ON SAINT CALLIOPE,
MARTYR AMONG THE GREEKS.
UNDER DECIUS.
A compilation from the Greek Menaea.
Calliope, Martyr among the Greeks (S.)
G. H.
[1] The Tables of the Roman Martyrology, on this
8th of June refer the memory of S. Calliope the Martyr, who for the faith of Christ, Memory in the Roman Martyrology, with her breasts cut off, and her flesh burned, rolled upon potsherds, finally beheaded, received the palm of martyrdom. In the notes are cited the Greeks in the Menology, namely Sirleti, who described her Acts from the great Menaea, from the Greeks: in which the following is read. Τῇ αὕτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, On the same day (namely the 8th, on which in the first place is set forth to be celebrated the Translation of the Relics of S. Theodore the Great-Martyr) τῆς ἁγίας Μάρτυρος Καλλιόπης, of S. Calliope the Martyr, understand ἄθλησις Contest, or μνήμη Memory.
[2] tortures endured from the Menaea. Αὕτη ἦν κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους Δεκίου τοῦ Βασιλέως, ὥρͅ σώματος καὶ κάλλει ψυχῆς διαλάμπουσα· συσχεθεῖσα οὖν ἀναγκάζεται ἀποστῆναι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀγάπης καὶ πίστεως· ὡς δὲ κραταιῶς ταύτης ἀντείχετο, αἰκίζεται σφὸδρῶς, καὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς κόπτεται, οὓς Ἄγγελος ἐπιστὰς ὑγιεῖς ἀπέδειξεν. Εἶτα ἐπ᾽ ὀστράκου κεκομμένου σύρεται, καὶ πυρὶ καταφλέγεται, καὶ τὰς καταφλεχθείσας σάρκας ἅλατι ἐπιπάσσεται, καὶ τριχίνοις ὑφάσματι κατατρίβεται, εἰθ᾽ οὕτως τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποτέμνεται, εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἀμήν. Which I render thus in Latin. She, in the times of the Emperor Decius, was illustrious both by the form of her body and the beauty of her soul: when seized, she was compelled to depart from the love and faith of Christ: in which, while she persists constantly and strongly, she is severely beaten, and punished with her breasts cut off: but an Angel restored these to her, and healed her completely. Then she is dragged over fragments of potsherds, and burned with fire: then the burnt parts are sprinkled with salt and rubbed with hair-cloth. At last, with her head cut off, she is crowned with martyrdom. To the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same is read ἐν βίοις ἁγίων in Maximus the Bishop of Cythera.
[3] Inserted in vain into the Spanish Adversaria. Because the place of martyrdom was not added, she seemed to belong to whoever first claimed her. Therefore some more recent Spaniards seized upon her, and inserted her name into the Adversaria, fabricated under the name of Julian the Archpresbyter of Toledo, at number 555 thus. At Tribora, which town is now Lerma in the Masburgii, the commemoration of S. Calliope, surnamed Lerama, from whom the town received its name, who in the persecution of Nero, by the cutting off of her breasts, the burning of her flesh, and rolling on burning shards, finally by the cutting off of her head, escaped as a Martyr for the cause of the faith. The Menologies and Martyrologies of the Greeks treat of her, on the 8th day of June, in the 12th year of Nero's reign. So there: but the Menaea and Menologies of the Greeks have her as having suffered in the times of the Emperor Decius, and without doubt among the Greeks. Meanwhile Tamayo Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology, not content with the eulogy of the Greeks, added a copious narration, but of the same workmanship, to which we refer those eager for similar fictions.