Martyrs

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

JANUARIUS AND PELAGIA,

AT NICOPOLIS IN ARMENIA.

Under Licinius.

Notice from the Martyrologies.

Januarius, Martyr at Nicopolis in Armenia (S.)

Pelagia, Martyr at Nicopolis in Armenia (S.)

J. B. S.

Concerning several holy Martyrs of Nicopolis it has been treated on the preceding day more than once, since it seemed doubtful whether they were the same who were announced differently by different sources: nor is it now sufficiently clear to me whether the two of today do not belong to that same class of forty-five companions. In the observations on Usuard we noted that their names in some Hieronymian codices are somewhat disfigured, which are more clearly expressed in the Lucca, and in the little codex of Queen Christina of Sweden, Turmoris being omitted, who, I know not whence, was added in the Epternach. In the Little Roman Januarius alone is named, but they are joined by Ado, whose announcement is this, adopted by Usuard and all his progeny: On the same day in Lesser Armenia, in the city of Nicopolis, the birthday of the holy martyrs Januarius and Pelagia, who, tortured on the rack, with the claws and with fragments of potsherds for four days, fulfilled their martyrdom. In words, not in sense, differs the phrase of Rabanus, who, having set forth separately some Januarius, in the Epternach torn from his companion Marianus, thus proceeds: In Armenia, in the city of Nicopolis, likewise of Januarius and Pelagia, who, subjected to torments, not only with claws but also with the potsherd, had their bodies suffer the same passion up to the fourth day before the Ides; which are nearly the words of the Blume codex, in this part deviating from the style of the Hieronymian ones. Nor do the things differ from these which Peter related in his Catalogue, book 6, chapter 85; nor have I found elsewhere anything that more distinctly explains their deeds or passion. Among the sacred relics of Prague, whose list is given in the first volume of January, page 1084, is numbered the body of St. Januarius the Armenian martyr. Wandelbert attributes his little verse to each Martyr:

Januarius consecrates the fifth by martyrdom, and holy Pelagia adorns it with like splendor.

ON ST. MARTYROCLES, MARTYR.

Notice from the Fasti of the Greeks.

Martyrocles, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)

J. P.

This Martyr is noted in the Supplement to the printed Menaea from the Synaxary of Sirmond and the Manuscript of Chifflet, perhaps nowhere else to be found, as far as I suspect: unless perchance Τυροκλῆς, whom likewise marked with the title of Martyr I read in the Menaeum of Chifflet, coincides with our Martyrocles, the first syllable being struck out, as is easy enough. In the said Supplement therefore he is thus announced: Ὁ ἅγιος Μαρτυροκλῆς τοξευθεὶς τελ. St. Martyrocles, struck by arrows, consummates his contest. Have two hexameters, by which he is there honored:

Ὁ Μαρτυροκλῆς μαρτύρων εὗρε κλέος Μάρτυρ φανεὶς ἄριστος ἐκ τοξευμάτων.

Well did Martyrocles find the glory of the martyrs, proving himself a supreme martyr by the arrows.

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

SAVINUS AND CYPRIANUS,

AT BRESCIA IN ITALY, OR AT ANTIGNY IN GAUL?

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Their cult; suspect Acts; whether to be assigned to Brescia or to Antigny.

Savinus, at Brescia in Italy, or at Antigny in Gaul (S.)

Cyprianus, at Brescia in Italy, or at Antigny in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

The territory of Poitiers in Gaul is watered by a river not ignoble, named the Vartimpa (la Gartempe), in whose confines is seen a place, wont to be called Antiniacum (Antigny), in which are venerated SS. Sabinus and Cyvranus. The cult of these holy Martyrs at Antigny in Gaul; (of whom the latter, by the testimony of Castellanus in his Hagiological Vocabulary, enjoys in the city of Poitiers the name of Cyprianus alone) each honored with the title of brother, each of martyr. The people of Brescia in Italy claim them for themselves: which of the two has the better right in the present matter will be discussed at length in the course.

[2] There is, so far as I know, no memory of these Saints among the more ancient Martyrologists: their notice from the Martyrologies nay more, what you may wonder at, not even any trace of them exists among Maurolycus and Galesinius, the Italian Martyrologists. I find them marked in the Usuardine Supplements. The Anchin codex records them most simply: SS. Savinus and Cyprianus; the codex of Lord du Cheval, marked C, following it. But the Lübeck-Cologne codex adds a little more, saying that they were martyrs and brothers: Of the blessed martyrs Sabinus and Cyprianus, brothers. Here there is no mention of the arena or of the territory in which they are venerated. Whence you may wonder that they are assigned to Brescia by the modern Roman. Saussay in his Supplement thus announces the Saints: In the borders of the Pictones, the passion of the holy martyrs Savinus and Cyprianus, who at the town of Confluentium under Maximus the governor, affirming the faith of Christ, completed a glorious martyrdom for his confession. There was another Savinus, otherwise Sabinus, a confessor in the same region, conspicuous for the merits of grace, in whose honor an ancient monastery was founded on the river Gartempe, nine leagues from Poitiers, where he is venerated on his proper birthday, the seventh day before the Ides of October. On the same day of October the praised Castellanus exhibits St. Sabinus Levitanicus (de Lavedan) among the Bigerri (en Bigorre). Likewise on the second day of this month of July he has SS. Sabinus and Cyprianus martyrs, assigning them to Brescia. The aforesaid Saussay on the 12th of this month announces besides two martyrs Savinus and Cyprianus in these words:

[3] In the monastery of Casa Dei, the festivity of the holy Martyrs Savinus and Cyprianus, not without great confusion. who, born at Brescia and reborn in Christ, when they were disseminating his saving doctrine, were tortured by Lodicius the prefect, and because they could not be drawn away from the proclamation of the Savior, were expelled from their country, and departing from it, came into Gaul at the warning of an Angel; where, when they did not cease to scatter the seed of divine truth, by the order of Maximus the Proconsul, who could bend their constancy by no torments, they were beheaded, and carried off an unfading crown from so noble a contest. How great here is the confusion of the Saints, variously asserted by various writers: of which we shall speak of set purpose a little later; after we have first sent before a critical inquiry concerning the Acts, which summon SS. Savinus and Cyprianus from the city of Brescia, as though this was their country, adorned with so glorious a birth.

[4] The Acts of Saints Savinus and Cyprianus But how badly those Acts hang together, stuffed in more than one place with fabulous narratives and wanderings beyond the appearance of probability, will become plain, as I think, if anyone will weigh the following observations with a fair mind and free from prejudices. In our transcript the following inscription is prefixed: In an ancient Manuscript of the convent of St. Catharine is had the whole extended Office of the same Saints, which Petrus de Monte, Bishop of Brescia, is thought to have brought hither from Gaul; when thence, his Apostolic legation among those Kings being accomplished, he returned to his church; in which he instituted the Office and feast of these Saints, the city applauding: whence we have here rewritten only the lessons, divided into the three Nocturns, the psalms and proper antiphons being passed over, lest we be condemned for excessive and superfluous prolixity. These things are there prefixed; of which afterward, at the end of this Commentary, it will be useful to remember. In the prologue of the said Acts it is signified that their authors are Asclepius and Valerius the presbyters, saying greeting to the most holy Lord of prelates, and writing those things at which they record that they were present to the very end, writing most true things with God as witness: which, as they say, we thought worthy to offer to your Holiness. But that prologue, feigning the trustworthiness of contemporary authors and eyewitnesses of the history which they publish, moves a grave suspicion of falsity. For it deceives, when it inscribes the said Acts to the most holy Lord of prelates, without his name being expressed: that surely was not to be sought long by Asclepius and Valerius, being contemporaries of that same most holy Lord of prelates, as they openly indicate, when they add that the Pontiff, to whom they dedicate their Acts, formed by his blessing the Saints of whom they undertake to write, and so that it is fitting that he should now again publish their contests by his authority. Therefore if Asclepius and Valerius, the pretended authors of the Acts, could not be ignorant of the Pontiff's name, how did they suppress it? For if a place suitable for expressing a proper name anywhere occurs, it certainly occurs in inscriptions of this kind, by which books or writings are dedicated to some person; as is clear of itself. But now, whether the pretended authors write most true things with God as witness, or rather some fabricator, feigning their names, let us discuss.

[5] as suspect At the beginning of the first chapter I diligently sought Amphipolis, a city of Italy that occurs, among the Cosmographers; but I did not find a city called by this name, except in Syria and Macedonia. To say, as is noted in the margin of our Manuscript, this city was here in Lombardy, but was for many ages now desolated by the ruins of wars, is to feign something gratuitously: for it would be strange that no mention anywhere should be made of this city among the ancient writers, if indeed it ever existed in the nature of things; especially since, according to the often-mentioned Acts, it ought to have existed about the middle of the fifth century, or somewhat earlier, as will be plain presently from number 7. To these things, not a few circumstances of the martyrdom weaken the trustworthiness of the Acts: such as the heap of torments crowded together almost beyond measure, not to say beyond belief, as you have at number 14; Laodicius the proconsul, wishing to torture the Saints with fire, burned by that same fire together with sixty others, not without a miracle, the Saints being untouched, as is said at number 15; the going forth from prison opened by an Angel, so that it might be free for the Saints to set out into Gaul, number 22; whither they go, having taken to themselves two presbyters Asclepius and Valerius, the writers, if the powers above please, of the Acts, concerning whom above, as you have at number 23.

[6] What? that to no man, even a little skilled in matters of this kind, and stuffed with false things can it appear probable, much less likely, that a pagan Proconsul, named Maximus, accompanied by two hundred soldiers, having left Italy, seeking out the Martyrs, fugitives into Gaul, through whatever places, where for the sake of hospitality they had come, persecuted them, as is set forth at number 27; a ship appearing to them on the shore while they prayed: whence they gave thanks to God, and entering it intrepidly, while the Italians looked on, without sailor and oarsman they came unharmed to the other bank. Add that Maximus the Proconsul, and those who were with him, are written to have emerged swimming from the danger, and pursuing the Saints of God more swiftly, to have seized them upon the river Gartempe, as is related at number 29; with the day, place, etc., added. Not to hunt down each thing; let one for many suffice to overthrow the trustworthiness of the said Acts. At number 31 our holy Champions are related to have consummated the course of martyrdom under the Emperor Marcian, who had directed Maximus the Proconsul to the western parts in persecution of the Christians: who, by divine vengeance also following, as was fitting, lost his life with his spirit. Here are built up two open and absurd falsities. The one, that it makes a most religious Emperor an idolater or pagan, and a persecutor of the Christians, plainly ignorant that of the excellent Emperor's gifts in the administration of the empire, and his immortal merits toward the Apostolic See, and toward the whole Christian commonwealth, as far as it most widely extends, nothing worthy enough can be said; being one who by the Fathers of the Council of Chalcedon was called a new Constantine; see Baronius, year 451. Therefore the second falsity, which is added about the divine vengeance, must necessarily fall of its own accord. And hence it is clear how little trust is to be given to the Acts, obtruding such palpable falsities. The Manuscript Martyrology of the church of Brescia, which we have, also wrongly sets the Martyrs as having suffered under the Emperor Marcian.

[7] Then, with what appearance of truth is it credible that Italy in the middle of the fifth century was subject to the worship of idols, and with things not credible so as to have idolatrous Prefects, and that Brescia and also Amphipolis, a city, as they will have it, once neighboring to it, had gone so far in superstition as to perform sacred rites to Bacchus? Go to numbers 3, 4, and 5. Nor do you solve the difficulty by saying, with Ferrarius in his Annotation: It must be seen whether for Maximianus, Martianus was written. For grant that one was written for another, an error having arisen from the similarity of the words: I ask then, how can Maximianus be combined with St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who died in the year 448 or the next following? to whom the holy Martyrs are referred to have come, as you have at number 25: who with Blessed Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, was at that same time returning from Ireland across the ocean, the sea of the Scots or Britons, the farther island, where he had been directed by the supreme Apostolic of the Roman See to repress the perfidy of the Pelagian heretics. For the times of Maximianus and of the Pelagians are not sufficiently near joined, that they can be put together.

[8] are discussed It would be long to record the dialogues repeatedly

recurring, the continual prayers to God, and the passages of Scripture, with which the Acts are wont to be stuffed and amplified, in which, instead of the primitive, sincere, and genuine truth, there shines forth the oratorical character and the vein of Metaphrastes. These things therefore being weighed in the mature balance of judgment, I leave it to the reader who loves the saints to consider whether the pretended writers of these Acts, or, to speak more truly, some lying compiler of them, and peddler of trifles, do not ineptly say that Asclepius and Valerius were present at the deeds which they describe, and write true things with God as witness; not without an impudence to be noted. It remains therefore that we assert that the Writer of the present Acts borrowed the things which he wrote from elsewhere, not without plagiarism, and applied to the subject matter the things which he judged to suit the holy Martyrs, either all, or at least most, with perhaps also some circumstances of matters added, as his particular affection suggested, accommodated to claiming these Saints for Brescia. And indeed how eloquent a persuader and powerful an orator is love of country, to draw the Saints to itself, who are not owed to it, is too well known, and, by experience as teacher, too well established, to need proof. Recall to memory by how many devices and roundabout ways it was contended in claiming the twelve Saints for Umbria, concerning whom in the preliminary Treatise prefixed to the first volume of this month.

[9] The holy Martyrs do not seem For indeed I am scarcely brought to believe that the holy Savinus and Cyprianus belong to the people of Brescia, since no one of the ancient Martyrologists, that I know of, assigns them to Brescia. We gave the announcements of the Martyrologies at number 1, in which the Saints are simply referred to, the place of their country or arena being concealed. But whence the modern Roman announces them at Brescia is gathered, if I am not mistaken, not obscurely from the Notations of Baronius on the same Roman Martyrology: where he indeed cites the Tables of the church of Brescia, saying that ancient Manuscripts agree with them; but how often the Tables of a particular church are wont to deceive, how aged an antiquity they not rarely feign, no more ancient forsooth than by one or another century, say the fifteenth or sixteenth, will be an argument the things which, against the pretended antiquity of the Acts treating of the Saints of Umbria, are discussed in the said treatise. A similar answer suits Ferrarius, who after the brief compendium which he has of our Saints, asserts that it is taken from the monuments of the church of St. Afra, and from the ancient Martyrologies of the church of Brescia.

[10] to be called of Brescia by country Therefore there is no reason why the people of Brescia should here be angry with us on just grounds: since clearly enough even the Brescian writers themselves indicate their mind here. Patrizio Spini, of Brescia, Canon Regular of St. Salvator, in book 4 of his History of Brescia published in Italian, not daring to attribute them to Brescia, thus speaks: Petrus de Monte, at that time our Bishop, believing that they were our fellow-citizens, ordered their feast to be celebrated by our inhabitants. Others nevertheless contend that these Martyrs were not our fellow-citizens. Then, the decision of this controversy being left in the middle, he says he will bring forward the reasons of those who deny them to Brescia; which he thus carries out: They say therefore that these Saints are not sprung from our city, but from a Transalpine castle, called Bresse, not far from the river Rhône: which is clearly had both from their history and from the new map of France, appended to Ptolemy. Because it is clear that in the very history of the Martyrs mention is made of the Rhône, a Transalpine river, and of other places contiguous to it, and none of ours; although in the said history they are called of Brescia: which they say furthermore happens not from Brescia our city, but from Bresse, a castle, as said, Transalpine: as also the aforesaid Tables demonstrate. And indeed this our Bishop affirmed that these Martyrs were our fellow-citizens. But let your prudent judgment discern what in such a matter ought to be held. Thus far he, indicating sufficiently that he has nothing certain about the present controversy, perhaps even about to express his opinion more roundly against the people of Brescia, if, without offending them, he had dared.

[11] Therefore if the holy Savinus and Cyprianus are not of Brescia by country, or by place of the arena. whence then can they be named of Brescia? Not indeed because Brescia furnished them the place of the arena: which the people of Brescia themselves will not dare to assert, the Acts protesting, and also Faino in the book which is entitled The Heaven of the Church of Brescia, where in the fourth Catalogue, which is on page 337, he indeed places them in St. Afra, Martyrs of Brescia, in Gaul among the Treveri: but afterward in the additions to the Brescian Martyrology published in the year 1665 he corrected this, chiding Ferrarius in the Lives of the Saints of Italy, as wrongly relating that their bodies lie at Brescia at St. Afra's, perhaps from the little Index of the Saints placed at the end of the Brescian Calendar, which was afterward corrected in this part; since in the Gallican Martyrology of Andrew Saussay it is read that they are venerated at the monastery of the House of God in the same town of Confluentium. Who first ascribed these Saints to Brescia, I have not at hand whence to determine. What if the whole reason of the confusion arose from the surname of the castle, commonly called Bresse, concerning which above from Patrizio Spini? Whose name, since it nearly coincides with Brescia, a city of Italy, nay altogether coincides with the name Bresse, by which it is wont to be called by the French; it would be no wonder if hence arose the first cause of drawing the holy Martyrs to this city, altogether similar in name to the castle, whence, according to the aforesaid opinion, they are said to be sprung. Whether therefore that confusion was first introduced by Petrus de Monte, Bishop of Brescia, whom Ughelli sets as having died in the year 1457, admitted by Pope Eugene IV as Bishop of Brescia in the year 1442, and afterward sent as legate into Gaul: concerning whom see the praised Ughelli in the fourth volume of Italia Sacra, columns 554 and 755; whether, I say, that confusion was first introduced by the aforesaid Bishop, or by some other; since the whole history of the Martyrs seems to rest solely on apocryphal and fabulous Acts, it remains that nothing certain seems left to us except only their cult at Brescia in Italy, and at Antigny in Gaul: concerning which last it is established from Castellanus, commemorating them in the Additions to his Roman Martyrology on the day June 14 in these words:

[12] At Antigny (à Antigny) on the Vartimpa (Gartempe) in the district of Poitiers, St. Cyvranus (S. Cyvran) confessor, Their cult: Titular of one abbatial church at Poitiers, where he is called St. Cyprianus, and where he is honored as a martyr and as brother of St. Savinus. In Labbe, at the place to be cited below, page 666, mention is made of the translated body of St. Cyprianus to the city of Poitiers, near which a monastery of the Order of St. Benedict was set up in honor of St. Cyprianus by Froterius, Bishop of Poitiers, in the year of the Lord 936: who gave to that same monastery his castle, named Ludriacum, commonly Luray, with a church dedicated in honor of St. Fercinta, the villa of St. Maxentius near Betinas, as well as his allod, and the church of St. Severinus of Mille. Nor are there more things at hand to be said of them. We indeed waited, as is said in the Supplement of the second volume of the month of June, at the day June 14, for the praised Castellanus to teach us whatever could be known through writing or tradition of the life, age, and cult of St. Cyprianus or Cyranus, having promised in the Supplement of the whole month of June to assign him a worthy place: which, since I do not read it done there, nor learn it done afterward, is a sign that no new notices remain: which if they existed, would without doubt have been sent by the most diligent and untiring investigator and re-digger especially of the Saints of Gaul, praised by us in six hundred places, Claude Castellan. We moved a suspicion above, when we treated of St. Sabinus whom Usuard has, whether a double was not made out of one single one, the title of Martyr being added to one of them: since there is the same name (for Savinus and Sabinus coincide well enough), the same territory of Poitiers, in which they are honored. But since one Savinus is venerated at Poitiers as a Martyr, and the Usuardine Sabinus is asserted to be venerated there as a confessor, and nothing solid occurs from which it can be proved that some confusion has here intervened; I judge that both the Martyr and the Confessor should be left in their own possession, and so the one Saint should be distinguished from the other.

[13] Latin and Italian Acts, and things pertaining thereto. Besides the Latin Acts, to be subjoined next, we have others in Manuscript, expressed in the Italian tongue, of no better meal than the Latin, which is clear of itself, that they are transcribed from the former, even from this alone, that the prayers directed to God by the Saints, and stuffed in various places in the Latin Acts, are inserted into the Italian Acts without even the Latin tongue being changed. Some other things, which pertain here, we have already given beforehand at number 2. Of the same bran are the Manuscript Acts which Father Chifflet sent to us, received from the parish of St. Savinus near Dantesien. In the new Thesaurus of Anecdotes, not long ago published by Edmond Martène, volume 1, column 151, is given the preface of Gausbert the Abbot to the Life of SS. Cyprianus and Sabinus the Martyrs, from a Manuscript, as is noted in the margin, of St. Cyprianus of Poitiers: where I find nothing that deserves to be transcribed hither, except perhaps one thing, which the Author says: At the request, nay the impulse, of the brethren of the monastery of the laurelled Martyr Cyprianus of Poitiers, situated near the walls, we resolved to gather in writings the deeds of the contests of that most illustrious combatant, and of his own brother Savinus, as it were of a more extended narration.

[14] Labbe in volume 2 of the new Library of manuscript books, page 665, exhibits a brief compendium of the Passion from the ancient, as he ascribes them, Legendaries of Limoges; but how it is not of the best stamp, the praised Author observes, writing thus at the end: And hence it is plain that by unskilled writers of the times the Acts of the Martyrs were in most cases either fabricated or at least corrupted. There follows in the same place another compendium of the Passion, of no better stamp, but of nearly the same argument. The same Author observes that these Saints also are mentioned by the Manuscript chronicle of Julius Florus in the year 450 in these words: There flourished at that time Germanus, Savinus, Cyprianus the brothers, Asclepius, Valerius, with others, whose names may there be seen. These things being noted, now receive the Acts themselves.

SUSPECT ACTS.

From the Manuscript Lessons of the proper Office, preserved in the convent of St. Catharine at Brescia.

Savinus, at Brescia in Italy, or at Antigny in Gaul (S.)

Cyprianus, at Brescia in Italy, or at Antigny in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 7447

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE.

Lesson I.

To the most holy Lord of prelates, Asclepius and Valerius the presbyters, Greeting. Holy Father, The trustworthiness of the authors in writing the deeds of these Martyrs: the trophies of the Saints, which are worthy to be imitated and to profit also another age, whoever shall have set them in order, even in a rustic style, to those wishing to merit a reward from God for themselves, he will confer a salutary medicine. It is fitting therefore that we should tell of the victories of the precious Martyrs Savinus and Cyprianus his brother, at which we were present to the very end; for worthy of memory

they are, though we use a plebeian pen; that it may profit the common folk. Of many things a few; but yet, God being witness, we have written most true things. Which we thought worthy to offer to your Holiness: that you who confirmed them by your blessing, may now again publish their contests by your authority ^a.

CHAPTER I.

The Saints' constancy in the faith and their torments.

In the four hundred and fifty-eighth year of the Lord's Incarnation, Laditius and Maximus being consuls in the city of Amphipolis in Italy, in the sixth year, against whom, a sudden tumult of the pagans arose in that same province over the worship of idols: For when almost all sacrificed to the images of idols, yet in the city of Amphipolis ^b they immolated to the image of Dionysius: believing that from him they had received life and help, seduced by a demonic error. There were therefore two brothers, distinguished by the pedigree of their nobility, preeminent in wisdom, sanctity, faith, and chastity, sprung from Brescia ^c, which was neighboring to Amphipolis, namely Savinus and Cyprianus; who daily, for the defense of the faith of the holy Trinity, which they annulled in the idols, set themselves as a wall against all, though girt with lay warfare; preaching the saving path of the Trinity, saying: See, and understand, that they are not gods, which are made with hands: leave the madnesses of idols, and the seduction of demons, and return to the living God, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who created all things out of nothing with the Father, as the Psalmist testifies, saying: For by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power.

[3] opposing themselves to the worship of idols Who at the end of times, taking upon himself the man, mercifully redeemed us. For idols are deaf, and dumb, and vain: which cannot profit themselves, but render their worshippers deaf, dumb, and vain, and lead them to the barriers of hell. For Christ, the only-begotten and firstborn Son of the eternal Father, consubstantial and coeternal, an inaccessible light, illumines our darkness of ignorance and of unbelief. With such, then, and so saving admonitions they did not cease to admonish the people, both in Brescia their home city, and in Amphipolis, which, as we said, was neighboring to Brescia. But the People, envious and contrary to these admonitions, were zealous to sacrifice, in the accustomed manner, at the now aforesaid anniversary feasts of the execrable idol ^d Dionysius, and praised him, dancing and raving before the idol.

[4] the pagans rise up. But in the fifth month from the execrable festivity of the aforesaid Dionysius, Ladicius the Proconsul came to Amphipolis to sacrifice to Dionysius. But on the following day it was announced to him that Savinus and Cyprianus the brothers, who, coming from the city of Brescia, saying that they were soldiers of Christ, were disturbing and seducing the people, bringing new doctrines, and asserting that Christ Jesus, a dead man and crucified, was the true Son of God, true man, and true God, and on this account very many were being disturbed from the worship of idols. Moreover, loving the Proconsul, they besought him: if you grant this to them, that many carry out what they have begun, Lord Proconsul, all will believe in Christ, and will reckon our sacrifices vain, and all the religion of our Dionysius will perish.

Lesson II.

[5] But the Proconsul, exceedingly kindled with fury, sitting before the tribunal in the higher place of the city, interrogated by the Proconsul, ordered the soldiers of Christ, namely holy Savinus and Cyprianus, to be brought to him, and said to them: Tell me: whence are you, and by what names are you called? that, your nobility being first known, the secrets of your magic art may more easily be laid open. For not only do you not sacrifice to Dionysius, but also those who wish to sacrifice to him, seducing them, you turn away, and we know not by what faith or power you do this. St. Savinus answered: You, devoid of truth and of divine power, why do you question us, when you strive to execrate all truth? But first compose the knowledge of your mind, and reconsider, who composed you of soul and body, and you will understand the truth: for I and my brother have learned the sacred letters, in which we find; that the images of the nations are the works of the hands of men, and can neither profit themselves nor help others; and that the patronage which you see abiding in them, will always perish, vain, with them.

[6] and the Martyrs' Ladicius said: I see that in your much speaking you have learned something: but yet you trust in a lie. St. Savinus answered: Our much speaking is true, and that you may recognize the truth, hear more attentively what we say. Truly the Lord promises to his faithful through himself, saying: When you come before kings and governors, do not think how or what you shall speak. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist: and therefore, because we speak of God, our much speaking is not from us, but from God: the gods whom you worship are metals, idols consecrated to demons, deaf, as we said, dumb, and vain. Ladicius said: You will gain your life, if you sacrifice. St. Savinus answered: Our gain is to die in Christ. Then Ladicius, turning to Blessed Cyprianus, said to him: And you, O young man, why do you not sacrifice to my gods? St. Cyprianus answered: I confess to you with my whole heart, that I will not sacrifice to your gods, but I adore my God, Jesus Christ, who sits in the heavens at the right hand of the Father.

[7] Ladicius said: Let them be suspended, and clawed, and beaten from head to heels, their answers to him: and torments; until their bones be laid bare, and so let them teach from themselves that all should not blaspheme the gods, but that sacrifice be made to them humbly. But the soldiers of the Proconsul Ladicius, obeying the impious commands, clawed them: but they, while they were being clawed, gave thanks to Christ, crying out with a loud voice, and saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who reign with the Father without end, and shine forth everywhere as the root of justice, show to us your servants your mercy, and bring endurance of the passion, and give us constancy of soul in the present contest in your holy precepts. But while they said these things, and their feet being now clawed, and grievously tortured, so that by the lictors their flesh was almost ruined to the bones, there were present at this spectacle two Presbyters, namely Asclepius and Valerius, who, seeing the monstrous torments of the Saints, not daring to show openly who they were, long lay hidden.

[8] Meanwhile, however, although the executioners least wished to cease from the tortures, from which loosed the execrable Ladicius nevertheless ordered them, even the Saints being unwilling, to be loosed from the torments. But afterward, with cheerful countenance glorifying God, they were led before the sight of Ladicius, to whom Ladicius said: Now at last sacrifice to Dionysius, that you may be freed from many torments. Blessed Savinus said to him: O fool! Do you think a bronze carving, fashioned by the art of men, to be made a god, motionless without sense? Perpetrator of crime, you will not be able to turn us from the way of truth. Do you not already see that my body is changed by your penalties; and we do not feel your most harsh pains? Indeed your power is empty: for the best God, made by no one, made all things: but your bronze god, whom you worship, made by man, can do nothing, nor did he make anything. Then Ladicius said to Blessed Cyprianus: O you young man Cyprianus, why do you not have mercy on yourself? St. Cyprianus answered: O Ladicius, most shameless of men, why do you not believe, and recognize your God?

[9] Hearing these things, Ladicius ordered a furnace to be kindled with tow [frustra ad idolorum cultum solicitantur; they are vainly urged to the worship of idols;] and fat, so that the flame seemed to ascend to sixty cubits; as once at Babylon the Chaldeans did to burn the boys of God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And so Ladicius, seeing the strong flame of the furnace, ordered the Saints of God to be brought to him, and said to Blessed Savinus: Sacrifice to the god Dionysius. But again he said to him: Savinus, you began in that obstinacy of your mind, and hardness of heart, in that you persevere. A prepared penalty is at hand for you, that you may see, and experience in yourself, in it the great vengeance of our god Dionysius.

ANNOTATIONS.

* Laodicius.

* Let them beat.

CHAPTER II.

The idol overthrown; the Martyrs' constancy vainly assailed with new torments.

Lesson III.

Then the Proconsul, turning, said: Yield, O young man, to my counsels, and you shall be second in my kingdom. St. Cyprianus answered: For we have already told you that we shall by no means sacrifice to your gods, deaf and dumb. If we sacrifice to your gods, we shall utterly lose the souls which were conferred on us by divine precept, with which we ought to reign in the heavens; for we desire in every way more devoutly to lack your kingdom; because that which is mortal will perish together with your gods; for whatever dies eternally, for certain perishes and passes away. But holy Savinus, following up his brother's speech, said to the Proconsul: Do you wish to know most certainly, Proconsul, that he whom you say to be God, is not God, but a carving, made by hand. Ladicius said: Not cursed is the carving and idol, which is composed not by the hand of man, but by the power of God; for the power which dwells in it both receives our sacrifices and confers two things; for it grants us help, and salvation.

[11] prayer being made St. Savinus answered: Do you wish, then, that we approach and sacrifice, that through our sacrifice all the power of Dionysius your god may be manifested openly? Ladicius answered: I wish that you adore and sacrifice and recognize his great power. Entering therefore the temple of God's Saints, in which was the idol, fortified and armed with the sign of the holy cross, by which the devil is conquered, they said: God almighty, who by holding fill all things, and by filling hold them, and govern all things, nor are contained by place: who bound the devil, alien from your truth, in the abyss of eternal fire, and established the holy Angels, fearing the greatness of your power, lest in any way they could anywhere fall, in the perpetual brightness of your light; who at Babylon, through the prudence of Daniel, laying bare its vanity, revealed the secret idol of Bel; who through the same Daniel typically disclosed the King's dream; who plunged the blinded fury of Pharaoh into the depth of the sea; who heard your servant Moses praying, and through the rod, the sign of your command, brought forth a fountain of waters from the rock.

[12] You who are, who were, and who are believed to come to the last judgment, rebuking it eternal King, we beseech you, come invoked to our help, and show the light of justice to those who deem your truth a lie,

that they may recognize your truth, and know that you are he who lives forever, and are everywhere present eternal; through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ wipe away the error of the mist which men suffer in this idol, and wipe it clean.

[13] But when they had said these things, turning themselves against the idol, and they overthrow it; they cried out with a loud voice: Fruitless, blind, empty, dumb, deaf Dionysius, we adjure you by the great and glorious name of Christ, who dwells on high, reigning everywhere, that you fall from the throne on which you appear set, and be prostrated to the ground: so that through this men may recognize what and how great an error lies hidden within you. And immediately there was an earthquake, and the idol fell, which had been carved in honor of Father Liber, Bacchus, that is Dionysius; and it was turned to dust, so that all the unbelievers who were present fled, and terrified, marveled at what had been done. Then Blessed Savinus said to Ladicius: Behold your idol, which was drowning in the error of unbelief men (who were created by God) naturally desiring to live in the sincerity of their mind; because it is earthly, it has fallen to the earth. Come down now, and gather its dust, that even now you may know in how great a darkness of ignorance you were before immersed.

[14] But Ladicius, saddened on account of the statue of Dionysius rooted up, therefore they are put into the furnace, ordered them to enter the furnace of burning fire which he had prepared. But when the brothers St. Savinus and Cyprianus had entered the furnace of burning fire, in the midst of them a third was seen, whose face, surpassing the brightness of the sun, by its own splendor obscured the splendor of all the flames. But set in the midst of the furnace as in verdant grass, with one mouth they said: We give you thanks, Lord God of our fathers, who deign to remember us, that the Proconsul may know that they are not gods which are made with hands, and that you are powerful to snatch us from the furnace of burning fire, and that those who stand by may know that you are the true God dwelling in the heavens, and reigning through the ages.

[15] But while they had finished these words, immediately the overflowing flame of the furnace seized Ladicius the Proconsul, the flame burning the tyrant with his men, and not touching the Martyrs. and those unbelieving men who stood with him, about sixty [*], and so utterly burned them that their bodies could by no means be gathered up again, since the wrath of God had consumed them. And when this had been done, all round about were terrified, and seeing the Saints of God come out of the furnace unharmed, so that not even the smell of fire touched their garments, they praised and magnified the Lord in common, saying: Now we know that great is the God whom the Saints Savinus and his brother Cyprianus preach; who snatched them from the furnace of burning fire. But a certain prince, Thelarius, kindled with the heat of fury, ordered them to be thrust back into prison.

[16] After therefore twenty-six days came a Proconsul, named Maximus, they are set before the Proconsul Maximus: and hearing from the soldiers of Ladicius who had escaped from the flame the things which had been done through the prayers of the blessed Men, and learning the destruction of Ladicius the Proconsul, he was very indignant. On the next day he took counsel with his soldiers, that he might destroy them. For the Saints were thrust into prison, magnifying and glorifying God. Then after three days of his arrival Maximus the Proconsul came to destroy them, and sitting on the judicial throne, in the place which is called Forum, ordered the Saints of God to be shown to him, and the Proconsul said to Blessed Savinus: Tell me, you who are both older in age and taller in bodily size, by what name are you reckoned? (for Blessed Savinus was tall of stature, terrible to look upon, of a comely and most keen face, of decent body, and most kindly of mind.)

[17] interrogated by whom, vainly terrified with threats; St. Savinus answered: If you wish to know my name and myself; first know that my father, named Magnus, and my mother Tacia, having me, called me Savinus, and thus reared by them I grew, nourished thus, and from the very cradle, in sacred letters, as a most dear son, instructed. Then Maximus said to Blessed Cyprianus: And you, by what name are you called? Who answered: I am called Cyprianus: for we are brothers, begotten of one father and of one mother. Hearing these things, the Proconsul said: Of what family did you say you were in life? St. Cyprianus said: It has already been told you; that our father Magnus, thrice consul, of the sacred and magnificent city of Brescia, carrying out the consulate in the prefectorial dignity. But our mother likewise was sprung of consular rank from her mother Logadia. To these things Maximus said: Take note then, that you are brothers of distinguished lineage: nevertheless, if you do not adore the god Apollo, you are both to be punished with diverse penalties and torments: for I will present you to be devoured by wild beasts.

Lesson IV.

[18] Then Blessed Savinus said to him: We do not fear your threats. Again the Proconsul said to them: they despise the idol. Why did you not fear to break in pieces the great god Dionysius? For you broke in pieces the image of the god Dionysius: and moreover you emptied out the custom of sacrifices. St. Savinus answered: We did not break in pieces the idol of Dionysius, nor consume with fire the Proconsul, the friend of the Emperor; nor did we empty out the sacrifices of the idols; but Christ, triumphing in his Saints, who snatched us unharmed from the furnace of fire, through the prayers of his servants reduced to nothing the enemies of truth. Again the Proconsul began to soothe Savinus with a coaxing voice, saying: Savinus, why do you not adore Apollo, who nourishes all things? That you may live, I exhort you. St. Savinus answered: And you, O Maximus, why do you not believe, and adore your Lord, who on the fourth day created the Sun and the moon, and made you? Then Maximus said to Cyprianus: Forget, at least you, your folly, O young man, and approach, that you may sacrifice to the god Apollo, lest you be most wretchedly tortured, and perish. St. Cyprianus answered: For I shall depart badly, if I forget the kindness and protection of my God, and cling to those who are not gods. Then Blessed Savinus said: O unbeliever, do you think to seduce him for this reason, that you see him in his younger years? I assert to you for him, that my brother will not adore your lord, unless I adore him first. Do not rave, Maximus, and do not recall the malice of the former consuls.

[19] The Proconsul said: And do not you trust in your magic arts, they wish to bring the tyrant back to reason; but act after the manner of the wise ancients, and patiently sacrifice to the god Apollo. St. Savinus said: Do you not rather rave, Proconsul, through the art of the devil, when you order us to adore that which can neither move itself, nor feel? Do not recall the uncircumcised mind of Ladicius, lost through the exasperation of his most atrocious mind. But attend to the perfection of God, which you abundantly recognize was wrought upon us, and you will escape the penalties of those whom you knew to be lost in the fire, and henceforth beware lest you be badly punished, when you go out of this life, in torments. But Maximus, hearing these things, again carried away in fury, ordered them to be stretched upon wheels and bound, so that while the wheels were turned, their bodies might be cut apart. But St. Savinus, stretched on the wheel, said: How sweet is your love, Lord, who do not even reject the malicious minds of men; but forthwith admit them to fullness. May your immense mercy grant, that through the torments of the wheels, which we endure in the flesh, we may deserve to come to the remedies of our souls, and may our reward be laid up before you in heaven.

[20] Then he said to the Proconsul: Hasten, Proconsul, but he, driven into rage, condemns them to new torments. lead us through this triumph of martyrdom, always desirable to us, to the fellowship of the Angels above. Carry out the will of your father the devil: for to us to live is Christ, but gain is to die in his confession. But the executioners, turning the wheels, thought that they could divide their limbs; but the pains had by no means prevailed in the limbs of the Saints, as they thought. But St. Savinus, still set in the contest, turned to the Lord, said: Almighty Christ, bestower of the chaste mind, our helper, and deliverer, and redeemer, we give you thanks, and we pray that you deign to receive us, bound on the wood, from the wood: Give us constancy to contend against the devil; for you are God, who alone know sound minds, lest the shameless mind of the Proconsul prevail against us; for great is your name to those who fear you. When he had said these things, immediately the wheels were loosed, and the Saints of God likewise escaped unharmed.

* Elsewhere one hundred and sixty.

CHAPTER III.

Liberation from prison; departure into Gaul; a dead man restored to life; the blind given sight; the conversion of very many; martyrdom.

Lesson V.

But while very many marveled at the endurance of so great a passion of theirs, and praised Christ, Maximus the Proconsul was most bitterly grieved, the holy Martyrs because he could not conquer them, considering himself conquered by them, and ordered them to be shut up again in prison. Finally after three days he ordered them to be shown to him from prison, and commanded that they be set before the amphitheater, where the beasts lay. Now there was a lioness of wondrous size shut in a den in one part of the amphitheater, and in the other part two lions, which were ordered to be kept for three days and nights without food, that, raging with hunger, they might the more quickly devour the Saints of God. But being led before the amphitheater, Maximus sitting before the tribunal, at the gate of the city of Amphipolis before all the people of that same city, they were ordered to enter the amphitheater, who with tranquil mind and cheerful countenance, with the utmost speed, as being unharmed, going of their own accord to the palm, entered the amphitheater.

[21] they are cast to the beasts; which lick the feet of the Saints: Then the Proconsul said: Do you not see with how glad a countenance those men run to death? at which also all the others who were present marveled. And so two hunters, masters of the beasts, silence being made, first released the lioness to devour the Saints of God; which, being released, roaring vehemently, disturbed by exceeding hunger, as if about to seize the prey which she desired, came forth from the den with great impetus, and looking upon the Saints of God, all her ferocity lost, fell at the footsteps of the Saints, and rejoiced that by the coaxing of her tail she had laid aside all her fury of hunger. And drawing near, for almost one hour she did not cease to lick the sweat of the feet of the Saints. But the masters of the lions, seeing that she by no means presumed to attack them, after the lioness released two lions likewise fasting, worn out with hunger for three days, which, gentler even than sheep, prostrate on the ground, did not cease to lick the sweat of the feet of the Saints in the same manner as the lioness.

[22] likewise they are divinely freed from prison; The masters of the beasts, therefore, understanding that they were in no way harmed either by the lioness or by the lions, began to recall the lions themselves, and exhorted them to withdraw into their cages. But they, having adored the Saints, and likewise

resting quietly, at the voices of the hunters, still fasting, sought again their dens. And the crowds of bystanders, beholding this with watchful gaze, raving after the manner of the common folk, cried out with confused voices, saying: If these evildoers and magicians, enchanters of beasts, are not killed, not only the gods whom the world worships, but also our whole province will perish. And they said to the Proconsul: Order them to be shut up again in prison, that they may be kept there so long until they fail from hunger. And so he ordered them again to be cast into prison, commanding the masons that they should bar the door of the prison with indissoluble lime: who, receiving the commands, they being shut in the prison, blocked the door with a wall. Therefore when for three days and nights they had fasted from temporal food, but had been refreshed with the food of the Holy Spirit, as they besought God in the prison, immediately an Angel appeared to them, and exhorting them said: Go out secure from the prison, and go together into the parts of Gaul, where you shall receive from the Lord the joy of eternal rest, which you have merited. And soon the wall, divided to the right and to the left, opened a passage to those going out.

[23] and they go into Gaul; Therefore St. Savinus and St. Cyprianus went out at the beginning of the Kalends of June, at the command and wish of the Angel, from the prison, having summoned the two presbyters, namely Asclepius and Valerius; they set out into the parts of Gaul. And the aforenamed two presbyters followed them; that they might imitate not so much their long journeys, as also their passions. And so coming to the Cisalpine Pennine Alps, upon the rapid river Rhône, for the sake of refreshment, after the manner of travelers, they sat down. Finally so great a fame of virtues and miracles excelled the Saints of God, that from villages, and towns, cities, and hamlets, to seek out and see them, from all sides always a huge multitude of men ran together. Whence it happened that a certain woman, Emixenia by name, still a pagan, whose only son had a little before died, snatching up the dead body, mingled with the crowds, came to the bank of the Rhône, where by the indulgence of their bodies the Saints had sat down: and prostrated at their feet, she began to cry out with immense weepings, and to say: We know that you too are friends of the Most High God, and that by your prayers you have obtained many things from him. Let us beseech, I entreat, for the only son of all my hope, my son. If you restore him to me by your prayers; I will dedicate him, and myself, to the true God. And the rest of the multitude of men prostrated themselves on the ground, and waited that they might have mercy on the weepings of the woman.

[24] The most blessed Savinus therefore, moved by the most tender weepings of the woman and of the crowds, [where Savinus, having prayed to God, restored the only dead son alive to his mother.] making a word to the people, that they should seek the Lord Jesus with their whole heart, prostrate on the ground, prayed for a little while, saying: You, best God, who by your omnipotence established heaven and earth, and singularly adorned heaven with stars, and adorned the earth for the glory of your name for men, I beseech your immense clemency, raise up this dead man, and through this your miracle in this province may a great people be heaped up for you, which runs through the byways of errors. Saying these things, he raised himself, and turned to the face of the dead man, and taking his right hand, lifted him up, and gave back the only son, made alive, to his mother: who immediately, having obtained baptism with the boy, followed the Lord Jesus with happy devotion, as she had promised, and with greater affection: for the Lord conferred so great a grace on his servants, that through their prayers, in the sight of all who were present, three blind from birth were there given sight, and two lame were made to stand up.

[25] These things being thus accomplished, the Lord granting, lest they should long delay concerning the command and the announced order of the Lord through the Angel, they set out to St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, carrying out the journey begun, passing by Lyon, at last traversing farther Burgundy, they came to the city of Auxerre, greatly desiring to see the most blessed Bishop Germanus. Now at that time there was in that same city the most glorious Prelate Germanus, who with Blessed Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, was at that same time returning from Ireland across the ocean, the sea of the Scots, or the farther island of the Britons, where he had been directed by the supreme Apostolic of the Roman See to repress the perfidy of the Pelagian Heretics. By the providence of God therefore, while they sought him, meeting him on the way, they related the whole contest of their combat, which they had endured from Ladicius. Who, having comforted them, that they should remain in the purpose which they had promised the Lord by their vow, wished to keep the most blessed Savinus with himself; whom, when he could not bend him to this, he besought his brother Cyprianus, that he should persevere with him.

[26] thence toward Tours: But Blessed Savinus, reckoning that it would be more happily to obey the commands of the Lord than of man alone, more familiarly disclosed to Blessed Germanus how he had been admonished by the Lord through the Angel to make for the parts of Gaul. Then Blessed Germanus, acquiescing in their wishes, set out with them for almost three miles, and, having sanctified them with his happy blessings, returned. But they, on all sides strengthened by the most blessed Germanus, and confirmed by his blessings, and filled with the Holy Spirit, carried out the way which they had begun. And having crossed the river Loire, they came into the farther part of the district of Tours.

[27] thence again elsewhere; Therefore the most unhappy Proconsul Maximus, learning that they had marvelously gone out of prison, and that, as fame spread, they were making for the parts of Gaul, and also recalling the destruction of Dionysius his god, and touched with inward grief, namely for the extinction of his kinsman Ladicius the Proconsul, swore by the execrable deities of his gods; that he would judge them, and that he would never return to the parts of Amphipolis, unless first the Saints of God were beheaded by him. With two hundred armed men therefore, searching through whatever places, where for the sake of hospitality they had come, he persecuted them: For now the aforesaid two brothers with those two Presbyters had come into the district of the Pictones, namely to the place which was called Confluentum ^c, where the river Gartempe flows down into the river Chorosa [*], but now that place is named Exuentium, where, weary with long fatigue, they had rested not far from that same place of the confluent rivers, namely by only one mile.

[28] the Proconsul Maximus pursuing them into Gaul: A third river, called Ingla [d], flows into the Gartempe above, to which, coming from the aforesaid place in which they had indulged in rest, they saw the Proconsul Maximus coming with two hundred Italian satellites pursuing them ^e. But Blessed Savinus and Cyprianus his brother, having recognized their enemies, that they might be able to cross the rivers, suddenly [*] on the ground, besought the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who freed the children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, and led them through the midst of the dry sea, give us help to cross these rivers, that we may deserve to be snatched from these enemies, and come to the places whither you commanded us to come. But when they had prayed these things more strongly, rising from prayer, a new ship appeared against them on the shore, whence they gave thanks to God, and entering it intrepidly, while the Italians looked on, without sailor and oarsman they came unharmed to the other bank.

[29] seized by whom, they are tortured: but Savinus, while he frees a demoniac, But Maximus the Proconsul, and those who were with him, emerged swimming from the danger, and pursuing the Saints of God more swiftly, seized them upon the river Gartempe ^f on the eighth day before the Kalends of June, in the place, or villa, to which ancient antiquity had given the name Cirescus [*], namely one mile from the villa or village of Antigny. But having seized them, they led them into one island of that river opposite the estate which is called Psellis ^g, where they afflicted them with diverse torments. But it happened, while they were being tortured, that a certain demoniac, whom a wicked Spirit had invaded, was present, raving. Maximus therefore said to St. Savinus: Savinus, why do you not work the miracles which you were working in Ausonia, that you may cast out in the name of your Jesus Christ the demon who inhabits this man, and cruelly wounds him? Then St. Savinus, lifting his eyes a little to heaven, said: In the name of Christ crucified, whom I preach, and have preached, and whom I faithfully adore, and always have adored, whom I desire, and for whose name I long to die, I command you, unclean Spirit, go out from this man, who was made in the likeness of God, and do not further presume to invade him. And soon the wicked spirit, going out, left the man whole, but the place most filthy with stench, who immediately, obtaining baptism, departed whole.

[30] But the companions of Maximus, seeing this, immediately with most ready devotion came to the faith, [the companions of the Proconsul Maximus are baptized; but he himself is beheaded together with the said companions.] and humbly before all besought Blessed Savinus that they might be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When therefore Blessed Savinus was intent on baptizing these, he was beheaded by Maximus the Governor on the fifth day before the Ides of July, and those very men who besought to be baptized, ten men, were likewise beheaded by their fellow-soldiers: nor is there doubt that they were baptized in their own blood, who faithfully sought the baptism of redemption in the name of the holy Trinity. The rest therefore, holding blessed Cyprianus, and the two Presbyters Asclepius and Valerius, led them across the river into the village which is called Antigny. But the two Presbyters, that same night snatched from their hands, namely Asclepius and Valerius, came by night to the body of Blessed Savinus the Martyr, and transported it from the island where it lay, which was opposite the villa Prosellis [*], to the mountain which was called At the Three Cypresses ^h, where there had once been a church, built in time of peace, in honor of St. Vincent the martyr, but which then appeared deserted by the Vandal persecution. There therefore they buried the most glorious body of St. Savinus.

[31] But the most blessed Cyprianus the Martyr, held by diverse penalties Martyrdom of St. Savinus, the penalty of his adversaries. and exquisite torments, in the aforementioned villa and village of Antigny, by capital sentence on the day before the Ides of July put off the man, and thus, victor and Martyr, migrated to Christ, and came happily to the palm under the emperor Marcian ⁱ, who had directed this Proconsul to the western parts in persecution of the Christians, who, by divine vengeance also following, as was fitting, lost his life with his spirit. To whom Leo succeeded in the greater rule, but Maximus the Proconsul himself, and whoever had remained with him of his army, snatched by demons, some raving gave themselves to the rivers, some to the groves and forests, others pierced themselves through with their own swords; and so it came to pass that neither Maximus himself, nor of his retinue did even one remain, who returned into the part of Hesperia. But the places which St. Savinus and his brother Cyprianus, the Lord commanding, sought out, and which, the Lord granting, they consecrated with their own bodies, the Lord now, to the glory of his name, through the intercession of the same Martyrs adorns with most frequent miracles, in which the blind receive sight, the lame and the paralytic their gait, the demoniac cleansing, and those diseased with diverse infirmities receive health. For the sick in heart, and the ailing in body, are cleansed, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, who is always glorified in his

Saints, and lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

d. Commonly l'Anglin.

* byways.

* Crosa, commonly the Creuse.

* on bended knees.

* Labbe: Cercheus.

* Psellis.