ON THE HOLY ROMAN MARTYRS WHO SUFFERED UNDER THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER,
UNDER THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER.
Historical Compilation.
The Roman Martyrs who suffered under the Emperor Alexander (Saints)
[1] Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander was adopted in the year of Christ 221 by his cousin the Emperor Antoninus Elagabalus and was proclaimed Caesar; and when Elagabalus was murdered the following year, on the 6th day before the Ides of March, he succeeded him. He was a prince excelling in both peace and war, who, devoted to the worship of Christ and having been unable through the Senate to pay him divine honors or build a temple, venerated him in his private chapel. But since he took into his council men who, though most learned in law, were most hostile to Christians, many martyrdoms occurred, These Martyrs did not suffer together with Saints Jovinus and Basileus whose sacred memory has been inscribed in the ecclesiastical calendar under this date of March 2. Thus the old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde: "On the 6th day before the Nones of March, at Rome, of Jovinus and Basileus. And of the very many Martyrs condemned to death under Alexander." In this manner these Martyrs are recorded in the Martyrologies after Saints Jovinus and Basileus, so that they might appear to have suffered together under Alexander. And the Acts of Saint Stephen I, Pope, to be illustrated under August 2, state that the sacred bodies of twelve clerics of Saint Stephen, crowned with martyrdom under Valerian and Gallienus, were buried next to the bodies of Saints Jovinus and Basileus—so that the latter must necessarily have been killed before the others. But since in those Acts no mention is made of companion Martyrs, and since the ancient Martyrologies also report that they suffered under Valerian and Gallienus, we shall treat of them separately below.
[2] Usuard, in both manuscript and printed codices, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Canisius, as well as the manuscript Martyrologies of Saint Mary's at Utrecht and Saint Gudula's at Brussels, and those printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490, have the following: "Also at Rome, of very many Martyrs, Put to death by capital sentence under Alexander whom the Emperor Alexander, after long torture, at last condemned by capital sentence"—where they are clearly separated from Saints Jovinus and Basileus. The memory of Saint Simplicius the Pope, of whom we shall treat below, is also interposed in the published edition of Bede. Moreover, Ado agrees with Bede's notice in these words: "On the same day, of the very many Martyrs who suffered under the Emperor Alexander, whom the impious Alexander, after long torture, at last condemned by capital sentence." This is set forth in the manuscript Martyrology of Trier in the following words: "On the same day, of the very many Martyrs whom the Emperor Alexander had beheaded at Rome after long torture." In the manuscript of Cologne, preserved among the Carmelites, it reads: "Also at Rome, of the very many Saints beheaded under the Emperor Alexander." The Viola Sanctorum, printed at Haguenau in 1508, agrees with these last almost exactly.
[3] In the present Roman Martyrology, with a new addition, it reads: "Also at Rome, of the very many holy Martyrs, And under Ulpian the Prefect who under the Emperor Alexander and Ulpian the Prefect, after long torture, were at last condemned by capital sentence." Then in the Notes it is said that the name of the Prefect Ulpian was added from an old manuscript, but which one is not indicated. The memory of these Martyrs—and indeed even of Jovinus and Basileus—is absent from the manuscript Martyrology of Saint Cyriacus and many other ancient ones. But Galesini mentions Ulpian in his Annotations, asserting that among the most hostile enemies of the Christian faith who attended the council of the Emperor Alexander, the chief was Domitius Ulpianus, the leading figure among jurists and Prefect of the Praetorium, who handed over to the Proconsuls the old rescripts of the impious tyrants Nero, Domitian, and others concerning the extermination of Christians Most hostile to Christians, as they were setting out to the provinces with imperium, so that they might gauge from these their duty in this matter. Wherefore it came about that in his time as well, both at Rome and in the provinces, many thousands of Christians were slain fighting for the glory of Christ, and everywhere terror, punishments, torments, prisons, racks, hooks, and every kind of torture, as in other times of the most bitter persecutions, were employed against Christians. Among these Martyrs, Saint Martina the Virgin was illustrious, whose Acts we gave under the very Kalends of January, and we noted after chapter 1, letter (a), that others attribute to Domitius Ulpian whatever is recorded as having been done by Alexander in those Acts. Baronius observes a great deal in his Notes on the same Kalends of January, letter (g).
[4] Galesini writes that the martyrdom of these Saints took place under Alexander Caesar, in these words: "At Rome, of the very many holy Martyrs, whom Alexander Caesar ordered first to be variously tortured at length and at last condemned." At what time did they suffer? He adds in his Annotations that they were crowned with martyrdom in the consulship of Gratus and Seleucus. This is the above-mentioned year 221, which Galesini, with an error of thirteen years, has placed in the year 234. In the manuscript Florarium, after the notice is reported in the words of Usuard, it is added: "In the year of salvation 224, in the twentieth year of the fifth persecution." That persecution began under Lucius Septimius Severus in the year 202, whence its twentieth year corresponds to the said year 221, when Alexander was created Caesar—he who meanwhile is called Emperor in nearly all the Martyrologies. For thus Ferrarius writes in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy: "Very many suffered on this day at Rome under the Emperor Alexander, whose number could not be ascertained. These, seized on account of the faith of Christ and tortured at length so that they might deny the faith, finally received capital sentence."