Aetherius

ON SAINT AETHERIUS, MARTYR,

PERHAPS AT NICOMEDIA IN BITHYNIA.

UNDER DIOCLETIAN.

Notice of the Martyrdom and the time from the Menaea.

Aetherius, Martyr, perhaps at Nicomedia (Saint)

G. H.

This holy Martyr is mentioned in Sirletus's Menology with these words: On the same day, the 18th of June, of the holy Martyr Aetherius, who lived under the Emperor Diocletian; being denounced, he was brought before Edesius the Governor: and confessing Christ he is laid prostrate, and burned with fiery torches; and bearing diverse torments, he is struck with the sword. Thus there, rather thinly compressed, whence even more compressed it has been transferred into the present-day Roman, in this form: On the same day, of Saint Aetherius the martyr: who in the persecution of Diocletian, after fires and other torments, was cut down by the sword. I do not know whether Baronius caught wind elsewhere Eleusius, not Edesius, being the Governor, that an error had crept into Sirletus concerning the name of the Governor. That Eleusius, not Edesius, ought to be written appears from the Menaea, which alone Sirletus had before his eyes, as also Maximus, Bishop of Cythera, in the Lives of the Saints. Now we judge that this Eleusius is the same one by whom Saint Juliana the Virgin at Nicomedia bravely sustained very many torments inflicted upon her, whose acts, collated from several manuscripts, we illustrated on the 16th of February. These things can confer some light on this Martyr's Elogium, and make it probable that he too suffered at Nicomedia, or at least in Bithynia. Now that Elogium is of this kind.

[2] This man lived under the reign of Diocletian. Being accused, then, he stood before Eleusius the Ruler; and having confessed Christ, Aetherius suffers the same torments he is stretched out and burned with torches of fire, and his armpits are seared with iron balls heated red-hot, and he receives hooks upon his back and chest and in his nostrils, and is spread out upon a brazen mat heated red-hot, and out of all these he is delivered by the intervention of an Angel, and then thus his head is cut off. The holy Martyr Aetherius, accused under the reign of Diocletian, was led to the Governor Eleusius; and having confessed Christ he is beaten, and burned with blazing torches, and seared under the armpits with blazing iron balls, which Saint Juliana suffered at Nicomedia. and torn with hooks on his back, chest, and nostrils, and stretched out upon a blazing bronze mat; from all which he is freed by the help of a present Angel, and at last is beheaded with the sword. Thus there; torments similar to which Eleusius the Governor caused to be inflicted on Saint Juliana, and she was freed by an Angel, and at last, struck with the sword, obtained the crown of martyrdom at Nicomedia.

ON TWO HOLY MARTYRS

WHO SUFFERED AMONG THE GREEKS.

From a manuscript Synaxarium of Dijon.

Two Martyrs among the Greeks (Saints)

G. H.

The Synaxarium found by us in a manuscript at Dijon in the College of the Society of Jesus, in the keeping of Pierre François Chifflet, in the year 1662, records these Saints thus: The two holy Martyrs, who … with their feet burned, were perfected. The two holy Martyrs, … with their feet burned, ended their life. Among the very words something could not be read, whether it was the place of the Martyrdom, or the time with an indication of the Emperor under whom they contended; which perhaps will be found elsewhere, and can someday be added. Meanwhile receive the verses prefixed according to custom.

Loving the burning of their feet for one hour, The two Martyrs rejoice eternally.

Having gladly suffered the burning of their feet for one Hour, the two Martyrs rejoice forever.