Job

ON SAINT JOB

THE PROPHET IN THE LAND OF HUS.

Job the Prophet in the land of Hus (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[1] It is not our counsel nor our plan, while we have determined to treat of the most holy man Job in this place, to investigate and illustrate all things which are everywhere disputed about him: since these may be read most exactly deduced among very many ancient and modern Interpreters. Praise of St. Job in his own history. How greatly God esteemed him, we understand not only from the very history of Job and from the book of Canonical authority, but we also know from other books of sacred Scripture. For in Ezekiel chapter 14 the Lord God says these things. When a land hath sinned against me, so as to transgress grievously, and in Ezekiel, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break the staff of its bread, & will send famine upon it, and will destroy out of it man & beast. And if there shall be these three men in the midst of it, Noë, Daniel & Job; they by their own justice shall deliver their own souls, saith the Lord of hosts. Behold, how Job is set together with Noë & Daniel, and is set forth as one chosen with the just on account of his justice, & worthy of God's highest friendship. But also as an example of endurance he is set forth in the book of Tobias chapter 2 in these words: But this temptation Tobias, the Lord therefore permitted to befall him, that an example of his patience might be given to posterity, as also of holy Job. Moreover the Apostle James, & James the Apostle. when in chapter 5 he had threatened the rich oppressors of the poor with grievous vengeance, in order to lead the poor to patience & long-suffering, speaks thus: Be patient & strengthen your hearts… Take, as an example of suffering evil, of labor & patience, the Prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord. Behold, we account them blessed who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, & you have seen the end of the Lord, because the Lord is merciful & compassionate. That is, as is said at the end of the books of Job: The Lord was turned to the repentance of Job, when he prayed for his friends, & the Lord added all whatsoever had been Job's, double. And then: But Job lived after these things a hundred & forty years, & saw his sons & the sons of his sons unto the fourth generation, & died an old man & full of days.

[2] his memory in the Latin Calendars: In what year or on what day he died is not sufficiently established. The Greeks, with the rest of the Orientals, celebrate his feast on the VI day of May; but the Latins, whom we follow, on this X day of the same month of May: on which day in the most ancient apograph of the Hieronymian Martyrology, the Epternac one, these things are read toward the end: Elsewhere the deposition of Job the Prophet. In the Lucca transcript of the same Martyrology it is held thus: And elsewhere the deposition or birthday of Job the Prophet. But the Birthday of Job the Prophet is expressed in the MS. of the Queen of Sweden, praised by Holstenius. The Deposition is in Notker & in the Vatican MS. Supplement of Bede. Both epithets being omitted, the bare name of Job the Prophet is reported in the first place in Usuard & Ado. In the present Roman Martyrology more is added in these words: In the land of Hus, of Saint Job the Prophet, a man of admirable patience. Wandelbert also of old celebrated him in this verse: These too holy Job honors by the example of suffering. Of the same all the MS. Martyrologies everywhere make mention, & with these Bellinus, Grevenus, Maurolycus, Molanus, Galesinius, Canisius, & others: whom it does not please to name further. Various churches & altars have been erected to the same, churches & altars erected, in which,

on this X of May, his feast is celebrated with Ecclesiastical Office. In the Venetian city and its whole diocese, he is venerated under the semidouble rite: & all things are recited from the Common of a Confessor not of the Regulars. In the city of Bologna there is seen a hospital of the Confraternity of St. Job in the street of Purgatory: & in the church sacred to him there are plenary Indulgences granted by Gregory XIII. Moreover in the church of S. Maria of the Mendicants, near the gate of S. Vitalis, there is an altar dedicated to St. Job, & his feast is there celebrated. In the diocese of Antwerp there is a parish of St. Job, to which on this day a great concourse of pilgrims is made. As also at Westmalle, an illustrious Barony of the territory of Louvain, whither a great part of the city of Louvain & of the neighboring places, pilgrimages, in order to satisfy its devotion toward St. Job, is wont to go on pilgrimage. He is also held the Patron of hospitals, hospitals, especially where those infected with leprosy, elephantiasis & similar diseases are wont to be cured, or nourished: whence it comes that almost outside all the gates of the Belgian cities, & for the most part also within the walls, there is some chapel or altar consecrated to his honor; & the same patronage everywhere also in other regions is wont to be frequented in like manner.

[3] In the Menology of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, on the VI day of May, Elogium from the Menology of the Emperor Basil. this elogium is read concerning him: The memory of Job, a just man & victor of many contests. Blessed Job was from the region of Æsitis, which is situated at the borders of Judæa & Arabia, a son begotten from the sons of Esau, so that he is the fifth from Abraham. But there was imposed upon him the name Joam. Now he prophesied thirty-five years, & preceded the Incarnation of Christ by one thousand nine hundred twenty-five years. This man, just before God & long & much proven, the devil demanded from God, that he might afflict him in every diverse manner. But when God willed to render him more illustrious & glorious, He delivered him to the devil: who not only despoiled him of the goods of fortune & of his children; but assailing him also with diseases, hedged about on every side with wounds & blows, cast him into a dunghill. But the holy man, when he had constantly borne all these miseries, & in all things had given thanks to God, affected the devil with the utmost disgrace. Again also having obtained double the riches upon the earth, & taking back a wife, & receiving children, when he had shown himself, after his manner, supremely grateful to God, he departed in peace. These things in the said Menology. But the things which are found in the MS. Constantinopolitan Synaxary & in the Menæa written by hand & printed by the press, & the Synaxary & Menæa, & in the New Anthology, although they agree in various matters, it pleases to subjoin. Job was from the region of Ausitis, situated between Idumæa & Arabia, a son of the sons of Esau, so that he himself was from Abraham the fifth. But his father was Zareth & his mother Bosora, but he himself from the beginning was called Jobab: he prophesied forty-five years, he preceded the coming of Christ by one thousand nine hundred twenty-five years. Because he was just & blameless, & surpassed all the mortals who then lived in holiness of life, the devil demanded him from the Lord, & first stripped him of all his goods, then afflicted him with most grievous blows & inexplicable miseries. But with Job in all the assaults of temptations & evils persisting unconquered & unmoved, the devil, conquered & put to shame, withdrew. But Job at the end of the contests God Himself pronounced & praised victor, & compensated all things taken away double: just as the history of sacred letters enumerates all things one by one. But he lived after the blows a hundred seventy years; in all two hundred forty-eight. These things there. In the Menæa, on the VI of May, as I said, the whole Ecclesiastical Office is of St. Job, & his virtues, especially patience, are wonderfully extolled in the Canon, whose Acrostic is.

Τὸν μυρίαθλον ἄξιον μέλπειν Ἰώβ.

Job is worthy to sing of, the man of a thousand battles.

On the same VI of May, the memory of Job the Just is celebrated among the Syrians in the Typicon of S. Sabas, & among the Arabs & Egyptians in the Martyrology, which Gratia Simonius translated from the Arabic.

[4] he is believed born from Abraham & Esau, Concerning the time in which he lived, the Latins everywhere disagree from the Greeks, nor do they sufficiently agree among themselves. Philip Labbe, in the Chronological Epitome of sacred & profane history, judges him born about the year of the world two thousand three hundred & thirtieth; & before the common Era of Christ, the one thousand seven hundred twenty-fourth; & born of his father Zara, who was the son of Rahuel, son of Esau, as is gathered from chapter XXXVI of Genesis, where the generations of Esau are numbered, & in num. 10 there is said his son Rahuel by Basemath his wife, then in num. 13 of this Rahuel are reported the sons, Nuhat & Zara, then in num. 33 these things are read: But Bela died, & Jobab, the son of Zara of Bosra, reigned in his stead. With these the Seventy Interpreters agree, in those things which by them were added at the end of the book of Job, in this manner. Dwelling indeed in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Idumæa & Arabia, & his name was Jobab. But when he had taken an Arabian wife, he begets a son whose name was Emmon. But he himself was from his father Zare, a son of the sons of Esau, so that he is the fifth from Abraham. And these are the Kings who reigned in Edom, of which region he himself also was lord: first Balac the son of Beor, & the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Balac, Jobab, who is called Job: but after this one, Asom. &c. Behold the consensus of the Greeks with this genealogy, which several holy Fathers have approved. The same Labbe, to the year of the world two thousand three hundred ninety- ninth, & before the common Era of Christ to the year one thousand six hundred fifty-fifth, refers the death of the Patriarch Joseph; & adds, that then St. Job seems to have been tempted by the devil, being seventy years old: to which if there be added a hundred forty years, he died before the Era of Christ by 1515 years. there are made up two hundred ten years, & thus there were given to him in the years of life also double, as we deduced above from the last chapter of Job: accordingly his death is referred by the said Labbe to the year of the world two thousand five hundred thirty-ninth, & before the common Era of Christ the one thousand five hundred fifteenth. But because the Greeks above alleged with the Seventy Interpreters assert that he lived in all two hundred forty-eight years, according to this calculation his death would have to be deferred to the year of the world two thousand five hundred seventy-seventh, or by 1477 years, & before the common Era of Christ the one thousand four hundred seventy-seventh. Otherwise Salianus thinks concerning these years, as will appear below from the Epitaph of Job.

[5] Christian Adrichomius, in the Theater of the Holy Land in the Half-tribe of Manasseh, beyond the Jordan, thus describes the dwelling of Job in chapter 95. The land of Hus, a region, The land of Hus or Ausitis. which by the Hebrew word Hus, or Huz, Us & Uz is called by the Seventy Interpreters, in Greek Αὐσίτις, as it were Οὐσίτις, is named Husitis. But it is situated beyond the Jordan in the Trachonitis region, midway between Palæstine & Cœlesyria. According to Josephus & Jerome it was founded & took its name from Hus the son of Aram, son of Sem, son of Noe, who was the founder both of Trachonitis & of Damascus: & in this region he first held habitation & principality. There afterward, as sacred history relates, the dwelling of St. Job. also the blessed Prophet Job dwelt, & held the Principality… But his sepulchral pyramid is shown even now at Suëta, he adds, & as he says in chapter 92: Suëta, which is also called Suïta, Suïtes, Suhi & Suchi, is a renowned city in the land of Hus… From this Baldad the Suïte or Suhite drew both his origin & surname, one of the three chief friends, who visited holy Job in his tribulation. Then in chapter 78, The pyramid, he says, the sepulchral pyramid. of the sepulchre of B. Job, which also in the more level places of the land of Hus toward the East of Suëta is shown, by the Greeks & other nations, because the Prophet was buried there, is held in honor. another Bosra near Mount Hermon. There is in the same place near Mount Hermon Bosra or Bostra, afterward called Busereth, the metropolis of Arabia Deserta, whence Job the son of Zara of Bosra is above so called, & is said to be of Æsitis or Hus, in the Menology of the Emperor Basil, a region situated at the borders of Judæa & Arabia: where Judæa is taken more broadly for the rest of the dominions of the Israelites. There is another Bosra, a city of Southern Idumæa, which as the country of Job Adrichomius assigns in the description of the desert of Pharan, another in Idumæa. in which near Mount Pharan is Dennaba, where before Job reigned Balac the son of Beor, & so in the Synaxary & other Menæa the region of Ausitis is said to be situated between Idumæa & Arabia. But this region the posterity of Esau are believed to have occupied, when the Israelites dwelt in Egypt: because Esau (who was also called Edom, & from him Idumæa) dwelt in Eastern Idumæa, & there received his brother the Patriarch Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia.

[6] And these things are enough about the region in which the Prophet Job reigned, held a King, wherefore in chapter 1 he is called a great man among all the Orientals, who also testifies of himself in chapter 29: When I went forth to the gate of the city, & in the street they prepared a chair for me; the young men saw me & hid themselves, & the old men rising up stood; the Princes ceased to speak, & laid the finger upon their mouth. Then with some things interposed he subjoins: If I had wished to go to them, I sat first; & when I sat as a King with the army standing around, I was nevertheless the consoler of them that mourned. Where without an army Job was in such authority, as another King with his army. And just as Melchisedech in Genesis chapter 14 was King of Salem & Priest of God most high, a Priest, about two hundred years before the nativity of Job; so also this man is proved to have joined the Priestly dignity with the Royal, from the very office of sacrificing, with which in the first chapter he is written to have functioned. For when the days of the banquet of his sons had gone round in a circle, Job sent to them, & sanctified them, & rising at daybreak offered holocausts for each one. But after the blow also by command of God he prayed for his friends & offered sacrifices, as in the end of the book chapter 42 is narrated. He was held also as it were a Patriarch of a people, a Patriarch, worshipping God outside the Israelites, & he himself from the stock of Abraham, like the other later Patriarchs, drew his origin. The Eastern & Western Church acknowledges him a Prophet; a Prophet, & with that Church the ancient Fathers everywhere proclaim him, with St. Augustine in sermon 2 on the Nativity, a Prophet & an eminent one of the Prophets. Moreover St. John Chrysostom, in homily 5 to the people of Antioch, a Martyr, reckons him among the Martyrs. For although, he says, he was not set before a tribunal, nor

heard the voice of a judge, nor saw an executioner, yet he suffered more grievous things than many Martyrs. Moreover he is reckoned among the Hagiographers, a Hagiographer. as the author of his own book, in which his struggle with the demon & his various conversations with his friends are set forth: which book, written by him in the Syriac or Arabic or Idumæan tongue, that Moses translated into Hebrew, with the beginning & end of the book also added, others everywhere with Bellarmine assert. Antonius Possevinus in the Apparatus sacer, discusses the Greek & Latin Catenas & Interpreters of the same book, after whom very many have elucidated his book. I make an end, because it is better to be silent than to take a sip of more. I only subjoin the epitaph of the Great Job, appended to a cenotaph by Salianus.

[7] Epitaph from Salianus. This marble, Traveler, once shut in a dead man, & sent him forth glorious, rising with the Prince of glory, the Messiah, Job, a man by far the greatest in all the East: nay, not a man, but a Hero, in the whole choir of Patriarchs & Prophets most illustrious for the highest ornaments of mind, body, fortune; nay, not a Hero, but the Chief of Heroes: more rightly I should call him a miracle of the world & a prodigy. For not with men, like other athletes, but with Satan himself, that most savage beast, demanding him to the most atrocious contest, once & again he so engaged, that stripped of his fortunes, he was ever clothed with the most true glory of supreme fortitude; & laid low by a horrible, as it was thought, fall, even with the Judge of the contest himself as witness & Herald, he ever stood, & crowned with the victor's palm triumphed. If you call him King of the Husites, the glory of the ancient Kings, illustrious with Royal virtues, it is too little; if Patriarch & Prophet, it is not enough; if great Priest, Doctor of the nations, Martyr, Apostle, it is almost not yet enough. For so great was he, that the shadow of him living, suffering, rising, almost touches the very citadel of the majesty of the incarnate Word. Seventy years old, he descended into the midst of the contest of all things: in which through the whole seven-year period with unheard-of fortitude he wrestled with the foulest enemy nights & days, & thereafter like a palm he multiplied his days, & propagated them to the two hundred & seventeenth year; & at that time finally he was loosed from the bonds of the body, when the Israelites, freed from the Egyptian servitude, began to traverse the desert places of Arabia, in the year of the World 2544, of the Deluge 888, before the rising of Christ the Lord 1509.

[8] His Body is said to have been brought from Rome to Ticinum. James Gualla, in book 4 chapter 2 of the Sanctuary of Pavia, published in the year 1587, treating of Rotharis King of the Lombards, founder of the church of S. John the Baptist in the Borough, in which his successors were afterward also entombed; attributes to the special diligence of the same King, that the same temple is enriched above all the churches of the city of Ticinum with the venerable Relics of Saints; for by his strong hand, he says, Rome was freed from the barbarians, & for so great a gift of salvation bestowed upon the city & the Christian commonwealth, by the gracious concession of the Apostolic See, the venerable bodies of the Saints Felicitas & her sons, of Job also the most patient, likewise of Tobias the Patriarch & of Tobias his son & of Sarra, the King himself with great veneration caused to be brought to Ticinum, to the same temple: & there they are kept. & lately taken away by theft. Then, having briefly recounted his life, in chapter 6 he thus concludes, Whose venerable Relics indeed are venerated in the chapel of the Divine Archangel Raphael. And that this was still so not long ago John Antonius Castillionæus indicates to us, in his work on the Antiquities of Milan, page 113, bringing in the memory of the same temple & of King Rotharis, who heaped it with so many riches & with so great bones of illustrious Saints, that deservedly, he says, once renowned of itself, it has now at length been made most notable to the whole world, on account of the furtive & clandestine stealing away of the bodies of the Saints Job, Tobias, & Tobiolus, which greatly disturbed the whole people of Ticinum, & struck them with immense grief. These things Castellionæus, publishing that book in the year 1625. Nor is there now leisure to investigate whether the damage has since been repaired: or whither those sacred bodies have been carried, of which it ought not to be doubted that, on this day, on which Saint Job is venerated, a special solemnity was kept among the Ticinese. But whether Tobias, with his son & daughter-in-law, ascribed to no calendars of the Saints, Rotharis the King the author of the Translation, has had his proper day of veneration, I would gladly learn from those skilled in Ticinese affairs: for they could in that case, against such a day, explain the aforesaid more diligently & supply whatever here is lacking. So far moreover I find no trace of help brought to the Roman city by Rotharis against the barbarians: nor do I know of others who in that age were more grievous to the Roman city than the Lombards, although they did not occupy it. But in the following century & in the year 755 Aystulphus, the King of the same, besieged Rome for three months; & digging up many bodies of Saints, carried away their sacred cemeteries, as Anastasius testifies in the Life of Stephen III. or Aystulphus? And this he did not only outside the city, but also in that region of the city which is across the Tiber. For as the same Anastasius says in the Life of S. Paschal the Pope, to be illustrated on the XIV of May, in his time there was a report, that when Aystulphus was besieging Rome, the body of the venerable Martyr of Christ Cæcilia was secretly carried away by his men, surely whose temple was in the said Region. But although that was not true, yet that it was true as far as concerns the bodies of the Saints Valerian her spouse & Tiburtius the Martyrs, once entombed in the same place, the Ticinese maintain, while they boast that they still possess them. If therefore from Rotharis the body of S. Job & of other Saints of the Old Testament is not believed to have been graciously received; it can be believed that it was under Aystulphus violently or fraudulently carried away. But how or when they came to Rome from the East I would wish to be able to teach, with ancient documents of letters brought forward concerning the matter.

ON SS. PRIMUS THE PRESBYTER, MARCUS THE DEACON, JASON AND CELIANUS,

MARTYRS AT TERGESTE IN ISTRIA.

UNDER HADRIAN.

Primus the Presbyter, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Marcus the Deacon, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Jason, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Celianus, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

G. H.

Tergeste, a coastal city of Istria on the Upper or Adriatic Sea, had various athletes, who under the Heathen Emperors gained the palm of martyrdom. Of these we gave on the XII of April S. Lazarus the Deacon: whose sacred body together with the Relics of SS. Primus & Marcus, The bodies of SS. Primus & Marcus translated to Verona: of whom we here treat, & of S. Apollinaris the Subdeacon, to be referred to the VI of December, were translated to Verona in the year 755, & on the XI of the Kalends of June deposited in the church of S. Firmus the greater: as we have more fully deduced at the Acts of the said S. Lazarus. On which occasion Augustinus Valerius, in the Ancient monuments of the Veronese Saints, also treats of SS. Primus & Marcus, & asserts that their Life is described in several ancient books from the parchments of this city. The Acts of the Martyrdom: This we obtained at Florence in a parchment codex of the Most Illustrious Senator Carolus Strozzi, & we give it here. They are said there to have been martyred on the VI of the Ides of May, their cult on the 10th of May. & on that day that their feast is celebrated the said Augustinus Valerius noted, & Ferdinand Ughellus among the Bishops of Verona & in the forty- first of them, S. Anno, whom to have translated their bodies is also indicated below at his Life on the XXIII of May.

[2] a compendium of the Acts. Peter de Natalibus, Bishop of Equilium, in book 4 of the Catalogue chapter 151, has this compendium of the martyrdom: Primus, Marcus, Jason & Celianus Martyrs, in the city of Tergeste, suffered in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, under Artasius the Governor: who ordered Primus the Presbyter & Marcus the Deacon to be beaten with clubs, & under their bellies a fire to be kindled, then molten sulfur to be poured into their mouths. And when they had overcome all these tortures without any harm to themselves, & many thereupon had been converted, he commanded Jason & Celianus to be beaten with clubs so long, until being beaten they should send forth their spirit. Then Primus & Marcus to be beheaded outside the city walls. their burial on the 11th of May, Whose bodies in the same tomb, near the same city, were buried on the fifth of the Ides of May. These things Peter de Natalibus in the Catalogue, from which their compendia seem to have been composed & referred to the XI of May by the author of the MS. Florarium, the author of the Viola Sanctorum printed at Hagenau in the year 1508, the names inscribed in various Calendars Grevenus in the Supplement to Usuard, Witfordus, Maurolycus, Felicius, Canisius, Galesinius, in their Martyrologies; Ghinius in the Birthdays of the Canonical Saints, Ferrarius in the general Catalogue & in another of the Saints of Italy. As to the other LXXX, then converted to the faith & beaten with clubs, & cast outside the city, whether they are to be referred to as Saints, in the silence of the ancients we do not define.

ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM.

From the Florentine MS. of Carolus Strozzi.

Primus the Presbyter, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Marcus the Deacon, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Jason, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

Celianus, Martyr at Tergeste in Istria (St.)

BHL Number: 6923

FROM THE MS.

[1] In the persecution of Hadrian In those days, when Hadrian held the empire, there was much persecution against the servants of Christ, & they were enduring most savage punishments: whom the Lord was calling to the rewards of His grace. For the Lord was proving His athletes, for whom He was preparing a perpetual & heavenly crown. For now hardly did Christians publicly walk openly in the cities, but in caves & mountains & through caverns of the earth, or through desert places they hid themselves in secret places. At the same time there were two most Christian men at the Tergestine city, which is of the province of Istria: SS. Primus & Marcus one of them a Presbyter by name Primus, & the other a Deacon by name Marcus, according to the birth of this world noble in lineage, but nobler according to the faith of Christ: who never at any time for fear of the persecutors betook themselves to a hidden place, but secure of God's eternity, daily manifested to the most pagan peoples that they were Christians. But they shone like stars in the midst of heaven & illustrious among the obscure peoples.

[2] At the same time therefore it happened that a certain most wicked & most iniquitous man, by name Artasius, obtained the Governorship of the Tergestine city. accused before Artasius the Governor, But certain ones suggested concerning the two men, saying: Because these two men do not rest day & night, unto the subversion of our gods, to proclaim vain words among the peoples with public mouth, saying: that their Christ is holy, & all our gods are nothing. The Governor hearing this commanded the crowds & his Office, that they should exhibit the Saints of God in his sight. Who when they had entered in, the Governor of iniquity seeing them said: You, an elder of so great an age, why do you proclaim such things, as has been suggested to us, among the people with your own mouth, & say that your Christ is God, but our gods seem to be in nowise gods to you? & having confessed the faith of Christ, S. Primus the Presbyter answered: If anyone has suggested this against us the servants of Christ to your power, he has spoken nothing false in your ears: because we always proclaim this, that the idols

which you worship are empty: for divinity dwells in the heavens. Artasius the Governor said: And do you dare to speak such words? Behold, now all things are manifest, which about you were said, who in our sight speak such things. But what in our absence?

[3] And he said to the Decurion: I order them to be stretched out & beaten with clubs, & under their belly a fire to be kindled. And when these things were being done, S. Marcus said: Learn, they are tortured with fire & clubs: son of iniquity, what kind is the power of our Lord Jesus Christ: attend diligently, since you have ordered us to be consumed by fire, & our belly is in no way scorched by the fire. Behold, what kind of physician & consoler we have, who consoles souls, & strengthens our members. Artasius the Governor said: By the immortal gods, that if you do not sacrifice to the gods, with diverse kinds of torments I will wear away your members. S. Marcus answered him: Who are the gods, to whom you compel us to sacrifice? Artasius the Governor said: Do you not know the immortal gods, Jupiter, Mercury, they spurn the gods, Hercules, Juno, Minerva, Apollo & the others, who are seen to dwell in this city? S. Marcus answered: Of these so great gods I have never heard: for I know that there is one God in the heavens, who in Trinity reigns Himself with the Son & the Holy Spirit, who before all things were made was borne over the waters. But that you may know, I will tell you what kind your gods are: let the old man dispute with me, & let us dispute about your gods: & thus at last you will know what you worship. Artasius the Governor said: Will you dispute anything about our gods or about the god Jove? But B. Marcus was thirty- eight years old, & he said to the Governor: Jove, whom you call a god, what divinity can he have, who to all chastity even unto death stood forth an enemy, the adulterer of his own sisters? But in Mercury what divinity is found, or what in Apollo or the rest, whom you call gods? For they are all figments, who in this world as much as they are honored by you, so much the more in hell is a hundredfold punishment doubled for them. Now of our God learn, most wretched one, how great marvels upon the earth He has done.

[4] But the most iniquitous Governor hearing these things, said to S. Primus: But you, little old man, whom your vanity has led to such disgrace, what do you say? Against To this blasphemer & contumaciously proclaiming injury to our gods do you answer nothing? S. Primus answered: I speak truth by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I am confounded to speak with you: for as you see my Deacon speaking, so understand me also studying in silence: because there is one Holy Spirit, who speaks through our mouths. the sulfur being dissolved & poured into their mouths they remain unharmed, But Artasius the Governor, moved with anger, ordered sulfur to be brought in & dissolved, & to be forced into the mouths of both. And when it had been so done, to the Saints it was in the mouth as to a man enduring heat, when he has drunk something cold: & as if from one mouth thus they magnified the Lord, so that the Governor wondered & those who were present at their endurance. But all the peoples cried out, saying: Great is the God of the Christians, whom these worship, who have now suffered such torments, & none of them is contaminated: we pray & ask, O God of the Christians, that we may be worthy to be made yours. The Priests of the idols hearing these things cried out to the Governor, saying: Take away these evil men & inflicting injury to the gods from this city. And when Artasius the Governor had heard these things, he ordered them to be hung on the rack, & fire to be applied to their sides.

[5] from the 82 converts SS. Jason & Celianus beaten, But when this had been done, he ordered the men to be detained who in that hour believed, & being beaten with clubs to be cast outside the city. But the men were eighty- two in number, of whom two, beaten with blows, passed to the Lord: the name of one was Jason, & of the other Celianus. But after these things he commands a capital sentence to be pronounced upon the holy Martyrs: whom the ministers leading out together with the executioner outside the city, as far as three miles, there with knees set down poured forth a prayer to the Lord. And the executioner approaching cut off their heads: & thus they consummated the course of their contest in eternal rest. SS. Primus & Marcus beheaded. Hearing these things all the peoples of the Christians, who were hidden, came by night: & taking the bodies of all the four, in a nearby place they buried them, to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the most Blessed Martyrs, Primus the Presbyter & Marcus the Deacon, were martyred on the VI of the Ides of May, under the Emperor Hadrian, & Artasius being Governor of the Tergestine city, & our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom is honor & glory, & praise & power, unto all the ages of ages. Amen.