Thaddæus the Martyr

Notice from their Metrical Hagiology.

Commentary

Thaddæus, Martyr among the Abyssinians (S.)

D. P.

The often-already-cited Hagiology of the Abyssinian

people in Ethiopia, communicated to us by the distinguished

illustrator of Ethiopian History, He died strangled,

Job Ludolf of Frankfurt,

bids us greet this holy

Martyr thus,

on the second of the month Hamle, called in Coptic Abib,

which corresponds to our 26th day of June. I say greeting

to Thaddæus, who endured the torment of strangulation.

Where, or when, is not added. Yet by a probable

conjecture I am led to suppose that he suffered in Egypt, before the reign

of Constantine the Great, after a rich man was converted.

Unless perhaps a more distinct notice of the memorable conversions

wrought by him while he was yet living—by which, mighty in word and deed,

he became renowned—makes him seem less ancient.

A specimen of these the Poet sets forth thus:

The fame of his miracles shall be written unto the

latest generation: for, rebuking the pride of a certain wealthy

man, he forced a camel to pass through the eye

of a needle, according to what is written

in Matthew XIX, 24, that it is easier for a camel

to pass through the eye of a needle, and a harlot, than for a rich man

to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Nor is this deed

less to be esteemed than that other, if indeed it be understood

spiritually, in that he raised up a woman, accustomed to fornication, as if by a wind

on high, that is into heaven, out of that miry

abyss of pleasures, in which she lay sunk. Would that more

might sometime be granted us to learn from the Acts!

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