ON ST. ANTONINA, MARTYR, AT NICAEA IN BITHYNIA.
he ordered her to be shut up in a sack and thrown into the lake. But what trace of the Scaphismus, or of a similar torture, is there here? The manuscript of Grottaferrata has, after the torment of the red-hot gridiron endured without harm: "Then she was cast into a sack and thrown into the lake of Nicaea" (Εἶτα ἐμβληθεῖσα ἐις σάκκον, ἐῤῥίφη ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ της νικαίας), but in a sack, "and thus she was perfected" (καὶ οὕτως ἐτελειώθη). The Paris manuscript: "She is cast into a sack and thrown into the lake of Nicaea, and thus she is perfected" (ἐμβάλλεται εἰς σάκκον, καὶ εἰς τὴν λίμνην νικαίας ἀποῤῥίπτεται, καὶ οὕτως πελειοῦται). She is placed in a sack and thrown into the lake of Nicaea, and in that manner she meets her end. In the other codex of Grottaferrata, these things are expressed thus: "She is cast into a certain vessel, and thrown into the lake of Nicaea, and thus she surrendered her spirit to the Lord" (ἐμβάλλεται ἐν ἀλγείῳ τινὶ, καὶ ῥίπτεται ἐν τῇ λίμνῃ νικαίας, καὶ οὕτως παρέδωκε τὸ πνευμα αὐτῆς τῷ κυρὶῳ).
She is enclosed in a certain vessel and cast into the lake of Nicaea, and thus she surrendered her spirit to the Lord. What the translator of the Menologion rendered as "enclosed in a certain vessel" could have been rendered "enclosed in a certain sack": for the word anggeion (ἀγγεῖον) signifies also a sack, and any receptacle, perhaps a leather bag, or vessel. But since it says "in a certain vessel" (ἐν ἀγγείῳ τινὶ), it may be doubted whether she was enclosed in a leather bag, or in some linen, hemp, or haircloth sack. Certain details from this account, which are absent from the others, concerning the torture of the breasts and chest, we shall give below. The fourth manuscript, from Dijon, because it seemed to agree for the most part with the first of Grottaferrata, we did not transcribe in full.
[7] The Acts of this holy Martyr were composed by our Francis Laherius and by Juan Tamayo Salazar, with amplifications of those things narrated in the Menologion. Each calls St. Antonina a Virgin, although the former acknowledges that the Roman Martyrology and the Greek Menologion, which he had indeed seen, by no means assign her that title; but that tradition stood on his side. But what tradition was that, and what Latin writer previously mentioned it? Nor did we ourselves dare absolutely to assign her that crown, whether she should be called a Virgin? since three Greek manuscripts and all published Greek and Latin texts abstain from that title. And yet it does not seem safe to deny it either, since the Menaea call her, as we have reported, the Bride of the Lord, and say that the sea, or rather that great lake near Nicaea, was her bridal chamber. For although God is joined to all holy souls by a certain mystical marriage, that honor is nonetheless chiefly attributed to Virgins. Our opinion was indeed confirmed by the Chifflet manuscript, in which the title of her account reads: "Of Antonina the Virgin" (Ἀντωνίνης παρθένου) etc.
[8] It also seems not to be omitted here that Antonius de Paulo Masinus writes in his Bologna Illustrated that in that city, within the church of St. Gabriel, the skull of St. Antonina the Martyr is preserved, [At Bologna there exists the head and relics of St. Antonina: whether of this one is uncertain,] and in the church of All Saints some of her remains. Whether these belong to the Nicaean Antonina or to some other, we cannot divine. For there were several Antonina Martyrs elsewhere; and indeed at Nicaea another, as may be seen, in the same times of Diocletian and Maximian, under the governor Priscillian, for there was also another at Nicaea, who endured certain torments quite similar, but also different ones: for burning awls were driven through her hands and feet, from which a wonderful sweetness of fragrance, as if from styrax, breathed forth; cast into the sea with a great stone hung about her neck, she came to land unharmed, and being captured again, at the governor's command she was overwhelmed with stones and beheaded. The Menaea, Menologion, Parisian Synaxarion, and Roman Martyrology record her on June 12. And so that readers may be free to judge whether the Antonina venerated on the Kalends of March and the one honored on the day before the Ides of June are one and the same, we shall also give from that ancient Synaxarion the account, or epitome of the deeds, of the latter.
[9] There is another St. Antonina from the town of Cardemus, as the Menologion of Canisius has it under June 8, another at Constantinople, "from the village of Crodomorum" (ἀπὸ κώμης κρωδώμων), as the Synaxarion has it on the 9th of the same month; but the Menaea on the 10th, "from the village of Cardamus" (ἀπὸ κώμης καρδαμου). She is recorded as having attained a noble martyrdom under the governor Festus together with St. Alexander, who had rescued her from a brothel. Their relics were transported to Constantinople, to the monastery of Maximinus, and shone with many miracles. They are inscribed in the Roman Martyrology under May 3. We have recorded another under January 19, in the list of those Passed Over and deferred to other days, St. Antonina Virgin and Martyr from the company of the Associates of St. Ursula, another at Cologne, and we said that she is solemnly venerated at Cologne in the parish church of St. John the Baptist, and elsewhere, on the Monday of Pentecost. Several other Virgins and Martyrs of the same name, associates of St. Ursula, are enumerated by our Hermann Crombach in his St. Ursula Vindicated. Whether the one whom we said is reported by Masinus belongs to the number of these Antoninas, we have no indication from which we might conjecture.
MARTYRDOM OF ST. ANTONINA
from the Greek manuscripts of Grottaferrata.
St. Antonina, Martyr, at Nicaea in Bithynia.
[10] Antonina, Martyr of Christ, was from the city of Nicaea, during the reign of Maximian. When he had come to Nicaea, it was reported to him that she was a Christian: Acts of St. Antonina of Nicaea, March 1: she confessed. Therefore she is tortured with torments, to be compelled to renounce Christ and offer incense to idols. When she could not be induced to do this, she is cast into prison. Later brought out from there and urged to renounce Christ, when she would by no means consent, she is ordered to be hung on high and her sides scraped. Yet seeing her even so mocking his error with shameful words, while bearing witness to the truth, Maximian orders her to be stripped of her garments and beaten naked. But when the executioners prepared to lay hands on her, Angels came, protecting her indeed, but striking them with blows. Then she is placed on a red-hot gridiron, and was not harmed. Therefore, enclosed in a sack and thrown into the lake of Nicaea, she thus completed her contest.
[11] These things are from the Menologion which is said to have been compiled at the command and effort of Basil Porphyrogenitus. There is another account there, written by an ancient hand, in which it is ascribed to the first day of March, not, as in the former, to the second. And in the first examination she is said to have been savagely tortured on the breasts and chest: in the second examination, brought out of prison and suspended on high, her sides were torn. other things about her reported elsewhere. Then she was stripped of her garments for the butchery, but was defended by Angels, and the executioners were battered with blows. Afterward she was placed on a glowing gridiron, and having suffered no harm at all, she is cast into prison; whence after two years (μετα δύο χρόνους) she was summoned, and when she steadfastly refused to sacrifice to idols, she is enclosed in a certain vessel, or sack (as we explained the word anggeion ἀγγεῖον above) and thrown into the lake of the city of Nicaea.
OF ANOTHER ST. ANTONINA OF NICAEA,
or perhaps the same one,
Martyrdom from a Greek Synaxarion manuscript.
St. Antonina, Martyr, at Nicaea in Bithynia.
[12] She was from the city of Nicaea in Bithynia, in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, and of the governor Priscillian: when she had been brought before him on account of her confession of Christ, her breasts were beaten with whips; likewise the Acts of another Nicaean Antonina, June 12; and again she is confined in prison. Brought out from there, she is hung from a beam, her sides are scorched, and she is stretched upon a red-hot gridiron, and burning awls are driven through her hands, from which a sweet fragrance breathed forth as if from styrax. Likewise also pierced through the ankles with red-hot skewers, she is sent back again into custody, and left there for two years to be worn down by every kind of affliction. But afterward she is brought out again, and cast into the sea, she wins the crown of martyrdom.
[13] In the Menaea the final events are related in this manner: She is sent back to prison again, and left there exposed to every affliction for a full two years, and being brought out again, with a very heavy stone hung about her neck, she is cast into the sea. But restored unharmed to land, and captured again and brought before the governor, at his command she is overwhelmed with stones and beheaded, and thus she wins the crown of martyrdom. who is said to have been beheaded. More briefly but very elegantly, the Menologion published by Canisius: On the same day, of the holy Martyr Antonina. At Nicaea in Bithynia, under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, with Priscillian as governor, Antonina, persevering steadfastly in the confession of the Christian faith, beaten with rods, suspended on a beam, her sides torn, pierced with awls, burned with flames, and finally struck with the sword, was crowned with martyrdom.