Polycarp

ON ST. POLYCARP, ROMAN PRIEST AND CONFESSOR

AROUND THE YEAR 300.

Historical Collection.

Polycarp, Roman Priest and Confessor (St.)

By J. B.

Section I: The feast day of St. Polycarp; his era; the Martyrs buried by him.

[1] The Greeks venerate on February 23 St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna in Asia, whose Life and martyrdom we published on January 26, for it is on that day that the Roman Church celebrates him. On this day, however, he is also found inscribed St. Polycarp inscribed in the Martyrologies on February 23 in many Latin calendars, whether in imitation of the Greeks, or because those who compiled those calendars, reading only the bare name (as is usual in the most ancient Martyrologies), thought that the Polycarp who was ^a Roman Priest was the Bishop renowned for his martyrdom and writings -- though the former was about one hundred and thirty years younger than the Asian Bishop. For the memory of this Roman Priest is consecrated on this day in most Martyrologies -- those of Usuard, Ado, Bede, Notker, Bellini, and also the Roman -- in these terms: On this same day (in place of these words, "at Rome" is found in Maurolycus and the Roman Martyrology), of St. Polycarp, Priest and Confessor, who together with Blessed Sebastian converted very many to the faith of Christ and by his exhortation led them to the glory of martyrdom. The manuscript Florarium, Constantius Felicius, and other more recent authors have the same. Galesini uses ^a more expansive style, as does Canisius, though in the latter certain things need correction. The monk Wandelbert, in his metrical Martyrology written more than 700 years ago, sings these lines about him:

"The seventh shines with the extraordinary honor of Polycarp, A priest in word and faith, who, following the commands of Christ, Was able to preserve ^a faithful multitude for martyrdom."

Certain Martyrologies of proven antiquity, but generally of unknown date, mention him most briefly. The old Roman published by Rosweyde: At Rome, of Polycarp the Priest. The manuscripts of the Cologne Carmel and of the monastery of St. Martin at Tournai add: and Confessor. The manuscript of the monastery of Centula, marked with the name of Bede: At Rome, of St. Polycarp, Priest and Confessor, who flourished as the helper and cooperator of Blessed Sebastian.

[2] The same manuscript again has the following on the next day: At Rome, of St. Polycarp, Priest and Confessor, of whom one reads in the Acts of St. Sebastian. and on the 24th Perhaps on that day his relics were translated to the monastery of Hautvillers, as Saussay, to be cited below, annotated. Otherwise, he is also recorded on February 21 in the manuscript Martyrologies of the monasteries of Marchiennes and Anchin, and on the 21st in the same words used here by Usuard.

[3] His Acts do not appear to have been written separately, but are interwoven with the deeds of other Saints. We received from the most courteous and learned Silvestro Aiossa at Capua the Acts of St. Urban the Pope, in which mention is made of St. Marmenia, who had committed the holy Pontiff and his companion Martyrs to burial and herself attained the palm of martyrdom, together with her daughter St. Lucina and twenty-two others of both sexes, on the fourth day before the Kalends of June. Then the following is appended: A certain priest named Savinus, who had been wasted in prison for nearly twelve years for the name of Christ, he buries the bodies of St. Sabinus and other Martyrs around the year 230 upon hearing that Blessed Marmenia had gone to the Lord with all her companions, most grievously afflicted in that same prison, breathed forth his spirit in prayer. When Taurinus heard this, he ordered ^a rope to be tied to his feet, his body to be dragged, and left unburied in the public forum. A certain Polycarp, ^a priest, seized his body by night and buried it in ^a sarcophagus with one hundred and twenty-five other Martyrs. The same is narrated by Paolo Aringhi, volume 1 of Subterranean Rome, Book 1, chapter 13, from the Acts of St. Marmenia (which Acts we have not yet seen), thus: The venerable in all things Saint named Sabinus, who himself also held the office of priest, etc., departed to Christ, having already been wasted for twelve years in prison for the confession of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Son of almighty God. But when Taurinus, who was the jailer, learned that St. Sabinus had died, he tied ^a rope to his feet, dragged his body along the ground, and left it unburied in the forum. Then ^a certain Polycarp, ^a priest, came by night, took the body of the same St. Sabinus, and placed it in the sarcophagus where the twenty-two others mentioned above had been buried.

[4] Yet perhaps someone may ask whether this Polycarp is the same one who is mentioned in the Acts of St. Sebastian and is venerated on this day, since the ages of the two do not seem to agree sufficiently well. St. Urban the Pope is reported to have been killed in the consulship of Agricola and Clementinus, that is, in the year 230 of Christ. active up to the times of Diocletian If Polycarp was already ^a priest at that time, mature in virtue as well as in age, initiated into the priesthood according to the discipline of those times -- how advanced in years must he have been when, sixty years later, he performed the deeds we shall presently relate? Yet I would not wish to make them different persons without more reliable records. Moreover, if he is the same man, how many and how illustrious were his good deeds over so long ^a course of years and through such varied times of the Church! But either not all of them were written down, or they have perished, or certainly they have not yet come to our knowledge. We shall now openly recite what is established from the Acts of St. Sebastian published on January 20.

Section II: From chapters 10 and 11 of the Acts of St. Sebastian. Sixty-eight persons baptized by St. Polycarp, having been converted by St. Sebastian.

[5] When St. Sebastian had strengthened the most illustrious brothers Marcellian and Marcus, twins who had long been assailed by the blandishments of their parents and wives to renounce Christ and were already wavering, and had converted their parents and wives themselves, along with other friends, and Nicostratus the Chief Secretary with his wife Zoe, and the captives who were held in the public prison -- after this St. Polycarp summoned by St. Sebastian from hiding (as his Acts have it, chapter 10, number 31 and following), St. Sebastian went to the priest Polycarp, where he was hiding on account of the persecution, and narrated to him all that had happened.

[6] When St. Polycarp heard these things, he gave thanks to God, and came together with him to the house of Nicostratus the Chief Secretary. Seeing the crowds of believers, he greeted them with all joy and said: "Blessed are all you who have heard the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ saying: he congratulates the converts 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden is light.' You, therefore, our brothers, whom the waters of baptism have not yet washed clean and made most dear sons by consecrating you to almighty God -- because you attempted to recall from their holy resolve the most blessed soldiers of Christ, and exhorts them to repentance you needed repentance, so that through it you might come to pardon. But now, since you have advanced to such glory that you even desire to run gladly toward the very passion from which you sorrowfully wished to recall others, and to embrace it willingly, know that you have both attained pardon and shall reach the palm of victory. This is the ancient art of Christ. For the very one whom He deigned to make ^a vessel of His election and wished to give as ^a teacher to the nations -- who not only called back the souls of the faithful from the resolve of piety, but even crushed with stones those who refused to depart from Christ -- this man the Lord Himself gave to us as an Apostle, and granted us Paul from Saul, made an Apostle from an apostate, and gave to His Church ^a teacher from ^a persecutor. He who had been the author of persecution became ^a lover of suffering; and he who formerly rejoiced in the afflictions of others later rejoiced in his own persecutions. He, therefore, who then exercised this power in His Apostle, He also now has snatched the captivity of your souls from the very stronghold of hell and from the very jaws of the dragons, and to you, now returning from darkness to light, has opened wide the gates of eternal life. Since, therefore, all the demons, who are sons of darkness, he prescribes ^a fast for them until evening are saddened by what causes all the holy Angels, who are sons of light, to rejoice -- let each one of you come forward and give his name, so that with today's fast observed until evening, the festive sacrament of baptism may find its opportune time. For it is fitting that the light, departing from this mortal world, should approach our immortal minds, so that we who in this world have wallowed in the mire of darkness, washed clean and purified by the water of sanctification and clothed with sincerity, may proceed joyfully to Christ." As St. Polycarp continued with these and similar words, all rejoiced, and each one hastened to offer his name before he was even asked.

[7] While these things were being done, Claudius the Registrar came to the house of the Chief Secretary Nicostratus, [Nicostratus answers the Prefect of the City about the captives brought to his house] where all this was taking place, and said to Nicostratus: "The prefecture is greatly disturbed that you ordered the persons of the accused to be committed to the custody of your house. On this account the Prefect has ordered you to be brought before his presence. Consider what answer you should give when questioned." Nicostratus therefore went in to the Prefect, and when he was asked why he had wished the persons whom the prison enclosures held to be consigned to the custody of his own house, he replied: "By order of your Eminence, I received certain Christian persons to be guarded within my house, and in order to strike them with the terror of suffering, I caused them to be associated with the persons of the accused, so that if they would not consent to your order and our persuasion of their own will, they might at least consent by the example of others, and fear lest ^a similar punishment enclose them." The Prefect, therefore, hearing this most willingly, dismissed him saying: "I will have you rewarded with ^a great sum by their parents, when through you their sons shall have been restored to them unharmed."

[8] Nicostratus the Chief Secretary, returning to his house with Claudius the Registrar, began to relate everything -- he narrates his own conversion and that of his household to Claudius both how St. Sebastian, though ^a friend of the Emperors, was ^a most devoted Christian and perfect in divine learning, and how he had recalled the souls of Christians by his exhortation, and that he had shown by most apt reasoning that this life is fleeting and illusory, and is taken away at the very moment it seems to be held. He also narrated how ^a light suddenly coming from heaven had illuminated him, and how it had made his wife, who had been mute for six years, speak.

[9] When Nicostratus had narrated these things to Claudius, Claudius fell at the feet of Nicostratus, saying: "I have two sons from ^a wife now deceased, he brings his sons there, to be healed of their diseases one of whom is afflicted with the disease of dropsy, the other oppressed with various wounds. I beg you to order them to be visited. For I do not doubt that He who was able to make your wife speak after six years can, if He wills, restore health to my sons." Saying this, he rushed to his own house and had his two sons brought in by the hands of attendants, and bringing them into the house where the Saints of God were, cast them before their feet, saying: "No signs of doubt whatsoever remain in my heart; but believing with my whole heart that Christ, whom you worship, is Himself the true God, I have brought here to you my two young ones, believing that they can be freed from the danger of death through you." All the Saints of God said to him together: "All who are held here today by any infirmity and he seeks baptism will be healed as soon as they are made Christians."

[10] When Claudius cried out that he believed and desired to become ^a Christian, St. Polycarp ordered them to give their names one by one. First of all, therefore, Tranquillinus, the father of Marcellian and Marcus, gave his name. After him, six of their friends, that is, Ariston, Crescentianus, Polycarp requests the names of those to be baptized Eutychianus, Urban, Vitalis, and Justus; after these, Nicostratus the Chief Secretary and Castorius his brother and Claudius the Registrar; after these, the sons of Claudius, Felicissimus and Felix; after these, Marcia, the mother of Marcellian and Marcus, with their wives and children; and likewise Symphorosa, the wife of Claudius, and Zoe, the wife of Nicostratus. After these, all the household that was in the house of Nicostratus -- thirty-three souls of both sexes and all ages. Then all who had been bound and brought from the squalor of the prison -- sixteen souls.

[11] he baptizes 68 Therefore all these sixty-eight were baptized by St. Polycarp the Priest and received by St. Sebastian as sponsor; and the godmothers of the women were Beatrix and Lucina. First, then, the sons of Claudius -- the one dropsical and the other covered with wounds -- by baptizing he heals the dropsical and the ulcerous as soon as he immersed them in the name of the Holy Trinity, were raised from the font so healthy that not even ^a trace of any former disease remained in them. After these little ones, Tranquillinus, the father of Saints Marcellian and Marcus, who had been so bound by the pain of gout in his feet and hands that, as was said above, he could scarcely be carried in the hands of attendants. When they were stripping him of his garments, and the gouty man and he said he was tormented by unbearable pain, the priest Polycarp asked him, saying: "Tranquillinus, if you believe with your whole heart that the only-begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, can confer salvation upon you and grant pardon for all your sins, declare it with your own mouth." Tranquillinus replied: though he did not ask for it, but nobly professed his faith "I desire and believe only that pardon be granted for my sins. Moreover, even if after the sanctification of this baptism I remain in pains, I shall no longer be able to doubt the faith of Christ. For I have tested it, and believing with my whole heart I have consented in my mind that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who can grant salvation to both souls and bodies, and recall from eternal death to perpetual life." When he had said this with ^a loud voice, all the Saints shed tears of joy and besought the Lord that the fruit of his faith be shown. Therefore the holy Polycarp, Confessor and Priest, as soon as he anointed him with the unguent of chrism, asked him again whether he believed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. As soon as he answered, "I believe," his hands, which had been knotted, were loosed, and his knees together with the soles of his feet were restored to such health that, as if ^a little child, he descended into the font on renewed feet, crying out and saying: "You are the one and true God, whom this wretched world does not know."

[12] When he had been baptized in this manner, all the rest, as was fitting, were baptized; and for ten days -- the time that remained of the reprieve they had obtained -- persevering in the praises of God, they spent days and nights in hymns and canticles, and as faithful soldiers they prepared their souls for fighting in the name of Christ, ready to do battle in martyrdom, all prepare themselves for martyrdom so that even in women and little children the love of martyrdom burned, and they mutually prepared one another for the confession of the holy name against the diabolical hosts.

Section III: From the same Acts, chapters 12 and following. St. Polycarp, together with St. Sebastian, converts and baptizes Chromatius, Prefect of the City, and his son Tiburtius; he is sent with Chromatius to Campania.

[13] Agrestius Chromatius, Prefect of the City of Rome, when the thirty days had elapsed [Chromatius, Prefect of the City, learns that Tranquillinus has become ^a Christian] which Tranquillinus had requested in order to draw his sons back from the profession of the Christian religion, summoned him and asked what had become of his sons. He replied that he himself also had given his name to Christ, and had immediately been freed from the most bitter pains of gout in his feet and hands; at the same time he mocked the vain gods of the Gentiles and expounded the divinity of Christ and the mystery of His assumed humanity. These things are contained in chapters 12 and 13 of the Acts of St. Sebastian; then the following ensues.

[14] Then the Prefect ordered him to be taken into custody by the Registrars, saying: he summons him again by night "I will hear you at the next session." After this he sent and ordered him to be brought to him secretly by night, and offering him an immense weight of gold, he said: "Show me the remedy by which you recovered your health." Tranquillinus said to him: "Know that the great wrath and fury of God will fall upon those who think His grace is either to be sold or bought. Therefore, if you wish to be freed from the pain of gout, he asks how he was cured of gout believe that Christ is the Son of God, and you will be freed, and as you see me today, so shall you be well. For I was scarcely carried by the hands of others, and for eleven years, through all the joints of my body, I was bound by the knots of pain, and bread was scarcely placed in my mouth by the hands of others. As soon as I believed that Christ was the true God, I received the joys of my salvation, and I am well, because I have recognized the true God as my Savior."

[15] Then the Prefect dismissed him, saying: "Bring to me the one who made you ^a Christian, so that, if he promises me health, he orders St. Polycarp to be brought to him I too may become ^a Christian." Immediately Tranquillinus went to St. Polycarp the Priest, narrated to him everything that had been done and said, and leading him secretly into the house, presented him to the Prefect's sight. The Prefect said to him: "Although the severe punishment of the Emperors is hostile to Christians, nevertheless, in hope of recovering my health, I will offer you whatever it may be, up to half the goods of my patrimony, if the members of my body are released from this knotty mass of swellings." who, refusing his gifts for his health Then St. Polycarp, smiling, said: "The Lord Jesus Christ is able to open the doors of your ignorance and to show you that He Himself is the restorer of your body. For money -- whether those who offer it or those who accept it when offered -- not only confers no remedy upon the suffering, but even brings upon themselves an incurable disease." The Prefect said to him: "Tell me, then, what I must do he urges him to believe and catechizes him to obtain what I hope for." Polycarp said to him: "If you believe with your whole heart, as Tranquillinus believed, you shall be well." The Prefect said to him: "Instruct me in what order I should believe." Then St. Polycarp catechized him and prescribed that he fast for three days. And summoning St. Sebastian, he fasted with him for three days and three nights, having prescribed ^a three-day fast and with tears they prayed together that the Lord would declare the faith of His name for the salvation of him who wished to believe.

[16] Therefore, when the third day that had been appointed arrived, they came together hastening to the house of the waiting Prefect. Entering, they said: "Peace to your faith." He returned their greeting most courteously and urged them to sit beside him, and said: "The account that came from the mouth of Tranquillinus is confirmed by the evidence of my own eyes. For I see urging him to be baptized this man perfectly healthy, whom I had seen contracted by the pain of gout in feet and hands. When I inquired of him the kind of remedy by which he had been healed, I received from him this reply: 'While I placed my faith in idols, I was enfeebled and contracted by excessive infirmity; but when I learned of the one God in heaven through the demonstration of the Christians, and to be healed as Tranquillinus was I renounced all that I had worshipped without cause, and entrusted the faith of my soul to Christ. As soon as I confessed that one true God reigns in heaven, immediately all the health that I had lost for eleven years returned to me, and all infirmity was forthwith separated from me.' I have heard these things with my ears, I have proved them with my eyes, I have believed in my heart. It remains that you do for me what you did for Tranquillinus, so that I may recover the health of my body."

[17] The priest Polycarp said: "If the soul of man cannot endure passing pains, what will it do about those pains to which no end ever comes and no relief at all is given? For these pains bear the image of those pains, he explains the eternal torments and as far as living fire differs from its painting, so far do the pains that the body now suffers differ from those which the soul will suffer if, ignorant of its Creator, it fulfills the term of the present life. Deal with us first, therefore, about those pains, and be anxious about that punishment which has fire always burning and ^a worm always gnawing."

[18] Then Chromatius, Prefect of the City of Rome, together with his only son Tiburtius, gave his name, saying: "In this you should be assured of my faith, in which I also desire that my son become ^a Christian together with me." St. Sebastian warns him not to become ^a Christian solely from hope of health St. Sebastian said: "See that you are not led by the mere recovery of your body to hope to become ^a Christian; rather, in hope of eternal life, make your mind pure to behold the truth of reason. For unless you recognize who is your Creator, you will not be able to find the salvation you seek." Chromatius said: "Do we not see that even rustics and the most simple men are Christians, so that among ^a thousand men you can scarcely find one who can even attain the discipline of speech? Could all these have reached such an inquiry when they became Christians?" St. Sebastian said: "This answer of yours strengthens the assertion of our side. For from the origin of the world God had regard for farmers and shepherds of sheep, and when He came near the end of the world He did not choose Grammarians and Orators, but fishermen and simple people, and to them He delivered His knowledge."

[19] Chromatius said: "Why, then, do you say that I must first recognize who is my Creator, whom unless I recognize I cannot find salvation?" St. Sebastian said: "Because you have worshipped many gods and many goddesses. Unless, therefore, you exclude them from your heart and break their images and recognize the one true God, you will not be able to find life and salvation." Chromatius said: "Show me, then, who the one true God is." St. Sebastian replied: "If you send your servant to draw water, when he arrives at the fountain he first looks to see whether any filth lies hidden within the pitcher, and he does not dare to put water into the vessel unless he sees it cleaned of impurities. and to allow his idols to be broken How shall we be able to deliver to you the fountain of truth unless you first make yourself free from all the filth and squalor of idols?" Chromatius said: "And in what manner can I become free from these?" St. Sebastian said: "Give us the power to break all the stone idols we find in your house, to burn the wooden ones, to melt down those of gold, silver, or bronze, and to distribute their value to the poor." Chromatius said: "And when you have done this, what profit shall come to me?" St. Sebastian said: "You will immediately receive the health of all your sinews, by whose knottiness you are now bound, then to be certainly healed and as one who never felt pain, so shall you begin to run on your feet, and to recognize that you loved the enemies of your salvation, and that your true parent is He who restores and saves you as soon as you find the knowledge and worship of Him."

[20] Chromatius said: "Do not lower yourselves to this indignity; nor does he wish it done by servants I will command my servants, and they themselves will break everything." St. Sebastian said: "If doubtful and timid and faithless persons break them, the devil will find, through some negligence of theirs, an occasion for harming them, and as soon as they are harmed, the faithless will say that they were harmed because they broke the idols. For unless one has ^a breastplate, he is not protected from the blows of arrows. For in battle ^a trained hand uses helmet and shield and spear, so that from the protection of arms and the force of striking it may acquire boldness and not turn its back. Likewise, the soldiers of God, who are fortified by the shield of faith and protected by the breastplate of Christ's covering, having the helmet of faith and salvation -- for them it is safe to enter the fight. For they fight most fiercely and conquer bravely, because they battle untiringly day and night against the invisible enemy; and they are covered in all their members, armed with faith rather than with iron." Chromatius said: "Let the will of God and yours be done." Then St. Polycarp the Priest St. Polycarp breaks them together with him and Blessed Sebastian, girding themselves, prayed; and after their prayer, breaking more than two hundred images of idols, they began to give thanks to their God.

[21] After this they approached Chromatius, saying to him: "While we were breaking the idols you should have recovered your health, unless perhaps some traces of unbelief still remain in your mind. For we hold this as certain: either there is something that has not yet been broken, or, if all things have been broken, reveal to us more plainly what is in your mind." Then he said: "I have ^a room made entirely of glass, a glass ceiling constructed for the purposes of judicial astrology in which the entire discipline of the stars and of mathematical science has been constructed with mechanical art, on the fabrication of which my father Tarquinius is known to have spent more than two hundred pounds of gold." St. Sebastian said to him: "If you wish to keep this intact, you break yourself." Chromatius said: "What then? Are mathematics or ephemerides worshipped with any use of sacrifices, when they merely distinguish the courses of months and years in fixed numbers by intervals of hours, and the fullness or diminution of the lunar globe is foreseen by the motion of fingers, by the mastery of reason, and by the computation of calculations?" he advises that it should be broken St. Polycarp the Priest said: "There are the signs of the Lion and of Capricorn and of Sagittarius and of Scorpio and of Taurus; there the Moon in Aries, St. Polycarp gives the reason the hour in Cancer, ^a star in Jupiter, ^a tropic in Mercury, Mars in Venus -- and in all these monstrous demons, an art hostile to God is recognized. Christians reject these things so completely that they not only do not possess, worship, believe in, or hold them themselves, but do not even have as friends those who occupy their hearts with trifles of this kind. For all these things are false and ministers of deception: there is in them the semblance of truth, but not truth itself."

[22] Chromatius said to him: "What about the fact that they sometimes predict the future?" St. Sebastian said: "All these things we have recognized as most vain and most false, by the revelation of Christ, and we will now demonstrate this to you more plainly. St. Sebastian shows the deceit of astrologers Order ^a teacher of mathematics to come to you today, and tell him that at such ^a time you suffered from harsh misfortunes, and inquire through which stars this evil befell you. His answers will doubtless be such as these: that your time was received from malicious Mars, or Saturn was in return, or your year was received in opposition, or critical periods were born in your center, or the conjunction was with evil, or the course was invisible or in figure or immovable around you in the stars. When he has said these and similar things, he endeavors to assign and prove to you something that has ^a likeness of reason. Now then, consult another astrologer, and tell him that during those very hours and that very time you were abounding in good fortunes. You will immediately see him bring to you innumerable reasonable schemes by which he proves that good things ought to have come to you at those very times. For he holds ^a circle gathered from every direction, in which he takes diverse and various causes, from which he seizes the occasion to say what he wishes. For since they are utterly unable to foresee the future, they speak of critical periods, that is, uncertain refuges of the nature of things. For those born at diverse times perished in ^a single shipwreck, and of those born at one hour of the day or night, and the vanity of that art one is reduced to beggary while another ascends to ^a throne; and in ^a single battle an innumerable multitude is slain; and on one day, nay, at one moment, in one house, two women -- one becomes most chaste and the other unchaste. If the merit of the stars of each were compared, then neither should the harlot be blamed nor the chaste woman praised. Certainly the lawmakers and Princes punish those who transgress their sacred laws -- and for this purpose there is ^a forum, ^a judge, and laws -- so that the just may be rightly praised and the unjust deservedly punished. And I do not wish you to consider it idle that you observe yourself not yet healed. For if you had completely cast away from yourself the ceremonies of the enemy of the human race, you would have learned in yourself what is true."

[23] Hearing this, Chromatius said: "True is that God who is proved to have such worshippers as you. For all your discourse so abounds in reason that it inclines even the minds of cattle to true reason. Therefore, even this thing that I seemed to have retained for the adornment of my house -- Chromatius consents that it be broken lest its preservation hinder my salvation, let it be destroyed. For I believe, and this is my faith, that if I completely separate myself from all these things which the law of Christianity abominates and prohibits, I shall deserve to obtain both present health and future salvation."

[24] Hearing this, his son Tiburtius said: "I will not suffer under any reasoning that this precious, extraordinary, and incomparable work be thrown down. But lest I seem to oppose my father's salvation, the son threatens them with death unless they then heal his father let two furnaces be brought and set alight before the door of the chamber, so that when they have destroyed it and my father has not recovered his health, they may both be plunged into the separate blazing furnaces." Hearing this, his father forbade it to be done. But the Saints not only did not fear the promised destruction; they even steadfastly urged that the furnaces be prepared.

[25] Then they approached all the idols of crystal and glass, and the entire mechanical apparatus, and immediately, as they were broken by the hands of the Saints, while they break it there appeared before the eyes of Chromatius ^a youth whose countenance radiated with ^a fiery aspect, and he said to him: when an Angel appears, Chromatius is healed "My Lord Jesus Christ, in whom you have believed, has sent me that you may receive the health of all your members." At this word, restored to perfect health, he began to run after the youth in order to kiss his feet. But the youth said to him: "See that you do not touch me, for the sanctification of baptism has not yet washed you from the squalor of idols." Seeing this, his son Tiburtius threw himself at the feet of St. Polycarp. Chromatius the Prefect himself clasped the feet of Blessed Sebastian, he seeks baptism together with his son and both cried out with one voice: "True God is Christ, true and almighty only-begotten Son of God, whom you, His good ministers, preach."

[26] Then Blessed Sebastian said to Chromatius: "As you yourself know, I hold the command of the first cohort; but whether this is ^a man's true service, I have long since resolved not to know, nor did I wish to. For this purpose only I wished to hide beneath the military cloak -- so that I might instruct the wavering minds of men and make the doubting steadfast, lest they yield to the pains of suffering whom faith had made warriors. But you, bearing the summit of the most ample power, cannot withdraw yourself either from the public spectacles or from judging legal cases. Therefore, feigning illness, request ^a successor for yourself, so that you may be free from the occupations of the world to receive the first principles of the future life, at St. Sebastian's urging, he seeks to be freed from the prefecture of the City that, born again in ^a second birth, you may become the offspring of eternal parents." On that very day, therefore, he sent to his friends stationed in the palace, through whom, receiving testimonial documents, he accepted the novitiate of divine service even before he was baptized.

[27] Why should I mention how full of faith he was, and how keen in intellect he stood against the assertions of the faithless? The following reading makes this plain. For at the very beginning, in the manner in which he was bathed in the water of the most holy font, the faith of his mind shone forth clearly. Asked if he believed, he said: "I believe." Asked again whether he renounced all idols, he replied: "I renounce them." The questioning of the Priest continued, with ^a noble spirit, before baptism, he renounces sins and restores what he took whether he renounced all sins. But he said: "You should have asked this before I entered these halls of the heavenly King. Now, however, let me re-clothe myself unbaptized, so that I may first pardon all those with whom I am angry, restore to all my debtors their bonds, and if I have violently taken anything from anyone, order it to be returned in full. I have two concubines since my wife's death -- to these I shall give dowries and husbands, and I shall release every knot of servile, freeborn, private, or public obligation from my legal affairs. And only then shall I promise to renounce all diabolical sins he settles his concubines with dowries and the pleasures of the world." The priest Polycarp said to him: "The heavenly water will bathe you more blessedly when you have carried out with all haste the things you say you will do by your own choice. For the time of Lent is imposed upon those about to be baptized precisely so that during those days they may learn that they are to renounce all the arts of the enemy and the dealings of the world, if they truly wish to become Christians."

[28] Then the most wise young man Tiburtius said: "Father, St. Polycarp baptizes Tiburtius if you ask for time in order to renounce your affairs, I who was still about to undertake the affairs of the forum renounce only the desire of undertaking them; and I who was about to be an advocate for pleading the cases of mortals will embrace Christianity, to plead the causes of Angels, when I become one of the number of those who receive eternal life and become advocates of holiness." St. Sebastian receiving him Then Blessed Sebastian embraced him, and when St. Polycarp had baptized him, Sebastian himself became his godfather.

[29] Therefore, when only ^a few days had passed and Chromatius had duly renounced all the affairs of the world, Chromatius is baptized together with 1,400 servants Chromatius received the newness of holy baptism; and together with him, from his household, fourteen hundred souls of both sexes, all of whom he first released from the bond of servitude by the grace of manumission and furnished with excellent gifts, saying this: "Those who begin to have God as their Father all of whom he manumits ought not to be slaves of ^a man."

[30] Now the Pope of the City of Rome was named Gaius, ^a man of great prudence and great virtue, in the reign of Carinus, Diocletian, and Maximian. But Diocletian was in the City with Maximian, while Carinus was stationed with the whole army in the regions of Gaul. The persecution was milder because Carinus favored the Christians On his account the persecution of Diocletian against the Christians had become sluggish, because Carinus had some friends whom the profession of this title adorned.

[31] Therefore, when Carinus was killed in the city of Mainz, in the consulship of Maximian and Aquilinus, such ^a persecution arose that no one might buy or sell anything unless, bitter, after he was killed by setting up small statues in the place where they had come for the purpose of buying, he had offered incense of frankincense. Around the tenement blocks, around the streets, around the public fountains as well, compellers were posted who would neither give the opportunity of buying nor grant the ability to draw even water itself to anyone who had not offered ^a taste to the idols.

[32] Then, by the counsel of the holy Bishop Gaius, Chromatius, ^a man of illustrious rank, received all the Christians into his house Chromatius feeds the Christians and sustained them all in such ^a way that none at all would succumb to the necessity of sacrificing. But because the force of the persecution was so great that even the very report of his Christianity could not be concealed, Chromatius obtained by imperial rescript the right to sojourn on the Campanian coast for the purpose of recovering his health, where he was lord of ^a broad estate, and he granted the opportunity to every Christian who wished to go with him to escape the fury of the persecutor.

[33] Then ^a dispute arose between St. Polycarp and Blessed Sebastian [freed from the prefecture, he retires to the country with many people. St. Gaius the Pope orders St. Polycarp to accompany him] as to which of the two should remain in the City and which should go with Chromatius, who had received so great ^a people as Christians. While they were contending, the venerable Pope Gaius said: "While you both seek the crown of suffering, you leave desolate the people acquired for the Lord. Therefore it seems to me that you, brother Polycarp, since you hold the right path of the priesthood and are filled with the knowledge of God, should go likewise to strengthen the minds of the believers and to edify the doubting. When he heard this, he was at peace and bore the gentle command of the Pope with equanimity.

[34] Then came the Lord's Day, on which Bishop Gaius, performing the things of God within the house of Chromatius, addressed all with this speech: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, foreknowing human frailty, established two degrees for those believing in Him -- namely, confession and martyrdom -- so that those who despair of being able to bear the weight of martyrdom may hold the grace of confession, and giving support to the combatants, may bear the care of the soldiers of Christ who are about to fight for His name. he permits the same to others Let those who wish go, therefore, together with our sons Chromatius and Tiburtius; and let those who wish remain with me in this city. For the distances of lands will not divide those whom the love of Christ binds, nor do our eyes feel your absence, because we behold you with the gaze of the inner man." As Pope Gaius was saying these and similar things, Tiburtius, ^a man of the highest rank, cried out, saying: "I beseech you, Father and Bishop of Bishops, do not allow me to turn my back on the persecutors. For it is very pleasing and desirable to me if I could be killed ^a thousand times for the true God, St. Tiburtius remains in the City in hope of martyrdom only that I may find the dignity of that life which no successor can take from me, upon which no span of time imposes an end." Then the holy Gaius, rejoicing in his faith, shed tears, praying that all who remained would emerge victorious from the contest, seizing the triumph of martyrdom.

Section IV: The body of St. Polycarp in Gaul; some relics elsewhere.

[35] In what place and by what manner of death St. Polycarp ended his life is nowhere recorded. Of those who accompanied him and Chromatius to Campania, Ariston, Crescentianus, Eutychianus, Urban, Vitalis, and Justus were crowned with martyrdom at Suessa Aurunca, now commonly called Sessa by the Italians, as we shall relate on July 2. Whether St. Polycarp died there beforehand, or returned to Rome after their death, the death of St. Polycarp and how long he survived there, we do not venture to guess. That he died ^a natural death is indicated by all the Martyrologies, which call him ^a Confessor. Constantinus Chinius seems to make him ^a Martyr, writing thus: "At length he too, associated with the Martyrs, merited the palm on the seventh day before the Kalends of February."

[36] His body, after the year 840, was translated to Gaul, to the monastery of Hautvillers, or Altvillare, which St. Nivard, Bishop of Rheims, had built nearly two hundred years earlier, Hautvillers in Gaul on the Marne river within the boundaries of the diocese of Rheims, as is narrated in his Life on September 1, and in that of St. Bercharius, the first Abbot and Martyr of that place, on October 18, and in the history of Rheims by Flodoard, book 2, chapters 7 and 10. At chapter 8, after he treats of the relics of St. Helena where previously those of St. Helena Augusta brought there from Rome by the monk Theotgisus, he appends the following concerning the body of St. Polycarp: "Then when the most sacred remains had been brought to the aforesaid monastery of Hautvillers, since some doubted whether she was indeed Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine and discoverer of the life-giving Wood, Christ deigned to confirm this with ^a probable proof by the ordeal of water, after ^a three-day fast of supplication. Three brothers from the same monastery were also sent to Rome to investigate the certainty of this translation of the blessed Queen. Returning, they brought the body translated both the investigation of this truth and ^a doubled joy, namely the body of Blessed Polycarp the Priest, colleague of St. Sebastian, to this monastery."

[37] More accurately does Almannus narrate this -- ^a near contemporary of Theotgisus and himself ^a monk at the same place -- who wrote the Life, Translation, and miracles of St. Helena: "And lest," he says, "the aforesaid examination be less than sufficient to satisfy the people, by the decree and consent of the entire Church of Rheims and by the authority of the Vicedominus, named Pardulus, who was afterward Bishop of Laon (for the city of Rheims was at that time without episcopal blessing), the See of Rheims being vacant and also by the consent of the aforesaid congregation, two Brothers from the same monastery of Hautvillers, proven in monastic discipline and distinguished by the priestly office, were sent to Rome, together with ^a third who was only ^a monk, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might stand -- that they might investigate all those matters, regarding which there had been doubt about Blessed Helena, both secretly and diligently, by three monks sent to Rome on another matter and report to them as quickly as possible. After not many days, therefore, the aforesaid Brothers, returning from Rome, brought back not only the investigation of the truth, but also ^a doubled joy. For they brought the sacred body of Blessed Polycarp, who in the company of Blessed Sebastian, by preaching, baptism, and example, was ^a guide to many toward the true faith and thereby equally toward eternal life."

[38] These things, I say, Almannus committed to writing, of whom Sigebert of Gembloux, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 98, writes thus: as Almannus, ^a monk at the same place, wrote "Almannus, ^a monk of Hautvillers, wrote the Life of St. Nivard, Archbishop of Rheims, the Life of Sindulphus, the Life of Queen Helena, and her Translation from Rome to the monastery of Hautvillers; and because in his time France was being devastated by the Normans," etc. We shall give that Life and Translation on August 18, the day on which St. Helena is venerated; that of St. Sindulphus on October 20. The same Almannus mentions that Norman devastation near the end of the miracles of St. Helena, and records that all the furnishings of Hautvillers were plundered and the buildings burned, but the bodies and relics of the Saints were preserved. From this, therefore, one can see that Almannus lived near the end of the ninth century, since that Norman tempest subsided near the beginning of the tenth.

[39] He himself indicates the time of the Translation, when he says that Theotgisus -- or Teatgisus, or Tetgisus, as he is named in various manuscripts -- set out for Rome in the year 840 to fulfill ^a vow and carried away from there that sacred treasure. Sigebert of Gembloux in his Chronicle at the year 849 writes thus: the translation of St. Helena was not made in the year 849 "The Empress St. Helena, buried at Rome by her son Constantine the Great, the first Emperor of that name, in the church of Saints Marcellinus and Peter the Martyrs, in ^a purple mausoleum, is transferred to France by the monk Theotgisus and, in the diocese of Rheims, is honored with great veneration by the Franks, deposited in the monastery of St. Peter, which is called Hautvillers." But whether Sigebert wrote these things, as the words are cited by Vincent of Beauvais, book 24, chapter 36 -- omitting those last words, "deposited," etc., which were also absent from the excellent Lobbes manuscript -- or whether someone (as Aubert Le Mire thought) added them to Sigebert, it is clear that this did not happen in that year. For before that year both Hincmar was Archbishop of Rheims and Pardulus was Bishop of Laon; for both were present at the Council of Quierzy in the year 848, nor was the See of Rheims vacant then at which Gottschalk was condemned. But when the relics were brought, as has just been said from Almannus, the city of Rheims was without episcopal blessing, and Pardulus was still its Vicedominus, or, as the history of the Miracles says, Prefect of Rheims.

[40] It may nevertheless be asked whether the three other monks were sent to Rome immediately afterward or some years later, on account of what is appended in the same place: "But the Emperor Charles," says Almannus, "when he had heard the report that St. Helena was said to have been brought to Hautvillers, was in no way willing to believe it. Therefore, summoning the Bishop of that city, together with Abbots and religious men, the truth proved by the ordeal of boiling water he wished ^a public judgment to be made in that very monastery, whether the monks spoke the truth or uttered falsehoods. They therefore judged that it should not be believed unless the same monk who had carried her to us made clear proof, and entered into the boiling water with his whole body stripped. But, that God might more plainly reveal the truth of the matter, He preserved him unharmed amid the scalding waters, just as He knew him uncorrupted by the falsehood of which he was accused." This is assuredly the ordeal of water that Flodoard mentions.

[41] The Charles the Emperor named here is Charles the Bald, son of Louis the Pious, who was then King of the Western Franks before Charles the Bald, the King and only became Emperor in the year 875 after the death of Louis II. But who is this Bishop, and of what city, who is said to have been summoned by him? If the Bishop of Rheims, then this did not occur until the year 845 or near the end of the preceding year, when Hincmar was elected. Perhaps it was Simeon of Laon, or another bishop subject to the metropolis of Rheims, who administered sacred functions there for ^a time after Ebbo's expulsion. Certainly, it does not seem from the words of Flodoard that this controversy was delayed for several years: "When it had been brought," he says, "to the aforesaid monastery of Hautvillers, the most sacred remains" -- words that seem to indicate that the judgment took place not long after the translation. Theotgisus set out for Rome, as we said, in the year 840 and returned when the Church of Rheims was without ^a Bishop -- therefore not in the same year, nor at the beginning of the next. For Ebbo, restored to his See by Lothar on July 24 of the year 840, not at the beginning of 841, when Ebbo was Bishop held it for nearly ^a full year, until hearing that Charles the Bald, previously driven out by his brother Lothar, was advancing into Belgium with renewed strength, he again fled to Lothar in the year 841. And so the Church of Rheims was deprived of ^a Bishop until the year 844 or the following year, when Hincmar was appointed to govern it, and he presided over it until the year 882.

[42] Now, if those heavenly remains were brought to Hautvillers on February 7, as is noted in very many Martyrologies and ancient calendars, but after the translation made on February 7, 842 it is clear that this could not have occurred before the year 842, since otherwise in the month of February of the year 841 the Church of Rheims would not have been without ^a Pastor. In that very same year the trial by boiling water was employed to confirm the truth, and afterward three other monks were sent to Rome, who brought back the body of St. Polycarp ^a few months later -- for I believe that is what is signified by Almannus's words, "after not many days." Andreas Saussay, in his Gallican Martyrology at February 24, has the following: "On the same day, in the territory of Rheims, at the monastery of Hautvillers, perhaps the body of St. Polycarp was brought on February 24, 843, or earlier the Translation of the body of Blessed Polycarp the Priest, who assisted St. Sebastian in the conversion of many to the faith of Christ at Rome with great zeal of piety, and led very many, through the salutary performance of the divine office, to the struggle and palm of martyrdom; by which merits, made most acceptable to God, he was taken up to eternal blessedness." If that Translation occurred on that day, it must be assigned to the year 843. Peter Halloix, one of our own, also makes mention of this Translation in volume 1 of the Lives of Illustrious Writers of the East, in the Notes on the Preface to the Life of St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and Martyr.

[43] Some of his relics at Bologna Octavius Pancirolus, in his Hidden Treasures of the Holy City, although he has ^a most accurate index of the relics preserved in the various churches of that City, makes no mention at all of St. Polycarp the Priest. Antonius Masini, in the book entitled "Bologna Surveyed," testifies that some relics of this St. Polycarp the Priest are preserved at Bologna in the church of St. James Major.

ON ST. CLEMENT, MARTYR.

Clement, Martyr (St.)

G. H.

Many Saints celebrated under the name of Clement are recorded; from all of them this one appears to be different, whose memory is thus recorded on February 23 in the Menaea of the Greeks:

"On the same day the holy Martyr Clement is perfected by the sword. Clement, the branch of the spiritual vine, pours forth ^a new must of blood when struck down."

Maximus of Cythera also treats of the same, but he says that the one whom he makes ^a Martyr died in peace -- in Greek "en eirene," where "xiphei" ("by the sword") should be read. No place is added. We conjecture that he was crowned in Greece or some Eastern province. A certain Clement is recorded in the manuscript Martyrologies of St. Jerome and of Reichenau at November 21, but as having suffered at Rome; to him Celsus is added in the Roman Martyrology, and it is said in the Notes that the aforesaid ancient manuscripts of the monastery of St. Cyriacus in the City treat of them. But in our copy received from Rome, those names are absent.