ON ST. CECRA AND TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY MARTYRS, IN AFRICA,
FROM VARIOUS MARTYROLOGIES.
THIRD OR FOURTH CENTURY.
SyllogeCecra, martyr, in Africa. (S.)
Two hundred and seventy martyrs in Africa.
J. V. H.
That the Martyrs, Cecra excepted, were Africans is sufficiently established: In all the principal Martyrologies, Bede excepted, two hundred and seventy Martyrs occur on today's date, so that there is no doubt that their memory rests on a most ancient tradition. Indeed, if we believe Fiorentini, not even Bede himself is silent about their praises, recording them on the following day. But Fiorentini is mistaken, since Bede has nothing about our Martyrs either on this day or on the following one; consult him at the beginning of volume II of March. All likewise announce that our Martyrs were Africans, if you except Rabanus, who assigns them to Asia, writing Canisius, Antiquæ Lectiones, volume II, part II, page 344, Basnage's edition.: In Asia, the natal day of Cerea and of two hundred and seventy others. Fiorentini supposes that Rabanus, because he had found Cerea or Cæcra, who was an Asian, joined with the Martyrs, sent the whole band off to Asia; the most learned man's conjecture would be excellent if Asia were established for certain as Cæcra's homeland, but he himself renders his conjecture doubtful when he sets down in his Hieronymian Martyrology: In Africa, the passion of Cacra (Cecra) and of two hundred and seventy others likewise. With which agrees the Hieronymian edited by Luc d'Achery Spicilegium, volume II, page 20, Paris edition, year 1723.: In Africa, of Cecra and of others who suffered likewise. The little Roman also, from the Ottoboni Library, which Domenico Giorgi published at the end of Ado at Rome in the year 1745, has: In Africa, the natal day of Etcre (Cecra) and of one hundred and seventy other Martyrs. From all of which Cecra's homeland seems uncertain, whom Notker distinguishes from the rest of the Martyrs, and clearly sets down Canisius, Antiquæ Lectiones, volume III, part III, page 180.: In Asia, of Cerea. In Africa, of two hundred and seventy crowned likewise. With which Wandelbert, older than Notker, in his metrical Martyrology, agrees to some extent, inasmuch as, omitting Cecra, he mentions only the two hundred and seventy champions D'Achery, Spicilegium, volume II, page 54..
[2] but it is less certain that they suffered at Leptis; It is therefore sufficiently clear that the two hundred and seventy Martyrs were Africans: but Maurolico, whom the authors of the Martyrology of Paris of the year 1727 and of Auxerre of the year 1751 followed, not only calls them Africans, but also records that they suffered at Leptis, from ancient codices which have remained hidden from others until now. Leptis indeed is twofold, Great and Little: the former the metropolis of the province of Tripolitana, the latter an episcopal city of Byzacena, as Dom Ruinart has it in his Victor of Vita on the Vandal Persecution. But if indeed the Martyrs suffered at Leptis, Leptis Magna must altogether be taken as the arena, since Maurolico adds at Leptis or Tripolis, which fits Leptis Magna alone. This, however, must be carefully noted with our Stefano Morcelli, that there was no city of Tripolis in Africa at that time Africa Christiana, volume III, page 320., but that three cities of that tract, Oea, Sabrata, and Leptis Magna, gave the name to the province of Tripolitana. From a probably corrupted reading of Strabo, there are those who judge Leptis Magna to be the same city as Neapolis of the province of Tripolitana: for he says: Νεάπιλος ἡ καὶ Λεπτὶν καλοῦσι; but besides the grammatical fault, the said Morcelli suspects that an error has crept in, and judges that one should read Νεάπολις καὶ ἡν Λεπτὶν καλοῦσι Ibid., volume I, page 242.. For the rest, Pliny, cited in the same place, settles the question, since he expressly distinguishes Leptis from Neapolis: There (in the province of Tripolitana), he says, is the city of Oea … the towns of Neapolis, Taphra, Abrotonum, the other Leptis, which is surnamed Magna. Morcelli also argues the distinction from the fact that Junius, bishop of Neapolis, subscribed the Council of Carthage under Cyprian in the year 256 Labbe, volume I of the Councils, column 786. after the bishop of Oea, who then acted in place of the bishops of Sabrata and Leptis Magna; the argument would conclude rightly if the bishops in the said Council had subscribed according to the order of the Provinces; but to one who examines it, it is evident that they gave their opinions indiscriminately, so that in the tenth place there is found Mommillus, bishop of Girba, of the Proconsular Province, in the midst of the bishops of Numidia and Byzacena.
[3] but the time is the most uncertain of all, At what time, however, the two hundred and seventy suffered martyrdom is a far more difficult question. Cardinal Baronius indeed judges that they suffered at the time of the Vandal persecution, and his opinion is favoured by the little Roman which is prefixed to Ado in Giorgi's edition: Of the holy Martyrs Martian and Satyrian, with their two brothers, and of two hundred and seventy others crowned likewise in the Vandal persecution. Also Ado, whose beginning Usuard excerpted word for word: *In Africa, the natal day of the holy Martyrs, two hundred and seventy crowned likewise, and of the holy
Martyrs Martian and Satyrian, with their two brothers, etc. Domenico Giorgi, in his annotations to this day, writes that Notker also is a patron of this opinion; but on what foundation I do not know: in his Martyrology Canisius, Lectiones Antiquæ, volume II, part III, page 180. he expressly distinguishes our Martyrs from Martinian and Saturian and their companions: In Asia, he says, of Cerea. In Africa, of two hundred and seventy crowned likewise. Likewise of the holy Martyrs Martian, Saturian, with their two brothers, etc. By which words, chiefly through the interposed particle likewise*, Notker clearly distinguishes the two bands of Martyrs, without, however, touching the question of time.
[4] which is restricted to the third or fourth century. The matter would be settled, and no one would doubt that the martyrdom of the two hundred and seventy belongs to the Vandal persecution, that is, to the fifth century, if one could safely rest, Notker being silent, on the authority of these Martyrologists. But there stands in the way, first of all, their disagreement with other Martyrologies, since these set down the two hundred and seventy baldly, without making any mention of Martinian and his companions, as is evident from the Hieronymian ones adduced above: next, since the narrative of Ado and the rest is drawn from Victor of Vita on the Vandal persecution, Victor records only the martyrdom of Martinian and Saturian with their two brothers, and he would surely not have omitted the triumph of two hundred and seventy crowned likewise. Finally, as our Du Sollier testifies Preface to the Martyrology of Usuard, page XXXVIII., in the genuine Hieronymian text there is scarcely any mention of African Martyrs in the Vandal persecution; indeed Fiorentini, at this day, confesses that he does not recall any mention of this kind, whence it follows that our Martyrs suffered before Constantine. Whether, however, it was in the third century, as the Martyrologies of Paris and Auxerre praised above note in the margin, I should not dare to decide, since no probable reason occurs to me why I should assert that they suffered in the third century rather than at the beginning of the fourth.