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.