ON THE HOLY ROMAN MARTYRS SILVIUS, MAXIMUS, BENIGNUS, FIDELIS, HERCULANUS, PRIMUS, PELAGIUS, JULIUS, PHILEMON, JUSTUS, PROCOPIUS, DONATUS, PIUS, AND FELICIANUS, AT ANTWERP IN BELGIUM.
Historical Compilation.
Silvius, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Maximus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Benignus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Fidelis, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Herculanus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Primus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Pelagius, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Julius, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Philemon, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Justus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Procopius, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Donatus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Pius, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
Felicianus, a Roman Martyr, at Antwerp in Belgium (Saint)
[1] At Antwerp the Society of Jesus has at its professed house, as we call it, a temple of magnificent ancient workmanship built of Ligurian marble. The design of this temple, according to Vitruvian principles (contrary to what is commonly done in these regions, where Gothic structures are usually preferred), At Antwerp in the church of the Society of Jesus was drawn up, and its foundations were laid in the year 1615, by Francisco Aguilón, the last Rector of the college that had previously stood here and was changed the following year into a professed house, after a new one had been donated to the Society eight years earlier in another part of the city by the Senate and People, with the approval of Albert and Isabella, the supreme Princes of the Belgians. The first Superior of the professed house was Jacques Tirinus, himself, like Aguilón, famous for his published books. He completed the church begun by the latter in the year 1621 and adorned it both with other furnishings and especially with the bodies of the saints, Many bodies of Saints a truly precious treasure, which his successors as Superior nobly augmented, as we said under February 3 and 12, 13, 26, and shall say elsewhere. Not only were the complete bodies of individual saints brought in, whether of individual
in some province or other, was killed because he preached Christ; and likewise many others elsewhere. Our present Silvius appears to have won his palm at Rome. Saint Justus sustained an illustrious martyrdom at Rome, Saint Justus he who is inscribed in the Martyrology under July 14; and perhaps another on February 28, as some report, though we are not entirely in agreement; and many others are celebrated elsewhere. I recall no Procopius, apart from this one of ours, who was given the laurel of martyrdom at Rome. Saint Procopius. Saint Donatus. Saint Pius. Nor any Donatus either; but very many elsewhere. Saint Pius the Pope and Martyr is venerated on July 11, and no other of that name is mentioned anywhere except this one of ours, if he is a different person.
[9] Having set forth these matters for the conjectures of curious readers, the manner in which the relics of these Martyrs were translated to the church and altar must be described, which was nearly the same as had been observed the previous day for Saints Symphorian, Macarius, Victorinus, and others. On the last day of February, which in that year 1650 was a Monday after Quinquagesima Sunday, The relics of these Martyrs were brought into the church on February 28, 1650 after Vespers and various sacred hymns had been sung, a sermon was delivered around the fifth hour. After which, with the same pomp as the day before, the chest in which the said relics were enclosed was brought from the sacristy into the church, borne aloft on a beautifully adorned bier upon the shoulders of four priests who were vested in the manner of deacons. Three other priests followed, dressed in copes. The other priests and members of the household, carrying candles in their hands, preceded and flanked the chest on both sides. In the middle of the church a platform had been set up, on which the shrine was placed. Publicly honored Then the hymn Te Deum laudamus was sung by the musicians in an excellent harmony, followed by the antiphon of the Martyrs and the Prayer by a priest. The shrine was left on that platform, with many lights burning around it, and the entire procession advanced to the high altar, on which, most splendidly adorned, the venerable Sacrament had been exposed, by which at last the benediction was given to the very large congregation.
[10] After the people had departed and the doors were locked, the shrine of relics was reverently carried to the high altar On March 1 the feast was celebrated and placed in a lofty position upon it. The following day, the Kalends of March, at the tenth hour, a solemn Mass was sung for the same Martyrs, and throughout the entire time until noon, Masses were celebrated by our Fathers and other priests at seven altars. Toward evening, a sermon was again delivered on the veneration and patronage of the same Martyrs, and the minds of the hearers were stirred to begin Lent piously in imitation of them and to run its course happily. The celebration continued
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.