ON ST. ERACLIUS, OR HERACLIUS, MARTYR, AT ANTIOCH,
AT ANTIOCH.
FROM THE HIERONYMIAN MARTYROLOGIES AND THE AUCTARIA OF BEDE AND USUARD.
Century uncertain.
CommentaryHeraclius or Eraclius, Martyr, at Antioch. (S.)
BY C. B.
In absolutely all the larger, or uncontracted, Hieronymian apographs in Florentini, St. Eraclius or Heraclius, Heraclius is noted at Antioch in nearly all the sacred Fasti here mentioned; or, as he is also written, Eracleus, is noted today at Antioch, and the same is also done in some of the Auctaria, both of Bede, in our edition before volume 2 of March, and of Usuard, in Sollerius. To these, further, must also be joined the Martyrology of Gellone, which approaches the class of the Hieronymian martyrologies and stands inserted in d'Achery's Spicilegium, and likewise two shorter or contracted Hieronymian martyrologies in Sollerius, namely that of Labbe and that of Reichenau; but, though the matter stands so, these two and that one nevertheless do not agree exactly with the praised larger Hieronymian martyrologies and the Auctaria of Bede and Usuard.
[2] For the one of the two contracted Hieronymian martyrologies just mentioned which is named in the last place, but in which city of this name, and when, he suffered is uncertain. distinguishes the Martyr here proposed, erroneously or by mistake, most probably admitted for the reason which I set out on the preceding day at SS. Eusebius, Eraclius and their companions in martyrdom, num. 2, not by the name of Eraclius or Heraclius but by that of Eradius; while the first of the two named contracted Hieronymian martyrologies announces St. Heraclius or Eraclius without assigning the arena he obtained, and the Martyrology of Gellone, which I have just praised, also does the same. But not even so, as no one will deny, does either of them conflict with the praised Hieronymian apographs and the Auctaria of Bede and Usuard in assigning the arena of St. Heraclius; and since the matter stands thus, there is surely no reason why we should not abide in this matter by these, which, as I have already shown, note St. Heraclius at Antioch with unanimous consent. Meanwhile, since they do not add even the least notice of the Antioch they mention, and several cities of this name are found among the geographers and other writers, it still remains uncertain and doubtful in which of these the Saint fell for the faith. Nor is anything available whereby the matter may be made certain; and as, which follows from this, the arena of the martyrdom endured by Heraclius cannot be determined closely and accurately enough, so neither can either the century or the epoch be determined in any way at all, because all the documents which speak of the Saint bear plainly no chronological mark whatever; and it is therefore equally uncertain not only in what year but even in what century Heraclius underwent martyrdom; so that, since nothing else pertaining to the Saint is known from any source, nothing more remains to be said of him here.