SUMMARY OF THE MARTYRDOM
OF SAINT RAMIRUS AND THE TWELVE MONKS.
Published from a manuscript codex by Tamayo Salazar.
Vincent, Abbot and Martyr, at Leon in Spain (Saint)
Ramirus, Prior and Martyr, at Leon in Spain (Saint)
Twelve monks, Martyrs, at Leon in Spain (Saints)
BHL Number: 7078
[1] Ramirus, from the etymology of his name, was of Gothic origin; Saint Ramirus, a Goth, in the monastery of the holy Martyrs Claudius, Lupercus, and Victoricus, in the city of Leon, he put on the cowl of the Order of our Father the Lord Benedict. In the succeeding times he led the monastic life so perfectly that he was presented to all the Brethren as a mirror of life and a pattern of virtue. He had received the priorate of the monastery when our most glorious Father, the Abbot and Martyr Vincent, was governing the reins of the Order at Saint Claudius; when he was taken away by martyrdom, as we have said, our Father Ramirus himself, Prior of the monastery, who as Prior was governing in place of the Martyr Vincent, having called the Brethren together after the apparition of the holy Abbot, spoke these words to them: "You have now seen, dearest Brethren, the vision which the Lord has deigned to reveal through the ministry of our Father, and you have heard what must be done, so that those who are of steadfast spirit may sacrifice their life to bodily death, and those who are faint of spirit may preserve their life. Whence, if we yearn to behold God with unveiled countenance, rouses their souls to martyrdom: our hearts must first be purified by faith, consecrated by works, and fortified on every side by the wall of charity; by which assuredly we may without hesitation be deemed worthy of that promise of the holy Gospel, which says: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' Matthew 5:8 Wherefore I beseech you, dearest brethren, do not lose the crown prepared for you, nor let the allurement of any worldly thing separate you from the love of Christ, but with an equal spirit let us say with the Apostle: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or nakedness? or peril? or the sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Romans 8:35 'But in all these things we overcome because of him who loved us.' Rather, all these things, for the sake of eternal reward, must be both sought and borne with more eager spirits and ardent desires. For there remains for each one, stored up with the Lord, the crown of his labor, and according to the quality of the contest He will repay the fruit of the reward. Do not be terrified, Brethren, by the furies of the persecutors, nor be afraid of their faces, for the Lord will not make you fear the sight of them. He is with you who armed you; He fights for you who incited you, nor will He cease to help, He Himself who chose you to complete this contest: by which, the goads of adversity having been overcome, He will make you reign with Him by perpetual right for infinite ages."
[2] When he had said these things, having kissed the weaker ones and extended his blessing, some dismissed, he sent them to the interior mountains of Galicia: and with himself he led back to the Church twelve Brethren whom the Holy Spirit had chosen for the struggle of the trophy. There, devoted to prayer and, with Christ's help, despising the conflict for the Catholic faith, they awaited the fury of the Arians. When this was heard, Ramirus immediately opened the doors of the monastery with the twelve soldiers of Christ, and looking upon the ministers of the devil, in a loud and intelligible voice he chanted in the monastic manner, with the monks following in alternation: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, professing the faith with the other twelve, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father." When these had been repeated again and again, he is slain: all the Arians who had come, making an assault upon the holy monks, like rabid dogs tore apart the bodies of the Saints; then entering the monastery, they set everything on fire and plundered whatever they found useful.
[3] buried apart from the others. When these things were done, they returned to their homes, leaving the bodies of the holy Martyrs torn apart in the field. When night came, the pious charity of the Catholics gathered them together and buried them in a heap in the church. Except for the body of Saint Ramirus, which, though enclosed in a stone tomb and rough marble, rests until in the resurrection of the dead it shall be reunited with its most holy soul, so that, just as it itself may attain eternal glory, through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be praise, glory, and power forever and ever. Amen.