Lucillianus the Elder; Claudius

ON THE HOLY LUCILLIANUS THE ELDER; CLAUDIUS, HYPATIUS,

PAULUS, DIONYSIUS, BOYS; AND THE HOLY VIRGIN PAULA OR PAULINA;

MARTYRS AT BYZANTIUM IN THRACE.

About CCLXXIII

PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.

Memory in many Fasti, especially of the Greeks.

Lucillianus the Elder, Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

Claudius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

Hypatius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

Paulus, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

Dionysius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

Paula, or Paulina Virgin Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR C. J.

[1] Aurelian took up the reins of the Roman Empire in the common year CCLXX, and held them until the year CCLXXV, stirring up meanwhile against the Christians a persecution, which St. Augustine calls the ninth. In this, through Gaul indeed the confession of Christian faith they subscribed with their blood SS. Reverianus the Bishop, Under Aurelian suffered SS. Lucillianus and Companions, Paulus the Presbyter and ten Companions; of whom we treated on the I of this month: but at Byzantium in Thrace, an admirable martyrdom suffered on this III day, SS. Lucillianus (who by others is called Lucianus) Claudius, Hypatius, Paulus, Dionysius and Paula. Of these Lucillianus, when in advanced age from a little priest of idols he had become a Christian; seized, tortured, and cast into prison, found there four boys likewise Christians, just named, comforted them, led them with himself to the palm of martyrdom and to heaven. Finally Paula (who also is Paulina) when she had cared for the wounds of these Martyrs, in place of recompense was herself also seized, variously tortured, and at length killed, and after them flew up as a Martyr to the eternal glory of heaven.

[2] The memory of these same Martyrs is celebrated, especially among the Greeks, they are celebrated in the Menologium of Basil the Emperor, is observed today; and first indeed in the Ms. Menologium of Basil the Emperor, written easily seven hundred years ago; which has thus:

Λουκιλλιανὸς, ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς, ἦν μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλείας Αὐρηλιανοῦ· πρότερον ἱερεὺς τῶν εἰδώλων ὑπάρχων ἐν τῇ πόλει Νικομηδείας, γηραιὸς τὴν ἡλικίαν· μετατεθεὶς δὲ πρὸς τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν, ἐκρατήθη καὶ παρεδόθη Σιλβανῷ τῷ Κόμητι· καὶ μὴ πεισθεὶς ἀρνήσασθαι τὸν Χριστὸν, συνετρίβη λίθοις τὸ πρόσωπον· καὶ τυφθεὶς ῥαβδίοις, ἐκρεμάσθη κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἐπὶ ξύλου· εἶτα βληθεὶς εἰς φυλακὴν, εὗρεν ἐκεῖ παιδία τέσσαρα, διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν ἀποκλεισθέντα, Κλαύδιον, Ὑπάτιον, Παῦλον καὶ Διονύσιον· καὶ περιχαρὴς γενόμενος, ἐστήριζεν αὐτὰ πρὸς τὴν πίστιν· καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτῶν τῷ Κόμητι αὖθις παραστὰς, καὶ μὴ πεισθεὶς ἀρνήσασθαι τὸν Χριστὸν, ἐνεβλήθη εἰς κάμινον πυρός· καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἀβλαβὴς, ἤχθη δέσμιος μετὰ τῶν παιδίων εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον· καὶ τὰ μὲν παιδία ἀπεκεφαλίσθησαν, αὐτὸς δὲ σταυρῷ προσηλωθεὶς, ἐτελειώθη.

[3] Lucillianus, the martyr of Christ, under the Emperor

having suffered under Aurelian, had previously been a Priest of the idols at Nicomedia; but thereafter, being already advanced in age, he converted himself to the faith of Christ, and was seized and handed over to the Count Silvanus: and when he could not be brought to deny Christ, his face being bruised with stones, beaten with rods, he was hung from a beam by the head: then cast into prison, he found four boys, shut up there for the cause of the Christian faith — Claudius, Hypatius, Paulus, and Dionysius; whom, suffused with joy, he confirmed in the faith, and had as companions when he was presented anew to the Count: by whom, having vainly attempted to persuade him to deny Christ, he was cast into a furnace of fire, and having gone forth thence without harm, was led bound, together with the boys, to Byzantium: where the boys indeed were beheaded, but he himself, fixed upon a cross, ceased to live.

[4] These things the Menology of Basil reports; to which is straightway subjoined the encomium of S. Paula, as also S. Paula, Virgin Martyr, though with this new title interposed (Καὶ ἄθλησις τῆς ἁγίας μάρτυρος Παύλης τῆς παρθένου. And the contest of the holy martyr Paula the Virgin), against which the Menæa make, which, joining the name of Paula with the names of Lucillianus and the boys, continue the text of both encomia without interruption. Thus then is read of Paula in the aforementioned Menology:

Ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μάρτυς Παῦλα, συμπαροῦσα τῇ ἀθλήσει καὶ τοῖς ἀγωνίσμασι τῶν ἁγίων Λουκιλλιανοῦ καὶ τῶν παίδων, κατά τε τὴν φυλακὴν καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν, ἀπεσπόγγιζε τὰ ἅγματα καὶ τῶν τραυμάτων τὰ ἕλκη, θεραπεύουσα κατὰ δύναμιν τῶν Ἁγίων τὰ σώματα· ἦν γὰρ ἐκ προγόνων Χριστιανὴ, καὶ τοῦτο ἔργον ἦν αὐτῇ, τὸ ἐπισκέπτεσθαι τοὺς ἐν φυλακαῖς, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυροῦντας θεραπεύειν καὶ διατρέφειν· διὰ ταῦτα οὖν κρατηθεῖσα, ἤχθη καὶ αὐτὴ πρὸς τὸν Κόμητα Σιλβανόν· καὶ μὴ πεισθεῖσα θῦσαι τοῖς εἰδώλοις, ἐτύφθη σφοδρῶς· καὶ ταῖς ἐπιφοραῖς τῶν ῥάβδων τὸ σῶμα διαλυθεῖσα, ἐπιστασίᾳ Ἀγγέλου ἐγένετο ὑγιής· καὶ πάλιν προσαχθεῖσα τῷ Κόμητι, εἰς κάμινον ἐνεβλήθη πυρός· καὶ ἐξελθοῦσα ἀβλαβὴς, ἐπέμφθη καὶ αὐτὴ εἰς τὸ Βυζάντιον, καὶ ἀπεκεφαλείσθη ἔνθα καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Λουκιλλιανός.

[5] Paula, Martyr of Christ, when she was present at the contest and the strivings of the Saints Lucillianus and the Boys, both in prison and along the way, with a sponge wiped away their blood, and cleansed their wounds from pus; and thus to the utmost of her strength she cared for the bodies of the Saints. For she was born of Christian and faithful parents, intent chiefly on this: to visit those detained in prison, and to heal and feed those undergoing martyrdom for the name of Christ. Wherefore she was apprehended, and she also was led to the Count Silvanus: and when she could not be brought to sacrifice to the idols, cruelly beaten and torn over her whole body with the lashes of the rods, by the cure of an Angel, who showed himself visibly, she recovered her health. Then led back to the Count, she was cast into a burning furnace, from which she went forth unharmed: then she also being sent to Byzantium, her head cut off, she died a Martyr, in the same place as S. Lucillianus. Very little from these things differs what is read concerning the said Martyrs in the great printed Greek Menæa, as also in the Ms. Synaxarium of the Church of Constantinople, which is perhaps older than the Basilian Menology, and is preserved in the Parisian College of the Society of Jesus; except that they add that S. Lucillianus had his dwelling not far from the city of Nicomedia; that the boys (whom the Menæa place at only three) were cast with the holy old man into a furnace of fire, and that the flames were extinguished by a shower coming on.

[6] In the encomium of S. Paula the aforementioned Menæa and Synaxarium add scarcely more: yet because no mention is made of her in the laudatory Acts which we shall presently give, it is well here to set forth the entire text of the Synaxarium, at least in Latin; which runs thus. But the holy virgin Paula, who was present, along the way tended their wounds, and after their martyrdom was completed gathered the Relics. For she had drawn the Christian faith from her parents, and rejoiced to exercise herself by going to prisons, by warming, by treating, by nourishing those suffering for the name of Christ. Hence she herself also being apprehended, and led to the Count, when she would not sacrifice to the idols, stripped of her garments, she is beaten first with thongs, then with rods: and after she had been cruelly wounded and torn by repeated beatings and multiplied blows, by an Angel visiting her she was restored to her former health, and was encouraged to undergo martyrdom. After these things she is again set before the Count, to whom because she had dared to reproach his cruelty, her mouth is heavily bruised, and she is returned to custody: from which then dragged forth once more to the trial, and cast into a furnace, she came forth thence whole and inviolate. At length, sentence having been pronounced, she was condemned to death; and carried off to Byzantium, as the Count had ordered, which adduces two churches unknown to Du Cange, in the same place where S. Lucillianus with the boys had finished his contest, she also, her neck severed, bore off the palm of martyrdom. Now the feast of these (namely of Lucillianus, the four Boys, and Paula) is celebrated in their most sacred temple, which is not far from the shrine of the Archistrategos Michael in Oxea.

[7] Neither of those shrines is known to the most learned Du Cange in his Christian Constantinople. Wherefore, for the sake of those who are devoted to Byzantine antiquities, it pleases me here to set forth the Greek text itself, containing them, from the printed Menæa, since the Synaxarium is not at hand, that I may be able now to set them forth from it. The Menæa, then, say: Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτῶν σύναξις ἐν τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ αὐτῶν μαρτυρίῳ, τῷ ὄντι πλησίον τοῦ Ἀρχαγγέλου Μιχαὴλ, ἐν τῇ Ὀξείᾳ. A Ms. Codex of the Ambrosian Library in quarto, marked I, num. 364, exhibits a similar eulogy of S. Paula (whom it calls Paulina), apart from the clause just mentioned about the churches. The Chiffletian Ms. Codex, following nearly the same things as the printed Menæa, subjoins these verses, such as they are:

Σταυρῷ ἀμφὶ τρίτην Λουκιανὸν θανάτωσαν, Οὐχ ὡς ὁ Χριστοῦ καὶ τίτλον φέρων ἄνω;

The third cross slew Lucillianus, / not bearing also above the title of Christ?

Οὐκ ἄξια πρὸς μέλλον, ὡς Παῦλος, κλέος / Τὰ νῦν πάθη φάσκουσα, τέμνεται Παῦλα.

"The sufferings here are nothing to the glory to come," / says Paula, as Paul did, and falls by the sword.

Τοὺς παιδαρίσκους, ὧν ἀριθμὸς δὶς δύο, / Θεοῦ πατρὸς τίθησιν υἱοὺς ἡ σπάθη.

The boys, twice two in number, sons of God the Father / the dread edge of the sword makes them.

[8] The preceding encomia, but more contracted, may also be read in the Menology of the Greeks of Jacobus Sirletus, and cited from it in the Roman Martyrology. as also Sirletus, Like to the great printed Menæa are those things which are had in Maximus Bishop of Cythera in his Lives of the Saints: for in both places only three Boys are numbered, Claudius being omitted, and they are said to have suffered under Libanius the Prefect; who in others is called Silvanus the Count. The Horologium of Crypta-Ferrata, The new Anthology, published at Rome by the authority of Clement VIII, has of S. Lucillianus and the Boys those things almost which we have already given above, but mentions nothing concerning S. Paula or her eulogy. The Horologium, according to the ancient order and Typicum of the monastery of Crypta-Ferrata, printed at Rome in the year 1677, in the Menology joined to it has on the III of June nothing other than τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Λουκιλλιανοῦ, Of the Holy Martyr Lucillianus. Molanus, Galesinius, Of the same Molanus makes mention; of the same and his Companions, Galesinius. The contest of S. Lucillianus and Paulus (rather Paula) and of the Boys who were with them, is noted by the Arabic-Egyptian Kalendar, made from Arabic into Latin by Gratia Simonius, formerly an alumnus of the Maronite College at Rome, and the Arabic-Egyptian Kalendar, thereafter created Archbishop of Tyre in Syria. Our Greco-Moscovite Kalendar likewise, prefixed to the first Tome of May, has notice both of Paula, and of Lucillianus and his four Companions the Boys, representing them all in one and the same image to be seen there. But the Slavo-Russian Menology, which the Baron Sparwenfeld dictated to us in Latin, ascribes the passion of the holy Martyr Lucillianus and his companions, under Aurelian, to the year 273; as also the Greco-Moscovite. whence again we are convinced that the years are computed by the Muscovites according to the vulgar Era: for according to the Greeks, eight years slower than us, Aurelian is reckoned to have died in the year 267, who with us died in the year 275; and thus, if the Russians followed the Greek reckoning, they ought to say that Lucillianus suffered in the year 265, or at least before the death of Aurelian.

[9] That his Relics, deposited at Constantinople in their own shrine, as has been said above, Relics whether and what kind at Troyes became famous for many miracles, is plain from the epilogue of the Encomium presently to be given: but whence, before or after the capture of the city first by the Latins, then by the Turks, and to where they were carried off, is not certain to us. Nicolaus Des-Guerrois, treating of the Saints of the Church of Troyes, sets forth the feasts of the saints of that diocese in the order of months: and on the III of June he adduces S. Lucillianus the Martyr with his Companions: and presently in the Alphabetical index he says that his arm is at S. Stephen's: further, in the body of the book under the year 350, after he has at length drawn out the history in nearly superfluous words, he asserts, by way of conclusion, that S. Lucillianus with his companions underwent martyrdom in the time of Julian the Apostate, about the year 362; and that the people of Troyes, in the Collegiate church of S. Stephen, possess his arm. If however the last part of this assertion is not better grounded than the first, and at Bologna. I think both must be held for conjectures: for in the time assigned for the Martyrdom there is an error of nearly a hundred years; since it is established from what has been premised that it happened not under Julian but under Aurelian. Antonius Masini, in his survey of Bologna, writes on this day that in that city the Relics of S. Claudius the Martyr are preserved in the church of S. Peter; and of S. Paula the Virgin and Martyr, in the church of S. Mary of the Servites. I suspected that the Relics were here understood either as notable (on account of which the divine Office might be said), or certainly very remarkable, which were held in particular honor: but to suspect this, at least concerning the Relics of S. Paula, is not allowed by the rescript of the most Learned Count Valerius Zanus, consulted by us on this matter, who says thus: Of S. Paula Virg. and Mart. among the Servite Fathers no authentic writing is found, no memory; nor is it known whence those Relics were taken, or how they were brought thither. Further, it is a tiny fragment of a bone, stored with other Relics in a large tabernacle; and it is exposed on the more solemn feasts on the principal altar, with other reliquaries, gilded and covered with crystal. Wherefore why Masini referred these Saints chiefly to this day, I think no other cause subsists than that the same names occur today in the Roman Martyrology.

[10] The eulogies which we have already premised supplied to the Encomiast the foundation of his praise, Whence are the Acts taken? whose discourse we shall presently subjoin. For whatever he amplifies, thence he seems to have drawn; except that toward the end he insinuates that some benefit of healing was conferred on him while sick by S. Lucillianus, appearing with the Boys. That discourse, Ms., hitherto nowhere given to public light by the press, exists in the Vatican Library; and is that very one of which we complained, in our Greco-Moscovite Ephemerides on the III of June, that we still lacked. But afterwards a copy of it,

procured to be transcribed at Rome, I myself brought with me not long ago into Belgium, made into Latin, and tried to illustrate: and from there now for the first time, both in one language and the other, it is made public juris through the press. The title, which contains the names of the chief Martyr and of the Author, is prefixed thus: Φωτίου, τοῦ μακαριωτάτου Σκευοφύλακος τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων καὶ Λογοθέτου, ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν ἅγιον ἱερομάρτυρα Λουκιλλιανόν. Encomium of the holy Martyr Lucillianus, by the most blessed Photius, Sceuophylax of the holy Apostles and Logothete. About the author nothing else has come to our notice from elsewhere. By the church of the holy Apostles, of which he was Sceuophylax, that one is probably to be understood which, first erected by Constantine the Great under that title, and destined for the burial of the Emperors, was thereafter the rival of the holy and most famous Sophia.

[11] Another Life of the same SS. Lucillianus and Companions, by an uncertain Author, is indicated by Leo Allatius in his Diatribe on the writings of the Symeons page 119, with this opening: Βασιλεύοντος Αὐρηλιανοῦ ἦν ἀτριοισμὸς μέγας τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐν τῇ Νικομηδέων πόλει. But that we have not been able to obtain thus far. Was Lucillianus a Presbyter? Perhaps it would solve for us the doubt, whether after his conversion Lucillianus was initiated into the Order of the Christian Priesthood, or not? All the monuments which we have so far adduced are silent about such a Priesthood: but the Oration of Photius, soon to be given, asserts it at number 2 in these words: Ὁ μυστὴς τῆς Χάριτος γενόμενος, that he became a Priest of grace. To the same opinion Fr. Papebroch had already inclined in the Ephemerides cited above, before he had seen the oration of Photius; I believe, because Lucillianus is there represented in a chasuble, with the book of the Gospels in his hand, as Priests are wont to be. Such the Abyssinians acknowledge him in their Hagiologies.

[12] The Metric Hagiologium of the Abyssinians, of which Job Ludolf furnished us a Latin version, assures us that the passion of S. Lucillianus and his Companions was very well known in Egypt also; nay, that there once existed among them a fuller and more complete history of it. Indeed its notice, transferred through the Egyptians to the Ethiopians, teaches also that his jaws were broken: for thus he is there saluted by the Author: I salute Lucianus (for so it is written there) who attained praise with the four boys by patiently sustaining torments: because he preferred the sacrifice of the Most High to the sacrifices of the idols: for which reason they broke his jaw with stones, and pierced it through: and thus he gave up his soul. Where also it is not obscurely confirmed that he was a Presbyter, as asserted by Photius.

ENCOMIUM

By the Author Photius, Sceuophylax and Logothete of Constantinople.

From a Ms. of the Vatican Library.

Translated by Conrad Janning.

Lucillianus the Old Man, Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.) Claudius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.) Hypatius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.) Paulus, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.) Dionysius, boy Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.) Paula, or Paulina the Virgin Martyr at Byzantium in Thrace (S.)

INTERP. C. J.

CHAPTER I.

The life of Lucillianus, before and after his conversion.

[Greek text from the Vatican Ms. follows in the original, beginning Πάλαι μὲν ἐγκωμιάζειν τὰς τοῦ μεγίστου Μάρτυρος Λουκιλλιανοῦ ἀριστείας ἐφιέμενος… and continuing through the first chapter; here translated:]

[1] Long ago, kindled with the desire of praising the illustrious deeds of the eminent Martyr Lucillianus, I refrained from the work, on account of the slender ability of speaking which was mine: for the excellence of the contests and the magnitude of the deeds illustriously performed bade the mind faint and the tongue be silent. The Author once deterred from praise, For truly, truly great were those labors and contests which the Martyrs sustained; which surpass every theme of praise and all eloquence of speech. For if even bodiless spirits are struck dumb when they consider their supreme endurance, how can a mortal man pursue them with worthy encomia? But after, by the passage of time, the desire in my mind burned more, and more vehemently kindled the love with which I pursue Lucillianus the Martyr; especially when the precepts of friends are added, urging me to that very thing and shaking off my torpor; he gives reasons why he now dares to begin. when at last the present treatise has been made the payment of a debt, not an ostentation of speech; I judged it not equitable, if I cannot commend the man for his dignity, not to confer that which the faculty of speech grants me. For those whose praise, not extraneous but domestic, supplies a foundation for speaking; here surely the faculty of utterance falls short, far inferior to the manifest exhibition of works. Besides, when I consider the gain of this laudation, and consider what profit will come forth from it (for it will be for the reader light of soul, and in the hearers will excite divine zeal and the imitation of examples), hoping in God, who will confer on me copiousness of speech; and supplicating the Saint, whose praises we recount, to cooperate with us; with ready mind, having entered this palæstra, I made a beginning of speaking; knowing that whatever I shall say to the utmost of my powers will be pleasing and accepted to God and to His Martyr.

[2] Lucillianus from being a sacrificer of idols, The most blessed Lucillianus therefore (that I may take here the beginning of the narration), bright star of the world, lofty-sounding herald of truth, a name most prized by me and most longed-for by others; was first a sacrificer of idols, hiding the splendor of his soul beneath the midst of ignorance: but afterwards, having been made a Priest of grace, by the rays of his faith he illuminated the whole world. And lest anyone suspect that I am wronging the holy Martyr because I make mention of his former life; unless he would wish both the great Paul and the Evangelist Matthew to be sprinkled with the same stain: for of these the one, after he had attained the very summit of virtue, was not ashamed to set forth the narration of his former conversation; and the other, weaving together the evangelical history, in plain terms calls himself a Publican. For those are not confounded with the deeds of their former life, who live laudably with these things changed for the better.

[3] illustrated by the light of the Gospel, After therefore, by the benefit of the divine preaching, the great prodigy of the coming of our Savior, having put on man, was announced and published in every land; among others who were led to His knowledge, our Lucillianus also was, caught by the divine net and enveloped in the meshes of faith; needing no voice from heaven calling, nor a flash dulling the keenness of the eyes, to be untaught of impiety; but with provident mind he was converted to the truth. For since he was a true son of the heavenly fatherland, and in it from the prior knowledge of God enrolled a citizen, he did not long suffer his noble disposition to be degenerate; but as one foreknown and predestined by the most wise ruler and governor God of all things, he strove with the highest zeal to bring the image of His Son into his soul, justified by grace and made heir of the heavenly kingdom. When therefore the time of his vocation was at hand, he did not put it off by interposing delay; but at once obeying the one calling, he showed by a grateful mind his inclination to virtue. For this very cause, esteeming as nothing this earthly fatherland of his, his whole race, ample inheritance, and the entire household estate; and, despising all things, is baptized: and like good and fertile ground, receiving the seed of divine preaching cast into his soul; he hastens to the sacred laver of baptism: and shaking off the ancient rites of his ancestors, and the filth which he had contracted through the cult of demons, he is cleansed on every side, and puts on the new man; from the participation of light wholly luminous, and by spiritual regeneration become the most sincere Son of God.

[4] But since the gift of divine grace requires the cooperation also of another agent for its operation; lest the whole work be attributed to itself alone, about to cooperate with the grace of God, but some zeal of gratitude be shown by him to whom the gift has been conferred: Lucillianus knew, also, that the virtues which grow up in quietness and solitude are made more stable and more firmly persevere; with all the effort of his mind striving thither, and with mind unperturbed and serene seeking to acquire what was lacking of virtue, and constantly preserving what he had acquired; he went away to a place removed from crowds and from every appearance of tumult; and by the meditation of the sacred letters fostering the heavenly spark, and by the contemplation of divine things illuminating his mind, with all his heart bent upon the attainment of the virtues, he withdraws from the crowds, and gives himself to the exercise of virtues; by pious exercises in a short time he multiplied the talent of divine grace; he shone with righteousness, was adorned with fortitude of mind, prudence moderated his senses, gave to honesty dominion over vices; with temperance, which he had long had familiar to himself, then most especially he glittered with its brightness; like a generous commander, he fought illustriously against the tyranny of the affections; he cared for voluntary poverty, and through it was led to charity; and he showed benignity, venerable for modesty of manners. Further, he transferred every affection of his mind into God, and put forth just and natural anger against the spiritual beasts. Finally, constituting the fear of God as it were the guardian of so great virtues, he at length came to the love of God; by which in the virtues, whose catalogue I have just woven, he had been exercised; and to which he referred back the very virtues which he had acquired.

[5] Instructed therefore in these and other splendid virtues, he was wholly inflamed with the love of God, added light to the light of grace, and from virtue to a more sublime and excellent virtue daily made progress. But while Lucillianus thus illustriously conducts his affairs, hence the envy of the devil flared up against him. the parent of envy could not bear his so signal advance; but decreeing war against him, he ran swiftly to arms and entered battle, desirous to appear a terrible enemy and truculent adversary; but not knowing that he was preparing for himself what was most of all his wish: for it was fitting that he, who departed not even by a nail's breadth from honesty, should also be crowned with the crown of Martyrdom; and that he who carried about the passion of Christ in his members, should merit also an illustrious reward.

CHAPTER II.

His constancy in torments, the persecution having arisen.

[Greek text from the Vatican Ms. follows in the original, beginning Διωγμοῦ τοίνυν τὴν σύμπασαν γῆν καταλαβόντος… and continuing through this chapter; the Latin translation runs as follows:]

[Greek continued from previous chunk, σεβομένοις εὔχεται γενέσθαι… through the prayer and the description of the Saint's torments; translated as follows:]

[6] So a grievous persecution pervaded the whole world, The persecution being stirred up, and stirred up all things in the manner of waves. For letters sent everywhere by the Emperor commanded those who had come into their hands to sacrifice to impure demons; and those refusing to do this to be subjected through all manner of torments to the last punishment of death. When therefore the gore, wickedly poured out before the images of the idols, was widely polluting the whole earth; and the smoke, ascending from the sacrifices and libations, was infecting the air, while the demons danced over the madness of their wretched worshippers and exulted with joy; sons betrayed by parents, and these by sons, to the judges: the very law of nature, contrary to nature, was ignored, as fathers changed their natural affection into wild rage and handed over their own offspring to the hands of the tyrants; and sons, utterly renouncing the kinship of blood, gave over their parents to a miserable death; and by the very perpetrators of such abominations, the Creator of all things God was denied and made the object of mockery; while the demons, whose inheritance is hell and tartarus, obtained the name of divinity.

[7] At that time, then, the servant of Christ Lucillianus, sought by the ministers of impiety, Lucillianus also is seized, and (since the city set upon a mountain cannot be hid, as the divine oracles say) being found, was presented to the tyrant, betrayed by a certain Hebrew: who, having been ordered to take a cohort of soldiers, had been sent forth to apprehend and bring back the Saint. The illustrious Martyr is led, then, to the tribunal of the tyrant, with face serene and suffused with the beauty of divine grace, but in mind unterrified at the sight of the instruments by which he was to be tortured. The tyrant, gazing upon him, full of dread at the Martyr's constant countenance, spoke thus:

[8] What is this, you who neglect the sacrifices and worship of our gods, and is urged by the tyrant to deny Christ and reckon among the higher powers a recent God, lately killed, whom our ancestors did not hand down to us? Have you adhered until now to his cult? But what, pray, what beautiful, what lovable fruit have you taken from this false and vain faith of yours? Do you not see what the orders of the Emperors demand? what horrendous torments await those who assert and call Christ to be God? but to those who carry out the commands of the Emperors and deny Christ, how great riches, glory, honor are distributed? Wherefore I exhort you, considering the violence of the torments and the perils standing at your head, to spare your old age, and not cast yourself into so miserable a death. For what advantage to you thence, if you choose to die? Is it useful, forsooth, to you to be deprived of this most serene light, which most beautiful and most sweet brings joy to all? is it delightful to you to have all your members cut up with whips and swords? is it sweet to you to perish burned with fire? is it desirable to you to be enrolled in the number of wicked men? is it pleasant to you to become food for wild beasts and carnivorous birds? Who, I ask you, endowed with sound mind, would prefer to liberty so insane a desire? and with promises: Wherefore if you will hear me, and lay aside that mind, and deny the Christ whom you venerate; you will escape death, and through us you will obtain, if you wish, the amplest riches and the highest honors; in addition, you will become a friend of the Emperors, and conspicuous and glorious you will appear among few. But if you refuse, know that, tortured in all your body with grievous torments, you must be handed over to a dire death.

[9] To these things the generous champion, more confirmed in mind toward Christ, and full of divine zeal, to whom he himself renders the reason of his conversion; thus intrepidly addresses the tyrant in return: I confess, O Judge, that I once offered the sacrifices of those gods of whom you speak, or rather (if it is right to speak the truth) the mysteries of fraud, and zealously studied their cult, so long as the veil of superstition kept my soul wrapped and the sharpness of my mind shadowed: for ignorance was the cause of my blind superstition. But from the time when I came to know God the Creator and Maker of all things; from the time when His supreme condescension was poured into my ears; from the time when I learned that those whom I once eagerly worshipped were not Gods but demons, who are praised for the destruction of the very souls of those who venerate them; I no longer thought it endurable that I, endowed with reason by Him who founded me, should work things alien and absurd to reason; but, as befits one endowed with mind, preferring what is honorable to the dishonorable, I prudently ran to the veneration of my Creator; greatly blaming myself, and the ignorance and temerity in which I formerly was engaged. What further of good things have we not obtained from His knowledge and worship? and proclaiming the power of the true faith, For faith is the root of understanding and the food of souls, which confers life on those by whom it is received. The knowledge of God, indeed, brings into the soul every kind of virtue: as being the teacher of chastity, the author of cleanness, the counselor of modesty, the bond of fraternal charity and love; and what is more, it confers immortality, imparts salvation, frees from servitude, purges sins, leads to the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, restores the soul to its pristine beauty, and renders it like to its Creator.

[10] Do not therefore call our God new, who, begotten before ages and times from the Father, was Himself the maker of time, and stood as the cause of our substance: whom our ancestors, willingly closing the eye of the mind maliciously, ignored, and were led by diabolical frauds to perdition. he shows that the gods are nothing; For new indeed are your gods, the work of laboriously wrought material and human ingenuity, clothed with the vain show of honor; from whom if any one should remove the glorious garment foolishly and vainly attributed; he will utterly look down upon the whole apparatus of the fable, and recognize the truth, the senses uncovering the deceit. For they have eyes, as the great David testifies, and see not; ears, and hear not; nostrils, and smell not; hands, and are deprived of touch; feet, and cannot move forward; nay, they can emit no voice from their mouth to answer those invoking them. Wherefore the same Prophet, referring those who worship such things to the number of the cursed, wishes them to be made like to the very gods whom they worship and adore: because they did not hesitate to render to inanimate matter the honor due to the Creator and God of all. Again, those who are the prototypes of your gods, and are honored in them; what are they but demons, mocking the souls of men, and dragging them with themselves into the pyre of their own damnation?

[11] Hence we contemn the orders and threats of the Emperors, holding before them the precepts and ordinances of our one Savior and God. and shows himself ready for any punishments. Riches and glory are accounted nothing by us, who await the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom. But the enjoyment of this light is good. Forsooth so long as it sets no obstacle against religion to those who enjoy it: but if any destruction of the soul should threaten anyone from it, deprivation is to be preferred to the light; since it leads to a more splendid brightness of inextinguishable and perpetual clarity. Further, to swords and to punishments otherwise most grievous we submit with cheerful and willing mind: for they bring forth immortality for us. But if you wish also to try my body by fire; know that you will deliver to the fire that which is corruptible and is little by little consumed by like adversities: but the soul, freed from the heavy earthly mass, will rejoice the more joyfully thereby. But that we are to be reckoned in the number of malefactors; if this is done for Christ, it renders us much more glorious, as partakers and consorts of His passions; since He Himself also was fixed to the cross with malefactors. What of the gluttony of beasts and the carnivorous birds? It will make us pure wheat, and bread worthy of the royal table in the heavens. Finally death itself, the origin of immortal life, and the beginning of eternal glory, is for us. Wherefore, if anything is at hand for you, accomplish at once what you are devising: for so far is it that you should move me from the hope which I have fixed in Christ the true God, that you will rather have to accuse yourself of rashness. For you will see a youthful and robust spirit in an aged body promptly descend into the arena; and all the machinations, whether devised by you, or by the demon working through you, fall to nothing.

[12] At these things the tyrant grew angry, and was wholly enraged, and stretched out horrendous threats against the generous Martyr; The Saint is variously tortured. but these, bravely repelled by him, with no success against the author

returned to their author. Then, the torments having been brought forth, Lucillianus by deed no more sluggishly proved his endurance than he had spoken with his mouth; bearing, indeed, to the stupefaction of those striking him, the blows and torments fearlessly, like adamant. Consider, I beseech you, how intolerable were the things inflicted upon him. With stones his theology-speaking mouth being bruised, the rest of his body was beaten with rods, and these alternating, without intermission. Hence the blood flowed in the manner of a river through the earth; the flesh, cut by the strokes, brought intolerable pain; the fibres and the nerves convulsed were moved from their seats; the bones bruised would have broken the most generous mind of the athlete by their pain, had they not been strengthened by the order of the Supreme Deity.

CHAPTER III.

The Saint, having found four Boys in the prison, with many words rouses them to martyrdom.

[13] From the immanity of the torments there was a return to blandishments and adulations, but these displayed an even firmer mind of the Martyr. The Martyr's constancy: Wherefore the tyrant, destitute of counsel, sent back to prison the champion of Christ, bearing off an illustrious victory over impiety, and having merited the prize of the victorious crown. There, however many he found, he converted to the faith by the word of truth. There he became the true father of certain boys, dear to God, venerable, and excellently proclaiming the truth. Returned to prison the saint converts various ones, For those whom the superstition of their carnal parents had bound, the faith of Christ united them to a spiritual father: and to him to whom corporeal nature had denied the name of father, the grace of the Holy Spirit attributed that very thing, with the great felicity of pious sons. For they, gazing on his shining face, and ingenuously considering the martyrdom by which he was about to reach the term of this life, and make for himself a way to the supernal realms (for swiftly do clean souls perceive things to come), suffused at once with joy and tears, fell at the feet of the holy man, and certain boys, holding him for a father, and spoke in this manner. In good time you have entered to us, generous champion of Christ, who have made void all the machinations of the fraudulent tyrant and of the impure spirits operating through him, and have religiously proclaimed Christ the Creator and God of all things. In good time you have come to us, who have triumphed over the error of nefarious idolatry devised by the devil, and who by the light of divine knowledge have informed the souls of men. Truly that Lord, for whom we have been condemned to this prison, did not despise our prayer; but sent us a spiritual father, who may comfort our hungering souls by the food of the divine word, and refresh them with the drink of piety: he has sent us a pillar of fire, to go before us, and direct our steps straight to God: he has shown us with whom we ought eagerly to contend our contest, and to obtain the desired victory.

[14] No one henceforth can separate us from your most sweet companionship, O Father, even if he should stir up against us all creatures to bring about a separation by any fraud. It was not allowed us to enjoy the sight of our carnal parents, after we embraced this religion: but behold, opportunely we have found a spiritual Father, whom the special grace of God has given to us. They indeed hate us who persecute the truth; but those who love it and desiring to be strengthened to martyrdom, will love us also: those who worship the insane idols despise us, but those who worship the true God will praise us. Now come, most sweet Father (for thus we ought to address you

Note: the Greek of paras [13–[14] appears extensively in the source (Πάλιν κολακείαι τὴν δριμύτητα τῶν πόνων διήμειβον… and following, including the long exhortation Δύναται γὰρ καὶ λόγος… up through χαυνουμένης) — preserved in the original Vatican text and represented here through the Latin facing translation by Conrad Janning, which the boys' exhortation immediately precedes.]

you, by the bonds undertaken for love of Christ) come, open your lips, and the honey-flowing words having been uttered from your divine mouth, water our souls, swallowed up by the heat of the torments, with your salutary doctrine: rouse our mind, failing through long adversity: surround us with the arms of sacred Scripture, that we may be found firm and robust against the assaults of the enemy. It is a fine thing, before a war, to meditate war beforehand: it is beautiful, before the battle-line, to examine what pertains to the battle: it is most sweet, before the contest, to have at hand the things that contribute to contending: it is decorous, before the conflict, to appear prepared. For then, dexterously and skillfully engaging with the adversaries, we shall bear off an illustrious and glorious palm: for those who are not fortified by the prudent counsel of the mind become an easy prey to those who try to deceive; but those who come to the contest skilled by meditation and exercise, are not easily overcome.*

[15] At these words the most blessed Lucillianus, suffused with joy, and with tears, flowing for pleasure, praises them for fortitude of mind, watered over his whole face (for it is sometimes pleasant to a soul, with the same adversities by which another is afflicted, also from compassion of him to pour forth tears), began to speak thus to the Boys given to him by divine gift: If I should observe, most pious sons, that you were entering the contest with unwilling mind, and broken by grief following such a mind; b a speech would be at hand which would arouse you to that which is honorable, and render you more spirited. For a speech, uttered at the opportune time, can be more powerful than examples themselves: and often what the exhibition of works has not accomplished, the force of a speech has given accomplished in a short time. But since with willing mind, with religious thought, and in a manner expressing the love of God, you have borne these adversities; and, more beautifully adorned and more venerable by these bonds than others by their riches and glory, you joyfully judge yourselves to be doing an illustrious thing; how can I say that my exhortation is opportune? For those who can confirm others also by your example, in no way need the doctrine of others.

[16] Nonetheless I say, most desired sons, that this present time, he animates them by consideration of eternity, is brief and slight, and in all things unstable; for neither does pleasure grant long abundance and enjoyment of itself to its lovers; nor does the sense and trouble of grief prolonged in length compel those who suffer such things to grow torpid. But the future age, which is of stable nature, to others, who have excellently exercised virtue and have studied to please God, also imparts stable joy; but to others, who have loved the present age, and pursued its pleasures and have been vehemently captured by the delights of this life, brings forth interminable torments equally. Knowing this well, let us exchange for the loss of a few days the whole of eternity for ourselves: for that profits far more. For if labor, to be undergone in the stadium, terribly threatens; the Lord stands near, crying out, Be of good cheer, by the hope of divine aid, I have overcome the world: if bitter are the things inflicted by the tyrants; they will be made light by the virtue of Christ and the hope of things to come; and will make plain that we are stronger than the insane fury of the tyrants, whose threats will cause us to hear the joyful voice of our Lord. If furthermore they also try cruelly to lacerate the body, to dissolve the composition of the limbs and move each from its place, if they try shamefully to insult nature itself; there is He who can bring a remedy to these evils, and who will not allow us, corrupted, to be reduced into dust, but on every side incorrupt will unite us to Himself, through the virtue and grace of His all-working and divine Spirit.

[17] The fire indeed is vehement, which we behold with our eyes: but turning over in our mind the fire of gehenna, easily we shall be superior to the fire, subjected to the same Lord as we. The edges of swords will be blunted by our firmness: the outpouring of our blood will be judged a kind of compensation, small indeed, of the Lord's blood poured out for us: if we are deprived of this world, we shall be transferred to heaven, and shall begin to enjoy angelic converse: by the example of Christ. death itself will bring a life that knows no death, and a crown that does not wither. Let us recall what evils Christ sustained for us. For what of like kind can we render to our Lord? who, in an inexplicable manner hiding the divine power, and assuming flesh from a virginal body for our sake; underwent the cross and lance, gall and vinegar, death itself and the tomb, that He might show us a way into heaven, and render us partakers of sempiternal glory. Let us therefore not, I beg, not put off suffering for Him; that we may be found conformed to His passions and partakers of His glory: let us not fall in spirit on account of present torments, that we may obtain eternal rest, and be granted eternal life and joy: let us not allow our mind to be softened by flattery; that, appearing robust against the machinations of the fraudulent tyrant, we may bear off victory from him. Nor indeed need it be feared from the tenderness of your age, since the strength of your spirit has been proved: for a body inclining into heavy old age and glorying in long years, but lacking firmness of spirit, does not avail for the contest; nor will tender age bring an impediment, where the spirit, stable and solid, is bent by no blows of the raging.

CHAPTER IV.

The death of Lucillianus and the Boys, their praise, the benefits conferred on their clients.

[Greek text from the Vatican Ms. follows in this chapter; the Latin translation is supplied beginning in the next chunk.]

[Greek text from the Vatican Ms. continues here at length; the Latin translation supplied by Conrad Janning runs as follows:]

[18] After by that speech he had stirred up the spirits of the boys, and rendered them more spirited for undertaking war against the demon, he spent the whole night with them giving thanks to God, and offered hymns. Lucillianus with the Boys is set before the tyrant, But when the tyrant perceived himself made a mockery, vanquished by the constancy of the Martyr; desiring to repair his disaster, he calls the Athlete a second time into the arena, and orders him to be brought before his tribunal early in the morning. Lucillianus is therefore brought, the great patron of our Religion, urged on by the hand of soldiers. The most blessed young men followed him of their own accord, bound to the Saint by spiritual love, and earnestly desiring to undergo the contest with him. When it had come to the tribunal; the tyrant, looking at the Boys, asks who they were: and turning to the old man, Have you, he says, sons here, who approach the terrible tribunal of our severity as deprecators, to soften the rigor of the punishments by their look? And the old man: before whom he praises the boys; Sons indeed of mine, to say the truth, O tyrant, they seem to be by age: but truly these chains have begotten them for me, and the nocturnal delay of the prison has given them birth; with mutual love of souls supplying the place of nature: but excelling in the Christian faith, they are rather to be believed and called my fathers than my sons: for piety has learned to derive the nomenclature of consanguinity not from the strength of the body, but from the nobility of the soul. They stand by you therefore, not to deprecate anything, as you say; but to refute your insanity, by their manly wisdom and the perfection of the Christian faith; that you may recognize the virtue of Christ, who bestows so great understanding on infants also.

[19] At hearing such things, the tyrant variously changed his countenance into six hundred shapes and forms, with whom, cast into fire, he remains unharmed: indicating through the appearing marks of his face the hidden state of his heart; and again he put on his former visage. But when he was persuaded that the Martyr was not moved by the dire torments prepared for him; thinking that no further delay was to be made, in punishment of the Athletes the madman ordered a terrible fire to be built up, which alone struck the minds of those who looked, and exceeded by a long interval the flame of the Chaldean furnace, into which the three holy Boys were once cast. But He who then changed for them the flames into dew, now also raining a dewy cloud upon these Martyrs, tempered the heat of the fire. For one could see truly an admirable and stupendous work of divine power; the body, namely, which naturally cannot bear the impulse of fire, marvelously more powerful than the violence of the flames; and the force of all-devouring fire, consuming whatever it meets, subdued by feeble bodies easily prone to corruption. By this miracle the tyrant, struck speechless, when admiring the infinite power of God, he should without doubt have confessed His supreme dominion; mad, he hastened to proceed to take vengeance on the Saints through the sword. For not being able to subject their minds to himself, he wished to hide his impotence by drawing the sword.

[20] He orders therefore that all be led off to a desert place, and the Boys, endowed with a generous disposition, with their heads cut down by the sword, receive the end of life: but the blessed Lucillianus, fixed to the cross, be violently taken from the living. They were led, then, to the long-desired slaughter, and the boys cut down by the sword as innocent lambs of Christ, who had destroyed every malice and fraud of the devil in their mind, ignorant of crime and guile; as the most fragrant flowers of paradise, who breathed the sweetest fragrance of Christ into the hearts of the faithful; as most precious roses, who dissipated every stench of insane idolatry, and adorned the assembly of believers with the redness of their glorious blood; are variously praised, as lilies worthy of God, who scattered far the splendor and whiteness of pure and unblemished faith; as fertile branches of the true vine, which is Christ, through whom the mystic cluster of salvation and the wine of joy have been given to us; as fruitful boughs to God, through which the most joyous fruit of piety is held out to us.

[21] Admirable indeed is the history which was written of old concerning the three Babylonian boys, and are compared with the three Babylonian Boys, manifesting their constancy to the world, superior to the burning furnace of the most proud tyrant: yet more admirable was the perseverance and concord of our Boys. For they, taught the true God from the cradle, and nourished by the doctrine of sacred Scripture, had grown up: but these our generous little ones, without a leader, without an exhorter, entering the way of virtue, of their own accord embraced piety. If you say that they engaged with fire; know that these also, proved by fire, shone like fine gold, and emitted pure rays of piety. And to them, indeed, the fire did not bring the end of contest; yet glory enduring to posterity followed, and hands full of gold were stretched out over them: but these were met by one contest after another, one wrestling after another, and finally death following sealed the admiration, which their stupendous nobility had stirred up.

[22] and with the Maccabees. The Maccabees, who trampled on the pride of Antiochus, struck all by the fortitude of their soul; but they had a mother, by whose impulse and exhortation they were animated: but here this quaternary of divine Boys of Christ, incited by the cup of the Lord's love to go to death, obtained an incomparable clarity of name. Who therefore, recalling in mind the constancy of these Boys, will not be amazed? who will not marvel at the burning love by which they pursued God? who, hearing of their contest, will not desire, as if he were present at the deeds done of old, to embrace the champions, and kiss them?

[The Greek text continues at length in the original Vatican Ms. — including the comparisons with Abraham, Job, and Eleazar, the praises of Lucillianus as healer and patron, and the closing prayer addressed to the Saint — and concludes with the doxology ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.]

O mystery truly stupendous, and which cannot be comprehended by human thought! Boys, just in the first flower of age, and forming words with tongue still stammering, sprinkled with no stain from the malice of the world, with cheerful and joyful mind to undergo death for the cause of Christ. How did the hands of the executioners not grow numb, to drive the sword into their breasts? how did their tender age not move them to commiseration of themselves? with what eyes did they endure to look upon innocent blood, poured upon the earth like water? It must be, surely, that the ministers of foul superstition, turned into madness, had drawn a stony callus over their hearts. Certainly the Angels seeing such things were astonished; the demons shuddered and took to flight, not bearing the splendor of nobility striking their eyes. The heavens, opening their gates, received the Martyrs, providing a plain ingress without any obstacle. The Lord of all things himself ordered crowns held forth by his hand to be placed on the heads of his own. Their venerable blood, flowing through the earth, expiated the gore poured out before the idols: from which time also a little column of porphyry, conferring benefits on posterity, was erected, in memory indeed of their magnanimity, in expiation of every demonic fraud and disease.

[23] And these things so great and such were done by the generous boys, these were their contests, these their illustrious deeds. But the blessed Lucillianus, himself also by the order of the mad tyrant fixed to the cross c, and with nails pierced through hands and feet, nay even breasts, knees, head, and his very private parts, Lucillianus driven to the cross and dead, sent his spirit into the hands of God who rules all things, the Angels leading him with rejoicing. Who then of the ancients can be made equal to him, or who being brought into comparison will not desire to obtain second place?

[24] Abraham, dear to God, ordered by a divine voice to depart from his fatherland, at once obeyed: he is compared and preferred to Abraham, but our Martyr, with no one even ordering, committed himself to the good pleasure of God. And he indeed received as compensation of his pilgrimage a richer land and an honorable promise, by which he was called father of many nations: but this one, exercising virtue freely, showed himself to be a son of God. Job, to Job, whose constancy in afflictions stirred up admiration in all, let him learn to be overcome by our Martyr: for he cannot compare his long-lasting misery with the acerbity and vehemence of the pains which this one suffered. Eleazar, and to Eleazar: admirable in various contests, and to be preferred for fortitude to all who excelled in the Law, let him yield first place to our Martyr: for the one indeed showed servile zeal for legal precepts; but the other, as becomes a son of grace, for the name of his Father and Lord fought an illustrious contest.

[25] he is commended for his virtues And so our speech, dilucidly showing that this Martyr surpassed those who eminentized in the Law, has proceeded to the point of comparing him also with those who flourished in the time of Grace; if only the Law, sufficient for evincing what is intended, did not prohibit a further comparison to be instituted; in which the Saint, contending with some, holding the zeal of others as an example proposed to himself, exercising the constancy of others, would contend to appear second to none, the prevalent soldier in the army of God; emulator of the Angels, instigator of the Apostles, and for the benefits conferred, tent-companion of the Martyrs, ardent lover of Christ; who rendered his sacred grey hairs more venerable by his most generous and manly perseverance: who lovingly received the afflicted; powerfully consoled the distressed; was heard by all as their delight: a medical workshop, to which wretched suppliants having fled, freely take away the cure of their evils; a sea of healings, in which all adversities are submerged; a fount of miracles, from which the soundness of souls and bodies most largely flows; who himself by hidden cures immediately heals all however many are eaten away by the pain of latent maladies; as if this grace had been conferred on him from God in compensation for the torments which he himself bore; pillar of Martyrs of Christ; also for him as author of this life, my defender in dangers, consoler in infirmities, recreation in any diseases.

[26] But, O venerable beauty of the Martyrs, unshaken support of the faithful, divine and sacred domicile of the holy Spirit, preserved from death, O most beautiful ornament of the Church of Christ; receive this slight zeal of your servant in narrating your deeds, whom, perishing from a consuming and deadly plague, and now distant very little from destruction, you mercifully preserved; appearing to me with the most desired and most blessed Boys, when, being very much in need of your magnanimous nobility, I had benevolent access to you. For who, even if he should be strong in most eloquent tongue, could worthily pursue your illustrious deeds? what mouth would enumerate by praising the multitude of your wonders? what speech would suffice for the praise of your eminent dignity? All things grow torpid, unequal to the multitude and magnitude of the things done by you. who further implores his aid. You yourself therefore from the heavens look upon us, hastening to your shrines, and joyfully celebrating your most holy festivity, and honoring it with sacred hymns; look upon us venerating the dust of your Relics, and zealously adoring your lovable and august image: you yourself, I say, who, by the brightness of the supernatural Triad illuminated more clearly from nearby, by the contemplation of the same with your fellow Martyrs sweetly take delight; look upon us, and lead us to more honorable and more perfect things, drive every plague of calamity from us, ward off every incursion of evils, and through your interceding prayers render us partakers of the heavenly glory, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.