[22] And lest the most devoted female sex and the most flourishing chorus of sacred Virgins be deprived of the glory of so great a contest, all the women, with Christ the Lord's help, engaged and were crowned together with Victoria. Indeed Victoria, the most holy among women, the flower of Virgins, St. Victoria, an illustrious maiden the ornament and dignity of the Confessors, noble in birth, most holy in religion, temperate in character (in whom the good of nature shone forth in radiant chastity, and the more beautiful faith of the mind corresponded to the beauty of the body, together with the integrity of her sanctity), rejoiced that she was restored to a second palm in the martyrdom of the Lord. she flees marriage For from infancy already clear signs of modesty shone in her, and in her tender years already there appeared the most chaste rigor of her mind and a certain dignity presaging her future passion. At length, after her full virginity had completed the mature time of her age, when the girl was unwillingly and reluctantly being forced into marriage by her parents, and her parents were delivering a bridegroom to the unwilling girl — to escape as from a predator, the girl secretly threw herself from a height, and borne up by attendant breezes, she was received unharmed in the bosom of the earth. Nor would she afterwards have had to suffer even for Christ the Lord, if she had then died for chastity alone. Freed therefore from the nuptial torches, and having eluded both the bridegroom and her parents together, she is consecrated among the Virgins leaping forth almost from the very midst of the wedding company, the untouched Virgin fled to the church, the abode of modesty and the haven of chastity: and there, with unshaken modesty, she preserved the most sacred tresses of a head consecrated and dedicated to God in perpetual virginity.
[23] She therefore, hastening to martyrdom, bore the flourishing palm of chastity in her triumphal right hand. she steadfastly professes the faith of Christ For when the Proconsul asked what she professed, she replied with a clear voice: I am a Christian. And when by Fortunatianus, her brother of the toga and his advocate, she was said to be mentally unbalanced by vain arguments, Victoria answered: This is my own mind: I have never changed. To this the Proconsul said: unmoved amid the blandishments of her brother and the Proconsul Do you wish to go with your brother Fortunatianus? She answered: I do not wish it, because I am a Christian: and those are my brethren who keep the commandments of God. O maiden grounded in the authority of the divine law! O glorious Virgin, rightly consecrated to the eternal King! O most blessed Martyr, most illustrious for her profession of the Gospel, who replied with the words of the Lord: These are my brethren, who keep the commandments of God. Matthew 12 Upon hearing these things, Anulinus, laying aside the authority of a judge, descended to persuading the girl. Take counsel for yourself, he said. For you see your brother desiring to provide for your safety. To whom the Martyr of Christ said: This is my own mind: I have never changed. For I was at the Assembly, and I celebrated the Lord's Day with the Brethren, because I am a Christian. As soon as Anulinus heard this, agitated by furies, he blazed with anger, and consigning the girl, the most sacred Martyr of Christ, to prison together with the rest, he reserved them all for the Lord's passion.
[24] But Hilarianus still remained, one of the children of the Priest and Martyr Saturninus, who surpassed his tender age with immense devotion. St. Hilarianus, a boy Hastening to be joined to the triumphs of his father and brothers, he did not so much dread the dire threats of the tyrant as he counted them for nothing. When it was said to him: Did you follow your father or your brothers? with manly spirit he confesses Christ suddenly from his small body a youthful voice was heard, and the narrow breast of the boy was wholly opened to the confession of the Lord in the voice of the respondent: I am a Christian, and of my own accord and will, together with my father and brothers, I participated in the Assembly. You could hear the voice of Saturninus the father and Martyr issuing through the channels of his sweet son, and the tongue confessing Christ the Lord, confident from the example of his brother. But the Proconsul, foolish, not understanding that it was not men but God who fought against him in the Martyrs, and because he perceived great spirits in childish years, he supposed the boy could be terrified by infantile torments: at length he said: I shall cut off your nose, and your ears, and your collar, and so I shall dismiss you. To these threats the boy Hilarianus, glorious in the virtues of his father and brothers, who had already learned from his elders to despise torments, replied with a clear voice: he scorns the torments Whatever you wish to do, do it, because I am a Christian. He too was then ordered to be taken to prison, and with immense joy the voice of Hilarianus was heard, saying: Thanks be to God. Here the battle of the great contest is finished. Here the devil is overcome and conquered. Here the Martyrs of Christ rejoice in their passions with the eternal congratulation of future glory.
Notes