January Martyrs

THE MARTYRS OF JANUARY
Living With The Daily Martyrology of the Church

“Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? … My chalice indeed you shall drink!” (Matthew 20:22-23).

JANUARY 1ST
The Martyr of the Day
ST. ALMACHUS
Martyred in the Fifth Century, around 404

Almachus was a holy hermit of the East, but, being excited by the ardors of a pious zeal in his desert, and pierced with grief that the impious diversion of gladiators should cause the damnation of so many unhappy souls, and involve whole cities and provinces in sin; he travelled to Rome and resolved, as far as in him lay, to put a stop to this crying evil. Whilst the gladiators were massacring each other in the amphitheater, he ran in among them; but as a recompense for his kind remonstrance, and entreating them to stop, he was beaten down to the ground, and torn in pieces on the 1st of January, 404. His zeal had its desired success; for the effusion of his blood brought about what, till that time, many emperors had found impracticable. Constantine, Constantius, Julian, and Theodosius the elder, had, to no purpose, published several edicts against those impious scenes of blood. But Honorius took occasion, from the martyrdom of this saint, to enforce their entire abolition. His name occurs in the true martyrology of Bede, in the Roman and others.

JANUARY 2ND
The Martyr of the Day
ST. CONCORDIUS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 178

St. Concordius, a holy subdeacon, who in the reign of Marcus Antoninus, was apprehended in a desert and brought before Torquatus, the governor of Umbria, then residing at Spoletto, about the year 178. The martyr, paying no regard to his promises or threats, in the first interrogation, was beaten with clubs, and, in the second interrogation, was hung on the rack, but in the height of his torments he cheerfully sang: “Glory be to thee, Lord Jesus!” Three days after, two soldiers were sent by Torquatus to behead him in the dungeon, unless he would offer sacrifice to an idol, which a priest, who accompanied them, carried with him for this purpose. The saint showed his indignation by spitting upon the idol, upon which one of the soldiers struck off his head. In the Roman Martyrology his name occurs on the 1st of January, in some others on the 2nd of January.

JANUARY 3RD
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PETER BALSAM
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 311

St. Peter Balsam, a native of the territory of Eleutheropolis, in Palestine, was apprehended at Aulane, in the persecution of Maximinus. Being brought before Severus, governor of the province, the interrogatory began by asking him his name. Peter answered--“Balsam is the name of my family; but I received that of Peter in baptism.”

SEVERUS: “Of what family, and of what country are you?”

PETER: “I am a Christian.”

SEVERUS: “What is your employment?”

PETER: “What employment can I have more honorable, or what better thing can I do in the world, than to live a Christian?”

SEVERUS: “Do you know the imperial edicts?”

PETER: “I know the laws of God, the sovereign of the universe.”

SEVERUS: “You shall quickly know that there is an edict of the most clement emperors, commanding all to sacrifice to the gods, or be put to death.”

PETER: “You will also know one day that there is a law of the eternal king, proclaiming that everyone shall perish, who offer sacrifice to devils. Which do you counsel me to obey, and which, do you think, should be my option; to die by your sword, or to be condemned to everlasting misery, by the sentence of the great king, the true God?”

SEVERUS: “Seeing you ask my advice, it is then that you obey the edict, and sacrifice to the gods.”

PETER: “I can never be prevailed upon to sacrifice to gods of wood and stone, as those are which you adore.”

SEVERUS: “I would have you know, that it is in my power to revenge these affronts by your death.”

PETER: “I had no intention to affront you. I only expressed what is written in the divine law.”

SEVERUS: “Have compassion on yourself, and sacrifice.”

PETER: “If I am truly compassionate to myself, I ought not to sacrifice.”

SEVERUS: “My desire is to use leincy; I therefore still do allow you time to consider with yourself, that you may save your life.”

PETER: “This delay will be to no purpose, for I shall not alter my mind; do now what you will be obliged to do soon, and complete the work, which the devil, your father, has begun; for I will never do what Jesus Christ forbids me.”

Severus, on hearing these words, ordered him to be hoisted on the rack, and whilst he was suspended in the air, said to him scoffing: “What say you now, Peter; do you begin to know what the rack is? Are you yet willing to sacrifice?” Peter answered: “Tear me with iron hooks, and talk not of my sacrificing to your devils; I have already told you, that I will sacrifice to that God alone for whom I suffer.” Hereupon the governor commanded his tortures to be redoubled. The martyr, far from fetching the least sigh, sung with alacrity those verses of the royal prophet--“One thing I have asked of the Lord; this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I will take the chalice of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord.”

The governor called forth fresh executioners to relieve the first, now fatigued. The spectators seeing the martyr’s blood run down in streams, cried out to him: “Obey the emperors: sacrifice, and rescue yourself from these torments.”

Peter replied: “Do you call these torments? I, for my part, feel no pain; but this I know, that if I am not faithful to my God, I must expect real pains, such as cannot be conceived.”

The judge also said: “Sacrifice, Peter Balsam, or you will repent it!”

Peter replied: “Neither will I sacrifice, nor shall I repent it!”

SEVERUS: “I am just ready to pronounce sentence.”

PETER: “It is what I most earnestly desire.”

Severus then dictated the sentence in this manner. “It is our order, that Peter Balsam, for having refused to obey the edict of the invincible emperors, and having contemned our commands, after obstinately defending the law of a man crucified, be himself nailed to a cross.”

Thus it was that this glorious martyr finished his triumph, at Aulane, on the 3rd of January, which day he is honored in the Roman Martyrology, and that of Bede.

In the example of the martyrs we see, that religion alone inspires true constancy and heroism, and affords solid comfort and joy amidst the most terrifying dangers, calamities, and torments. It spreads a calm throughout a man’s whole life, and consoles at all times. He that is united to God, rests in omnipotence, and in wisdom and goodness; he is reconciled with the world whether it frowns or flatters, and with himself. The interior peace which he enjoys, is the foundation of happiness; and the delights which innocence and virtue bring, abundantly compensate the loss of the base pleasures of vice. Death itself, so terrible to the worldly man, is the saint’s crown, and completes his joy and his bliss.

JANUARY 4TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. DAFROSA
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 362

St. Dafrosa of Acquapendente, also known as St. Dafrosa of Rome, was the beautiful wife of St. Flavian (feast December 22nd), and the mother of St. Bibiana (a.k.a. Vivian, feast December 2nd), and St. Demetria (feast June 21st), all of whom were martyred by the apostate Catholic Emperor Julian, who reigned for only two years (361-363), and killed hundreds and hundreds of his fellow Christians.

She was a strong, Christian woman who is well recorded in dedicated in body and soul to her family in order to gain heaven for them and herself. As if life consisted in giving it all to and through love. She left her home in Seville to emigrate to the head of the Empire with her family in search of a better life. Her husband Flavian, died a martyr in Rome. Being married to a Christian she was condemned to exile.

Upon Dafrosa’s return, the governor of Rome, Aproniano, imprisoned her, as he planned to re-marry her with a man named Fausto, hoping that she might re-think her commitment to the Faith and her lifestyle helping others. Her relatives tried to induce her to marry again and to sacrifice to the idols. But Dafrosa instructed Fausto in the Christian Faith, baptized him, and he ended up dying a martyr as well. As his body was exposed to the dogs, Dafrosa retrieved him and gave him a Christian burial. This led her to martyrdom on January 4th, 362, in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate.

JANUARY 5TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. TELESPHORUS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 129

St. Telesphorus was a man of Greek origin, born, according to legend, in Terranova de Sibari, in Calabria. That is the “toe” of the “boot” of Italy. His name, translated from the Greek, means “accomplishing the goal.” He may have taken on the name when consecrating himself to God, at the time he was ordained, or maybe later. He is said to have served as the seventh Bishop of Rome from the twelfth year of the reign of Hadrian (128-129) to the first year of Antonius Pius (138-139). It was towards the end of the year 128, when he succeeded St. Sixtus I, and he reigned for eleven years, and saw the havoc which the persecution of Adrian made in the church. “He ended his life by an illustrious martyrdom,” says Eusebius; which is also confirmed by St. Irenæus, who, writing at the end of that century, claims that Telesphorus died “a glorious martyrdom.”

Telesphorus was said to have been a monk, or an anchorite, living almost as a hermit somewhere outside his hometown. But, as most Christians, he was called to help his brethren. It is assumed that he helped them with their living conditions and also with their spiritual conditions. Some years before being consecrated bishop, he moved to Rome, which was the epicenter of thought.

In the first century and a half, no definitive dogma of Christianity was predominant. That Jesus died and rose was debated, along with his divinity and what the consecration intended. Docetism, one of the first questioning the apostolic teachings, claimed that Jesus’ physical appearance was just an illusion. This showed up soon after the Ascension. This explains, in part, why many of the Gospel accounts talk about Jesus eating and drinking. However, the biggest problem was the argument that if Jesus did not have a physical body, then He could not have actually suffered and died for our sins, negating one of the first teachings of the Church. Some early Gnostics claimed to “know”, through an internal reading of the heart or a mystical appearance of the Holy Spirit, how soon Jesus would come back, when the apocalypse would show, which books in the New Testament should be seen as valid. They tended to believe that the Old Testament was not representative of true belief, or the true God.

This was the environment in Rome when Telesphorus arrived. His past experiences had made him intelligent and disciplined. He spent his next years fighting these heresies. In addition to this large problem for a still infant belief, the early Christians needed to separate themselves further from their Jewish brothers. A series of rebellions in the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire had angered Emperor Hadrian. His wrath against the Jewish leaders made the sack of Jerusalem, in the year 70, look small. Whether correct or not, the Christian leaders chose to define the differences between themselves and the Jews on a number of matters, including making Sunday the Sabbath and moving Easter away from a weekday Passover to the Sunday near Passover. Those in the western part of the Empire were more willing than those in the eastern part. Telesphorus was willing to accept these differences during his time as bishop and remain in communion with the eastern bishops. It became a bigger problem by the end of the century.

Telesphorus is said to have begun the tradition of midnight Mass at Christmas, which is not likely because the first celebration is not mentioned until Clement of Alexandria in about 200. He is also said to have started the singing of the Gloria at that Mass. That is not likely, either. As pope, he is said to have established Lent as being seven weeks in length. Most historians suggest that the time before Easter was celebrated as a time of fast and abstinence, but of various lengths of time. Telesphorus may have codified the length of time.

The Carmelites claim him as their patron because legend says he was a hermit on Mount Carmel before his papacy.

JANUARY 6TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. MACRA
Martyred in the Third Century, around 287

Born near Reims, Gaul (modern day France), the virgin St. Macra was martyred for her Faith in 287.

She is said to have suffered under a Roman governor named Rictiovarus, in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian. Rictiovarus pressed Macra to worship pagan gods, promising to reward her with riches and honors if she yielded while threatening her with torments if she refused.

Macra remained steadfast in her profession of Faith.

As she was being tortured, the governor asked her: “By what name are you called?”
Macra answered: “I am a Christian, and I adore the true God, not false images.”

When Rictiovarus again urged her to sacrifice the pagan gods, she replied by reaffirming her trust in God, declaring: “I believe, unworthy though I be, that I shall nonetheless see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.”

She died after being burned and mutilated. She was first cast into the fire, but remained unhurt, whereupon her breasts were cut off, and she was thrust into a prison and rolled upon sharp broken pottery and live burning coals, until she passed away in prayer to be ever with the Lord.

The discovery and subsequent enshrinement of Macra’s body in the ninth century were followed by miracles attributed to her intercession, including healings of the blind, the deaf, and the lame.

JANUARY 7TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. LUCIAN
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 312

St. Lucian, surnamed of Antioch, was born at Samosata, in Syria. He lost his parents whilst very young; and being come to the possession of his estate, which was very considerable, he distributed all among the poor. He became a great proficient in rhetoric and philosophy, and applied himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures under one Macarius at Edessa.

Convinced of the obligation annexed to the character of priesthood, which was that of devoting himself entirely to the service of God and the good of his neighbor, he did not content himself with inculcating the practice of virtue both by word and example; he also undertook to purge the scriptures, that is, both the Old and New Testament, from the several faults that had crept into them, either by reason of the inaccuracy of transcribers, or the malice of heretics. Some are of opinion, that as to the Old Testament, he only revised it, by comparing different editions of the Septuagint: others contend, that he corrected it upon the Hebrew text, being well versed in that language. Certain, however, it is that St. Lucian’s edition of the scriptures was much esteemed, and was of great use to St. Jerome.

St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, says, that Lucian remained some years separated from the Catholic communion, 2 at Antioch, under three successive bishops, namely, Domnus, Timæus, and Cyril. If it was for too much favoring Paul of Samosata, condemned at Antioch in the year 269, he must have been deceived, for want of a sufficient penetration into the impiety of that dissembling heretic. It is certain, at least, that he died in the Catholic communion; which also appears from a fragment of a letter written by him to the church of Antioch, and still extant in the Alexandrian Chronicle.

Though a priest of Antioch, we find him at Nicomedia, in the year 303, when Diocletian first published his edicts against the Christians. He there suffered a long imprisonment for the faith; for the Paschal Chronicle quotes these words from a letter which he wrote out of his dungeon to Antioch: “All the martyrs salute you. I inform you that the pope Anthimus (bishop of Nicomedia) has finished his course of martyrdom.”

This happened in 303. Yet Eusebius informs us, that St. Lucian did not arrive himself at the crown of martyrdom till after the death of St. Peter of Alexandria, in 311, so that he seems to have continued nine years in prison. At length he was brought before the governor, or, as the acts intimate, the emperor himself, for the word which Eusebius uses, may imply either.

On his trial, he presented to the judge an excellent apology for the Christian faith. Being remanded to prison, an order was given that no food should be allowed him; but, when almost dead with hunger, dainty meats that had been offered to idols, were set before him, which he would not touch. It was not in itself unlawful to eat of such meats, as St. Paul teaches, except where it would give scandal to the weak, or when it was exacted as an action of idolatrous superstition, as was the case here.

Being brought a second time before the tribunal, he would give no other answer to all the questions put to him, but this: “I am a Christian.” He repeated the same whilst on the rack, and he finished his glorious course in prison, either by famine, or according to St. John Chrysostom, by the sword. His acts relate many of his miracles, with other, particulars; as that, when bound and chained down on his back in prison, he consecrated the divine mysteries upon his own breast, and communicated the faithful that were present: this we also read in Philostorgius, the Arian historian. St. Lucian suffered at Nicomedia, where Maximinus II resided.

His body was interred at Drepanum, in Bithynia, which, in honor of him, Constantine the Great soon after made a large city, which he exempted from all taxes, and honored with the name of Helenopolis, from his mother. St. Lucian was crowned in 312, on the 7th of January, on which day his festival was kept at Antioch immediately after his death, as appears from St. Chrysostom. It is the tradition of the church of Arles, that the body of St. Lucian was sent out of the East to Charlemagne, who built a church under his invocation at Arles, in which his relics are preserved.

The first thing that is necessary in the service of God, is earnestly to search his holy will, by devoutly reading, listening to, and meditating on his eternal truths. This will set the divine law in a clear and full light, and conduct us by unerring rules, to discover and accomplish every duty. It will awake and continually increase a necessary tenderness of conscience, which will add light and life to its convictions, oblige us to a more careful trial and examination of all our actions, keep us not only from evil, but from every appearance of it, render us steadfast and immovable in every virtuous practice, and always preserve a quick and nice sense of good and evil.

For this reason, the word of God is called in Holy Scripture, Light, because it distinguisheth between good and evil, and, like a lamp, manifesteth the path which we are to choose, and disperseth that mist with which the subtlety of our enemy and the lusts of our heart have covered it. At the same time, a daily repetition of contrition and compunction washes off the stains which we discover in our souls, and strongly incites us, by the fervor and fruitfulness of our following life, to repair the sloth and barrenness of the past.

Prayer must be made our main assistant in every step of this spiritual progress. We must pray that God would enable us to search out and discover our own hearts, and reform whatever is amiss in them. If we do this sincerely, God will undoubtedly grant our requests; will lay open to us all our defects and infirmities, and, showing us how far short we come of the perfection of true holiness of life, will not suffer any latent corruptions in our affections to continue undiscovered, nor permit us to forget the stains and ruins which the sins of our life past have left behind them.

JANUARY 8TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. MAXIMIAN & ST. JULIAN
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 312

At Beauvais, in Gaul, the holy martyrs St. Lucian, a priest, then first bishop of that see, St. Maximian, and St. Julian. Maximian and Julian were slain by the persecutors with the sword, but the Lucian, who had come into Gaul with St. Denis, did not receive the like treatment until after great suffering, which notwithstanding, he feared not to confess aloud the name of Christ. He died in the year 312.

JANUARY 9TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. JULIAN & ST. BASILISSA
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 313

According to their acts, and the ancient Martyrologies, though engaged in a married state, they, by mutual consent, lived in perpetual chastity, sanctified themselves by the most perfect exercises of an ascetic life, and employed their revenues in relieving the poor and the sick. For this purpose, they converted their house into a kind of hospital, in which, if we may credit their acts, they sometimes entertained a thousand indigent persons. Basilissa attend those of her sex, in separate lodgings from the men, of whom Julian took care, who from his charity is surnamed the Hospitalarian.

Egypt, where they lived, had then begun to abound with examples of persons, who, either in cities or in deserts, devoted themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity, penance, and contemplation. Basilissa, after having stood severe persecutions, died in peace; Julian survived her many years, and received the crown of a glorious martyrdom, together with Celsus a youth, Antony a priest, Anastatius, and Marcianilla the mother of Celsus. They seem to have suffered in the reign of Maximin II, in 313, on the 6th of January; for, in the most ancient lectionary used in the church of Paris, under the first race of the French kings, quoted by Chatelain, and several ancient calendars, their festival is marked on that day, or on the eve.

The menology, published by Canisius, places the martyrdom of St. Julian and his companions, at Antinopolis in Egypt; certain ancient MS. copies of the Martyrology, which bear the name of St. Jerome, say more correctly Antinous: by mistaking the abbreviation of this name in some MS. copies, several Latins have read it Antioch; and the Latin acts say, these martyrs suffered at Antioch in Egypt: but no town of that name is ever mentioned in that country; though Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, gave it to sixteen cities which he built in Asia, as Appian takes notice. Many churches and hospitals in the east, and especially in the west, bear the name of one or other of these martyrs: at Antioch, in Syria, our St. Julian was titular saint of a famous church, and St. Julian of Anazarbus, of two others.

JANUARY 10TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. NICANOR
Martyred in the First Century, around 35 or 76

A resident of Jerusalem, the St. Nicanor was an early martyr and one of the seven first deacons of Jerusalem chosen by the Apostles to minister to the needs of those requiring assistance in the Holy City. He was wondrous for the grace of faith and power, and received a most glorious crown. There are two opinions as to his martyrdom. One tradition holds that he was martyred the same day as St. Stephen the Proto-martyr in Jerusalem around the year 35. Another tradition says that he went to Cyprus where he was put to death during the reign of Emperor Vespasian in the year 76.

JANUARY 11TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. HYGINUS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 142

He was placed in the chair of St. Peter after the martyrdom of St. Telesphorus, in the year 139. Eusebius informs us, that he sat four years. The church then enjoyed some sort of calm, under the mild reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius; though several martyrs suffered in his time by the fury of the populace, or the cruelty of certain magistrates. The Emperor himself never consented to such proceedings; and when informed of them, by the governors of Asia, Athens, Thessalonica, and Larissea, he wrote to them in favor of the Christians, as is recorded by St. Justin and Eusebius.

But the devil had recourse to other arts to disturb the peace of God’s Church. Cerdo, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, in the year 140, came from Syria to Rome, and began to teach the false principles, which Marcion adopted afterwards with more success. He impiously affirmed that there were two Gods; the one rigorous and severe, the author of the Old Testament; the other merciful and good, the author of the New, and the father of Christ, sent by him to redeem man from the tyranny of the former; and that Christ was not really born of the Virgin Mary, or true man, but such in shadow only and appearance. Our holy pope, by his pastoral vigilance, detected that monster, and cut him off from the communion of the church. The heresiarch, imposing upon him by a false repentance, was again received; but the zealous pastor having discovered that he secretly preached his old opinions, excommunicated him a second time.

Another minister of Satan was Valentine, who, being a Platonic philosopher, puffed up with the vain opinion of his learning, and full of resentment for another’s being preferred to him in an election to a certain bishopric in Egypt, as Tertullian relates, revived the errors of Simon Magus, and added to them many other absurd fictions, as of thirty Æônes or ages, a kind of inferior deities, with whimsical histories of their several pedigrees. Having broached these opinions at Alexandria, he left Egypt for Rome. At first he dissembled his heresies, but by degrees his extravagant doctrines came to light. Hyginus, being the mildest of men, endeavored to reclaim him without proceeding to extremities; so that Valentine was not excommunicated before the first year of St. Pius, his immediate successor.

St. Hyginus did not sit quite four years, dying in 142. We do not find that he ended his life by martyrdom, yet he is styled a martyr in some ancient calendars, as well as in the present Roman Martyrology; undoubtedly on account of the various persecutions which he suffered, and to which his high station in the church exposed him in those perilous times.

JANUARY 12TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. ARCADIUS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 259

The time of this saint’s martyrdom is not mentioned in his acts; some place it under Valerian, others under Dioclesian; he seems to have suffered in some city of Mauritania, probably the capital, Cæsarea. The fury of the tyrants raged violently, and the devil had instigated his soldiers to wage, like so many wolves, a bloody war against the servants of Jesus. Upon the least suspicion they broke into houses, made rigorous searches, and if they found a Christian, they treated him upon the spot with the greatest cruelty, their impatience not suffering them to wait the bringing him before a judge. Every day new sacrileges were committed; the faithful were compelled to assist at superstitious sacrifices, to lead victims crowned with flowers through the streets, to burn incense before idols, and to celebrate the enthusiastic feasts of Bacchus.

Arcadius, seeing his city in great confusion, left his estate, and withdrew to a solitary place in the neighboring country, serving Jesus Christ in watching, prayer, and other exercises of a penitential life. His flight could not be long a secret; for his not appearing at the public sacrifices made the governor send soldiers to his house, who surrounded it, forced open the doors, and finding one of his relations in it, who said all he could to justify his kinsman’s absence, they seized him, and the governor ordered him to be kept in close custody till Arcadius should be taken.

The martyr, informed of his friend’s danger, and burning with a desire to suffer for Christ, went into the city, and presenting himself to the judge, said: “If on my account you detain my innocent relation in chains, release him; I, Arcadius, am come in person to give an account of myself, and to declare to you, that he knew not where I was.”

“I am willing,” answered the judge: “to pardon not only him, but you also, on condition that you will sacrifice to the gods.”

Arcadius replied: “How can you propose to me such a thing? Do you not know the Christians, or do you believe that the fear of death will ever make me swerve from my duty? Jesus Christ is my life, and death is my gain. Invent what torments you please; but know that nothing shall make me a traitor to my God.”

The governor, in a rage, paused to devise some unheard-of torment for him. Iron hooks seemed too easy; neither plummets of lead, nor cudgels could satisfy his fury; the very rack he thought by much too gentle. At last imagining he had found a manner of death suitable to his purpose, he said to the ministers of his cruelty: “Take him, and let him see and desire death, without being able to obtain it. Cut off his limbs joint by joint, and execute this so slowly, that the wretch may know what it is to abandon the gods of his ancestors for an unknown deity.”

The executioners dragged Arcadius to the place, where many other victims of Christ had already suffered: a place dear and sweet to all who sigh after eternal life. Here the martyr lifts up his eyes to Heaven, and implores strength from above; then stretches out his neck, expecting to have his head cut off; but the executioner bid him hold out his hand, and, joint after joint, chopped off his fingers, arms, and shoulders. Laying the saint afterwards on his back, he in the same barbarous manner cut off his toes, feet, legs, and thighs.

The holy martyr held out his limbs and joints, one after another, with invincible patience and courage, repeating these words: “Lord teach me thy wisdom!” — for the tyrants had forgot to cut out his tongue. After so many martyrdoms, his body lay a mere trunk, weltering in its own blood. The executioners themselves, as well as the multitude, were moved to tears and admiration at this spectacle, and at such an heroic patience.

But Arcadius, with a joyful countenance, surveying his scattered limbs all around him, and offering them to God, said: “Happy members, now dear to me, as you at last truly belong to God, being all made a sacrifice to Him!” Then turning to the people, he said: “You who have been present at this bloody tragedy, learn that all torments seem as nothing to one, who has an everlasting crown before his eyes. Your gods are not gods! Renounce their worship! He alone, for whom I suffer and die, is the true God. He comforts and upholds me in the condition you see me. To die for Him is to live; to suffer for Him, is to enjoy the greatest delights.”

Discoursing in this manner to those about him, he expired on the 12th of January, the pagans being struck with astonishment at such a miracle of patience. The Christians gathered together his scattered limbs, and laid them in one tomb. The Roman and other Martyrologies make honorable mention of him on this day.

JANUARY 13TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. POTITUS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 160

The Holy Martyr St. Potitus suffered under the Emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138-161). Having become familiar with the Christian teaching, the young Potitus believed in the true God and accepted holy Baptism at thirteen years of age. When he learned of this, his pagan father was extremely upset and tried, first by endearments, and then by threats to dissuade his son from his faith in Christ the Savior, but his efforts were in vain. Impressed by the boy’s firmness of faith, the father also came to believe in the Son of God and became a Christian himself.

Potitus traveled through many lands preaching about Christ, and by the power of God he worked wondrous miracles.

In the region of Epiros, lived the illustrious woman Kyriake, the wife of a senator; she was afflicted with leprosy. Hearing of Potitus, she summoned him and asked him to heal her. The saint declared that if she believed in Christ, she would be healed. The woman accepted holy Baptism and was immediately made well. Seeing such a miracle, her husband and all their household believed in Christ and were baptized as well.

After this, the saint settled on Mount Garganus and lived in solitude, among the animals. He was found there by servants of the emperor Antoninus, whose daughter was possessed by a demon. Through the lips of the maiden, the devil said that he would come out of her only if Potitus should come. They brought the holy youth to the emperor, and through the prayers of St. Potitus the demon released the girl. But instead of being grateful, the emperor treated the saint with inhuman cruelty. For his firm confession of faith in Christ the Savior, and for his refusal to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, to whom the emperor imputed the healing of his daughter, he ordered that the saint’s tongue be torn out, and that he be blinded. After lengthy torture, Potitus was finally beheaded.

JANUARY 14TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. ISAIAS, ST. SABBAS & COMPANIONS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 273

St. Isaias, St. Sabbas, and thirty-eight other holy solitaries on mount Sinai, martyred by a troop of Arabians, in 273; likewise Paul, the abbot; Moses, who by his preaching and miracles had converted to the faith the Ishmaelites of Pharan; Psaes, a prodigy of austerity, and many other hermits in the desert of Raithe, two days’ journey from Sinai, near the Red Sea, were massacred the same year by the Blemmyans, a savage infidel nation of Ethiopia. All these anchorets (hermits) lived on dates, or other fruits, never tasted bread, worked at making baskets in cells at a considerable distance from each other, and met on Saturdays, in the evening, in one common church, where they watched and said the night office, and on the Sunday received together the Holy Eucharist. They were remarkable for their assiduity in prayer and fasting.

Also, many holy anchorets (hermits) on Mount Sinai, whose lives were faithful copies of Christian perfection, and who met on Sundays to receive the Holy Eucharist, were martyred by a band of Saracens in the fifth century.

A boy of fourteen years of age led among them an ascetic life of great perfection. The Saracens threatened to kill him, if he did not discover where the ancient monks had concealed themselves. He answered, that death did not terrify him, and that he could not ransom his life by a sin in betraying his fathers. They bade him put off his clothes: “After you have killed me,” said the modest youth, “take my clothes and welcome: but as I never saw my body naked, have so much compassion and regard for my shamefacedness, as to let me die covered.” The barbarians enraged at this answer, fell on him with all their weapons at once, and the pious youth died by as many martyrdoms as he had executioners.

St. Nilus, who had been formerly governor of Constantinople, has left us an account of this massacre in seven narratives; at that time he led an eremetical life in those deserts, and had placed his son Theodulus in this holy company. He was carried away captive, but redeemed after many dangers.

JANUARY 15TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. EPHISIUS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 303

St. Ephisius lived in the 3rd century and died at the start of the 4th century. He was born from a Christian father and pagan mother. He was recruited in the emperor Diocletian's troops and sent to Italy to fight Christians. According to the tradition, during the journey, one night Ephisius heard a voice from the sky which reproached him for fighting Christians and announced him his martyrdom. At the same time a shiny cross appeared in the sky and was impressed into his palm. From then on, Ephisius ceased his persecution and began to defend Christians. He was disobeying Diocletian's order and was charged with treason. He was taken to Nora, near Cagliari, tortured and beheaded on 15th January 303.

Cagliari and its patron saint St. Ephisius (Efisio in Italian) are the most important city and saint of Sardinia. He is celebrated on the 1st of May with a four-day procession through other places.

Since 1657 Cagliari and its patron saint, St. Ephisius, are joined together by a vow. In that year it was decided to celebrate him after the end of the terrible plague that afflicted Cagliari. It is believed that St. Ephisius saved the cities also from many French invasions, and by others, and also helped the city in several difficult situations.

JANUARY 16TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. MARCELLUS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 310

St. Marcellus was priest under Pope Marcellinus, whom he succeeded in 308, after that see had been vacant for three years and a half. An epitaph written on him by Pope Damasus, who also mentions himself in it, says that by enforcing the canons of holy penance, he drew upon himself the contradictions and persecutions of many tepid and refractory Christians, and that for his severity against a certain apostate, he was banished by the tyrant Maxentius. He died in 310, having sat one year, seven months, and twenty days.

Marcellus of Rome was Pope from the reign of Constantius and Galerius to that of Maxentius. At his suggestion the Roman lady Lucina willed her property to God's Church. Because the number of the faithful in the city had increased, he set up new parishes and divided the City into various districts. This angered Maxentius and he threatened Marcellus with heavy punishments unless he would abandon his pontificate and sacrifice to idols. The Pope resisted steadfastly, and so Maxentius had him sent to the stable to take care of the beasts fed at the public expense. Marcellus spent nine months there, and since he could not be present in his parishes in person, he visited them by his letters. He was rescued from this place by some clerics and given hospitality by Lucina in whose house he dedicated a church where he preached to the faithful. Then Maxentius ordered the beasts moved from the stable to the church, so that Marcellus again had to take care of them. The foul atmosphere of the place and his hardships soon proved fatal to Marcellus.

Anastasius writes, that Lucina, a devout widow of one Pinianus, who lodged St. Marcellus when he lived in Rome, after his death converted her house into a church, which she called by his name. His false acts relate, that among his other sufferings, he was condemned by the tyrant to keep cattle in this place. He is styled a martyr in the sacramentaries of Pope Gelasius I and Pope St. Gregory I, and in the Martyrologies ascribed to St. Jerome and St. Bede, which, with the rest of the Western calendars, mention his feast on the sixteenth of January. His body lies under the high altar in the ancient church, which bears his name, and gives title to a cardinal in Rome; but certain portions of his relics are honored at Cluni, Namur, Mons, etc.

God is most wonderful in the whole economy of his holy providence over his elect: his power and wisdom are exalted infinitely above the understanding of creatures, and we are obliged to cry out, “Who can search his ways?”We have not penetration to discover all the causes and ends of exterior things, which we see or feel. How much less can we understand this in secret and interior things, which fall not under our senses? “Remember that thou knowest not his work. Behold he is a great God, surpassing our understanding.”

How does he make everything serve his purposes for the sanctification of his servants! By how many ways does he conduct them to eternal glory! Some he sanctifies on thrones; others in cottages; others in retired cells and deserts; others in the various functions of an apostolic life, and in the government of his church. And how wonderfully does he ordain and direct all human events to their spiritual advancement, both in prosperity and in adversity! In their persecutions and trials, especially, we shall discover at the last day, when the secrets of his providence will be manifested to us, the tenderness of his infinite love, the depth of his unsearchable wisdom, and the extent of his omnipotent power. In all his appointments let us adore these his attributes, earnestly imploring his grace, that according to the designs of his mercy, we may, make everything, especially all afflictions, serve for the exercise and improvement of our virtue.

JANUARY 17TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. SPEUSIPPUS, ST. ELEUSIPPUS &
ST. MELEUSIPPUS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 161-180

They were triplet brothers of the 2nd century, who, with Leonilla their grandmother, glorified God by an illustrious martyrdom in Cappadocia, probably in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180).

The most ancient acts of their martyrdom, published by Rosweide and Bollandus, place it in that country, and their relics were brought from the East to Langres in France, whilst the first race of French kings filled the throne. A copy of the acts of their martyrdom, which was sent from Langres by one Varnahair, to St. Ceraunus, bishop of Paris, in the beginning of the seventh century, by an evident mistake or falsification, affirms their martyrdom to have happened at Langres; by which false edition, Ado, and many others, were led into the same mistake.

From certain ancient writings kept at Langres, mentioned by Gualtherot in his Anastasius of Langres, Chatelain proves that these relics, with the head of St. Mammes, a martyr, also of Cappadocia, were given by the emperor Zeno to a nobleman of Langres, who had served him in his wars. By him this sacred treasure was deposited in the church of Langres, in the time of the bishop Aprunculus, in 490, to be a protection against devils.

The cathedral of Langres, which bears the title of Saint Mammes, is possessed of the head of that martyr in a rich shrine. A brass tomb before the high altar, is said to have contained the bodies of the three children who were thrown into the furnace at Babylon, mentioned in the book of Daniel: but Chatelain thinks it belonged to the three martyrs, whose bodies were given by the Emperor Zeno to the count of Langres.

The church called of St. Geome, or Sancti Gemini, that is, the twins, situated two miles from Langres, belongs to a priory of regular canons, and is famous for devotion to these saints, though great part of their relics was translated by Hariolf duke of Burgundy, and his brother Erlolf, bishop of Langres, into Suabia, and remains in the noble collegiate church of St. Guy, or St. Vitus, at Elvange. These holy martyrs are secondary patrons of the diocese of Langres, and titular saints of many churches in France and Germany.

JANUARY 18th
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. PAUL & COMPANIONS
Date of martrydom unknown

In Egypt, thirty-seven Christian noblemen, all persons of high birth and plentiful fortunes; but richer in the gifts of grace, entered into a zealous confederacy to propagate the Gospel throughout the country. Their leader and head was one Paul, a true imitator of the great apostle whose name he bore.

They divided themselves into four several bands: Paul and nine others went eastwards: Recombus, with eight more, towards the north: Theonas, with the like number, to the south: and Papias, with the remaining eight, to the west.

They labored zealously in extending the kingdom of Christ on every side, planting the Faith, instructing the docile, and purifying the souls of penitents who confessed their sins. But the greater part of the inhabitants of that great kingdom loved darkness rather than light. The servants of God were treated with all manner of injuries, apprehended, and laid in irons.

The governor alarmed at the news of their enterprise, sent orders for their being brought before him from different parts of the kingdom. He employed both promises and threats to compel them to sacrifice. Paul answered in the name of them all that it was better for them to die, saying: “Do not spare us.”

The judge condemned them all to death, those who went to the east and south, to be burned: those from the north, to be beheaded, and those from the west to be crucified. But he was affrighted and surprised beyond expression to see with what joy and courage this brave army marched out, and bowed their heads to death. They suffered on the 18th of January, but in what year it is not mentioned in their acts.

JANUARY 19TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. MARIS, ST. MARTHA,
ST. AUDIFAX & ST. ABACHUM
Martyred in the Third Century, around 270

Maris, a nobleman of Persia, with his wife Martha, and two sons, Audifax and Abachum, being converted to the faith, distributed his fortune among the poor, as the primitive Christians did at Jerusalem, and came to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles. The emperor Aurelian then persecuted the church, and by his order a great number of Christians were shut up in the amphitheater, and shot to death with arrows, and their bodies burnt.

Our saints gathered and buried their ashes with respect; for which they were apprehended, and after many torments under the governor Marcianus—they were cudgeled, racked, burnt, torn with iron hooks, and had their hands cut off—at length Martha was drowned thirteen miles from Rome, at a place now called Santa Ninfa. Maris and his two sons were beheaded, and their bodies cast into the fire. Their relics were found at Rome in 1590.

They are mentioned with distinction in all the western Martyrologies from the sacramentary of St. Gregory. Their relics are kept principally at Rome; part in the church of St. Adrian, part in that of St. Charles, and in that of St. John Calybite. Eginhart, son-in-law and secretary of Charlemagne, deposited a portion of these relics which had been sent him from Rome in the abbey of Selghenstadt, of which he was the founder, in the diocese of Mentz.

The martyrs and confessors triumphed over the devil by prayer; by this, poor and weak as they were, they were rendered invincible; by engaging Omnipotence itself to be their comfort, strength, and protection. If the art of praying well be the art of living well, according to the received maxim of the Fathers and masters of a spiritual life, nothing is certainly of greater importance, than for us to learn this heavenly art of conversing with God in the manner we ought. We admire the wonderful effects which this exercise produced in the saints, who by it were disengaged from earthly ties, and made spiritual and heavenly; perfect angels on earth: but we experience nothing of this in ourselves. Prayer was in them the channel of all graces, the means of attaining all virtues, and all the treasures of Heaven. In us it is fruitless: the reason is plain; for the promises of Christ cannot fail: “we ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss.”

JANUARY 20TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. FABIAN
Martyred in the Third Century, around 250

Pope St. Fabian succeeded St. Anterus in the pontificate, in the year 236. Eusebius relates, that in an assembly of the people and clergy, held for the election of a pastor in his room, a dove, unexpectedly appearing, settled, to the great surprise of all present, on the head of St. Fabian; and that this miraculous sign united the votes of the clergy and people in promoting him, though not thought of before, as being a layman and a stranger. He governed the church sixteen years, sent St. Dionysius and other preachers into Gaul, and condemned Privatus, a broacher of a new heresy in Africa, as appears from St. Cyprian. St. Fabian died a glorious martyr in the persecution of Decius, in 250, as St. Cyprian and St. Jerome witness. The former, writing to his successor, St. Cornelius, calls him an incomparable man; and says, that the glory of his death had answered the purity and holiness of his life.

The saints made sure that God and the accomplishment of his holy will, was the great object of all their petitions in their prayers, and their only aim in all their actions. “God,” says Saint Augustine, “in his promises to hear our prayers is desirous to bestow himself upon us; if you find anything better than him, ask it, but if you ask any thing beneath him, you put an affront upon him, and hurt yourself by preferring to him a creature which he framed; pray in the spirit and sentiment of love, in which the royal prophet said to him: ‘Thou, O Lord, art my portion.’ Let others choose to themselves portions among creatures, for my part, Thou art my portion, Thee alone I have chosen for my whole inheritance.”

JANUARY 21ST
The Martyr of the Day
ST. AGNES
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 304

St. Jerome says, that the tongues and pens of all nations are employed in the praises of this saint, who overcame both the cruelty of the tyrant and the tenderness of her age, and crowned the glory of chastity with that of martyrdom. St. Augustine observes, that her name signifies chaste in Greek, and a lamb in Latin. She has been always looked upon in the church as a special patroness of purity, with the immaculate Mother of God and St. Thecla. Rome was the theatre of the triumph of St. Agnes; and Prudentius says, that her tomb was shown within sight of that city. She suffered not long after the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian, whose bloody edicts appeared in March in the year of our Lord 303.

We learn from St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, that she was only thirteen years of age at the time of her glorious death. Her riches and beauty excited the young noblemen of the first families in Rome, to vie with one another in their addresses, who should gain her in marriage. Agnes answered them all, that she had consecrated her virginity to a heavenly spouse, who could not be beheld by mortal eyes. Her suitors finding her resolution impregnable to all their arts and importunities, accused her to the governor as a Christian; not doubting but threats and torments would overcome her tender mind, on which allurements could make no impression.

The judge at first employed the mildest expressions and most inviting promises; to which Agnes paid no regard, repeating always, that she could have no other spouse than Jesus Christ. He then made use of threats; but found her soul endowed with a masculine courage, and even desirous of racks and death. At last, terrible fires were made, and iron hooks, racks, and other instruments of torture displayed before her, with threats of immediate execution. The young virgin surveyed them all with an undaunted eye; and with a cheerful countenance beheld the fierce and cruel executioners surrounding her, and ready to dispatch her at the word of command. She was so far from betraying the least symptom of fear, that she even expressed her joy at the sight, and offered herself to the rack. She was then dragged before the idols, and commanded to offer incense: “but could by no means be compelled to move her hand, except to make the sign of the cross,” says St. Ambrose.

The governor seeing his measures ineffectual, said he would send her to a house of prostitution, where what she prized so highly should be exposed to the insults of the debauchees. Agnes answered that Jesus Christ was too jealous of the purity of his spouses, to suffer it to be violated in such a manner; for he was their defender and protector.
“You may,” said she, “stain your sword with my blood, but will never be able to profane my body, consecrated to Christ.”
The governor was so incensed at this, that he ordered her to be immediately led to the public brothel, with liberty to all persons to abuse her person at pleasure.

Many young profligates ran thither, full of the wicked desire of gratifying their lust; but were seized with such awe at the sight of the saint, that they did not dare approach her; one only excepted, who, attempting to be rude to her, was that very instant, by a flash, as it were, of lightening from Heaven, struck blind, and fell trembling to the ground. His companions terrified, took him up and carried him to Agnes, who was at a distance, singing hymns of praise to Christ, her protector. The virgin by prayer restored him to his sight and health.

The chief prosecutor of the saint, who at first sought to gratify his lust and avarice, now labored to satiate his revenge, by incensing the judge against her; his passionate fondness being changed into anger and rage. The governor wanted not others to spur him on; for he was highly exasperated to see himself baffled, and set at defiance by one of her tender age and sex.

Therefore, resolved upon her death, he condemned her to be beheaded. Agnes, transported with joy on hearing this sentence, and still more at the sight of the executioner, “went to the place of execution more cheerfully,” says St. Ambrose, “than others go to their wedding.”

The executioner had secret instructions to use all means to induce her to a compliance: but Agnes always answered, she could never offer so great an injury to her heavenly spouse; and having made a short prayer, bowed down her neck to adore God, and receive the stroke of death. The spectators wept to see so beautiful and tender a virgin loaded with fetters, and to behold her fearless under the very sword of the executioner, who with a trembling hand cut off her head at one stroke.

Her body was buried at a small distance from Rome, near the Nomentan road. A church was built on the spot in the time of Constantine the Great, and was repaired by Pope Honorius in the seventh century. It is now in the hands of Canons-Regular, standing without the walls of Rome; and is honored with her relics in a very rich silver shrine, the gift of Pope Paul V, in whose time they were found in this church, together with those of St. Emerentiana.

The other beautiful rich church of St. Agnes within the city, built by Pope Innocent X (the right of patronage being vested in the family of Pamphili), stands on the place where her chastity was exposed. The feast of St. Agnes is mentioned in all Martyrologies, both of the East and West, though on different days. It was formerly a holyday for the woman in England, as appears from the council of Worcester, held in the year 1240. St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and other fathers have wrote her panegyric. St. Martin of Tours was singularly devout to her. Thomas à Kempis honored her as his special patroness, as his works declare in many places. He relates many miracles wrought, and graces received through her intercession.

Marriage is a holy state, instituted by God, and in the order of providence and nature the general or most ordinary state of those who live in the world. Those, therefore, who upon motives of virtue, and in a Christian and holy manner engage in this state, do well. Those, nevertheless, who for the sake of practicing more perfect virtue, by a divine call, prefer a state of perpetual virginity, embrace that which is more perfect and more excellent.

That Christ declares voluntary chastity, for the kingdom of Heaven’s sake, to be an excellency, and an excellent state of life, is the manifest inspired doctrine of St. Paul, and in the revelations of St. John, spotless virgins are called, in a particular manner, the companions of the Lamb, and are said to enjoy the singular privilege of following him wherever he goes.

The tradition of the church has always been unanimous in this point; and among the Romans, Greeks, Syrians, and Barbarians, many holy virgins joyfully preferred torments and death to the violation of their integrity, which they bound themselves by vow to preserve without defilement, in mind or body.

The fathers, from the very disciples of the apostles, are all profuse in extolling the excellence of holy virginity, as a special fruit of the incarnation of Christ, his divine institution, and a virtue which has particular charms in the eyes of God, who delights in chaste minds, and chooses to dwell singularly in them. They often repeat, that purity raises men, even in this mortal life, to the dignity of angels; purifies the soul, fits it for a more perfect love of God, and a closer application to heavenly things, and disengages the mind and heart from worldly thoughts and affections. It produces in the soul the nearest resemblance to God.

Chastity is threefold, that of virgins, that of widows, and that of married persons; in each state it will receive its crown, as St. Ambrose observes, but in the first is most perfect, so that St. Augustine calls its fruit a hundred fold, and that of marriage sixty fold; but the more excellent this virtue is, and the higher its glory and reward, the more heroic and the more difficult is its victory; nor is it perfect unless it be embellished with all other virtues in an heroic degree, especially divine charity and the most profound humility.

JANUARY 22ND
The Martyr of the Day
ST. VINCENT
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 304

The most glorious martyr, St. Vincent, was born, some say at Saragossa, others at Valencia, but most authors say, and more probable, at Osca, now Huesca, in Granada. He was instructed in the sacred sciences and in Christian piety by Valerius, the bishop of that city, who ordained him his deacon, and appointed him, though very young, to preach and instruct the people. Dacian, a most bloody persecutor, was then governor of Spain.

The Emperors Diocletian and Maximian published their second and third bloody edicts against the Christian clergy in the year 303, which in the following year were put in force against the laity. It seems to have been before this last that Dacian put to death eighteen martyrs at Saragossa, who are mentioned by Prudentius, and in the Roman Martyrology, January the 16th, and that he apprehended Valerius and Vincent.

They spilt some of their blood at Saragossa, but were thence conducted to Valencia, where the governor let them lie long in prison, suffering extreme famine and other miseries. The proconsul hoped that this lingering torture would shake their constancy; but when they were brought out before him, he was surprised to see them still intrepid in mind, and vigorous in body, and he reprimanded his officers as if they had not treated the prisoners according to his orders. Then, turning to the champions of Christ, he employed alternately threats and promises to induce them to sacrifice.

Valerius, who had an impediment in his speech, making no answer, Vincent said to him: “Father, if you order me, I will speak.”
“Son,” said Valerius, “as I committed to you the dispensation of the word of God, so I now charge you to answer in vindication of the Faith which we defend.”
The holy deacon then acquainted the judge that they were ready to suffer everything for the true God, and little regarded either his threats or promises in such a cause, Dacian contented himself with banishing Valerius. As for St. Vincent, he was determined to assail his resolution by every torture his cruel temper could suggest.

St. Augustine assures us, that he suffered torments far beyond what any man could possibly have endured, unless supported by a supernatural strength; and that he preserved such a peace and tranquility in his words, countenance, and gestures, in the midst of them, as astonished his very persecutors, and visibly appeared as something divine; whilst the rage and distraction of Dacian’s soul was as visible in the violent agitations of his body, by his eyes sparkling with fury, and his faltering voice.

The martyr was first stretched on the rack by his hands and feet, drawn by cords and pullies, till his joints were almost torn asunder: whilst he hung in this posture, his flesh was unmercifully torn off with iron hooks. Vincent, smiling, called the executioners weak and faint-hearted. Dacian thought they spared him, and caused them to be beaten, which afforded the champion an interval of rest: but they soon returned to him, resolved fully to satisfy the cruelty of their master, who excited them all the while to exert their utmost strength. They twice stayed their hands to take breath, and let his wounds grow cold; then began with fresh vigor to rend and tear his body, which they did in all its limbs and parts with such cruelty, that his bones and bowels were in most places exposed bare to sight. The more his body was mangled, the more did the divine presence cherish and comfort his soul, and spread a greater joy on his countenance.

The judge seeing the streams of blood which flowed from all the parts of his body, and the frightful condition to which it was reduced, was obliged to confess with astonishment, that the courage of the young nobleman had vanquished him, and his rage seemed somewhat abated. Hereupon he ordered a cessation of his torments, begging of the saint for his own sake, that if he could not be prevailed upon to offer sacrifice to the gods, he would at least give up the sacred books to be burnt, according to the order of the late edicts.

The martyr answered, that he feared his torments less than that false compassion which he testified. Dacian, more incensed than ever, condemned him to the most cruel of tortures, that of fire upon a kind of gridiron, called by the acts the legal torture.

The saint walked with joy to the frightful engine, so as almost to get the start of his executioners, such was his desire to suffer. He mounted cheerfully the iron bed, in which the bars were framed like scythes, full of sharp spikes made red-hot by the fire underneath.

On this dreadful gridiron the martyr was stretched out at length, and bound fast down. He was not only scourged thereon; but, while one part of his body was broiling next the fire, the other was tortured by the application of red-hot plates of iron. His wounds were rubbed with salt, which the activity of the fire forced the deeper into his flesh and bowels. All the parts of his body were tormented in this manner, one after the other, and each several times over. The melted fat dropping from the flesh nourished and increased the flames; which, instead of tormenting, seemed, as St. Augustine says, to give the martyr new vigor and courage; for the more he suffered, the greater seemed to be the inward joy and consolation of his soul.

The rage and confusion of the tyrant exceeded all bounds: he appeared not able to contain himself, and was continually inquiring what Vincent did and what he said; but was always answered, that he suffered with joy in his countenance, and seemed every moment to acquire new strength and resolution. He lay unmoved, his eyes turned towards heaven, his mind calm, and his heart fixed on God in continual prayer.

At last, by the command of the proconsul, he was thrown into a dungeon, and his wounded body laid on the floor strewed with broken potsherds, which opened afresh his ghastly wounds, and cut his bare flesh. His legs were set in wooden stocks, stretched very wide, and strict orders were given that he should be left without provisions, and that no one should be admitted to see or speak to him.

But God sent his angels to comfort him, with whom he sang the praises of his protector. The jailer observing through the chinks the prison filled with light, and the saint walking and praising God, was converted upon the spot to the Christian faith, and afterwards baptized. At this news Dacian chafed, and even wept through rage, but ordered that some repose should be allowed the prisoner.

The faithful were then permitted to see him, and coming in troops wiped and kissed his wounds, and dipped cloths in his blood, which they kept as an assured protection for themselves and their posterity. After this a soft bed was prepared for him, on which he was no sooner laid but he expired, the happy moment he had not ceased to pray for, ever since his torments, and his first call to martyrdom. Dacian commanded his body to be thrown on a marshy field among rushes; but a crow defended it from wild beasts and birds of prey.

The acts in Ruinart and Bollandus, and the sermon attributed to St. Leo, add, that it was then tied to a great stone and cast into the sea, in a sack, but miraculously carried to shore, and revealed to two Christians. They laid it in a little chapel out of the walls of Valencia, where God honored these relics with many miracles, as the acts and St. Augustine witness.

Prudentius informs us, that the iron on which he lay, and other instruments of his passion, were likewise preserved with veneration. Childebert, king of France, or rather of Paris, besieging Saragossa, wondered to see the inhabitants busied continually in making processions. Being informed they carried the stole of St. Vincent about the walls in devout prayer, and had been miraculously protected by that martyr’s intercession, he raised the siege upon condition that the relic should be given him. This he with great solemnity brought to Paris, and enriched with it the magnificent church and abbey of St. Vincent, now called St. Germain-des-Prez, which he built in 559, and which his successor Clotaire caused to be dedicated.

In the year 855, his sacred bones were discovered at Valencia, and conveyed into France, and deposited in the abbey of Castres, now an episcopal see in Languedoc, where they remain; but several portions have been given to the abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres at Paris, and other churches; and part was burnt at Castres by the Hugenots about the end of the sixteenth century. Aimoinus, a contemporary monk, wrote the history of this translation, with an account of many miracles which attended it.

St. Gregory of Tours, mentions a portion of his relics to have been famous for miracles in a village church near Poictiers. In the life of St. Domnolus mention is made of a portion placed by him in a great monastery in the suburbs of the city of Mans. But it is certain that the chief part of this martyr’s body was conveyed to Lisbon. To escape the cruel persecution of the Saracen King Abderamene, at Valencia, many Christians privately withdrew themselves, and carrying with them the body of St. Vincent, took shelter on the south-west cape, called the Sacred Promontory, and from these relics St. Vincent’s in the kingdom of Algarb then under the Saracens.

Alphonsus Henry, the most pious first king of Portugal, son of count Henry, having defeated five Moorish kings, at Ourique, in the year 1139, received from those faithful keepers the body of St. Vincent, sent it by sea to Lisbon, and built the royal monastery of the Cross of regular canons of St. Austin, in which he most religiously deposited this treasure, rendered more famous by miracles, in the year 1148.

Prudentius finishes his hymn on this holy martyr by a prayer to him, that he would present the marks of his sufferings to Christ, to move him to compassion in his behalf.

God never more visibly manifested his power, nor gave stronger or more wonderful proofs of his tenderness and love for his church, than when he suffered it to groan under the most violent oppression and persecution; nor does his grace anywhere appear more triumphant than in the victories of his martyrs under the severest trials, and in the heroic virtues which they displayed amidst torments and insults. Under the slightest disappointments and afflictions we are apt to fall into discouragement, and to imagine, by our sloth and impatience, that our situation is of all others the most unhappy and intolerable. If nature feel, and we implore the divine mercy, and a deliverance, if this may be conducive to God’s honor, we must be careful never to sink under the trials, or consent to the least secret murmuring; we must bear them, if not with joy, at least with perfect submission; and remain assured that God only seems to withdraw himself from us, that we may follow him more earnestly, and unite ourselves more closely to him.

JANUARY 23RD
The Martyr of the Day
ST. CLEMENT
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 312

Clement was born in the Galatian city of Ancyra in the year 258, of a pagan father and a Christian mother. He lost his father when he was an infant, and his mother when he was twelve. She predicted a martyr’s death for him because of his belief in Christ.

A woman named Sophia adopted him and raised him in the fear of God. During a terrible famine in Galatia several pagans turned out their own children, not having the means to feed them. Sophia took in these unfortunates, and fed and clothed them. Saint Clement assisted her in this. He taught the children and prepared them for Baptism. Many of them died as martyrs for Christ.

Saint Clement was made a reader, and later a deacon. When he was eighteen he was ordained to the holy priesthood, and at age twenty he was consecrated Bishop of Ancyra. Soon afterwards the persecution against Christians under Diocletian (284-305) broke out.

Bishop Clement was denounced as a Christian and arrested. Dometian, the governor of Galatia, tried to make the saint worship the pagan gods, but Saint Clement firmly confessed his faith and valiantly withstood all the tortures.

They suspended him on a tree, and raked his body with sharp iron instruments so that his entrails could be seen. They smashed his mouth with stones, and they turned him on a wheel and burned him over a low fire. The Lord preserved His sufferer and healed his lacerated body.

Then Dometian sent the saint to Rome to the emperor Diocletian himself, with a report that Bishop Clement had been fiercely tortured, but had proven unyielding. Diocletian, seeing the martyr completely healthy, did not believe the report and subjected him to even crueler tortures, and then had him locked up in prison.

Many of the pagans, seeing the bravery of the saint and the miraculous healing of his wounds, believed in Christ. People flocked to Saint Clement in prison for guidance, healing and Baptism, so that the prison was literally transformed into a church. When word of this reached the emperor, many of these new Christians were executed.

Diocletian, struck by the amazing endurance of Saint Clement, sent him to Nicomedia to his co-emperor Maximian. On the ship, the saint was joined by his disciple Agathangelus, who had avoided being executed with the other confessors, and who now wanted to suffer and die for Christ with Bishop Clement.

The emperor Maximian in turn sent Saints Clement and Agathangelus to the governor Agrippina, who subjected them to such inhuman torments, that even the pagan on-lookers felt pity for the martyrs and they began to pelt the torturers with stones.

Having been set free, the saints healed an inhabitant of the city through the laying on of hands and they baptized and instructed people, thronging to them in multitudes. Arrested again on orders of Maximian, they were sent home to Ancyra, where the ruler Cyrenius had them tortured. Then they were sent to the city of Amasea to the proconsul Dometius, known for his great cruelty.

In Amasea, the martyrs were thrown into hot lime. They spent a whole day in it and remained unharmed. They flayed them, beat them with iron rods, set them on red-hot beds, and poured sulfur on their bodies. All this failed to harm the saints, and they were sent to Tarsus for new tortures. In the wilderness along the way Saint Clement had a revelation that he would suffer a total of twenty-eight years for Christ. Then having endured a multitude of tortures, the saints were locked up in prison.

Saint Agathangelus was beheaded with the sword on November 5th. The Christians of Ancyra freed Saint Clement from prison and took him to a cave church. There, after celebrating Liturgy, the saint announced to the faithful the impending end of the persecution and his own martyrdom. On January 23rd, in the year 312, the holy hierarch was killed by soldiers from the city, who stormed the church. The saint was beheaded as he stood before the altar and offered the Bloodless Sacrifice. Two deacons, Christopher and Chariton, were beheaded with him, but no one else was harmed.

Two churches at Constantinople were dedicated to God under the invocation of St. Clement of Ancyra; one called of the Palace, the other now in Pera, a suburb of that city. Several parts of his relics were kept with great devotion at Constantinople. His skull, which was brought thence to Paris when Constantinople was taken by the Latins, in the thirteenth century, was given by Queen Anne of Austria to the abbey of Val de Grace.

JANUARY 24TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. TIMOTHY
Martyred in the First Century, around 97

St. Timothy, the beloved disciple of St. Paul, was of Lycaonia, and probably of the city of Lystra. His father was a Gentile, but his mother Eunice was a Jewess. She, with Lois, his grandmother, embraced the Christian religion, and St. Paul commends their faith.

Timothy had made the Holy Scriptures his study from his infancy. When St. Paul preached in Lycaonia, in the year 51, the brethren of Iconium and Lystra gave him so advantageous a character of the young man, that the apostle, being deprived of St. Barnaby, took him for the companion of his labors, but first circumcised him at Lystra. For though the Jewish ceremonies ceased to be obligatory from the death of Christ, it was still lawful to use them (but not as precept or obligation) till about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem with the temple, that the synagogue might be buried with honor.

Therefore St. Paul refused to circumcise Titus, born of Gentile parents, to assert the liberty of the gospel, and to condemn those who erroneously affirmed circumcision to be still of precept in the New Law. On the other side, he circumcised Timothy, born of a Jewess, by that condescension to render him the more acceptable to the Jews, and to make it appear that himself was no enemy to their law.

St. John Chrysostom here admires the prudence, steadiness, and charity, of St. Paul; and we may add, the voluntary obedience of the disciple. St. Augustine extols his zeal and disinterestedness in immediately forsaking his country, his house, and his parents, to follow this apostle, to share in his poverty and sufferings.

After he was circumcised, St. Paul, by the imposition of hands, committed to him the ministry of preaching, his rare virtue making ample amends for his want of age. From that time the apostle regarded him not only as his disciple and most dear son, but as his brother and the companion of his labors. He calls him a man of God, and tells the Philippians, that he found no one so truly united to him in heart and sentiments, as Timothy. This esteem of the apostle is a sufficient testimony of the extraordinary merit of the disciple, whose vocation and entrance into the ministry was accompanied with prophecies in his behalf.

St. Paul travelled from Lystra over the rest of Asia, sailed into Macedon, and preached at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berœa, in the year 52. Being compelled to quit this last city by the fury of the Jews, he left Timothy behind him, to confirm the new converts there. On St. Paul’s arrival at Athens he sent for him, but being informed that the Christians of Thessalonica lay under a very heavy persecution for the faith, he soon after deputed him to go thither, to comfort and encourage them under it; and he returned to St. Paul, then at Corinth, to give him an account of his success in that commission. Upon this the apostle wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians.

From Corinth St. Paul went to Jerusalem, and thence to Ephesus, where he spent two years. Here he formed a resolution of returning into Greece, and sent Timothy and Erastus before him through Macedon, to apprize the faithful in those parts of his intention, and to prepare the alms intended to be sent the Christians of Jerusalem.

Timothy had a particular order to go afterwards to Corinth, to correct certain abuses, and to revive in the minds of the faithful there the doctrine which the apostle had taught them; who, writing soon after to the Corinthians, earnestly recommended this disciple to them. St. Paul waited in Asia for his return, and then went with him into Macedon and Achaia. St. Timothy left him at Philippi, but rejoined him at Troas. The apostle on his return to Palestine was imprisoned, and after two years custody at Cæsarea, was sent to Rome. Timothy seems to have been with him all or most of this time, and is named by him in the titles of his epistles to Philemon, and to the Philippians and Thessalonians, in the years 61 and 62.

St. Timothy himself suffered imprisonment for Christ, and gloriously confessed his name, in the presence of many witnesses; but was set at liberty. He was ordained bishop by a prophecy, and a particular order of the Holy Ghost. He received by this imposition of hands, not only the grace of the sacrament, and the authority to govern the church, but also the power of miracles, and the other exterior gifts of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul being returned from Rome into the East, in the year 64, left St. Timothy at Ephesus, to govern that church, to oppose false teachers, and to ordain priests, deacons, and even bishops. For St. Chrysostom and other fathers observe, that he committed to him the care of all the churches of Asia: and St. Timothy is always named the first bishop of Ephesus.

St. Paul wrote his first epistle to Timothy from Macedon, in 64; and his second, in 65, from Rome, while there in chains, to press him to come to Rome, that he might see him again before he died. It is an effusion of his heart, full of tenderness towards this his dearest son. In it he encourages him, endeavors to renew and stir up in his soul that spirit of intrepidity, and that fire of the Holy Ghost, with which he was filled at his ordination; gives him instructions concerning the heretics of that time, and adds a lively description of such as would afterwards arise.

We learn that St. Timothy drank only water: but his austerities having prejudiced his health, on account of his weak stomach and frequent infirmities, St. Paul ordered him to use a little wine. The fathers observe that he only says a little even in that necessity, because the flesh is to be kept weak, that the spirit may be vigorous and strong. St. Timothy was then young: perhaps about forty. It is not improbable that he went to Rome to confer with his master. In the year 64 he was made by St. Paul bishop of Ephesus, before St. John arrived there, who resided also in that city as an apostle, and exercising a general inspection over all the churches of Asia. St. Timothy is styled a martyr in the ancient martyrologies.

His acts, in some copies ascribed to the famous Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, but which seem to have been written at Ephesus, in the fifth or sixth age, and abridged by Photius, relate, that under the Emperor Nerva, in the year 97, St. John being still in the isle of Patmos, St. Timothy was slain with stones and clubs, by the heathens, whilst he was endeavoring to oppose their idolatrous ceremonies on one of their festivals called Catagogia, kept on the 22nd of January, on which the idolaters walked in troops, every one carrying in one hand an idol, and in the other a club.

St. Paulinus, Theodorus Lector, and Philostorgius, informs us, that his relics were with great pomp translated to Constantinople in the year 356, in the reign of Constantius. St. Paulinus witnesses, that the least portion of them wrought many miracles wherever they were distributed. These precious remains, with those of St. Andrew and St. Luke, were deposited under the altar, in the church of the apostles in that city, where the devils, by their howling, testified how much they felt their presence, says St. Jerome; which St. John Chrysostom also confirms.

Pious reading was the means by which St. Timothy, encouraged by the example and exhortations of his virtuous grandmother and mother, imbibed in his tender years, and nourished during the whole course of his life, the most fervent spirit of religion and all virtues; and his ardor for holy reading and meditation is commended by St. Paul, as the proof of his devotion and earnest desire of advancing in divine charity.

When this saint was wholly taken up in the most laborious and holy functions of the apostolic ministry, that great apostle strongly recommends to him always to be assiduous in the same practice, and in all exercises of devotion. A minister of the Gospel who neglects regular exercises of retirement, especially self-examination, reading, meditation, and private devotion, forgets his first and most essential duty, the care he owes to his own soul. Neither can he hope to kindle the fire of charity in others, if he suffer it to be extinguished in his own breast. These exercises are also indispensably necessary in a certain degree, in all states and circumstances of life; nor is it possible for a Christian otherwise to maintain a spirit of true piety, which ought to animate the whole body of all his actions, and without which even spiritual functions want as it were their soul.

JANUARY 25TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PROJECTUS
Martyred in the Seventh Century, around 647

St. Projectus, the bishop of Clermont and martyr for Christ, was a man of many names—especially in France! He was known as St. Priest in the city of Lyona, St. Prest in the city of Sens, St. Preils in Saintogne and St. Prix is Paris and Picardy!

St. Projectus, or St. Prix as the Parisians called him, was one of many holy bishops of that time. The episcopal see of Auvergne, which was founded by St. Austremonius, in the middle of the third century, has been honored with many holy bishops, of whom twenty-six are ranked among the saints. Of these the most eminent are St. Alidius, called in French Allyre, the fourth bishop, in 380, St. Sidonius Apollinaris in 482, St. Gallus in 656, St. Prix in 674, and St. Bont in 710. About the year 1160, the title of bishops of Auvergne was changed into that of Clermont, from the city of this name.

St. Prix was a native of this illustrious area of the Auvergne, and trained up in the service of the Church, under the care of St. Genesius, first archdeacon, afterwards bishop of Auvergne, and was well skilled in plain song (Gregorian Chant), which was highly esteemed in that age and was the first part of the training of a clergyman, and very knowledgeable in Holy Scriptures and Church history. The parish of Issoire, and afterwards the nunnery of Candedin (later to become known as Chantoen, a convent of bare-footed Carmelites) were the chief objects of his zeal, untill about the year 666, when he was called, by the voice of the people, and seconded by Childeric II, the King of Austrasia, to the episcopal dignity, upon the death of Felix, bishop of Auvergne.

Partly by his own ample patrimony, and partly by the great liberalities of Genesius, the holy count of Auvergne, he was enabled to found several monasteries, churches, and hospitals; so that all distressed persons in his extensive diocese were provided for, and a spirit of fervor in the exercises of religion and all Christian virtues reigned in all parts. This was the fruit of the unwearied and undaunted zeal, assiduous sermons and exhortations, and the admirable example and sanctity of the holy prelate; whose learning, eloquence, and piety, are exceedingly extolled by the two historians of his life.

The saint, on his road to the court of King Childeric, where he was going on the affairs of his diocese, restored to health St. Damarin, or Amarin, a holy abbot of a monastery in the mountains of Voge, who was afterwards martyred with him. This King caused Hector, the patrician of Marseilles, whom the saint had severely rebuked for having ravished a young lady of Auvergne, a rich heiress, and having unjustly usurped considerable estates belonging to his church, to be put to death for this rape and other crimes.

A certain person named Agritius, imputing his death to the complaints carried to the king by St. Prix, in revenge stirred up many persons against the holy prelate, and with twenty armed men met the bishop as he returned from court, at Volvic, seven miles from Clermont, and first slew the abbot St. Damarin, whom the ruffians mistook for the bishop. St. Prix, perceiving their design, courageously presented himself to them, and was stabbed in the body by a Saxon named Radbert. The saint, receiving this wound said: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, for they know not what they do.” Another of the assassins split his head with a back-sword, and scattered his brains.

This happened in 674 on the 25th of January. The veneration which the Gallican churches paid to the memory of this martyr, began from the time of his death. His name was added to the calendar in the copies of the Sacramentary of St. Gregory, which were transcribed in France, and churches were erected under his invocation in almost every province in that kingdom. The principal part of his relics remain in the abbey of Flavigny, whither they were carried about the year 760. Some portions are kept in the abbey of St. Prix at St. Quintin’s, of the congregation of Cluny; another in the priory of St. Prix near Bethune, and in certain other places.

JANUARY 26TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. POLYCARP
Martyred in the Second Century, around 166

St. Polycarp was one of the most illustrious of the Apostolic Fathers, who, being the immediate disciples of the Apostles, received instructions from their mouths, and inherited of them the spirit of Christ, in a degree so much the more eminent, as they lived nearer the fountain head. He embraced Christianity very young, about the year 80; was a disciple of the Apostles, in particular of St. John the Evangelist, and was constituted by him bishop of Smyrna, probably before his banishment to Patmos, in 96: so that he governed that important see seventy years. He seems to have been the angel or bishop of Smyrna, who was commended above all the bishops of Asia by Christ himself in the Apocalypse, and the only one without a reproach. Our Saviour encouraged him under his poverty, tribulation, and persecutions, especially the calumnies of the Jews, called him rich in grace, and promised him the crown of life by martyrdom.

This saint was respected by the faithful to a degree of veneration. He formed many holy disciples, among whom were St. Irenæus and Papias. When Florinus, who had often visited St. Polycarp, had broached certain heresies, St. Irenæus wrote to him as follows: “These things were not taught you by the bishops who preceded us. I could tell you the place where the blessed Polycarp sat to preach the word of God. It is yet present to my mind with what gravity he everywhere came in and went out: what was the sanctity of his deportment, the majesty of his countenance and of his whole exterior, and what were his holy exhortations to the people. I seem to hear him now relate how he conversed with John and many others, who had seen Jesus Christ; the words he had heard from their mouths. I can protest before God, that if this holy bishop had heard of any error like yours, he would have immediately stopped his ears, and cried out, according to his custom: Good God! that I should be reserved to these times to hear such things! That very instant he would have fled out of the place in which he had heard such doctrine.”

Saint Jerome mentions, that St. Polycarp met at Rome the heretic Marcion in the streets, who resenting that the holy bishop did not take that notice of him which he expected, said to him: “Do not you know me, Polycarp?”
“Yes,” answered the saint, “I know you to be the first-born of Satan.”
He had learned this abhorrence of the authors of heresy, who knowingly and willingly adulterate the divine truths, from his master St. John, who fled out of the bath in which he saw Cerinthus.

St. Polycarp kissed with respect the chains of St. Ignatius, who passed by Smyrna on the road to his martyrdom, and who recommended to our saint the care and comfort of his distant church of Antioch; which he repeated to him in a letter from Troas, desiring him to write in his name to those churches of Asia to which he had not leisure to write himself.

St. Polycarp wrote a letter to the Philippians shortly after, which is highly commended by Saint Irenæus, St. Jerome, Eusebius, Photius and others, and is still extant. It is justly admired both for the excellent instructions it contains, and for the simplicity and perspicuity of the style; and was publicly read in the church in Asia, in Saint Jerome’s time. In it he calls a heretic, as above, the eldest son of Satan.

About the year 158, he undertook a journey of charity to Rome, to confer with Pope Anicetus about certain points of discipline, especially about the time of keeping Easter; for the Asiatic churches kept it on the fourteenth day of the vernal equinoctial moon, as the Jews did, on whatever day of the week it fell; whereas Rome, Egypt, and all the West observed it on the Sunday following. It was agreed that both might follow their custom without breaking the bands of charity. St. Anicetus, to testify his respect, yielded to him the honor of celebrating the Eucharist in his own church. We find no further particulars concerning our saint recorded before the acts of his martyrdom.

In the sixth year of Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus, Statius Quadratus being proconsul of Asia, a violent persecution broke out in that country, in which the faithful gave heroic proofs of their courage and love of God, to the astonishment of the infidels. When they were torn to pieces with scourges till their very bowels were laid bare, amidst the moans and tears of the spectators, who were moved with pity at the sight of their torments, not one of them gave so much as a single groan: so little regard had they for their own flesh in the cause of God. No kinds of torture, no inventions of cruelty were forborne to force them to a conformity to the pagan worship of the times.

Germanicus, who had been brought to Smyrna with eleven or twelve other Christians, signalized himself above the rest, and animated the most timorous to suffer. The proconsul in the amphitheater called upon him with tenderness, entreating him to have some regard for his youth, and to value at least his life: but he, with a holy impatience, provoked the beasts to devour him, to leave this wicked world.

One Quintus, a Phrygian, who had presented himself to the judge, yielded at the sight of the beasts let out upon him, and sacrificed to the false gods. The authors of these acts justly condemn the presumption of those who offered themselves to suffer, and say that the martyrdom of St. Polycarp was conformable to the Gospel, because he exposed not himself to the temptation, but waited till the persecutors laid hands on him, as Christ our Lord taught us by his own example.

The same venerable authors observe, that the martyrs by their patience and constancy demonstrated to all men, that, whilst their bodies were tormented, they were in spirit estranged from the flesh, and already in heaven; or rather that our Lord was present with them and assisted them; for the fire of the barbarous executioners seemed as if it had been a cooling refreshment to them.

The spectators, seeing the courage of Germanicus and his companions, and being fond of their impious bloody diversions, cried out: “Away with the impious; let Polycarp be sought for.” The holy man, though fearless, had been prevailed upon by his friends to withdraw and conceal himself in a neighboring village, during the storm, spending most of his time in prayer. Three days before his martyrdom, he in a vision saw his pillow on fire; from which he understood by revelation, and foretold his companions, that he should be burnt alive.

When the persecutors were in quest of him he changed his retreat, but was betrayed by a boy, who was threatened with the rack unless he discovered him. Herod, the Irenarch, or keeper of the peace, whose office it was to prevent misdemeanors and apprehend malefactors, sent horesemen by night to beset his lodgings.

The saint was above stairs in bed, but refused to make his escape, saying: “God’s will be done.” He went down, met them at the door, ordered them a handsome supper, and desired only some time for prayer before he went with them. This granted, he began his prayer standing, which he continued in that posture for two hours, recommending to God his own flock and the whole church with so much earnestness and devotion, that several of those who were come to seize him, repented they had undertaken the commission.

They set him on an ass, and were conducting him towards the city, when he was met on the road by Herod and his father Nicetes, who took him into their chariot, and endeavored to persuade him to a little compliance, saying: “What harm is there in saying Lord Cæsar, or even in sacrificing, to escape death?” By the word “Lord” was meant nothing less than a kind of deity or god-head.

The bishop at first was silent, in imitation of our Savior: but being pressed, he gave them this resolute answer: “I shall never do what you desire of me.” At these words, taking off the mask of friendship and compassion, they treated him with scorn and reproaches, and thrust him out of the chariot with such violence, that his leg was bruised by the fall. The holy man went forward cheerfully to the place where the people were assembled. Upon his entering it, a voice from heaven was heard by many, saying: “Polycarp, be courageous, and act manfully.”

He was led directly to the tribunal of the proconsul, who exhorted him to respect his own age, to swear by the genius of Cæsar, and to say: “Take away the impious,” meaning the Christians. The saint, turning towards the people in the pit, said, with a stern countenance: “Exterminate the wicked,” meaning by this expression either a wish that they might cease to be wicked by their conversion to the Faith of Christ: or this was a prediction of the calamity which befel their city in 177, when Smyrna was overturned by an earthquake, as we read in Dion and Aristides.

The proconsul repeated: “Swear by the genius of Cæsar, and I discharge you; blaspheme Christ.”
Polycarp replied: “I have served him these fourscore and six years, and he never did me any harm, but much good; and how can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? If you require of me to swear by the genius of Cæsar, as you call it, hear my free confession: I am a Christian; but if you desire to learn the Christian religion, appoint a time, and hear me.”
The proconsul said: “Persuade the people.”
The martyr replied: “I address my discourse to you; for we are taught to give due honor to princes as far as is consistent with religion. But the populace is an incompetent judge to justify myself before.”
Indeed rage rendered them incapable of hearing him.

The proconsul then assuming a tone of severity, said: “I have wild beasts!”
“Call for them,” replied the saint, “for we are unalterably resolved not to change from good to evil. It is only good to pass from evil to good.”
The proconsul said: “If you contemn the beasts, I will cause you to be burnt to ashes.”
Polycarp answered: “You threaten me with a fire which burns for a short time, and then goes out; but are yourself ignorant of the judgment to come, and of the fire of everlasting torments, which is prepared for the wicked. Why do you delay? Bring against me what you please.”

Whilst he said this and many other things, he appeared in a transport of joy and confidence and his countenance shone with a certain heavenly grace, and pleasant cheerfulness, insomuch, that the proconsul himself was struck with admiration. However, he ordered a crier to make public proclamation three times in the middle of the Stadium (as was the Roman custom in capital cases): “Polycarp hath confessed himself a Christian.”

At this proclamation the whole multitude of Jews and Gentiles gave a great shout, the latter crying out: “This is the great teacher of Asia; the father of the Christians; the destroyer of our gods, who preaches to men not to sacrifice to or adore them.”
They applied to Philip the Asiarch, to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. He told them that it was not in his power, because those shows had been closed. Then they unanimously demanded, that he should be burnt alive. Their request was no sooner granted, but every one ran with all speed, to fetch wood from the baths and shops.

The Jews were particularly active and busy on this occasion. The pile being prepared, Polycarp put off his garments, untied his girdle, and began to take off his shoes; an office he had not been accustomed to, the Christians having always striven who should do these things for him, regarding it as a happiness to be admitted to touch him. The wood and other combustibles were heaped all round him. The executioners would have nailed him to the stake; but he said to them: “Suffer me to be as I am. He who gives me grace to undergo this fire, will enable me to stand still without that precaution.”

They therefore contented themselves with tying his hands behind his back, and in this posture looking up towards heaven, he prayed as follows: “O Almighty Lord God, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of thee, God of angels, powers, and every creature, and of all the race of the just that live in thy presence! I bless thee for having been pleased in thy goodness to bring me to this hour, that I may receive my portion in the number of thy martyrs, and partake of the chalice of thy Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life, in the incorruptibleness of the Holy Spirit. Amongst whom grant me to be received this day as a pleasing sacrifice, such a one as thou thyself hast prepared, that so thou mayest accomplish what thou, O true and faithful God! hast foreshown. Wherefore, for all things I praise, bless, and glorify thee, through the eternal high priest Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee and the Holy Ghost be glory now and for ever. Amen.”

He had scarcely said Amen, when fire was set to the pile, which increased to a mighty flame. But behold a wonder, say the authors of these acts, seen by us reserved to attest it to others; the flames forming themselves into an arch, like the sails of a ship swelled with the wind, gently encircled the body of the martyr; which stood in the middle, resembling not roasted flesh, but purified gold or silver, appearing bright through the flames; and his body sending forth such a fragrancy, that we seemed to smell precious spices.

The blind infidels were only exasperated to see that his body could not be consumed, and ordered a spearman to pierce him through, which he did, and such a quantity of blood issued out of his left side as to quench the fire. The malice of the devil ended not here: he endeavored to obstruct the relics of the martyr being carried off by the Christians; for many desired to do it, to show their respect to his body. Therefore, by the suggestion of Satan, Nicetes advised the proconsul not to bestow it on the Christians, lest, said he, abandoning the crucified man, they should adore Polycarp: the Jews suggested this, “Not knowing,” say the authors of the acts, “that we can never forsake Christ, nor adore any other, though we love the martyrs, as his disciples and imitators, for the great love they bore their king and master.”

The centurion, seeing a contest raised by the Jews, placed the body in the middle, and burnt it to ashes. “We afterwards took up the bones,” say they, “more precious than the richest jewels or gold, and deposited them decently in a place at which may God grant us to assemble with joy, to celebrate the birth-day of the martyr.” Thus these disciples and eye-witnesses. It was at two o’clock in the afternoon, which the authors of the acts call the eighth hour, in the year 166, that St. Polycarp received his crown, according to Tillemont; but in 169, according to Basnage. His tomb is still shown with great veneration at Smyrna, in a small chapel. St. Irenæus speaks of St. Polycarp as being of an uncommon age.

The epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philippians, which is the only one among those which he wrote that has been preserved, is, even in the dead letter, a standing proof of the apostolic spirit with which he was animated, and of that profound humility, perfect meekness, burning charity, and holy zeal, of which his life was so admirable an example. The beginning is an effusion of the spiritual joy and charity with which he was transported at the happiness of their conversion to God, and their fervor in divine love. His extreme abhorrence of heresy makes him immediately fall upon that of the Docætae, against which he arms the faithful, by clearly demonstrating that Christ was truly made man, died, and rose again: in which his terms admirably express his most humble and affectionate devotion to our divine Redeemer, under these great mysteries of love.

Besides walking in truth, he takes notice, that to be raised with Christ in glory, we must also do his will, keep all his commandments, and love whatever he loves; refraining from all fraud, avarice, detraction, and rash judgment; repaying evil with good, forgiving and showing mercy to others that we ourselves may find mercy, “These things,”says he, “I write to you on justice, because you incited me; for neither I, nor any other like me, can attain to the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, into whose epistles if you look, you may raise your spiritual fabric by strengthening faith, which is our mother, hope following, and charity towards God, Christ, and our neighbor preceding us. He who has charity is far from all sin.”

The saint gives short instructions to every particular state, then adds: “Everyone who hath not confessed that Jesus Christ is come to the flesh, is antichrist; 16 and who hath not confessed the suffering of the cross, is of the devil; and who hath drawn the oracles of the Lord to his passions, and hath said that there is no resurrection nor judgment, he is the oldest son of Satan.”

He exhorts to watching always in prayer, lest we he led into temptation: to be constant in fasting, persevering, joyful in hope, and in the pledge of our justice, which is Christ Jesus, imitating his patience; for, by suffering for his name, we glorify him. To encourage them to suffer, he reminds them of those who had suffered before our eyes: Ignatius, Zozimus, and Rufus, and some of their own congregation, “who are now,” says our saint, “in the place which is due to them with the Lord, with whom they also suffered.”

JANUARY 27TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. JULIAN OF SORA
Martyred in the Second Century, around 150

At Sora, the holy martyr St. Julian. He was born in Dalmatia arrested in the persecution under the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161), and while he was being tortured, the temple of the idols fell down, whereupon he was beheaded in the town of Sora, in Campania, Italy, and so received the crown of martyrdom in the year 150.

JANUARY 28TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. THYRSUS, ST. LEUCIUS & ST. CALLINICUS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 250

Their Greek and Latin acts agree that, after suffering many torments, they were put to death in the year 250, on three different days, at Apollonia in Phrygia (modern day Turkey), during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius.

Tradition states that Thyrsus endured many tortures and was sentenced to be sawn in half. However, the saw did not penetrate as it became so heavy that the executioners could not use it. Leucius, after reproaching the governor, Cumbricius, was hanged, harrowed (ploughed with a sword or knife) down all his sides, and then beheaded. Callinicus, a pagan priest, was converted after seeing the martyrdom of Thyrsus and was also beheaded.

Their relics were believed to have been taken to Constantinople and then to Spain.

Sozomen tells us that Cæsarius, who had been prefect and consul, built at Constantinople a magnificent church under the invocation of St. Thyrsus, with a portion of whose relics it was enriched.

Another church within the city bore his name, as appears from the Menæa, on the 14th of December. In the cathedral of our Lady at Sisteron, in a church at Limoges, St. Thyrsus is one of the patrons. Many churches in Spain bear his name.

Silon, king of Oviedo and Asturia, in a letter to Cyxilas, archbishop of Toledo in 777, says, that the queen had sent presents to the church of St. Thyrsus, which the archbishop had built, viz. a silver chalice and paten, a basin to wash the hands in, with a pipe and a diadem on the cover to be used when the blood of our Lord was distributed to the people.

JANUARY 29TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. MAURUS, ST. PAPIAS & COMPANIONS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 303 to 310

Saint Maurus suffered at Rome with the hieromartyr Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome, and the holy deacons Sisinius and Cyriacus; also Smaragdus, Largus, Apronian, Saturninus, Crescentian, Papias, and the holy women martyrs Lucina (Lucy), and the emperor’s daughter Artemia during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian (284-305) and their successors, Galerius (305-311) and Maxentius (305-312).

The emperor Maximian, ruler of the Western Roman Empire, deprived all Christians of military rank and sent them into penal servitude.

A certain rich Christian, Thrason, sent food and clothing to the prisoners through the Christians Sisinius, Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus. Saint Marcellinus thanked Thrason for his generosity, and ordained Sisinius and Cyriacus as deacons.

While rendering aid to the captives, Sisinius and Cyriacus also were arrested and condemned to harsh labor. They fulfilled not only their own work quota, but worked also for the dying captive Saturninus. Therefore, Maximian sent Sisinius to Laodicius, the governor of the district.

They locked the saint in prison. The head of the prison, Apronian, summoned Saint Sisinius for interrogation but, seeing his face shine with a heavenly light, he believed in Christ and was baptized. Later, he went with Sisinius to Saint Marcellus and received Chrismation. Saint Marcellus served the Liturgy, and they partook of the Holy Mysteries.

On June 7th, Saints Sisinius and Saturninus were brought before Laodicius in the company of Apronian. Saint Apronian confessed that he was a Christian, and was beheaded. Saints Sisinius and Saturninus were thrown into prison. Then Laodicius gave orders to bring them to a pagan temple to offer sacrifice. Saturninus said, “If only the Lord would turn the pagan idols into dust!”

At that very moment the tripods, on which incense burned before the idols, melted. Seeing this miracle, the soldiers Papias and Maurus confessed Christ. After prolonged tortures Sisinius and Saturninus were beheaded, and Papias and Maurus were locked up in prison, where they prayed to receive illumination by holy Baptism. The Lord fulfilled their desire. Leaving the prison without being noticed, they received Baptism from Saint Marcellus and returned to the prison.

At the trial they again confessed themselves Christians and died under terrible tortures. Laodicius, the Prefect of the city, ordered their mouths to be bruised with stones and committed them to prison where they were afterwards cudgeled and then lashed to death with scourges loaded with lead. Their holy bodies were buried by the priest John and Thrason.

Saints Cyriacus, Smaragdus, Largus and other Christian prisoners continued to languish at hard labor.

Diocletian’s daughter Artemia suffered from demonic oppression. Having learned that the prisoner Saint Cyriacus could heal infirmities and cast out devils, the emperor summoned him to the sick girl. In gratitude for the healing of his daughter, the emperor freed Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus. Soon the emperor sent Saint Cyriacus to Persia to heal the daughter of the Persian emperor.

Upon his return to Rome, Saint Cyriacus was arrested on orders of the emperor Galerius, the son-in-law of Diocletian, who had abdicated and retired as emperor. Galerius was very annoyed at his predecessor because his daughter Artemia had converted to Christianity. He gave orders to drag Saint Cyriacus behind his chariot stripped, bloodied, and in chains, to be shamed and ridiculed by the crowds.

Saint Marcellus denounced the emperor openly before everyone for his cruelty toward innocent Christians. The emperor ordered the holy bishop to be beaten with rods, and dealt severely with him. Saints Cyriacus, Smaragdus, Largus, and another prisoner, Crescentian, died under torture. And at this time the emperor’s daughter Artemia and another twenty-one prisoners were also executed with Saint Cyriacus.

Saint Marcellus was secretly freed by Roman clergy. Exhuming the bodies of the holy martyrs Cyriacus, Smaragdus and Largus, they reburied them on the estates of two Christian women, Priscilla and Lucy, on the outskirts of Rome, after they had transformed Lucy’s house into a church.

Ascending the throne, Maxentius gave orders to destroy the church and turn it into a stockyard, and he sentenced the holy bishop to herd the cattle. Exhausted by hunger and cold, and wearied by the tortures of the soldiers, Saint Marcellus became ill and died in the year 310.

The holy women Pricilla and Lucy were banished from Rome in disgrace, and their estates confiscated and plundered.

JANUARY 30TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. MARTINA
Martyred in the Third Century, around 258

Martina was a noble Roman virgin, who glorified God, suffering many torments and a cruel death for her Faith in the capital city of the world, in the third century. There stood a chapel consecrated to her memory in Rome, which was frequented with great devotion in the time of St. Gregory the Great. Her relics were discovered in a vault, in the ruins of her old church, and translated with great pomp in the year 1634, under Pope Urban VIII, who built a new church in her honor, and composed himself the hymns used in her office in the Roman Breviary. The city of Rome ranks her among its particular patrons. She is mentioned in the Martyrologies of Ado, Usuard, and others.

JANUARY 31ST
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. CYRUS, ST. JOHN & ST. SERAPION
Martyred in the Fourth Century and Thirteenth Century

Cyrus, a physician of Alexandria, who by the opportunities which his profession gave him, had converted many sick persons to the faith; and John, an Arabian, hearing that a lady called Athanasia, and her three daughters, of which the eldest was only fifteen years of age, suffered torments for the name of Christ at Canope in Egypt, went thither to encourage them. They themselves were also caught and arrested, and afterwards cruelly beaten: their sides were burned with torches, and salt and vinegar poured into their wounds in the presence of Athanasia and her daughters, who were also tortured after them. At length the four ladies, and a few days after, Cyrus and John, were beheaded, the two latter on this day. The Syrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Latins, honor their memory.

St. Cyrus is the same as Abba-Cher, mentioned in the Coptic calendar on this day, which is the 6th of their month Mechir. He is called Abbacyrus in the life of St. John the Almoner, written by Leontius, in many ancient Martyrologies, and other monuments of antiquity. Abbacyrus is a Chaldaic word, signifying the Father Cyr. As this saint was an Egyptian, it is probable he was originally called Pa-Cher, or Pa-Cyrus, the Egyptians having been accustomed to prefix the article Pa to the names of men, as we see in Pa-chomis, Pa-phantis, Pa-phnutis, etc.

It is said in the acts of our two martyrs, that they were buried at Canopus, twelve furlongs from Alexandria, and that their relics were afterwards translated to Manutha, a village near Canopus, which was celebrated for a great number of miracles wrought there. These relics are now in a church at Rome, called St. Apassara: this word being corrupted by the Italians from Abbacyrus. Formerly there were many churches in that city dedicated under the invocation of these two holy martyrs.

St. Serapion lived many centuries later, and was martyred in the Thirteenth Century. He was a zealous Englishman, whom St. Peter Nolasco received into his Order at Barcelona. He made two journeys among the Moors for the ransom of captives, in 1240. The first was to Murcia, in which he purchased the liberty of ninety-eight slaves: the second to Algiers, in which he redeemed eighty-seven, but remained himself a hostage for the full payment of the money. He boldly preached Christ to the Mahometans, and baptized several: for which he was cruelly tortured, scourged, cut and mangled, at length, fastened to a cross, and was thereon stabbed and quartered alive, in the same year, 1240. Pope Benedict XIII declared him a martyr, and approved his immemorial veneration in his Order, by a decree in 1728, as Benedict XIV relates.