ON SAINT CLAUDIUS, AND HIS 121 COMPANIONS AND 73 OTHERS,
MARTYRS IN EGYPT.
From the Metrical Hagiology of the Abyssinians and the Coptic Calendars.
CommentaryClaudius, Martyr likewise in Egypt (S.)
The 121 Companions, Martyrs likewise in Egypt (SS.) The 73 Others, Martyrs likewise in Egypt (SS.)
D. P.
The Abyssinian Author of the metrical Hagiology, following the Calendars or Martyrology of the Alexandrian Church—not yet drawn forth from the shadows—thus proposes in two Strophes that the memory of the aforementioned Martyrs is to be made. All together in the Ethiopic poem, I. I salute Claudius, clothed with the faith of Christ; whom royal garments did not delight, so as to keep him from rebuking the gentile Prince: but rather than obey his words and submit to his precepts, he chose rather to receive the sharp lance, hurled by his hand to pierce him through. II. I salute also you, bound to the yoke of the same confession; a hundred and twenty-one; you also, sixty-three, companions of my lord Claudius, of the house of the royal Prince. Fulfill the desire of my heart, and place my petition upon the altar of God the Father.
[2] Job Ludolf inserted only Claudius into the Calendars of the Alexandrian Church which he had compiled: Claudius alone is reported in the Coptic Calendars of Selden: and in the Notes he wrote that he is reckoned with 88 companions: where I fear that, against his intention, the numeral letter C has fallen out, and for IIII there crept in VIII: for 21 and 63 above the hundred make only 184. The name also of Claudius the Martyr alone is found inscribed in the first Order of the Coptic Calendars in Selden, book 4, On the Sanhedrins, page 401.
[3] Nor does he seem to be other than this one, who in the same author, on the following page, from other similar Calendars, is he the same Climenus son of the King? is assigned to the 10th day of the month Beuna or the 4th of June, in these words: Of Climinus the Martyr, son of the King. For "Climenus," for "Cliomenos" from "Cliō, I shut," seems not unfittingly to be rendered in Latin "Claudius"; and the writer's error is pardonable, in noting the number of the day, since he alone was there named between the 2nd and the 9th of June. Further, in that he is called "Son of the King," this does not jar with the words of the Abyssinian Poet: and it may be that some neighboring petty-king, a friend of the Romans, say a Nubian, though a Christian, sent to Maximinus, the heathen Caesar holding Egypt, with an honorable retinue of soldiers and attendants, his son the Prince, to bear arms under him; who together with all his own, on such occasion, attained to the crown of martyrdom. I assert nothing indeed, but offer a free conjecture, until something more certain be offered from elsewhere.
ON SS. EVASIUS AND PRIVATUS,
MARTYRS IN AFRICA.
From the Hieronymian Martyrology and others.
CommentaryEvasius, Martyr in Africa (S.)
Privatus, Martyr in Africa (S.)
G. H.
These two Martyrs are reported, in four copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, in the second place, in these words: In Africa, of Evasius and Privatus. In the single Epternach copy it is written "of Privata," but with three others the manuscript Martyrologies retain the name of Privatus—the Reichenau, the Barberini, the Trier of S. Maximinus, the one of the Queen of Sweden, and several others, together with Grevenus in the additions to Usuard, in all of which is read: In Africa, of Evasius and Privatus. In the manuscripts of Gellone, Augsburg, S. Gall, and the Paris one of Labbe, Evasius alone is set forth; nor could I easily divine the place and manner of their martyrdom.
ON SAINT SYSTUS,
WHETHER A CONFESSOR IN AFRICA?
A CONJECTURE.
From the Old Calendar of the Church of Carthage.
Systus, whether a Confessor? in Africa (S.)
D. P.
To the two set before, as a companion, if not of Martyrdom, at least of cult, I add S. Systus, from the most ancient Carthaginian
Calendar of the Church, which after the death of Henschenius Mabillon published in Volume 2 of his Old Analects, where there is read at the Nones of June "Of S. Systus"—a bare name indeed, and without title: but that he was a Bishop, if not of Carthage, at least under the Primate of Carthage, the very title of the Calendar persuades. Here are contained the days of the Birthdays of the Martyrs, and the Depositions of the Bishops, whom the Church of Carthage celebrates yearly. It persuades, I say, but does not fully convince: since elsewhere the title of Bishop or Martyr is expressly added, which here and in some others is wanting—perhaps men distinguished with the laurel of Confession, after torments or imprisonments endured. Of obtaining more, amid the silence of the ancients, no hope shines forth.