SS. Claudius, Asterius, Neon, Domina and Theonilla
Martyrs
August 23
285 A.D.
Though the emperors Dioclesian and Maximian were, for a great part of their reign, favourable to Christians, and passed no edicts against them till the latter end; yet several martyrs suffered in the beginning of their reign, especially at Rome, and in Gaul and Britain, and some also in the east. This was owing to particular occasions, or to the humour of certain governors, who acted by virtue of former laws which had never been repealed. In this manner the above-mentioned five martyrs were crowned in Cilicia.
Claudius, Asterius and Neon were brothers, who were impeached as Christians before the magistrates of the city. Æges, in which they dwelt, by their mother-in-law, whose principal view was to possess herself of their estate. About the same time two pious women named Domina and Theonilla with a little child (perhaps Domina’s) were likewise, on account of their faith, thrown into prison by the same magistrate, and brought to their trial before the proconsul of Cicilia, whose name was Lysius. Their acts are extant entire, as they were copied from the proconsul register.
The proconsul visiting his province arrived at Æges, a sea-port, and a free town of Cilicia, forty-six miles south-east from Tarsus; and being there seated on his tribunal, said, “Let them bring before me the Christians whom the officers have delivered to the city magistrate.” Euthalius the jailer said, “The magistrate of this city having, pursuant to your orders, made the strictest inquiry after the Christians, has apprehended six of this profession; three young men, all brothers, two women, and a small child. One of them is here before you.” Lysias said to him, “Well, what is your name?” He answered, “Claudius.” “Be not such a madman,” said Lysias, “as to throw thyself away in thy youthful days, but sacrifice to the gods, the only way to escape the torments prepared for thee in case of refusal.”
Claudius. “My God requires no such sacrifices; he rather delights in alms-deeds and holiness of life. Your gods are unclean demons, who are pleased with such sacrifices, whilst they are preparing eternal punishments for those who offer them.”
Lysias. “Let him be bound in order to be beaten with rods; there is no other way of bringing him to reason.”
Claudius. “Though you should inflict upon me the most cruel torments, you will not move or hurt me.”
Lysias. “The emperors have commanded that the Christians sacrifice to the gods; that they who refuse to do it be punished, but that honours and rewards be bestowed on such as obey.”
Claudius. “Their rewards are temporary and short-lived; whereas the confession of Jesus Christ has everlasting glory for its recompense.”
The proconsul commanded that he be put upon the rack, fire to be applied to his feet, and little slices of flesh to be cut off his heels and presented to him. The martyr said, “Neither your fire nor all your torments can hurt those who fear God. All this conduces to bring them to eternal life.” Lysias ordered his flesh torn with iron hooks; then his sides rubbed with broken potsherds, and burning torches to be applied to them. Claudius said, “I esteem it a great benefit to suffer for God, and the greatest riches to die for Jesus Christ.”
Lysias. “Take him hence, carry him back to prison, and bring another.”
Euthalius, the keeper of the prison, sais, “According to your orders, my lord, we have brought hither Asterius, the second brother.” Lysias said to him, “Take my advice and sacrifice to the gods; you have befor your eyes the torments that are prepared for those who refuse. ”
Asterius. “There is one God that dwelleth in the heavens, and in the greatness of his power regardeth the lowest things. Him my parents have taught me to love and adore. I know not those that you worship, and call gods.”
Lysias then ordered him to be laid on the rack, saying, “Squeeze his sides, tear them with iron hooks, and bid him comply instantly, and sacrifice tot the gods.” Asterius replied, “I am his brother, whom you just interrogated. Our sentiments are the same, and we make the same confession. My body is in your power, but my soul is out of your reach.” Lysias said, “Bring the iron pincers and pulleys, bind his feet, squeeze and torture him to the purpose, that he may perceive I can inflict torments.” After this he said, “Put live coals under his feet, and lash him on the back and belly with whips of leather thongs.” The martyr replied, “The only favour I desire of you is, that you suffer no part of my body to be exempt from torment.” Lysias said, “Take him hence, put him with the rest, and bring the third.”
When Neon was brought, Lysias called him son, and treated him with mildness, exhorting him to sacrifice to the gods that he might escape torments. Neon answered that his gods had no power if they were not able to defend themselves without having recourse to his authority. Lysias said, “Strike him on the neck, and bid him not blaspheme the gods.” Neon replied, “You think I blaspheme when I speak the truth.” Lysias said, “Stretch him by the feet upon the rack; put burning coals upon him, and scourge his back with thongs.” While this was executing, Neon said, “I will do what is profitable for my soul, and no man shall ever make me change this resolution.” Lysias then dictated this sentence: –Euthalius the keeper, and Archelaus the executioner, shall take care that these three brothers be crucified without the town, that the birds of the air may devour their bodies.”
Euthalius presented Domina; whereupon Lysias said to her, “You see, woman, fire and torments which are preparing for you; if you would avoid them, draw near the sacrifice.” Domina replied, “I shall not do it, lest I fall into eternal fire, and perpetual torments.” I worship God, and his son Jesus Christ, who hath made heaven and earth, and all that is therein.” Lysias said, “:Take off her garments, lay her at her length, and scourge her with rods.” After this was done, Archelaus, the executioner said to Lysias, “May it please you, Domina has just expired.” Lysias said, “Throw the body into the midst of the river.”
Euthalius said, “Here, my lord, is Theonilla.” Lysias said to her, “You have seen the flames and torments with which others have been punished. Honour the gods, and sacrifice.” Theonilla replied, “I dread eternal torments, which will destroy both body and soul.” Lysias said, “Buffet her, lay her flat, and bind her, torment her with the utmost violence.” Theonilla said, “Are you not ashamed to inflict such punishments on a woman that is free, and a stranger too? You know it to be true, and God will see what you do.” Lysias said, “Hang her up by the hair of her head, and strike her on the face.” Theonilla said, “Is it not enough that you have stripped me naked? Is it not me only that you have injured, but your mother and your wife are also put to confusion in my person.” Lysias said, “Are you a married woman, or are you a widow?” Theonilla replied, “I have been a widow these three-and-twenty years. It is for love of God that I have continued in this state, accustoming myself to fasting, watching, and prayer, ever since I have forsaken your unclean idols.” Lysias said, “Shave her head that sh may undergo the greater confusion. Gird her with thorns; extend her body, and tie it to four stakes; scourge her with thongs, not only upon the back, but all over her body; lay live coals upon her belly, and so let her die.” Euthalius, the jailer, and Archelaus, the executioner, said, “My lord, she is now dead.” Then said Lysias, Sew her body up in a sack; tie it fast, and throw it into the water.” Euthalius and Archelaus said, “We have executed your orders relating to the bodies of the Christians.” The persecutors took these precautions with regard to their dead bodies, that the Christians might not get possession of their relics.
These holy martyrs suffered at Æges in the consulate of Dioclesian and Aristobulus, on the tenth of calends of September, that is on the 23rd of August, in the year of our Lord, 285. Lysias being proconsul of Cilicia, by whose command SS. Cosmas and Damian, brother and physicians, and a great number of other martyrs, suffered.
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September 24 2009 | The Other Saints | No Comments »
SS. Bonosus & Maxmilian
martyrs
August 21
363 A.D.
The Emperor Julian the apostate commanded the cross in the name of Jesus Christ, which Constantine had placed in the Labarum or chief standard of the Army, to be struck out, and have the standards reduced to the ancient form and under the pagan emperors, on which the images of faults gods were represented. The apostate Emperor had created Julian, who was his uncle by the mother’s side, and was an apostate from the Christian faith like himself, count or governor of the East; and he became a more barbarous persecutor of the Christians that his nephew himself. There were in the troops called the Old Herculians, two officers of distinguished virtue and zealous Christians named, Bonosus and Maximilian, who refused to change their standards; for each legion had a Labarum for its principal ensign. Count Julian sternly commanded them to give their troops the new ensigns, and to adore the same gods which he and the Emperor worshiped. Bonosus answered, “We cannot adore gods, which have been made by the hands of men.” The count ordered him to be tied up, and above 300 lashes to be given him with leather thongs, loaded at the end with balls of lead. Under this torment Bonosus only smiled, and made no answer to his questions. The count afterwords caused Maximilian to approach, who said, “Let your gods first hear and speak to you, and then we will adore them; for you know that we Christians are forbid to worship deaf and dumb idols.”
Julian caused them both to be stretched on the rack, and when crier had called them each by their name, the count said to them, “You now lie on the rack, and are on the point of being tormented. Obey; exchange the representation of the cross on your standard for the images of the immortal gods.” They answered, “We cannot obey the emperor in these matters, because we have before our eyes the invisible immortal God, in whom we place our confidence.” Julian ordered them to be beaten with balls of lead three several times, and said to the executioners, “Exert your utmost strength, give them no respite.” But the martyrs felt not the least pain. Julian then commanded them to be plunged into boiling pitch; by which they receiving no hurt, both Jews and pagans cried out that they were magicians. Count Julian ordered them back to prison, and sent them bread sealed with his own signet, on which was probably engraved the figure of some idol; for they would not eat of it. Prince, Hormisdas, brother to Sapor, King of Persia,(who having left his own country had embraced the faith, and had spent the better part of his days in the courts of Constantine, and Constantius,) paid them a visit in prison, and finding them in perfect health, and very cheerful, recommended himself to their prayers. The count threatened the martyrs in a second and a third interrogatory. But they answered him. They were Christians and were determined to continue such. They added, that Constantine, near the end of his life, made them take an oath to be faithful to his children and to the Church, a promise they would inviolably observe.
The count was for having them tormented; but Secundus prefect of the East(whom though a pagan, St. Gregory Nazarenian commands for his probity and mildness, and who sat with him on the bench), refused absolutely to hear of it. Wherefore Julian, without more ado, condemned them and several opther Christian prisoners to be beheaded. St. Meletius, patriarch of Antioch, and several other bishops, attended them to the place of their martyrdom, which they suffered with incredible joy.
Count Julian was very soon after seized with a terrible disease in his bowels and adjacent parts of his body, whereby they putrefied and bred such an incredible quantity of worms, that it was impossible to destroy them. The physicians tried all sorts of remedies; several rare birds were procured at a great expense, which being killed, the blood of them was applied to the parts affected, in order to draw out the worms; but they, crawling higher into the bowels, and into the most sensible and tender parts of the body, only rendered his pains the more intolerable, whilst he voided his excrements at his mouth.
His wife, who continued a zealous Christian, said to him, “You ought to give thanks too Christ our Saviour, for having by this chastisement made you sensible of his power; you would not have known who he is to whom you have declared yourself an enemy, had he shown his usual forbearance.”
Count Julian, in this extremity, repented of his persecutions, bade his wife run to the churches of the Christians, and beg them to pray for him; and he besought the emperor to restore to the Christians their churches; but his entreaties were not regarded. He, however, in his last moments invoked, like Antiochus, the true God, protesting aloud that he had no hope but to his mercy; and in this miserable condition he expired. Nor did the emperor himself reign long unpunished.
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The death of a sinner is the most dreadful of all evils. His mirth and jollities are then all come to their fatal period, and his eyes taking an everlasting leave of all the fond objects of his passions. This horrible divorce and separation makes him shudder in most bitter anguish and grief, whilst he beholds himself violently torn from all he possesses and enjoys, and from his very body.
The pagan philosopher considered this only when he defined death the king of terrors, and of all terrible things that which is the most dreadful; but what is more alarming that all separation is, that all his former notions of things are overturned in this awful moment, and an entire new scene is opened to him. His conscience is confused chaos, a thousand perplexing thoughts disturb him, and his habits of spiritual sloth grow stronger than ever.
He sees that riches and honours, which he so eagerly pursued, were mere illusions; that his pleasures were dreams and shadows, which passed in a moment, but left a cruel sting behind them; the treacherous world forsakes him in the day of his distress; and the prospect of the abyss of eternity into which he is stepping, fills his mind with alarms and dread which no tongue can express her horrible calamity. We ought to invite heaven and earth to weep over her; or rather adore God who is terrible in his justice, and stop our tears which can no longer avail such a soul. She is from this moment eternally and irretrievably lost. She is abandoned by God and his angels, and given over a prey to merciless devils, who insulting cry out, —Let men on earth crown the carcass with pomp, epitaph, monuments, and panegyrics, whilst it is made a feast for worms and maggots; and the soul is our victim, as the body also will one day be.
How happy were the martyrs, who by their torments purchased themselves joy, secure peace, and eternal glory at their death.
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September 22 2009 | The Other Saints | No Comments »
Saint Ninian, or Ninyas, Bishop, Confessor
September 16, 432
This saint, who became the apostle of the southern Picts, was son of a prince among the Cumbrian Britons, who inhabited Cumberland and Galloway. From his cradle it seemed his only delight to visit churches, to discourse on heavenly thins, and to be employed in exercises of devotion and piety.
Whilst other take so much pains in their education to advance themselves in the world, our noble youth, sensible of the inestimable treasure of holy faith which he had found, thought nothing difficult, and no labour great that he might improve his soul in the knowledge and practice of religion. With this view, he bid adieu to the world, cut off the very root of covetousness, sensuality, and ambition, by renouncing whatever might flatter or afford fuel for those passions, and forsaking a court, his friends, and country, undertook a long journey too Rome. In that city he spent many years, applying himself with his whole heart to the exercise of the most heroic Christian virtue, and to the study of the sacred sciences.
In this race he ran, so it were, with the strides of a giant, and his soul was daily more and more inflamed with a mighty love and zeal for God, whose honour he studied in all things to promote. This motive and compassion for his native country, which had received the grace of faith more slowly and more imperfectly than the southern provinces of Britain, engaged him at length to return home, to impart to his countrymen a share of that blessing in which their happiness consisted, and which was the great and sole end of their very being.
Those who had already received some tincture of faith, he taught to set a due value on so great a treasure, and to apply themselves with their whole strength to cultivate the same in their hearts. He brought the idolaters of that province into the paths of eternal life, softened the fierce temper of Tudovald, King of the Picts, and built a church of stone at Whithern, now in Galloway; and as the Northern Britons had never before seen any such building of stone,the town, according to Bede and Malmesbury, took from this ediface it name (importing a white house, in Latin, Candida casa), since changed into Whithers.
The saint fixed here his episcopal see, and dedicated the church in honor of St. Martin, whose tomb he probably had devotedly visited in his journey through France. He converted from idolatry the Cumbrians, and all the provinces in the southern Picts, as far as Mount Grampus. The Church of Whithern became a seminary of apostolic men and many glorious saints.
Saint Ninian died on the 16th of September 432. He was illustrious for many miracles, and his relics were kept with veneration, till the change of religion, in thr church which bears his name in Whithern.
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September 17 2009 | The Other Saints | No Comments »