Alexandrian Martyrs

ON THE HOLY ALEXANDRIAN MARTYRS

ANTIOCHUS, MARIUS, DAGIONUS, MENESIDEUS, NAMOR, MAMMARUS, PETER, AND GUMMUS.

From the Hieronymian Martyrologies.

Antiochus, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Marius, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Dagionus, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Menesideus, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Namor, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Mammarus, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Peter, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

Gummus, Martyr at Alexandria (S.)

J. B. S.

Purely Hieronymian is the proposed class of Martyrs, with this sole difference, that the Corbie exhibits some names more corrupt, as Anthioti for Antiochi, which the Epternach expresses as Antioci; we have followed the reading of Lucca. The aforesaid Corbie has Dagiona, Numoris, and confounds the last two names into one, Petrigummi. In the Epternach it is Menesidie, in the Lucca Gumni: but in the Blumian a somewhat greater variation through the joining and dividing of the names. For the rest, all the major codices agree well enough in the number, which in the minor ones is contracted to two or three, as is clear from those which were edited by us in Volume VII of June. Notker, following some one of these, wrote: At Alexandria, the birthday of the holy Martyrs Mammarius, Peter, and others: but Castellanus chose one out of all, Menesideus, whom on this day he would place in his third class: At Alexandria, of the holy martyrs Menesideus and others, whom doubtless he received from Florentinius.

ON ST. HERACLIUS THE MARTYR.

Cult among the Greeks.

Heraclius, Martyr, among the Greeks (S.)

J. P.

As certainly as this holy Martyr is unknown in most Synaxaria, so expressly is he marked in the Menaeon of Chifflet. These things are in the Sirmond-Chifflet Supplement to the printed Menaea: Ὁ ἅγιος Ἡράκλειος ἐπίσκοπος ῥοπάλοις τυπτόμενος τελ. St. Heraclius the Bishop, beaten with clubs, consummates his martyrdom. Τὰς ἐκ ῥοπάλων Ἡράκλειος αἰκίας Ὡς Ἡρακλῆς ῥόπαλον αὐχήσει τάχα. Heraclius, while he suffers the blows of clubs, soon bears off triumphs, as Hercules bore the club. There is an allusion to Heraclius and Hercules, and again to τὸ ῥόπαλον, which in the first verse signifies the club or cudgel by which St. Heraclius was slain; but in the second denotes the club of Hercules.

ON ST. PETER, BISHOP OF CRETE.

Cult among the Greeks.

Peter, Bishop of Crete, among the Greeks (S.)

J. P.

The Menaeon of Chifflet has this holy Bishop; as also the Supplement to the printed Menaea, most well known from the preceding days, which announces him in these words: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος ἐπίσκοπος Κρήτης ὁ νέος, τοὺς πόδας ἐκκοπεὶς τελ. On the same day (July 14) holy Peter, the younger Bishop of Crete, his feet being cut off, undergoes martyrdom. From the appended "Sirm." I gather that these were taken from the Synaxarion of Sirmond. Their triumph is applauded with those verses, which from the Greek sound thus in Latin: Ἀπροσκόπως ἔχοντα τὸν θεῖον Πέτρον Ἐζημίωσαν τῶν ποδῶν ἀφαιρέσει. The Saint who gave scandal to no one, Peter, is punished by the cutting off of his feet. So far as I attain the sense of the poet, he seems to allude to that Gospel saying: But if your hand or your foot scandalizes you, cut it off, and cast it from you. Matthew 18. Since the feet of the holy Martyr gave no scandal, it signifies that he was undeservedly mutilated in his feet.

ON SS. AQUILA AND HILARIUS, MARTYRS.

Notice from the Greek Synaxaria.

Aquila, Martyr, among the Greeks (S.)

Hilarius, Martyr, among the Greeks (S.)

J. P.

These two holy Martyrs, Aquila and Hilarion, or Hilarius, are marked in the Turin codex β, in the Menaeon of Chifflet, and in the Supplement elsewhere mentioned several times, from which we learn that they λιθοβοληθέντες τελ., being attacked with stones, consummated their martyrdom: which kind of death the verses also clearly express, appended in the same place: which, rendered into Latin after our usual manner, it has pleased us to transcribe here. They sound thus: Τὸν Ἱλάριον, καὶ τὸν Ἄκυλαν λίθοις Ἄνδρες πλάνοι κτείνουσιν, οἷς θειοὶ λίθος. Aquila and Hilarius the crafty men slay, with a shower of stones; who worship stones for gods. These Saints, moreover, are recorded by the Mazarine Menaeon, singing the same verses which I just mentioned.