Martyrs Babylas

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS BABYLAS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH, AND URBANUS, PRILIDIANUS, AND EPOLONIUS, BOYS, HIS DISCIPLES.

THIRD CENTURY.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

From various sources.

Section I. The feast day of these Martyrs. Their Acts.

[1] The name of St. Babylas the Bishop is most celebrated, especially after his triumph over the impiety of Julian the Apostate The feast of St. Babylas on 24 January among the Latins; and the silencing of the Daphnic oracles. It has been inscribed in the calendars on different days, as commonly happens with many saints: among the Greeks on the fourth day before the Nones of September, among the Romans on the ninth day before the Kalends of February. Whether one day was dedicated to the martyrdom and the other to the translation may be debated, or whether there were two men named Babylas who served as bishops — a matter which we shall discuss below. What the Martyrologies proclaim about Babylas on each day — whom they also call Babyllus, Babilas, and Babillus — we shall set forth as a preliminary. The old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde reads: At Antioch, of St. Babylas the Bishop. The MS. of St. Jerome: At Antioch, of Babylas the Bishop, with three little boys. Similar entries are read in many printed and manuscript sources. Usuard: At Antioch, the feast of St. Babylas the Bishop, who during the persecution of Decius, after he had frequently glorified the Lord through his sufferings and torments, obtained a glorious end to his life in chains. There are also reported to have suffered with him three little boys, namely Urbanus, Prilidanus, and Epolonus. The Roman Martyrology, Bellinus, the Viola Sanctorum, the MS. Florarium, Canisius, and others have nearly the same. Ado, the Vulgate Bede, and Molanus in his additions to Usuard add to the encomium already cited from Usuard much that is drawn from Rufinus concerning the triumphal procession from Daphne. Notker and Canisius touch briefly on the same. Maurolycus, Rabanus, Wandelbert, and the rest of the Latin writers also treat of him. And he is venerated in some churches with an office of three Lessons, in others with a fully solemn office, as at Milan; elsewhere, when the office of St. Timothy is celebrated, a commemoration is made of him.

[2] The Greeks celebrate him on 4 September. Thus the Anthologion approved by Clement VIII: 4 September among the Greeks. Of the holy Martyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch: who repelled the Emperor Numerian from entering the church over which he presided, because Numerian had slain the son of the King of Persia, who had been given to him as a hostage. For this reason Babylas was bound in iron chains and paraded as a spectacle, and together with three boys was beheaded. The Menologion published by Henry Canisius, the Menaea, and Cythereus have the same.

[3] The Acts of St. Babylas appear to have been committed to writing by Leontius. For the Alexandrian Chronicle writes thus at Indiction 14, under the consulship of Decius father and son: From the tradition of our forefathers we have also learned this about St. Babylas, just as the Blessed Leontius, Bishop of Antioch, narrated before our times. The Acts were written by Leontius: "This Decius," etc. — the rest will be produced below. Leontius was a disciple of St. Lucian the Martyr, of whom we treated on 7 January. While he was a Priest, he castrated himself so that he might more freely associate with a young woman without danger; and for this reason he was deposed from his rank, and in his old age the unhappy man defected to the Arians, and finally, by the will and effort of the Emperor Constantius, was created Bishop of the Church of Antioch. St. Athanasius in his Apology for His Flight, near the end, and in his epistle To Those Leading a Solitary Life, treat of him; as do Socrates in book 2, chapter 22, and Theodoret in book 2, chapter 24, and others. He perhaps wrote the deeds of Babylas, and also those of his master Lucian, before he joined the Arians.

[4] Whether that life, as written by him, survives, we do not know. We give three versions here. From which these are published. The first we transcribed from an ancient manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Mary de Ripatorio, and compared it with the printed Acts of the Martyrs and with what was published, often at greater length, by Boninus Mombritius. The second, usually more elegantly and expansively developed, was transcribed by Rosweyde from a very ancient codex of Marcus Welser, which we compared with the manuscripts of St. Maximin and St. Audomar. To these we add what Metaphrastes either composed or collected, compared by us with a Greek codex. St. Chrysostom also had the same Acts (whether those which Metaphrastes later transcribed and reviewed, or others that may have been lost) and drew forth the principal points from them with copious amplification in his Oration Against the Gentiles — such as the murder of the royal boy by the tyrant, the constancy of Babylas in barring the tyrant from entering the church, the fury of the tyrant provoked thereby, and the last commands of Babylas himself, ordering that his body be buried with its chains.

[5] The names of the holy boys are expressed in various ways: for Prilidianus is called Prilidanus by Usuard, Molanus, and many manuscripts; Praelidanus by Peter de Natalibus; Praelidianus by Maurolycus; Names of his companions. Prilibanus by some. Epolonius, on the other hand, is called Epolonus by Usuard and Bellinus; Eupolenus by Molanus; Epulonius by Maurolycus and Galesinius; Eupolinus by Rabanus; Epollonus by Peter de Natalibus; Apolonius by Felicius; Euphonus by the Viola Sanctorum; Pepolenus by the Carthusians of Cologne; and by others Epolanus, Eupholonus, Eupolonus, and Eponus. St. Chrysostom mentions these three boys and calls them together with St. Babylas a "four-horse team" in his Oration on SS. Juventinus and Maximus, near the beginning, which we shall give on 25 January. St. Eulogius in book 1 of the Memorial of the Saints, chapter 16.

Section II. The time of the death of St. Babylas. Whether there was one or two.

[6] There is great controversy about the era of St. Babylas, or rather, whether there was one Babylas or two. We do not inquire about that Babylas who, originally from Antioch and later at Nicomedia, attained martyrdom under Maximian with eighty boys whom he was instructing in letters, and is venerated by the Greeks on 4 September — whom Baronius, however, rejects. Nor do we speak of a third Babylas, likewise from Antioch, who was slain with two disciples, Timothy and Agapius, in Sicily in defense of the faith, whence he is also called "Babylas in Sicily." But the question is whether there were two Bishops of Antioch named Babylas, one of whom died in prison under Decius, without the sword or other violence, and the other was killed by the sword thirty years later under Numerian. The ancients mention only one, under Decius. The Acts report that he was killed under Numerian, when the latter was setting out for the Persian war. St. Chrysostom does not name the tyrant. The rest, who narrate the translation of Babylas, do not indicate whether he was the first or the second — which would have been necessary if two had existed. The more recent Greeks posit two. But the testimonies of the writers must be cited, from which the reader may form a judgment.

[7] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book 6, chapter 23: At the same time (when Gordian was ruling in Rome Eusebius attests that St. Babylas suffered under Decius, and Fabianus was Pontiff), Babylas undertook the governance of the Church of Antioch upon the death of Zebinus. And in chapter 32: When Philip had ruled for seven years, Decius succeeded him, who, out of the hatred he bore toward Philip, stirred up a persecution against the Churches. In this persecution, when Fabianus had undergone martyrdom at Rome, Cornelius assumed the pontificate. In Palestine, Alexander, Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, was again brought before the tribunal of the Governor at Caesarea for Christ's sake, and, adorned with a second confession, was tested by the hardship of prison, already at a great age and venerable in his gray hairs. When, after a distinguished and illustrious testimony of Christian faith given before the Governor's tribunal, he had fallen asleep in prison, Mazabanes was declared his successor in the episcopate of Jerusalem. And in a similar manner to Alexander, at Antioch Babylas, after his confession, exchanged life for death in prison, and Fabius was set over that Church. The Greek renders the last part thus: "In a manner similar to Alexander, when Babylas at Antioch, after his confession, had departed this life in prison, Fabius presides over the church there." Here there is no mention of the sword, no mention of companions, no mention of being led to the place of martyrdom, no mention of the body being buried with its chains.

[8] The same Eusebius in the Chronicle, as translated by St. Jerome: Decius, having killed both Philips, father and son, out of hatred of them stirred up a persecution against the Christians... When Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, was killed for his martyrdom at Caesarea in Palestine, and Babylas at Antioch, Mazabanes and Fabius were appointed as Bishops. St. Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 54, under Origen: St. Jerome, Concerning the cruelty of the persecution which arose against the Christians under Decius, because he raged against the religion of Philip, whom he also killed, it is superfluous to speak; since even Fabianus, Bishop of the Roman Church, fell in the persecution itself, and Alexander and Babylas, Bishops of the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch, slept in prison for the confession of Christ. He speaks differently of the death of St. Fabianus and differently of the deaths of these two: these, he says, fell asleep, and indeed in prison; the former fell in battle, as it were. St. Fabianus was treated on 20 January, St. Alexander on 18 March. St. Epiphanius also ascribes the martyrdom of Babylas to the Decian persecution in his book On Weights and Measures, St. Epiphanius, no. 19: In the persecution of Decius, Babylas underwent martyrdom at Antioch, Fabianus at Rome, and Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, at Caesarea. Nicephorus of Constantinople. And Nicephorus in his Chronology: Babylas, made a Martyr in the times of Decius, for 13 years. Usuard, Ado, and others cited above write the same, as does Zonaras in volume 2 of the Annals.

[9] Under Numerian, according to many Greeks and Latins: That Babylas suffered under Numerian is reported, besides the three sets of Acts (which Chrysostom also largely reproduced, though omitting the name of the tyrant), by the Greeks in the above-cited Menaea, Menologion, and Anthologion; likewise by Maximus Cythereus, Maurolycus, Rabanus, Peter de Natalibus in book 3, chapter 16, St. Aldhelm in book 1 On the Praise of Virginity, chapter 39, Vincent of Beauvais in the Mirror of History, book 11, chapter 122, and many Breviaries — such as the one of Burgos in Spain, and others, though the more recent ones speak ambiguously. The new Parisian Breviary: Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, boldly prohibited the Emperor Decius, or, as others prefer, the Governor Numerian, from entering the temple of God after he had committed some crime, etc. The Lisieux Breviary: the Emperor Decius, or, as others prefer, the Governor Murianus. Constantius Felicius: Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, others under Aurelian: who, having repulsed from entry to the church the Emperor Julian (or, as others write, Numerian, and others Aurelian), was killed by him, together with the woman Theodola and three boys, Urbanus, Prelidianus, and Apolonius. Others list them on the 22nd day of January. So says Felicius. Isaac Casaubon, a man of letters and curiosity — had he not strayed from the rule of the true faith — in his notes on Julius Capitolinus's Two Maximini, others under Carus. says that the Emperor Carus was excluded from the church by Babylas. And indeed, if it was Numerian, Carus his father was also present at Antioch at that time, for Numerian did not return to Antioch after the death of his father. In the old Parisian Breviary, however, Babylas is said to have suffered under Carinus and Numerian.

[10] Peter Galesinius seems to have been the first to devise the idea that Numerian was a Governor under Decius as Emperor; but he errs in several respects. At Antioch, he says, of St. Babylas the Bishop, and of three boys, Urbanus, Prilidianus, and Epulonius, Martyrs. He, most outstanding in the merits of his life and in learning, having been made Bishop of that city under the Emperor Decius, when the Governor Numerian — Galesinius corrected. as an abominable murderer who had killed the royal boys entrusted to his care — attempted to enter the temple, barred him from entry. The tyrant, bearing this with an aggrieved spirit, first ordered him to be imprisoned, then bound in iron chains and dragged through all parts of the city, and finally commanded him to be beheaded together with those three boys whom he had instructed in Christian doctrine. His body, together with the iron chains, was buried as he had commanded; afterward, by order of Caesar Gallus, it was translated to Daphne, where Apollo rendered his oracles. When the demon was immediately struck dumb for this reason, Julian the Apostate, having observed this, ordered the body removed from there. And so at last, when the relics of the Martyr had been reverently translated to Constantinople by the Christians, this miracle occurred: that shortly afterward both the temple of Apollo collapsed and its idol was consumed by fire sent from heaven. So writes Galesinius. But the other writers report that it was the Emperor himself, not a Governor, who was repelled by Babylas; that a single royal boy was killed by the tyrant, not several; that Babylas was not dragged through all parts of the city, but was bound in chains and ordered to be displayed before the eyes of the people, or publicly led to prison, or at least "paraded" (pompeusethai), as the Greeks have it; that the body was conveyed not to Constantinople but to Antioch from Daphne; and finally, as Galesinius writes in his Notes, the Greeks do not observe the feast of Babylas on the day before the Nones of October, but of September; nor does St. Chrysostom mention the three boys in a sermon against Juventinus, but in his oration on SS. Juventinus and Maximus the Martyrs, as we have said.

[11] With these matters thus established, the thought may rightly occur to someone that there were two Bishops named Babylas, and (as often happens elsewhere and may commonly be observed) that the Acts of both have been conflated into one — since otherwise the former died in prison under Decius, while the latter was struck down by the sword and perished under Numerian. Baronius rejects this opinion in his Notes on the Martyrology, where, having cited several testimonies of the Fathers that we have reported, he adds: Baronius recognizes only one Babylas. From these it is also proven that those err who invented two Babylases of the same city. Others, however, among whom is Nicephorus, when they posit two Babylases, say that one of them presided over the Church of Antioch under the Emperor Numerian, while the other was Bishop of Nicomedia. But Nicephorus does not say that the one killed at Nicomedia was a Bishop; for he writes thus in book 5, chapter 26: At that time (of the Decian persecution) Babylas also bravely contended for Christ at Nicomedia. This is a different Babylas from the one who made his glorious confession at Antioch under Numerian. But the Menaea for 4 September report that the Nicomedian contended under Maximian. Baronius in the Annals, at the year 241, no. 1, writes that he has refuted the opinion of those who, in order to poorly reconcile the diverse opinions about the time of Babylas's death, introduced two Babylases. He repeats the same at the year 253, no. 126.

[12] But in the same Notes on the Martyrology he says: This is not a recent question. Suidas plainly attests that there were diverse opinions about Babylas, some saying he suffered under Decius, others under Numerian — and that to reconcile these, two Babylases were devised by the aforesaid writers. Suidas incorrectly cited. We have examined four editions of Suidas: the Greek edition of Aldus Manutius, 1514; the Latin Basel edition, 1564; the Greek edition of 1544; and the Greek-Latin edition of Aemilius Portus, 1619. In none of them is found what Baronius writes. Babylas, says Suidas, Bishop of Antioch. He, as some say under Numerian, as others under Decius, when by some chance the Emperor was thinking of entering the church packed with people, stood before the doors and opposed him, saying that he would fight with all his strength to prevent a wolf from entering the sheepfold. The Emperor immediately withdrew from the entrance, either fearing the uproar of the multitude or having changed his mind; yet he bore the repulse with difficulty, etc. And Suidas adds not a word at all about a second Babylas. Metaphrastes reports the same in nearly the same words in the Acts of St. Artemius, 20 October.

[13] The first to appear to have posited two Babylases was the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, though confusedly; for at Indiction 14, in the second year of Decius, the year of Christ 251, he writes thus: At the same time Babylas, the Bishop of Antioch, completed the course of his martyrdom; in his place Flavius succeeded, the thirteenth from the first, The Alexandrian Chronicle reports two Babylases, who likewise held the See for three years. Many others besides, at that time, both in the East and in other regions, perished for the faith of Christ. From the tradition of our forefathers we have also learned this about St. Babylas, just as the Blessed Leontius, Bishop of Antioch, narrated before our times: This Decius not only killed St. Babylas on account of the Christian religion, but because he had dared to bar the Emperor Philip's wife and Philip himself, since they were Christians, from entry to the temple, because Philip had committed some offense, etc. But, as our Raderus rightly observes, the passage is remarkably corrupt. It was Pope Fabianus who excluded Philip from communion with the Holy Eucharist until he had expiated his sins by confession among the penitents; the author attributed to Babylas what Fabianus had done; and indeed, if there are two Babylases, he attributes to the first what belongs to the second. But he does recognize two, for under the consulship of Carinus and Numerian, in the year of Christ 284, when Diocletian seized the empire, he has this: Again a proscription of Christians was instituted, in which many suffered martyrdom, among whom were St. George and St. Babylas. The latter was Bishop of Great Antioch, to which the Emperor Carinus came while heading for the war against the Persians with his uncle Carus. Carus perished in Mesopotamia, struck by lightning, etc.

[14] George Cedrenus also posits two Babylases, writing thus under Decius: Cedrenus, Under whom Babylas at Antioch, Flavianus at Rome, Alexander at Jerusalem, and Dionysius at Alexandria, Bishops, were crowned with martyrdom. Then the same author under Carus, Carinus, and Numerian: When Carus was taken off by pestilence, Aper, his father-in-law, did away with Numerian, who had been struck blind. And Numerian, commander of Moesia, ruled. Under him St. Babylas underwent martyrdom at Antioch. Diocletian killed Numerian. But he seems to call Aper himself Numerian, although the former did not actually rule but tried to seize the empire through murder. Nicephorus Callistus. Nicephorus Callistus, in book 5, chapter 27, treating of the Decian persecution, says: Hence at Rome Fabianus, in Palestine at Jerusalem Alexander, and at Antioch Babylas (whose successor in the episcopate was Fabius), having fought the good fight, stained their episcopal stoles with their blood. But concerning the other Babylas, in book 6, chapter 33: When Numerian, the son of Carus, had come to Antioch on the Orontes, he is said to have entered the church of the Christians; and when he wished freely to observe their mysteries, Bishop Babylas nobly withstood him to his face, saying it was not lawful for him, still polluted with the blood of idol-sacrifices, to enter the house of God suddenly and to behold the divine mysteries with contaminated eyes. Offended by this, Numerian tortured and killed him. So much for Babylas; below we treat of his translation.

ACTS

from an ancient MS. of the Ripatory and from Mombritius.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

BHL Number: 0889

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The first interrogation of St. Babylas.

[1] When King Numerian had offered sacrifice to the obscene demons, he wished to enter the house of the Lord. St. Babylas repels the tyrant from entry to the church: But the Blessed Babylas, Bishop of the Catholic Church, as a good shepherd of his flock, hearing that Numerian wished to enter the church, raised his voice and said to the people: My little children, be steadfast in the faith and pray without ceasing. For the wolf threatens to enter the sheepfold of the Lord; but the Lord Jesus Christ, while you look on, will put him to shame. And he himself went outside and awaited Numerian. When Numerian arrived and sought to enter the church of the Lord, with his hands defiled, he tried to enter by force. But Babylas, the servant of God, repelling him, said: I have already told you, a sacrilegious and unclean man cannot enter the Church of the Lord. When Numerian saw the boldness of the man, he is arrested: and feared also the very great reputation that surrounded him, he ordered him to be kept in custody until the next day.

[2] On the following day, while he sat in his tribunal, he commanded that St. Babylas be brought before him, and said to him: Most wretched of men, what possessed you to stretch out your hand in opposition when I wished to enter the church? Do you not know that it is a King who speaks to you? By my power, which I hold over all men, you shall not escape my hands. For I wish to see whether your God will help you. Babylas replied: I am indeed a humble man. Nevertheless it pleased God he fearlessly gives account of his action: to appoint me as shepherd of His people. Whence, when I saw the wolf coming and wishing to enter the sheepfold of the Lord, I hastened to repel him, lest by allowing anyone to be lost I should be found guilty before the Lord. Numerian said: Did I seem a wolf to you, and not a King, you wretch? Babylas said: By God's permission, you are King on account of our sins, so that even thus, being chastised, we may return to God. But I worship Christ Jesus, whom you despise, who gave you this power when you were nothing, so that you might be what you were not, and that you might come to know Him; yet you provoke Him to anger and adore His creatures rather than Him who is the creator of all things. Numerian said: You are raving and heaping insults upon us. Do the great gods seem to you to be mere creatures? Babylas said: They are the works of men's hands, devised by Satan, who through his envy was cast out of heaven, though he was one of the Angels; and he has subverted the race of men in part through idolatry. God will destroy him together with all his ministers.

[3] Numerian said: What you speak are fables. For our scriptures are mysteries and great sacraments. Therefore I command you to obey and sacrifice. Assuredly, if you refuse, you shall not go unpunished. He scorns the torments: For you are not better than our predecessors, who, by acting thus, were heaped with great honor. Babylas replied: The mysteries of your sacraments are unclean and horrible; and your honor is temporary and perishable. But God Almighty, who is in the heavens, is powerful enough to give me endurance against all the torments you may wish to inflict. Numerian said: Who is that Almighty God whom you invoke as your helper? Bishop Babylas replied: The Power and Wisdom and Word of the Father. Numerian said: What then? Is He also a man? Babylas replied: He is the constancy of life, the enjoyment of those things which were made by God. Numerian said: You have answered reasonably, like a wise Teacher; and such is the reputation you bear. He laughs at the praises: But one thing is lacking to you: knowledge of the gods. Babylas replied: Foolish and arrogant tyrant, the praise that comes from you is an insult to me. I seek the praise of my Lord Jesus Christ. Numerian said: I shall no longer listen to your words; but I shall impose an iron collar on your neck and shackles on your feet, and I shall apply torments, because you do not cease to heap insults upon your Lord the King. Babylas replied: Most gladly do I accept all that you inflict. For I am not worthy or fit to be called a servant of my Lord, for whose name I may be said to have endured torments. Blessed indeed are those who suffer for His name, for their reward is great before God.

[4] Numerian said to Victorinus the Commander: Subject Babylas, the teacher of fools, to torments. Therefore I command that an iron collar be placed on his neck, and likewise iron shackles on his feet, for his disgrace and that of his people. For he has gravely insulted me. Victorinus the Commander replied: By your clemency, I have long wished to report to your revered name concerning this man and this most foolish people, since the things they teach are wicked and foreign to law. Numerian said to the Commander: For the present, do to the unbelieving Bishop Babylas what I have commanded you. He is bound with an iron collar and shackles. I shall attend to his people in due course. The Commander then placed an iron collar on Babylas's neck and likewise shackles on his feet, and left him under guards in public view so that he might be seen by all. Babylas, raising his eyes to heaven, said: I give thanks to my God, who has brought me to so great an honor through the confession of His name. And I believe in my Christ and place my trust in Him, that He will give me strength and endurance against your snares and those of your father, the instigating Satan.

CHAPTER II.

The second interrogation: of the three boys, their mother, and Babylas.

[5] Numerian said: Call Babylas, the teacher of infants and of those who live foolishly. Babylas replied: I am indeed a teacher of infants and of the wise; but of the foolish, which is what you are, I am not a teacher. Numerian said: By the gods, the collar becomes you, and the shackles you wear on your feet. Babylas glories in his chains. Babylas replied: You speak in mockery, as a fool; but by the Son of God, they become me more than the diadems you wear upon your head. Numerian said: Unhappy man, sacrifice to the gods and free yourself from the punishments that await you, and do not be seduced by the vain doctrines by which you wickedly instruct your followers.

[6] Bishop Babylas replied: I had wished that you would become a son through my teachings, so that, once saved, I might honor you. Do you wish to know how great our teaching is? I have under my care three little boys whom, by the grace of my Lord, I have nourished with my wisdom. Command them to be brought forward, so that if you do not believe me as though I were a madman, at least through their faith and constancy, which is in God, you may be freed from the perfidy that holds you, The three boys instructed by him are brought before the tyrant, and be made whole. Numerian ordered the little boys whom Bishop Babylas had mentioned to be brought in, but Babylas himself to be detained outside. When the little children had entered, he asked them if they had a mother. They replied: Yes. And beyond the mother who raised us, we have Babylas as our lord and teacher and father. together with their mother: Numerian ordered the mother of the children to be brought. When she had entered, he asked her: What is your name? She replied: Theodula. Numerian said: Are these your sons? She replied: I indeed bore them, but I offered them to God to be regenerated through the good shepherd, my lord Bishop Babylas; and he instructed them in the doctrine of God. Numerian said: Strike her on the cheeks before her sons, saying to her: Do not speak insolently. When the boys saw their mother being struck, they cried out as with one voice: she is slapped, Tyrant, do not strike our mother without cause. For she is honorable and has spoken the truth, since she bore us and delivered us to our lord Babylas. Numerian the King, enraged, ordered the three children to be raised on the back and the first to be given twelve blows, the second nine, and the third seven. they are beaten with rods. Then the boys, raising their voices, said: Blessed are You, O God, for according to the teaching of our father Babylas, we suffer these things for Your Christ our Lord. Numerian said to their mother: How old is your firstborn son? She replied: Twelve. Numerian said: And the second, how old? Theodula replied: Nine. Numerian said: And the third? She replied: Seven. And after this she cried out and said: Great are You, O God, for each of my sons has been beaten according to the number of his years for Your name's sake.

[7] Numerian ordered the mother of the children to be sent out and Babylas to be brought in, and said to him: The tyrant falsely claims they have abandoned the faith. Teacher of fools and instructor of little ones, the proof which you expected to obtain through the children has been found false. For when the children were summoned, they promised to sacrifice to the gods. Babylas replied: You have rightly lied upon your own head. For you do nothing new. You are the son of the devil, who is a liar from the beginning. Numerian said: By Asclepius, Babylas refutes and mocks him: I despise your words and insults, and I shall immediately have you executed if you do not sacrifice. Babylas replied with a laugh: You are truly worthy of ridicule for saying such things. For I am prepared not only to be hanged but also to be crucified for Christ, that I may gain Him. For the souls of the righteous and of the Confessors are in the hand of God, and no evil touches them. Do what you will. Numerian said: Unhappy man, in what respect am I to be ridiculed? Babylas replied: If your other gods should hear that you named Asclepius alone, they will be angry with you. I, however, grieve and weep for you, that you are held in such foolishness. Numerian said: And if your Christ should hear that you named God alone, what will you do? Babylas replied: Although you are not worthy to hear the knowledge of the Christians, yet for the sake of the crowd standing by I speak, that they may recognize your foolishness. When Christians name Christ, they confess also the Father; he teaches the mutual indwelling of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: and when they name the Father, they confess also the Son; because the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. For the Son is not separated from the Father, nor the Father from the Son.

[8] Then Numerian ordered him to be suspended with the children. When they had been suspended, Babylas said: He is tortured with the boys: Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me. Numerian ordered him to be tormented. The weight of the collar that was on his neck bore down his head. And the surrounding crowd begged him, saying: Consider your age and sacrifice, so that you may be free from torments. But Babylas replied: I do not grieve so much for that senseless one who sits there, as for you who consent to him, destroying your own souls. For I feel nothing of the torments; for Christ suffers in me, and He will give me endurance and everlasting life. The boys rebuke the tyrant: But Numerian commanded that he be tormented even more. And the children, while suspended, cried out saying: Most impious tyrant of all men, why do you so cruelly and without cause torture our lord and good shepherd, who worships the Lord of all? But by doing this, you bestow upon him greater praise both before God and before men, and not punishments. By the salvation which is Christ, you shall not escape the hand of God, but shall be delivered to the fire of Gehenna, where there will be gnashing of teeth and weeping of eyes. Then King Numerian, enraged, ordered them to be tortured. They are tortured more severely: And the children cried out as with one voice saying: Wretch, are you not ashamed that you are being confounded by little ones before all this people? For you are tormented more than we are, by Him who is powerful enough to destroy you most swiftly. But we do not feel the torments, because the Lord helps us. Then Numerian ordered Babylas to be taken away and hidden, so that he might question them separately. And he said to the children: Little ones, listen to me, and I shall give you many gifts that your teacher cannot give you. But the little boys, governed by the Holy Spirit, they reject his blandishments. answered unanimously: Treacherous and wicked one, do not promise us death; for all your gifts are filled with the destruction of Gehenna and will go with you to perdition. For our teacher, from the Gospel and through a good confession, has promised us the kingdoms of heaven.

CHAPTER III.

The slaying of St. Babylas and the three boys.

[9] Numerian said: Let Babylas be brought in. And he said to him: Are these your sons? Babylas replied: According to God they are my sons. But the woman I have not known. Numerian said: How then do they resemble you? Babylas replied: It is my prayer that they may be like me in all things, except for my sins. Numerian said: I have already told you — if you wish to be free of punishments and torments, sacrifice at least now, that you may live. Persuade the children also not to be deprived of this life, since they are little ones. Babylas replied: Foolish and senseless man, All are ordered to be beheaded. do not persuade yourself that we shall do this. Let the true perseverance of the children, which is in God, put you to shame. At this King Numerian, enraged, pronounced the sentence and ordered that he and the little ones be beheaded.

[10] Babylas wishes to be buried with his chains: When Babylas received the sentence together with the three boys, he adjured those standing by, saying: By the Lord I adjure you, who beholds all things, place me with the shackles that are on my feet and on my neck, as a testimony against this tyrant, who shall be tormented in the everlasting fire that shall not be quenched. Going out the gate, he sang psalms, saying: For you have saved us from those who afflict us and have put to shame those who hate us. Let us praise God, I and my children, for all days, forever and ever. And the little ones replied: Amen. At the same time they also said: We shall not leave you, our holy Father Babylas, who, having educated us with your wisdom, made us know Christ and taught us to suffer for Him. And raising their eyes to heaven, they said as with one voice: We give thanks to You, Lord Jesus Christ, who have not permitted us, Your little ones, either in this age or in the age to come, to be separated from the footsteps of our holy Father Babylas.

[11] And the holy Martyr of Christ, Babylas, asked the one who had come out to cut off their heads that the children be killed before him; to strike the holy children before him and then himself afterward. And embracing them and holding them on his right and left, he said: Behold, I and the children with whom he gives thanks to God: whom God has given me. The children, clinging to his head and kissing his hands, said: Lord, Father, and our Teacher, let us be consummated together with you. For from the beginning we were instructed by you, and we shall receive our end with you through the good confession which you have confessed before Kings and powers of this age. And when the holy Martyr Babylas had completed his prayer, seeing the faith of the children and the confidence that comes from God and not from man, he rejoiced at the greatness of their faith and said: Blessed are You, O God, of those who are truly Christians, who have brought to completion these Your servants for the glory of Your name through me Your servant, or rather through Your name. For assuredly, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise.

[12] All are beheaded. And thus he kissed each one and delivered them to the executioners, that they might be struck in his presence. And when they had been struck, he afterward delivered himself. And so his head too was taken off; and he was laid to rest with the children, and with the collar and shackles, in peace. The most blessed servant of God and priest Babylas suffered, together with three children, at the city of Antioch, on the ninth day before the Kalends of February, under the Emperor Numerian, while our Lord Jesus Christ reigned, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen.

OTHER ACTS

from three very ancient manuscripts.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

BHL Number: 0891

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The various contests of St. Babylas with the Tyrant.

[1] If anyone diligently searches out the glorious deeds of the Martyrs, he will always find something to admire still more. Babylas furnishes us an example: whose steadfast faith did not resist just any judge, but extinguished the fury of the Emperor himself, showing that the worldly person must be despised when the contention is about the power of God. For when the Emperor Numerian, reeking with the smoke of a new sacrifice, not yet washed of the filth of the foul vapors, St. Babylas, when the tyrant comes to the church, heartens the faithful: was preparing to enter the church by assault, to trample that most venerable place with profane violation, Babylas, Bishop of that city and time, having convened all the Christians, as soon as he learned of this, showed what ought to be done, confirming them all with this address: Let none of you, O dearest children, dread destruction. Stand firm; endure blessedly. For what alarm need we feel when Christ defends and Antichrist opposes? This raging wolf attempts to break in and to stain with the blood of sacrifices this holy place of prayer. We are in the straits of great peril, and unless God grants His aid, we shall be slain.

[2] Having completed this address, he positioned himself at the door of the church, prepared to resist, repelling the King as he approached with no small rebuke, in which he said: He repels him: It is not lawful for the polluted to enter here. Numerian, who had come prepared to enter, when he saw himself being magnanimously repelled, partly confused with shame and partly swollen with madness, did not know what to do. Turning himself in both directions, midway between anger and shame, he could neither pursue the rebel nor bear to yield to his opponent. Yet he judged it more honorable to withdraw for the present, lest he be both mocked and defeated. He is arrested: Departing, therefore, he orders Babylas to be kept for him without anyone's knowledge.

[3] The next day, when he had taken his seat on the high tribunal of his palace, he ordered Babylas to be brought before him, and in the presence of all said: What error has invaded you, most wretched of all fools, that, ignorant of royal power, you laid hands on one who was hurrying forward and did not allow me to enter where I wished? By the goddess Adraste I swear, I shall not pardon this crime. Let us see whether your God grants you aid. Babylas replied: I am a man of little account among all men. But Almighty God has made me brave, so that I, who was scarcely sufficient for myself, was moreover made a Teacher of so great a people. Whence it has come about that, as a diligent shepherd and careful helmsman, He replies to the tyrant prudently and fearlessly: I neither allow the sheepfold to be open to the wolf, nor expose the ship's keel to the rocks on which the vessel would be broken, knowing that I shall render account for the entire people. Therefore I repelled you as you came, because you were coming with intent to harm, not to believe. Numerian said: Do I seem a wolf to you, as you confess? Babylas replied: You were made Emperor by the divine will, so that both an occasion for sinning might find you, and an opportunity for suffering might find us, and the fear of persecution might make us better servants of God. But you do not know your own blessings, nor are you to be called Emperor while you are ignorant of the one who bestowed this glory. If you repaid the favor of His grace, you would adore God alone and serve Him; you would not worship those whom you yourself have made. And so that you may be made more certain by an example: If any one of those whom the Palatine service has joined to you were suddenly to transfer himself as a new traitor and deserter to another, forgetful of your benefit and ignorant of your power, would you not tear him to pieces and destroy him with the long agony of punishments? What do you think of the heavenly indignation, when you abandon the God who fashioned your body, who gave you your soul, who bestowed your spirit and redeemed you from everlasting death; who constructed heaven, earth, air, and seas to serve your pleasures; who provided sustenance and, to come to the final point, conferred upon you this lofty dignity of Empire? Because Israel cannot avoid offending the divine majesty, the Lord cries out through Moses, saying: You have offended Me, He predicts that the Emperor will soon be deprived of power: and I will offend you with a barbarous, unwise nation. Deut. 32:21. You have therefore offended the Lord: know that your empire is soon to be taken from you; for you do not deserve to enjoy it, being ignorant of the one who granted it.

[4] Numerian said: You are raving, as I see. For who in his right mind would say such things? Yet I gladly seek an explanation of what nation your Law calls unwise. Babylas replied: God made man, but Satan, cast down from the heavenly seat, because he had no remedy for himself, sought to have a companion: He teaches the fall of man, he enticed Adam to take food from the forbidden tree, soon to fall; and when he succeeded, exulting with joy, he reduced the fallen man to his own dominion. Therefore a new master ruled over man, cast out of Paradise, hoping to hold under himself all who should be born from his slave. The tyrant of the human race, then, introduced various forms of worship among men and fashioned for himself a manifold name, so that he is now worshipped as Mars, now adored as Liber, now calls himself Jupiter, now assumes the name Mercury, now rejoices in the appellation of Apollo; and he wishes to have as many rites as names. Christ, the Son of God, beholding these things, at last looked upon the earth, and as the inventor of mercy and piety, did not suffer the hearts of mortals to be vexed by prolonged servitude. and the liberty restored through Christ: He therefore put on our form and assumed a body, so that the devil, who had conquered man, might be conquered by a man. And so our eyes were opened and our vision was cleared: our former uncorrupted understanding returned, and having overcome the one who had conquered us, we returned to our ancient freedom. What good is it, then, that you have begun to be free, if you condemn yourself? What good is it that you have been snatched from the devil, if you run to the devil again? Rather, abandon this sect and follow the true Defender, who inflicts pardon upon the penitent and punishment upon the proud. Numerian said: Your Scriptures are full of falsehood; ours rest upon truth. Therefore sacrifice, lest you die under torments. For you are not better than those whom our authority has compelled to sacrifice, whom we also heap with honor, showing that neither should punishment be denied to the rebellious, nor the dignity of merit to the obedient. Babylas replied: If you have caught some senseless persons with your poisoned speech, who, relying on a weak root of faith, were deceived by wicked words, you will not find me, as you hope, similar to them, not even if you promise the heavenly kingdoms. Go rather to Tartarus and to those habitations of the dark abode for your sin, or for those whom you have caused to sin.

[5] Numerian said: What is God? Explain the very name to me. Babylas replied: If an innumerable array of wings could bear you up to heaven, When asked what God is and what man is, he replies aptly. and you could reach the stars in flight, even so you could not know the name of God. For He was neither summoned by anyone, nor addressed, nor seen, except by those to whom He so revealed Himself as mortal eyes could endure. For God is not a name, but the glory of His power: God is the path of prudence that leads to life. Nothing, therefore, is to be sought concerning Him, from whom it is established that all things were made. Numerian said: What is man? Babylas replied: Either a good or an evil proof of the heart, a sure distinction of the soul's testing. Numerian said: I see that you have spoken wisely. I swear by the divine powers, rumor had bruited one thing about you, and I myself had believed another. But I recognize you as a most prudent teacher. If, therefore, you wish your goodness to remain unimpaired, hasten to become a worshipper of our sacred rites. Babylas said: You are imprudent, impious, insolent, and a tyrant — one from whom an offered dignity must be reckoned as an insult, not a praise. The fullness of all good things is to know Christ; and the emptiness of heart and mind is to venerate idols. Which of us, therefore, is in need of any good, our worship makes plain.

CHAPTER II.

Torments inflicted upon St. Babylas, the three boys, and their mother.

[6] Numerian said: I can no longer bear your obstinacy. Let your neck, weighed down with the burden of the collar, sink, and let your feet receive tighter chains, so that you may know that you have acted against your Lord like the worst of slaves. Babylas replied: My Lord is Jesus Christ, and those are brothers to whom He is a source of reverence. Therefore, if you will believe in Christ, even now I clasp your knees and feet — not as those of a profane Emperor, but of a fellow-servant newly found. He scorns the threatened punishments: For the rest, fear of punishments does not break me. However much I suffer for the Lord, I owe more than I pay. When Numerian heard this, he said to Commander Victorinus: I order this rebellious and foolish Teacher to be handed over to you, so that with his feet bound, weighed down, He is handed over to Victorinus to be tortured: and oppressed by the weight of chains over all his limbs, he may waste away from prolonged laceration; for he has done me great injury. Commander Victorinus said to the Emperor: I have for some time been seeking an opportunity to report to Your Perpetuity, to inform Your Serenity about the evil of this religion that this man follows — that this contagion will spread through all peoples unless these ulcers, cut out by the root, do not leave the rest an example of impunity. But it is better that I say this since I have been asked. Numerian said to the Commander: For the present, let what we have ordered concerning Babylas be done. Little by little, through my agency, this religion shall be consumed.

[7] When Victorinus heard this, he ordered Babylas, loaded with iron, to be displayed throughout the entire city so that he might be seen by all his disciples. Loaded with iron chains, he is publicly displayed: Babylas, exulting with joy, poured forth thanks and prayers to the Lord, and gloried that the virtue of his soul was perceived by all. So great was the joy he received from this as was the punishment the enemy had hoped to inflict. And he showed himself pleasing to both the Commander and the King. When the Emperor heard this, he ordered Babylas to be summoned, saying: Let the teacher of fools and instructor of children be brought. Babylas replied: I am the teacher of those children who, in their boyish age, confess the Lord with the prudence of old men. If I were the teacher of fools, I would without doubt be teaching you. Numerian said: These chains have conferred much grace upon you, as far as form and adornment are concerned. By the gods, you have become handsome. Babylas replied: You mock as a fool; He glories in his chains. but the Son of God knows that I consider myself more adorned in these chains than you consider yourself in your crown.

[8] Numerian said: Sacrifice, then, if this light that you behold is dear to you, and escape the punishments already prepared, and cease to mislead the tender minds of these children with your deceitful doctrine. Babylas replied: Do you wish to know that perfect wisdom does not always reside in age? I have three children as disciples: command them to be summoned, and you will perceive how great is the fullness of the fear of God in them, how great the grace. Numerian immediately ordered the children to be brought. The three boys are brought before the tyrant. When he looked upon them more closely, he carefully asked whether they had a mother. To this the little children said that Babylas was their father, Babylas their lord, Babylas their teacher. He then ordered their mother also to be brought in. When she had been presented, and their mother: he asked the woman's name. She said she was a handmaid of God. This is my name, she said, this is my religion, this is my sole affection. Numerian said: Are these boys, whom you see, your sons? The woman replied: I did indeed bring forth these offspring from my womb, but I immediately offered this gift to God through the teacher Babylas; he formed them for all that is right.

[9] Numerian said: Before the sons whom she does not acknowledge, let her be struck on the cheeks. When the little ones saw her punishment, the three cried out with one voice: Tyrant, why do you lacerate an innocent woman? She is slapped; She is freeborn, and said nothing false when she was questioned. She called Babylas our teacher and father. And to make you angrier still, we call him not merely father, the boys soon after as well. but Lord. The Emperor, enraged, ordered the children to be slapped and, once beaten, to be kept under secure guard. They, being three equals in both spirit and voice, responded: We give thanks to God, who has granted us this crown. Numerian said to the woman: How old is your eldest son? She replied: Twelve. Asked also about the second, she said: Nine. And about the third she likewise said: Seven. But when she had completed the count of their ages, she cried out in a loud voice: Powerful is the God of the Christians, who looks upon this age and assigns to little ones the merit of consummate virtue.

[10] Numerian ordered the mother also to leave. Then he commanded Babylas to be brought in, saying: Foolish teacher, your promises have been defeated, and your provoked challenge has proved false. The little children have confessed that they will offer victims and perform sacrifices. Babylas convicts the tyrant of lying, Babylas replied: You follow the custom of your soul, Emperor; you lie as you are accustomed. So it befitted the son of Antichrist to creep in by deception. Numerian said: By Aesculapius I swear, because I despise these words, I shall vehemently afflict you with blows; but if you resist further, I shall also behead you. Babylas replied: You are truly worthy of laughter. Numerian said: How have you been able to prove this? Babylas replied: If your gods should discover that you swore by Aesculapius alone, will they not pursue you in anger? and laughs at him for swearing by Aesculapius. And if Salus herself should learn — whom you consider a goddess — will she not immediately abandon her enemy? I am ashamed if you believe that these beings which are your honors are monstrous portents. What madness, what dementia is this, that you should love immovable and insensible idols, while being ignorant of God, who is true and great? Numerian said: If your Christ should learn that you confirm your oaths by God alone, will He not be indignant at being passed over? Babylas replied: You are unworthy to learn the secrets of the Christians; but because I pity those who stand around, I shall not be silent. When we name the Son, we have also the Father; when we call upon the Father, we also name the Son. So also does Scripture testify, saying: I and the Father are one. Therefore no comparison is to be drawn between God and a demon, according to what is written: What communion has light with darkness?

CHAPTER III.

The slaying of St. Babylas and the boys.

[11] When Babylas and the little children had been suspended together for punishment, and a considerable space of time had been spent in torments, He is suspended and tortured with the boys: the bystanders, overcome with pity, seeing Babylas weighed down by the chains of the collar and tormented by prolonged laceration, spoke to him saying: Say that you will offer victims to the gods, so that you may escape such exquisite torments. Babylas replied: My grief is no less for the King who is perishing than for you whom he has likewise destroyed along with himself. He replies to the Gentiles who pity him. For the rest, he will never turn me. These blows advance my salvation: and as much as the body is wrongly injured, so much is the soul helped. And that you may believe this to be true, He is present in the contest who will render the reward after the contest. But when the Emperor recognized the constancy of Babylas, he ordered greater torments to be repeated. So Babylas is tortured, and in response the children are suspended, who cry out suddenly saying: Impious tyrant, why do you persecute our teacher and our shepherd? Is it because he confesses one God, who is true and great? We believe in Christ The boys taunt the tyrant: that soon not blows but fire will afflict you. The Emperor, enraged, orders them to be beaten again. The boys cry out: Impious tyrant, what has the depravity of your mind profited you? What has your royal power? What your gem-studded crown? What the throngs of so many attendants and the close-packed formation of armed men around you, when with all these heaped honors of yours you are overcome by little ones? Three little children triumph over you, and are broken by no harshness of torments. For we have as many witnesses of this victory as you had thought would be present as torturers. For the rest, we neither shudder at nor fear the punishments.

[12] Then the Emperor ordered Babylas, released from the rack, to be kept in a secret cell, so that in his absence the children might be deceived. And he said to the little ones: If these riches that you see They are tempted with blandishments, but in vain. and the allurements of honors entice you, cast aside the worship of your religion and pay your vows to our gods. They said with one voice: Crafty enemy and assailant of good souls, why do you urge deceitful things, by which you know the world is despised? Our teacher has armed us against your arrows with the sign of the Holy Cross. Those are the riches we believe in; those are the wealth we esteem. Therefore we are prepared to offer the sacrifice of our own bodies. And do not think that the absence of our teacher will profit you. Our spirit is established with a deep root. He who made us will govern us, and we have served Him as faithful servants from our nursing age. He will grant aid both to us and to our teacher. Therefore we swear by Him — for whom it is easy to grant joy from tribulation and health from pain — that we shall remain in this worship at every age, and shall believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[13] All this Babylas heard while he was in his cell. At length he too was ordered to be brought forward. When he had been brought in, Numerian said: Are these little ones your sons, or were they begotten by another father? Babylas replied: Babylas professes himself a virgin: They are my sons through the labor of their education and the affection of my love; for the rest, I know not the embrace of the female sex. Numerian said: And how do they so persevere in likeness to you in all things? Babylas replied: It is my prayer that they may agree with me in an equal mind in all things, except in my sins, which I have committed in greater measure. Numerian said: I have often told you to escape the punishment of scourging and the destruction of death, and I could not prevail. But there is still room for pardon, if you bring yourself and these children to what we urge. Then Babylas, moved to greater anger, exclaimed: Insane tyrant, more cruel than all, He reproaches the tyrant for his cruelty: you have abandoned the victims of cattle and delight in human sacrifices; you have forsaken contests against barbarians and gape after Roman blood and lust for innocent blood. I believe in the heavenly power that, as you will depart defeated from us, so you will also depart defeated from battle. Give your gifts to those with whom you will equally burn; but we hope for our rewards from Him to whom we render our service.

[14] He is ordered to be beheaded with the boys: At this, the enraged Emperor orders Babylas and the children to be struck with the sword. Babylas, joyfully going forth, now about to be struck, addresses the bystanders, adjuring each one by the Lord Jesus Christ to place him in the tomb with all the chains that were fastened to his feet and his neck, He wishes to be buried with his chains: so that the tyrant, once dead, might grieve when he understood that what he had done for suffering was held in honor. Babylas, going out the gate, poured forth a hymn to God in thanksgiving and prayers, saying: You have delivered us from those who afflict us, and those who hated us You have put to shame. The children too were saying the same psalm, accompanying their sweet teacher even in death.

[15] Now when the savage executioner drew near to kill them, Babylas asked that the children be beheaded before his eyes, and that only then might he himself die in peace. The children are killed before him. When the executioner consented, Babylas, embracing the children on his right and left, said: Behold, I and my sons, whom I had received from God, I now commit again to God. The confession maintained to the end proves the first principles of our teaching. When he had finished speaking, the children were beheaded. Then Babylas, at peace, said: I give You thanks, Lord, Father of Jesus Christ, who have adorned us with so great an honor, and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings You have perfected praise. Behold, all things are fulfilled. That age, which had not yet reached the fate of the sword, nor had a place for a wound, endured in the confession of Your power. After this he himself was struck, and, buried together with the children, is consecrated to eternal memory — equal in life, equal in suffering, equal in burial, while our Lord Jesus Christ reigns, to whom be honor and glory, forever and ever, Amen.

OTHER ACTS,

from Simeon Metaphrastes.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

from Metaphrastes.

CHAPTER I.

The magnanimity and teaching of St. Babylas.

[1] When Numerian had received the scepter of the Romans from his parents, Numerian, and had been heir of their impiety, a terrible and monstrous war was waged against the Christians. For every age and every class of those who had chosen piety were perishing under cruel torments and grievous death. The impious Numerian, therefore, being at one time at Antioch, which is near Daphne, having killed the royal boy held as hostage, did not even abstain from the sacred temple of the Christians, but devised a certain plot against it. And having sacrificed to the demons as was his custom, and having committed a most abominable slaughter — having most cruelly killed that infant son of a king whom he had received from the father as a pledge of peace — he proceeded to the church and attempted to profane the temple of God by his entry. For he considered it no small act of worship of the gods if the holy things of the Christians were profaned and desecrated by him. But the divine Babylas at that time, when this deed was being prepared, had charge of the sacred flock of Antioch When Babylas repelled him from wishing to profane the temple of the Christians: and was administering the episcopal See. Having long before understood what the tyrant was agitating and plotting in his mind, and that he was going to come, and in what manner, and having assembled the whole multitude of the faithful in the temple, and having sufficiently incited them to lend their aid to the laws of God against which tyranny was being exercised, and having invoked God's help with prayers and supplications, he stood before the gates of the temple with a great and courageous spirit. And having broken through the haughtiness of those who went before, and the pride of those who walked with pomp and arrogance — the attendants and bodyguards, I mean — he rebuked the wicked man as he approached, and placed his right hand against his chest, and thus checked his rush into the church, and repelled him from the sacred precincts. Numerian, having marveled at his freedom of speech and, moreover, reverencing his reputation, which was great and pervaded every quarter, desisted from his bold undertaking at that time — whether suspecting some sedition from the people (for a great multitude of the faithful had gathered there) or having adopted some other plan — bearing the insult with difficulty and vexation, but in silence, and returned to the palace.

[2] He is brought before the tyrant: On the following day, having arranged for the Pontiff to be brought before him because he had barred him from the temple, as though he had received a manifest insult, he accused him, and said: Relying on what, O most wretched of all men, did you dare to restrain my power from entering the temple? Do you not know how great a crime it is to insult and dishonor an Emperor? But Babylas replied: Relying on none of those on earth, but on the King who is in heaven, who also made me shepherd of His sheep and does not allow me to sleep when the wolf attacks. I did not insult the Emperor (for that would be insolence and almost madness), but when he wished to insult the holy things, He fearlessly defends his action: I restrained him. For which reason you should be grateful to me, and not a little, that I prevented such an undertaking of yours, by which you would have been hurled into the farthest pit of destruction, since to have sinned against Him from whom to fall away is more grievous than any death. Numerian replied: When you ought to be repenting of what preceded, you sprinkle us with more copious curses. But the Martyr answered: It is not lawful for us to assail any man with curses; nor therefore do we assail you with curses. For how could we, since you are God's handiwork and honored with His image? But if the matter concerns God...

[3] Numerian, however, interrupting the thread of his discourse, said: But bidding farewell to this great force of words, if you wish to escape the punishments to be undergone for your crime, sacrifice to the great gods. The Martyr, however, having first replied to the accusation and said that he was ready and willing to suffer anything for his flock, then continued: It cannot be, O Emperor, that having fallen away from the true God, I should worship those who are falsely called gods, He scorns the gods: whom even merely to name is a great disgrace for those who wish to be pious. The Emperor replied: I say the same things to you as before. Sending away your lengthy nonsense, sacrifice to the gods; otherwise, my power will destroy you evilly and with evil. But Babylas said: It was my prayer that you might be freed from the darkness in which you are enveloped — if by any means it were possible for you to escape those long and immortal punishments. But you exhort others also to the same course, kindling for yourself a greater Gehenna with whose threats you are menaced. For it cannot be that you will escape the hands of the living God. And what it is like to be seized by those hands, he will know who once falls into them.

[4] He said this, and all things, as if the voting-pebble had been reversed, were changed to the contrary. For Numerian, having marveled at the man's wisdom, ceases from anger, He teaches that the nature of God is ineffable. and looking upon him gently and kindly, says: O teacher of boys, can you tell me what God is? Babylas replied: The nature of God, even if you labor much, you will not discover. For He is ineffable and cannot be comprehended or investigated by human thoughts — the beginning and constitution of the universe, and King and Lord and Creator of all things. Since He is always in need of nothing (for such is God), He made the Angels and all the other essences of incorporeal beings. After the creation of these, He makes man and this whole world, the creation of man in the state of innocence and fills it with innumerable good things, declaring that man is on earth what He Himself is in heaven. Having placed him in so great an honor, as a king is given a palace, He assigned to him the most beautiful portion of earthly things, namely Paradise. And besides these things, wishing to show him from another source how much he surpassed the other living creatures, He brings them all to him and commands him to impose names upon all. Having through these things taught him that he was the most excellent of all, He then also creates woman, again honoring him by this also, and making manifest that she was made for his sake. And He adorned him not only with these things, but also to him alone of all gave reason, and allowed him to enjoy His fellowship. and his fall, But he, considering the enemy more trustworthy than the One who had given these things, and having no regard for the commandment of his Creator, valued more highly the deception of the one who was wholly intent on crushing and overturning him from all his goods — though the enemy had bestowed upon him neither a great nor a small benefit, but had dealt with him by word alone. Did God therefore destroy him? For according to the principle of justice this would have been fitting. But He persevered no less than before in doing good to him, showing that even if we sin a thousand times, He does not cease to procure for us the things that pertain to salvation. When Numerian heard these things, but was quite unable to follow their meaning (for how could a soul that had not tasted divine graces, and had not even a small measure of wisdom, and was altogether foolish and unlearned?), yet being ashamed to show himself so dull and devoid of understanding to those who stood around, he put on the mask of comprehension and told Babylas that the matter stood well, and that he had replied with an accurate apprehension of the things that are. Then he also asks him again what man is. Babylas replied: The most excellent, as we have said, of all creatures subject to destruction — gentle, born for society and fellowship, held together by mutual love, one for another — even though we war against one another more savagely than any beasts.

CHAPTER II.

The chains and torments of Babylas and the three boys.

[5] Numerian, marveling at the fluent tongue of Babylas and at the same time wishing to wipe away the stain of his own thick and sluggish intellect, since he could bring forward nothing to say against him, swore by his gods that Babylas was wise and that the fame that was celebrated about him was not false — if only he would sacrifice to the gods, and revere them, and hold them in honor. For he said this alone was lacking in him: that although he was so wise, he held the gods in contempt and armed an intemperate tongue against them. Looking upon him again, therefore, he said: Sacrifice, O most wise old man, and immediately, I call all the gods to witness, you shall be to me in the place of a father, He is solicited in vain with blandishments; and you shall be lord of all that is in my empire. But Babylas, bearing it ill that Numerian was again trying to compel him to sacrifice and expected that he could certainly overcome him and persuade him with money and honors, replied: Such a thing is indeed to be done, but you would bring me loss of that which is the chief of all goods, namely piety, without which these things are to me poverty and the utmost ignominy and deprivation of what I now possess.

[6] Then on account of these things Numerian was moved to violent anger, He is bound in chains and led around. and he commands Victorinus (who was outstanding in cruelty and impiety) to place a collar on his neck and surround his feet with iron shackles, and to lead him through the middle of the city, to be a spectacle for all, into custody: If perhaps, he said, the shame of the people may penetrate this man's hard spirit and bring about some change. And so indeed the Martyr was led in chains, reckoning that he was living a golden and sweet life while being so ignominiously paraded, because he had been deemed worthy of chains for the sake of the common liberator of all. And when Numerian saw him thus affected and walking thus in chains, he exclaimed: By the gods, Babylas, the collar and the chains and your gait become you, for they suit this venerable and dignified bearing of yours. But Babylas replied: You indeed say this, mocking and ridiculing me; but I glory in them more than you, O Emperor, in that flowery purple of yours and your splendid diadem.

[7] Numerian said: Sacrifice, wretch, and you will be freed from torments, and you will deliver us from anxieties — unless perhaps these boys puff you up with pride and vainglory by calling you their teacher, and do not allow you first to teach yourself the things it is necessary to know. The three boys run to him. For it happened at that time that three boys, brothers by birth, children in age but old in prudence, were being diligently taught piety by him, and they did not wish to abandon their teacher even when he was bound with a collar and chains. The divine Babylas then said: If you put them to the test, O Emperor, you will certainly know what manner of thing are the seeds of my instruction — or rather of God who gives them. The Emperor therefore arranged for the boys to be brought before his tribunal, and first asked they are brought before the tyrant, whether they had a mother. They replied: We have both a mother and a teacher, Babylas, whom we love even more than our mother. For she only bore us, but he has instructed us in learning, exercises us in piety, and, in a word, clearly and lovingly cares for our souls. The Emperor also summoned their mother, and commanded her to state how she was called and whether she was their mother. She replied: My name is Christodula; together with their mother: and these are the fruits of my womb, and I offered them as the first-fruits of my offspring to God. I trust that the wise Babylas will store them in the granaries of heaven; for to him I entrusted them.

[8] When he heard this, Numerian was filled with anger, and ordered her face to be struck, she is slapped, and that she be told not to address the Emperor so rashly. But the boys, seeing their mother being struck, were troubled in spirit and said: The Emperor strikes our mother who speaks the truth. He, however, tempering his anger with jest, ordered the eldest of the boys to receive twelve blows, the second nine, and the youngest seven, they are beaten with rods, imposing on each an equal number of blows according to the number of years of their age. And when they were being scourged, they praised the Lord; and they asked for their teacher, desiring to be with him even in prison.

[9] Numerian, therefore, having removed the mother and the boys from the imperial tribunal through his ministers, summoned Babylas from custody, and as though playing on a stage or acting the fool as a buffoon, said: Behold, Babylas convicts the tyrant of lying: your great boast and vaunting has failed, and things have turned out otherwise than you expected with the boys; for they are prepared to sacrifice to the gods. But Babylas (for he knew what manner of children he had begotten in the spirit) replied: It seems, O Emperor, that you are rather deceiving yourself and indulging yourself in vain. For the sheep of my flock, which are the sheep of my Christ, and the lambs of my shepherd, will never have followed a stranger's voice; but they long for my voice, I know well, no less than lambs shut up in houses long for the mothers that bore them. And if a wolf should seize them, or some other beast carry them off, they will go and be carried away crying out for me. And a wolf would sooner persuade a lamb to follow it, having left its own mother, than they would forget their proper love for their shepherd.

[10] Unable to bear this, Numerian said: But I shall see to it that you use your responses more judiciously. He is suspended and tortured, with the boys: And immediately the athlete was raised high on the wooden frame, and opposite him the boys were torn with iron claws. And a certain divine grace from above, adding courage to their souls and increasing their prompt and eager zeal, rendered them more impervious to pain than statues.

[11] Some of those who stood around said to the divine Babylas: How long will you be out of your mind He rebukes the impious pity of the bystanders. and counsel yourself badly? Does not even the sight of the boys bend this hard and unfeeling heart of yours — they who are perishing so wretchedly and before their time? The Martyr, turning to their words and openly showing that he was grieved and pained on their behalf, said: What is this heavy and dark cloud that blocks the eyes of your mind and does not allow you to look upon heaven? What is it that has so enchanted your soul and poured such drugs upon it, that it binds you wholly to destruction and does not allow you to take any account of salvation? As for me, to say nothing of Numerian now (for it would not help him even if he appeared to be Emperor a thousand times), but concerning you and your destruction, the thought often comes to weep bitterly and lament grievously — that though you are honored with reason, you have become, as I see, less endowed with reason than brute beasts; and when, if there were any sense in you, you ought to recognize your Creator, you look only to this man, with the name of Numerian affixed, and hang upon his shadow and tyrannical countenance. As for me, do you see how Christ lightens my labors, and from His holy dwelling sends forth help, and rouses me to labors, and gives courage for the contests? These things, indeed, the Saint was saying to the executioners.

[12] The boys rebuke the tyrant's cruelty: Moreover, the boys too had not been rendered feeble; but while they hung suspended on the wood, they took no care of their flowing limbs, and their whole attention was turned to their teacher, and on his behalf they assailed the Tyrant with these reproaches: Are you not ashamed, O wretch, to heap such dishonor upon so venerable a head? Do you not blush, being yourself a son of darkness, to treat thus the herald and minister of light? Are you not suffused with shame that in the presence of all you are made a laughingstock by boys? For you are troubled, and rage, and burn inwardly, kindled by the coals of anger; but we are adorned with the varied marks of our torments, as with the flowers of spring.

CHAPTER III.

The slaying of St. Babylas and the boys.

[13] Numerian then had them led away from that place together with their teacher, and shut Babylas — still bound in those iron chains — near himself in a certain small room. Having arranged for the boys to be brought to himself (for he thought he would more easily overcome them on account of the tenderness of their age), he shut them in another small room; They reject his blandishments and laugh at them. and he flattered them in various ways, cajoled them, and insinuated himself with them, calling them sons and boys of excellent nature and brilliant talent, giving them money, promising honors, and using many gentle and sweet words with them. But they, as with one mind and one voice, said: Deceitful and malicious one, why do you hold these things out to us as bait, wishing to catch us like sparrows in a snare? We will not deny you, mother Piety. We will not betray you, dear Teacher Babylas. No emperor will capture us, even should he breathe fury more fiercely than Numerian.

[14] Babylas rejoices at their constancy: While the boys were affirming these things before the Tyrant and crying out in a loud voice, the noble Babylas, truly their teacher, who was shut in the small room and heard them, was filled on this account with great joy; nor was he any longer doubtful about the future, but said: Well done, O dear boys! Well done, my training! I receive the reward of my education; I gather the greater fruits of my labors. I give You thanks, O divine Providence over us, that You have deemed me worthy to be called the teacher of such ones — not boys, but rather strong men; not children in age, but perfect in virtue.

[15] Meanwhile Numerian also arranged for Babylas to be brought before him, and said: Are these boys not yours? For, by Jupiter, they are very like you in their manner of thought. Babylas replied: In spirit, He has always been a virgin: O Emperor, they are my sons, not in flesh; for I have not experienced the sense of carnal love and of the marriage bed to this day. But why, said Numerian, do you not quickly sacrifice and free both yourself and us from troubles? If, however, the sufferings that have gone before do not permit this, but bite and torment and cause pain, I can reward you with far more and greater goods and lead you to forgetfulness of those troubles. Then he seemed even to give him good counsel regarding the matter at hand, saying: It would be fitting, O Teacher, for your gray hair to suggest to the boys' age what is proper, and to persuade them not to wither so untimely and so miserably in the very flower of their youth. But the divine Babylas, seeing Numerian's solicitude and the craftiness prepared against both himself and the boys, He reproaches the tyrant for his cruelty. said: It appears, O Emperor, that you have bidden farewell to the barbarians, with whom you ought most of all to be waging war, and having dismissed external cares, have turned your entire effort against us — directing your apparatus not to benefit those who obey your rule, but to devise torments through which you may indulge your anger and your natural ferocity.

[16] Boiling over and inflamed with all his heart at these words, Numerian orders the Martyrs to be led straight to death. And they were led rejoicing, He is led to death with the boys: and sang with joy on their tongues: Blessed be God, who of old perfected praise from infants and sucklings, and now from children, though not sucklings, and from a gray-haired old man, accepts a sacrifice and receives their blood. Weaving together, therefore, their thanksgiving with these and many other words, they arrived at the place of martyrdom. And when the Blessed Babylas had placed the holy children before him, he offered them to God as the beautiful fruit of his teaching.

[17] After he saw them consummated, he uttered that blessed saying: Behold I, he said, and the children He wishes to be buried with his chains. whom God has given me. Furthermore, he also asked those who were present to bury with him the very marks of his contests. For he loved and embraced them on account of Christ, and did not wish them to be removed from his lifeless dust — for he beautifully knew them to be beautiful ornaments of his burial. And what were they? The collar and his iron shackles. Then his head also was cut off, on the fourth day of September. And Babylas now lies in his coffin with that ornament of his neck and his iron chains, praising his contest-master, because to Him belongs glory, power, honor, and magnificence, now and always and forever and ever, Amen.

THE TRANSLATION AND ANTIOCHENE TRIUMPH OF ST. BABYLAS.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

In the year of Christ 362. 22 October.

[1] A double temple, or martyrium, was once erected in honor of St. Babylas among the Antiochenes. One was very large, as Evagrius attests in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 16, before the gates of the city of Antioch, The temple of St. Babylas, at Antioch: which still remained intact when he was writing. St. Chrysostom in his homily on St. Babylas indicates that this one was built across the River Orontes, beside which Antioch is situated, and in his other oration on St. Babylas against the Gentiles he counts it among the buildings of the city, since of course ample suburbs elsewhere are equivalent to a city. By whom or when it was erected is not established. The relics of St. Babylas were either interred in that place from the beginning or translated there under the first Christian Emperors. Nor should Evagrius be believed, who claims it was erected by Julian, since Chrysostom greatly marvels that it was not destroyed by Julian out of hatred for Babylas.

[2] another at Daphne: Another was built at Daphne, also a suburban location but somewhat more remote, by Caesar Gallus, the brother of Julian the Apostate, and the relics were translated there from the former temple, again under the arrangement of Caesar Gallus. The relics were brought here, From there they were again carried back to the sacred precinct of the temple, within which they had been before, by Julian's order, as Chrysostom notes — who as a young man witnessed what he wrote about in his more advanced years in his ecclesiastical treatise against the Gentiles. then removed. For he delivered that oration twenty years after those events had occurred, as he himself attests. He confirms what he says with the following declaration: Among those who saw these things, there survive still both old men and young, all of whom I beseech and adjure, if anything has been added by me to the history, to come forward and refute me, etc. So writes Chrysostom, and from him Baronius at the year of Christ 362, no. 96, who pursues this history at length. We omit here that oration of Chrysostom, part of which was published by Surius, because he adds many things rhetorically to refute the Gentiles that are less necessary for our purpose. There exists another oration of the same Chrysostom on this very translation, rendered into Latin by our Fronto Ducaeus.

[3] By whom this Translation was described. We present the account from Sozomen alone, who describes it accurately in book 5 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapters 18 and 19. The same is narrated by Rufinus in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapters 35 and 36; Socrates in book 3, chapter 16; Theodoret in book 3, chapter 19; the Acts of St. Artemius in Metaphrastes on 20 October; Evagrius in book 1, chapter 16; Nicephorus in book 10, chapter 18; Cedrenus, and other sacred and profane authors — among whom Julian the Apostate himself may be counted, who in the Misopogon mentions the dead man sent back by him from Daphne, the silencing of Apollo, and the burning of the temple: which Ammianus in book 22 records as having occurred on the eleventh day before the Kalends of November.

[4] Were the relics of the three boys translated to Daphne together with the bones of St. Babylas, The bodies of the holy boys were translated together. and brought back to the former temple? Chrysostom frequently insists that the relics of Babylas alone, and they alone, stopped the mouth of the demon and were carried away from Daphne; but since he contrasts them with the innumerable other corpses whose tombs were visible there, nothing can be concluded from that. Theodoret, who also lived at Antioch, asserts this with certainty: At the same time, he says, in that place, Daphne, the relics of the unconquered Martyr Babylas and of the youths who had contended together with him had been deposited. And shortly after: Julian commanded the Christians to transfer only the relics of the unconquered Martyrs from that place. They, having gone to the grove with willing hearts, placed the coffin on a two-horse cart, etc.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION

from Hermias Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, book 5, chapter 18.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

From Sozomen.

[1] Daphne is a very celebrated suburb of Antioch, surrounded by a grove clad in many cypresses and diversified by other trees intermingled with the cypresses. Daphne, a delightful place in the suburb of Antioch, Beneath the trees, the earth, according to the changes of season, produces sweet-smelling flowers of every kind, one succeeding another. The place is everywhere enclosed, as if by a roof, or rather by shade, from the density of branches and foliage, which does not allow the rays of the sun to penetrate all the way to the ground. It is also, both because of the abundance and beauty of its waters, the equability of the climate, and the gentle blowing of pleasant breezes, exceedingly delightful and well suited for recreation. Thus among the pagans it is told in fables that Daphne, daughter of the river Ladon in Arcadia, while fleeing her lover Apollo, was transformed into the tree that bears her name. Apollo, not even then freed from that disturbance of his soul, crowned himself with branches of the tree he loved, embraced the tree itself, and honored the place, dear to him above all others, with special distinction. To enter the suburb of Daphne, therefore, being of such a character, was considered disgraceful for modest men. For both the situation and the nature of the place were suited to wantonness: once a training ground for licentiousness: and the subject of the fable, which was plainly amatory, seizing upon a slight occasion, implanted in the minds of corrupted youths a love twice as great. For, bringing forward the events described in the fables as an excuse for themselves, they were more vehemently inflamed, and, casting off all shame, eagerly rushed to licentious deeds: nor could they either restrain themselves or bear to see temperate men in that place with them. For if any one of them happened to be in Daphne without a mistress, he was thought to be utterly stupid, uncivilized, and someone to be avoided like a crime or a detestable plague. This place was truly held in great veneration among the pagans, here was the Daphnean Apollo; and greatly esteemed. For an extraordinary statue of the Daphnean Apollo was there, and a temple constructed with magnificent and costly work: which is said to have been built by Seleucus, the father of Antiochus, from whom Antioch received its name. It was also believed by those who were accustomed to cultivate such things and the Daphnitic water, conferring the power of divination, that water flowed into that place from a Castalian spring, which bestowed upon men the faculty of divination, and possessed equal power and the same name as that which is at Delphi. Moreover, they boast that to Hadrian, while still leading a private life, it was foretold in that place that he would attain the Empire. For they say that when he had dipped a leaf in the fountain of Daphne, he drew from it a knowledge of future events plainly written on the leaf: and that when he had attained the governance of the Empire, he blocked up the fountain with an embankment, with the purpose that others might not be permitted to learn from it a knowledge of future events. But these things are indeed accurately narrated by those whose fountain was blocked up by Hadrian. who have placed care and effort in weaving together fables.

[2] But when Gallus, the brother of Julian, having been designated Caesar by Constantius, was spending his time at Antioch, since he was a Christian, because he especially honored those who had undergone martyrdom for the Christian religion, The body of St. Babylas having been brought there, he resolved to purify this place both from the superstition of the pagans and from the insult of intemperate men. And since he was convinced that he would easily accomplish this, if only he should build a church there in place of the temple, he translated to Daphne the coffin of Babylas the Martyr, who had governed the Church of Antioch most admirably and had died a martyr's death.

[3] From that time indeed, it is said that the demon uttered no oracle, as it had been accustomed. The oracles of Apollo cease. It seemed at first that this had happened because it now lacked victims and the worship with which it had previously been honored; but afterwards, however, it was disclosed by the demon itself that the Martyr, whose body had been deposited nearby, was the impediment preventing it from performing as usual. The demon itself reveals the cause of the silence: For although, when Julian alone was governing the Roman Empire, it abounded in libations, the savor of incense, and a supply of victims, it nevertheless fell silent, and finally, having given a response, clearly declared the cause of its former silence of its own accord. For when the Emperor had resolved in his mind to consult the oracle that was in that place concerning matters about which he pleased, approaching the temple, he honored the demon with monuments and magnificent offerings: and begged it not to neglect the enterprises he was planning. The demon, therefore, although not plainly and in express words, indicated that on account of Babylas the Martyr, whose tomb was nearby, it had been unable to give oracles; nevertheless it responded that the place was filled with the corpses of the dead, and that this was the obstacle preventing it from issuing oracles. Hearing this, the Emperor, although there were many corpses buried at Daphne, yet because he conjectured that the Martyr alone was the impediment to the oracles, gave the command that the tomb of the Martyr should be transferred from there to another place. Therefore Julian orders the sacred body to be carried away from there:

[4] And so the Christians, gathering together, dragged the tomb approximately forty stadia into the city, where the Martyr now lies deposited in the place that has received its name from him. They report that at that time men and women, young men and virgins, old men and children, roused by mutual exhortation, the Christians, singing, sang Psalms throughout the entire journey: who, although they pretended that they sang in order to lighten the labors of the journey, nevertheless sang in truth with burning zeal and inflamed by a willing devotion toward piety, transfer it. because the Emperor held entirely different views about God from theirs. The Psalms were begun by those who knew how to sing them accurately; but the multitude poured forth their voices together in harmony, and added this verse: Let all be confounded who worship graven images, and who glory in their idols.

[5] For this reason the Emperor, as if he had been treated with contempt, began to burn with anger, Julian therefore rages against the Christians. and on that account resolved to inflict punishments upon the Christians. But Sallustius his Prefect, although a pagan by profession, did not approve of that plan; yet since he could not resist, he carried out the Emperor's command in deed, and on the next day arrested many Christians and cast them into chains. And first of all, a certain young man named Theodore was brought forward and applied to the rack. He, long pierced with sharp potsherds, Theodore endures grievous torments, neither succumbed to the torments nor showed himself a suppliant before the Prefect: but so conducted himself that he seemed to feel no pain: indeed, as if a spectator of the tortures inflicted upon him, he bore the blows with patience and calm, and sang again the same Psalm he had sung the day before: and thus plainly showed how little he cared about the matters for which he had been brought to trial. The Prefect, moreover, admiring the young man's constancy, when he came to the Emperor, set forth to him the things done by Theodore: and said that unless he desisted more quickly from his undertaking, they themselves would be held in ridicule by all, and the Christians would gather more praise and glory from it: which counsel being more approved, those who had been arrested were freed from their bonds. It is said, furthermore, that Theodore, refreshed from heaven. when asked by certain people whether he had felt the pain of the torments, replied that he had not been entirely without all sensation of pain; but that a young man had stood beside him, who soothed the stings of pain: wiped away his sweat with the finest linen cloth, and poured the coldest water over his body, by which he both quenched the burning and alleviated his sufferings. It seems indeed to me that this is certainly not the work of a man alone, however noble-spirited, to despise bodily affliction to such a degree, unless he were aided by divine strength and power.

[6] And so Babylas the Martyr, for the reason that we have demonstrated above, The temple of Apollo burned by heavenly fire: was both interred at Daphne and again translated from there. When this matter was concluded, not long after, fire unexpectedly rushing into the temple of the Daphnean Apollo, the flame utterly consumed the entire roof and the statue itself: and left bare only the walls that surrounded the temple and the columns that supported both the vestibules and the rear part of the building. And, as the Christians believed, that fire had descended from heaven upon the demon, this was imputed to the Christians; so the pagans spread the rumor that the deed had been deliberately perpetrated by the Christians. When this opinion prevailed, the priest of Apollo was brought to trial, so that he might reveal who was the author of the fire. And although beaten with many blows and grievously tortured, he nevertheless indicated no one at all. Induced chiefly by this matter, the Christians constantly affirmed that the fire had not been treacherously set by men, but had descended from heaven by divine vengeance and rushed into the temple. And we have learned that these things occurred in this manner.

[7] When these things had been accomplished by God at Daphne on account of Babylas the Martyr, Therefore edicts were issued against the churches of the Martyrs. the Emperor, I believe, having been informed that certain churches had been built in honor of the Martyrs near the temple of the Didymean Apollo, which is before Miletus, wrote to the Governor of Caria that, if they already had a roof and a sacred table, he should burn them: but if their buildings were only half completed, he should raze them to the ground, demolishing the foundations.

p Chrysostom: As soon as the body of Babylas reached the city, immediately fire burst into the temple of Apollo. The Acts of St. Artemius: When the relics had been removed, Julian was preparing a multitude of victims and offerings, as one who was going to ascend to Daphne with them the next day, etc. But when the night had already far advanced, fire suddenly sent down from heaven fell upon the temple, etc., on the eleventh day before the Kalends of November, as was said from Ammianus.

q Chrysostom: If anyone should go there now, he would never say that it was the work of fire.

r Indeed, as Chrysostom testifies, the priest, twisted and hideously mangled, since he had no one whom he could betray, testified that the fire had fallen from heaven, so that no opportunity for slander was any longer left to the malicious and shameless.

ST. BABYLAS:

relics translated to Cremona.

Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (St.) Urbanus, boy, Martyr (St.) Prilidianus, boy, Martyr (St.) Epolonius, boy, Martyr (St.)

In the year of Christ 1460. 28 October.

From various sources.

[1] Peregrinus Merula, in the book he entitled the Sanctuary of Cremona, testifies that the feast of the holy Martyrs Babylas the Bishop and Simplicianus is celebrated at Cremona on the 24th of January, because their bodies are buried there. The feast day of Simplicianus, whom Merula writes was crowned with martyrdom at Catana in Sicily, together with Stephen, Pintianus, Attalus, and others, is inscribed in the Martyrology on the 31st of December. The relics of St. Babylas brought to Cisalpine Gaul: The bodies of both were interred in the church of the village called Plebs Sancti Jacobi, under the jurisdiction of Cremona, by the holy and glorious Marchioness Matilda, who died on the 24th of July in the year 1115; whether they were given by her relatives among the Princes, who had already subjugated part of the East under Godfrey of Bouillon, or by the Roman Pontiff, whom she had wonderfully bound to herself by innumerable benefits, we have nowhere read.

[2] These relics, Bishop Bernard of Cremona, in the year 1460, on the 18th day of October, translated into the city to the Cathedral basilica, so that they might be venerated with greater devotion, as the same author Merula reports. Concerning this translation, Ludovicus Cavitelli writes in the annals of Cremona: then to Cremona. In the year 1460, from the village of Plebs Sancti Jacobi, in the diocese of Cremona, on the eighteenth day of October, there were translated to Cremona, and deposited in the cathedral church there, the bones of the Saints Babylas and Simplicianus, Martyrs: of whom Babylas was Patriarch of Antioch, and together with Praeladurus and Apollonius, who were minors, and Theodosia their mother, he suffered martyrdom there by order of the Emperor Valerian, when he wished to prevent him from entering the divine temple there. And Simplicianus was also a Bishop; but I have not discovered of which city, or at what time he was put to martyrdom: and whose bones had been preserved in a marble chest in the church of the same Plebs, dedicated to the Apostle St. James, for approximately three hundred years, having been translated there by order of Queen Matilda: when she caused that and other churches from the diocese of Cremona to be erected into Parishes, as stated above.

[3] Inscription on the altar. Beneath the ancient Confession of the cathedral church, on the very altar of these Saints, this inscription, as Merula reports, was once to be read: The bones of Babylas and Simplicianus, once buried at the eighth milestone, then found by divine guidance, the custodians of this church caused to be deposited here in 1543. Whether a new translation of the sacred relics, or a change of reliquary, or otherwise some renewal of the place or ornaments was then also made, is not disclosed.

[4] The same, and relics of other Saints Finally in the year 1614, on the 8th of June, the relics of nine Saints were most solemnly translated, through the zeal of Bishop Giovanni Brivi, namely those of Marcellinus, Peter, Himerius, Homobonus, Babylas, Simplicianus, Arealdus, Archelaus, and Facius. Blessed Facius was treated on the 18th of January. Saints Marcellinus and Peter are honored on the 2nd of June, Himerius on the 19th of October, Homobonus on the 13th of November, Arealdus on the 1st of September, Archelaus on the 23rd of August. The Bishop opened this divine treasure on the 7th of June, in a vast assembly of noble and pious men, with many candles alight, to be more honorably enshrined in new caskets, and on altars recently erected in the crypt, placed in new caskets, ready for reinterment. All things therefore having been carefully inspected, and the bones reverently wrapped in fine linen cloth, placed in reliquaries fashioned from fragrant and incorruptible cypress wood, lined within with silk cloth, which were secured with iron fastenings and sealed with the Bishop's impress; an inscription was added to each. Solemnly translated. On the next day a procession was organized, which, in order that it might be conducted more holily and splendidly, the Bishop had summoned not only the Clergy and citizens, but also the neighboring villages with their pastors, by a printed decree, exhorting all to partake of the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist on that day, and also ordaining a fast on the vigil. Merula describes the entire order and pomp of the procession. We shall present what pertains specifically to Babylas and Simplicianus.

[5] Inscription on the casket. On the casket in which the bodies of both were contained, these words were inscribed: In the year from the birth of Christ 1614, on the seventh day of June, the bodies of Saints Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, and Simplicianus, Martyrs, were placed here at the ample expense of the city, by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord Giovanni Battista Brivi, Bishop of Cremona. The chest was clothed in red linen cloth of Damascene work, adorned with golden and silken fringes; and above it, an image of each Saint. All expenses were borne by the confraternity of the sacred relics of the Cathedral church. This casket was carried by four Canons of the same church under an elegant canopy of red Damascene cloth, which four Priests sustained, also clad in red tunics.

[6] Triumphal arches were also erected. The one that faced the smaller forum had its upper part adorned with a triple emblem: Inscriptions and emblems of the triumphal arch. In the center was depicted the burial of St. Babylas, with chains and shackles, and this motto: I demand back my chains. On the right, Mount Etna belching flame, with rain falling upon it. The motto: More ardent. On the left, a plant from whose incision resin was flowing, which they call dragon's blood. The inscription: Most salutary. Then in a large square tablet was inscribed the following: To the illustrious soldiers of Christ, Babylas and Simplicianus, who adorned the Churches of Antioch and Catana by the holiness of their lives and the triumph of their martyrdom; and who, having been carried up to heaven, protect the Church of Cremona with the pledge of their sacred bones as a firm defense, grateful Cremona has made this vow. Above the very gate of the arch, on the right, the image of St. Babylas the Bishop was to be seen, with a mountain painted above, on which here were some houses, there a laurel grove, in the middle a sepulcher, with an olive tree placed beside it, and the motto: Pure things please the gods above. Below was depicted a pit teeming with frogs, at the edge of it a burning torch, with the inscription: They are silent. On the left side was the image of St. Simplicianus the Martyr: below, a plant with its top cut off. The motto: More fruitful. These were particular to Saints Babylas and Simplicianus. The streets seemed to leap with joy: most of the houses were adorned with Belgian tapestries and other decoration: cannons were fired for applause: at night festive bonfires were lit, to attest the joy of the city even in the darkness. But especially admirable was the piety of the people and the visitors. These things took place on the third Sunday after Pentecost, the 8th of June, 1614.