ON ST. Hyacinthus
From the Menology, collected by order of the Emperor Basil.
Second Century.
CommentaryHyacinthus, Martyr from Phrygia (St.)
J. P.
[1] The printed Menaea of the Greeks commemorate two Hyacinths on the same day, not the second, but the third of this month of July. And once indeed they announce the celebrity of the holy Martyr Hyacinthus, distinguished both from Ours, of whom we here treat, Sacred cult, and from the other already mentioned, by the surname Cubicularius, which is there added. Besides the very brief announcement of our glorious Champion, expressed in these words in the Basilian Menology, it has not been possible to find any trace of him anywhere on this day. The following elogium is woven there in his praise.
[2] The holy Martyr of Christ Hyacinthus took his origin from the region of Phrygia; elogium, in which also he was taught piety. Having set out to the city of Cumae, he healed the diseased in the name of Christ. The idolaters, recognizing him, seized him, and handed him over to the prefect of the province. Compelled, but by no means persuaded, to sacrifice to the idols, he was tortured on the rack; and having prayed to God, he handed over the Governor to an unclean spirit; and, a miracle being wrought, he healed him, believing in Christ. Set free, but afterward captured by the people of Cumae, he was tormented. After he had prayed again, and had shaken the city, and had ground the idols to pieces, he persuaded many to believe in Christ. After these things, being seized by the governor Clearchus, with his legs broken he was shut up in prison. Whence being freed, after he had run through all the region round about, and had healed the sick, himself becoming sick, he departed to the Lord.
[3] the time of the martyrdom. If the same Clearchus reckoned by Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 189, who flourished under the emperor Commodus, and by his order removed the prefect Perennis from the midst — if the same, I say, be he, this Clearchus, with the one whom we mentioned in the above elogium, we have a not obscure characteristic mark of the time at which the sacred contest was endured by our Hyacinthus; namely toward the end of the second century. Concerning our Martyr this is all. Of the two other Hyacinths mentioned above there will be treated on the third of this month.