June Martyrs

THE MARTYRS OF JUNE
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).

JUNE 1ST
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PAMPHILUS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 309

Learning is truly valuable when sanctified by piety, and consecrated to the divine honor, to which St. Pamphilus devoted himself and all his labors. He was of a rich and honorable family, and a native of Berytus; in which city, at that time famous for its schools, he in his youth ran through the whole circle of the sciences, and was afterwards honored with the first employments of the magistracy.

After he began to know Christ, he could relish no other study but that of salvation, and renounced everything else that he might apply himself wholly to the exercises of virtue, and the studies of the Holy Scriptures. This accomplished master in profane sciences, and this renowned magistrate, was not ashamed to become the humble scholar of Pierius, the successor of Origen in the great catechetical school of Alexandria.

He afterwards made Cæsarea in Palestine his residence, where, at his private expense, he collected a great library, which he bestowed on the church of that city. St. Isidore of Seville reckons that it contained near thirty thousand volumes. Almost all the works of the ancients were found in it. The saint established there also a public school of sacred literature, and to his labors the church was indebted for a most correct edition of the holy Bible, which, with infinite care, he transcribed himself; many copies whereof he distributed gratis; for he was of all men the most communicative and beneficent, especially in encouraging sacred learning. He set a great value on the works of Origen, many of which he copied with his own hand.

During his imprisonment, he, with Eusebius, composed an Apology for Origen in five books; of which the first, in Rufinus’s Latin translation, is extant among the works of St. Jerome, and is a finished piece. But nothing was more remarkable in this saint than his extraordinary humility, as Eusebius often observes; which the saint himself feelingly expresses in his preface to an abridgment of the Acts of the Apostles. His paternal estate he at length distributed among the poor: towards his slaves and domestics his behavior was always that of a brother or tender father. He led a most austere life, sequestered from the world and its company; and was indefatigable in labor. Such a virtue was his apprenticeship to the grace of martyrdom.

In the year 307, Urbanus, the cruel governor of Palestine, caused him to be apprehended, and after hearing an essay of his eloquence and erudition, commanded him to be most inhumanly tormented. But the iron hooks which tore the martyr’s sides, served only to cover the judge with confusion. After this the saint remained almost two years in prison, with several fellow-confessors, of whom two, who were only catechumens, were at the same time purified and crowned by the baptism of fire.

Soon after the torturing of St. Pamphilus, Urbanus the governor was himself beheaded by an order of the Emperor Maximinus; but was succeeded by Firmilian, a man not less barbarous than bigoted and superstitious. After several butcheries, he caused St. Pamphilus and Valens, deacon of the church of Jerusalem, a venerable old man, who could repeat the whole Bible by heart, and Paul of Jamnia, a man of extraordinary zeal and fervor, to be brought before him; and finding them still firm in their Faith, without putting them again to the rack, passed sentence of death upon them; yet several others suffered before them; for one Porphyrius, a virtuous slave of St. Pamphilus, whom the saint had always treated as a son, and who, out of humility, concealed his abilities, and his skill in writing, asked the judge’s leave to bury their bodies when they should have undergone their punishment.

Firmilian, more like a tiger than a man, inquired if he was a Christian, and upon his confessing it, ordered the executioners to torment him with their utmost strength. But though his flesh was torn off to the very bones, and his naked bowels exposed to view, and the torments were continued a long time without intermission, he never once opened his mouth so much as to fetch one groan. He finished his martyrdom by a slow fire, and died invoking Jesus the Son of God. Thus, though he entered the lists after the rest, he arrived first at the crown.

Seleucus, a Cappadocian, for carrying the news of the triumph of Porphyrius to St. Pamphilus, and for applauding the martyr’s constancy, was condemned to be beheaded with the rest. He had formerly borne several employments in the army, and had been scourged for the Faith in 298; after which time he had lived a father and protector of the poor. Firmilian had in his family a servant, named Theodulus, whom he loved above all the rest of his domestics, for his probity and virtue; but being informed that he was a Christian, and had embraced one of the martyrs, he condemned him to be crucified on the same day.

Julian, a zealous Cappadocian catechumen, for embracing the dead bodies of the martyrs in the evening, was burnt at a slow fire, as Porphyrius had been. St. Pamphilus, with his companions above named, was beheaded on the 16th of February, 309; the others here mentioned all suffered on the same day. The bodies of these martyrs were left exposed to be devoured by wild beasts; but were not touched by them, and after four days, were taken away and decently buried. Eusebius of Cæsarea, the church historian, who had been fellow-prisoner with St. Pamphilus, out of respect to his memory, took the surname of Pamphili. Besides what he has said of this martyr in his history, he compiled three books of his life, which are much commended by St. Jerome, who calls them elegant, and says, that in them he excellently set forth the virtues, especially the extraordinary humility of St. Pamphilus. But this work is now lost, though Metaphrastes seems to have borrowed from it his account of this saint.

JUNE 2ND
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. POTHINUS, ST. SANCTUS, ST. ATTALUS,
ST. BLANDINA & COMPANIONS
Martyred in the Second Century, around 177

After the miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius, in 174, the church enjoyed a kind of peace, though it was often disturbed in particular places by popular commotions, or by the superstitious fury of certain governors. This appears from the violent persecution which was raised three years after the aforesaid victory, at Vienne and Lyons in Gaul, in 177; whilst St. Pothinus was bishop of Lyons, and St. Irenæus, who had been sent there by St. Polycarp, out of Asia, was a priest of that city. Many of the principal persons of this church were Greeks, and came from Asia; being, doubtless, led by a zealous desire to propagate the kingdom of Christ, and invited by the great intercourse of traffic between the ports of Asia and Marseilles. The progress which the Gospel had made, and the eminent sanctity of those who professed it in that country, enraged the devil, and stirred up the malice of the idolaters, who in a transport of sudden fury, resolved to extirpate their very name; not knowing that the church of Christ, planted by his cross, grew more fruitful by the sufferings of its children, as a vine flourishes by being pruned.

The conflicts of the glorious martyrs, who on this occasion had the honor to seal their Faith with their blood, were recorded by those who were eye-witnesses, and the companions of their sufferings, in a letter written by them on purpose to their old friends and brethren, the Christians of Asia and Phrygia. The piety, eloquence, and animated style of this epistle, seems to leave no doubt but that St. Irenæus was the principal author. According to the remark of a modern historian, the combats of the martyrs are here painted in so lively colors, that their spirit appears as it were living in the dead letter, and their blood spilt for Jesus Christ seems to shine throughout the relation.

It is impossible, say the authors of this letter, for us to give an exact account, nor will it be easy to conceive the extent of our present calamities, the rage of the Pagans against the saints, and the sufferings of the holy martyrs among us. For the adversary directs his whole force against us, and lets us see already what we are to expect when he is let loose, and allowed to attack the church in the end of the world.

He makes his assaults boldly, and stirs up his agents against the servants of God. Their animosity runs so high that we are not only driven from private houses, from the baths and public places, but even forbidden to show ourselves at all. But the grace of God, which is an overmatch for all the powers of hell, hath rescued the weak from the danger, and from the temptation of the fiery trial, and exposed such only to the combat as are able by an invincible patience to stand their ground, like so many unshaken pillars of the Faith, and dare even invite sufferings, and defy all the malice and strength of the enemy.

These champions have fought the powers of darkness with success, borne all manner of infamy, and the most inhuman torments, looked on all their sufferings as nothing, but rushed through them with an intrepidity that spoke them thoroughly persuaded that all the miseries of this life are not fit to be allowed any consideration, when weighed against the glory of the world to come.

At first the people attacked them in a tumultuous manner, struck them, dragged them about the streets, threw stones at them, plundered, confined them, fell on them with all the exorbitancies of an incensed mob, when allowed to take their own revenge of their enemies; all which the Christians bore with an inexpressible patience.

After this first discharge of their rage they proceeded more regularly. The tribune and the magistrates of the town ordered them to appear in the public place, where they were examined before the populace, made a glorious confession of their Faith, and then were sent to prison, where they were to await the arrival of the governor.

When that judge came to town, they were carried before him, and used with so much cruelty, that Vettius Epagathus, one of our number, fired with a holy resentment at our treatment, desired to be heard on that subject. He was full of the love of God and his neighbor; a man so exactly virtuous, that though young, the character of old Zacharias might justly be applied to him; for he walked in all the commandments blameless. His heart was inflamed with an ardent zeal for the glory of God; and he was active and indefatigable whenever his neighbor wanted his assistance. This excellent person undertook the defense of the injured brethren; and promised to make it appear, that the Christians were guilty of no impious practices.

But the whole crowd, who were too well acquainted with his merit, opposed the motion in a noisy and tumultuous manner; and the governor, determined not to grant him that reasonable request, which impeached him and his associates for injustice, interrupted him, by asking whether he was a Christian? Upon his declaring his Faith boldly, he was ranked among the martyrs, with the additional title of The Advocate of the Christians; which, indeed, was justly his due. And now it was easy to distinguish between such as came there, well provided for the trial, and resolved to suffer all extremities, and such as were not prepared for the battle. The former finished their glorious course with the utmost alacrity; while the latter started back at the near view of what was prepared for them upon persevering in the Faith, and quitted the field; which was the case of ten persons. Their cowardice and apostasy not only proved an inexpressible affliction to us, but also cooled the zeal of several, who were not yet apprehended, and had employed their liberty in a constant attendance on the martyrs, in spite of all the dangers to which their charity might expose them. We were all now in the utmost consternation, which did not arise from the fear of torments, but the apprehension of losing more of our number in the way. But our late loss was abundantly repaired by fresh supplies of generous martyrs, who were seized every day, till our two churches were deprived of all their eminent men, whom we had been used to look on as the main support of religion among us.

As the governor’s orders for letting none of us escape were very strict, several Pagans in the service of Christians were taken with their masters. These slaves, fearing they should be put to the same torments which they saw the saints endure, at the instigation of the devil and the soldiers, accused us of feeding on human flesh, like Thyestes, engaging in incestuous marriages, like Oedipus, and several other impious extravagances, which the principles of our religion forbid us to mention, or even think of, and which we can hardly persuade ourselves were ever committed by men. These calumnies being divulged, the people were so outrageously incensed against us, that they who till then had retained some sparks of friendship for us, were transported against us with hatred, and foamed with rage. It is impossible to express the severity of what the ministers of Satan inflicted on the holy martyrs on this occasion, to force some blasphemous expression from their mouths.

The fury of the governor and soldiers, and the people, fell most heavily upon Sanctus, a native of Vienne, and a deacon: also on Maturus, who, though but lately baptized, was yet bold and strong enough for the combat; on Attalus, a native of Pergamus, but who had ever been the pillar and support of our church: and on Blandina, a slave, in whom Christ has shown us that those whom men look on with contempt, and whose condition places them below the regard of the world, are often raised to the highest honors by Almighty God for their ardent love of him, manifested more by works than words or empty show. She was of so weak a constitution, that we were all alarmed for her, and her mistress, one of the martyrs, was full of apprehensions that she would not have the courage and resolution to make a free and open confession of her Faith.

But Blandina was so powerfully assisted and strengthened, that she bore all the torments her executioners, who relieved each other, could ply her with from break of day till night; they owned themselves conquered, protested they had no more torments in reserve, and wondered how she could live after what she had endured from their hands; declaring that they were of opinion that any one of the torments inflicted on her would have been sufficient to despatch her, according to the common course of nature, instead of the many violent ones she had undergone. But that blessed person, like a valiant combatant, received fresh strength and vigor from the confession of her Faith. The frequent repetition of these words: “I am a Christian; no wickedness is transacted among us!” took off the edge of her pains, and made her appear insensible to all she suffered.

The deacon Sanctus, too, endured most exquisite torments, with more than human patience. The heathens, indeed, hoped these severities would at last force some unbecoming expressions from him; but he bore up against their attacks, with such resolution and strength of mind, that he would not so much as tell them his name, his country, or station in the world; and to every question they put to him, he answered in Latin: “I am a Christian!” nor could they get any other answer from him.

The governor, and the persons employed in tormenting the martyr, were highly incensed at this; and, having already tried all other arts of cruelty, they applied hot plates of brass to the tenderest parts of his body: but, supported by the powerful grace of God, he still persisted in the profession of his Faith. His body was so covered with wounds and bruises, that the very figure of it was lost. Christ, who suffered in him, made him a glorious instrument for conquering the adversary, and a standing proof to others, that there is no grounds for fear, where the love of the Father dwells; nor is there anything that deserves the name of pain, where the glory of Christ is concerned.

Some days after, the martyr was brought on the stage again; for the pagans imagined, that his whole body being so sore and inflamed that he could not bear to be touched, it would now be an easy matter to overcome him by a repetition of the same cruelties; or, at least, that he must expire under their hands, and thus strike a horror into the other Christians. But they succeeded in neither of these views; for, to the amazement of all, his body under the latter torments recovered its former strength and shape, and the exact use of all his limbs was restored: so that by this miracle of the grace of Jesus Christ, what was designed as an additional pain, proved an absolute and effectual cure.

The devil thought himself secure of Biblis, one of the unhappy persons who had renounced the Faith; and desirous to enhance her guilt and punishment by a false impeachment, caused her to be arraigned, believing it would be no hard matter to bring one so weak and timorous to accuse us of impieties. But the force of the torments had a very different effect upon her; they awakened her, as it were, out of a profound sleep; and those transitory pains turned her thoughts upon the everlasting torments of hell. So that, contrary to what was expected of her, she broke out into the following expostulation: “How can it be imagined that they should feed upon children, whose religion forbids them even to taste the blood of beasts?”

From that moment she publicly confessed herself a Christian, and was ranked amongst the martyrs. The most violent torments being thus rendered ineffectual by the patience of the martyrs, and the power of Jesus Christ, the devil had recourse to other devices. They were thrown into a dark and loathsome dungeon, had their feet cramped in wooden stocks, and extended to the fifth, or last hole; and all those severities exercised upon them, which are commonly practiced by the enraged ministers of darkness upon their prisoners; so great, that numbers of them died of the hardships they endured there. Others, after having been so inhumanly tortured, that one would have thought all the care imaginable could not have recovered them, lay there destitute of all human help; but so strongly supported from above, both in mind and body, that they comforted and encouraged the rest: whilst others but lately apprehended, and who had as yet undergone no torments, soon died, unable to bear the loathsomeness of the prison.

Among the persons who suffered for their Faith on this occasion was the blessed Pothinus, bishop of Lyons. He was then above ninety years old; and so weak and infirm, that he could hardly breathe. But his ardent desire of laying down his life for Jesus Christ, gave him fresh strength and vigor. He was dragged before the tribunal; for, though his body was worn out with age and infirmity, his life was preserved till that time, that Jesus Christ might triumph in him. He was brought thither by the soldiers and magistrates of the city, the whole multitude hallooing after, and reviling him with as much eagerness and rage as if he had been Christ himself.

Being asked by the governor, who was the God of the Christians? Pothinus told him, to prevent his blaspheming, he should know, when he was worthy of that satisfaction. Upon which he was dragged about unmercifully, and inhumanly abused. Those who were near him, kicked and struck him without any regard to his venerable age; and those who were at some distance, pelted him with what first came to hand; imagining the least tenderness or regard for him would have been an enormous crime, when the honour of their gods was so nearly concerned, which they endeavored to assert by insulting the martyr. He was scarcely alive when he was carried off, and thrown into prison, where he expired after two days’ confinement.

Those who had denied their Faith when first taken, were imprisoned too, and shared the same sufferings with the martyrs, for their apostasy at that time did them no service. But then there was this difference between their condition, that those who had generously owned their religion, were confined only as Christians, and no other crime alleged against them; but the perfidious wretches were imprisoned like murderers and criminals, and thus suffered much more than the martyrs, who were comforted with the joyful prospect of laying down their lives in that glorious cause, and supported by the divine promises, the love of Jesus Christ, and the spirit of their heavenly Father; while the apostates were tortured with the remorse of conscience. They were distinguished from the others by their very looks: when the martyrs appeared, it was easy to discover a lovely mixture of cheerfulness and majesty in their faces: their very chains appeared graceful, and seemed more like the ornaments of a bride than the marks of malefactors: and their bodies sent forth such an agreeable and pleasant savor, as gave occasion to think that they used perfumes.

But those who had basely deserted the cause of Christ, appeared melancholy, dejected, and completely disagreeable. The very pagans reproached them with faint-heartedness and effeminacy, for renouncing their principle, (the honorable, glorious, and salutary name of Christian,) their former profession whereof had ranked them with murderers, an imputation they, by their apostasy, had justly incurred. This sight had a happy influence on several, strengthened them in their profession, and defeated all the attempts the devil could make on their constancy and courage. After this, great variety of torments was allotted to the martyrs; and thus they offered to the eternal Father a sort of chaplet, or crown, composed of every kind of flowers of different colors; for it was fit that these courageous champions, who gained such glorious victories in so great variety of engagements, should receive the crown of immortality.

A day was set when the public was to be entertained at the expense of their lives, and Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina, and Attalus were brought out in order to be thrown to the beasts for the barbarous diversion of the heathens. Maturus and Sanctus being conducted into the amphitheater, were made to pass through the same torments, as if they had not before felt the force of them, and looked like champions, who had worsted the adversary several times, and were just entering on the last trial of their skill and courage. Again they felt the scourges, and were dragged about by the beasts as before; and in a word, they suffered every torment the incensed multitude were pleased to call for; who all joined at last in requiring they should be put into the red-hot iron chair, which was granted; nor did the noisome smell of their roasted flesh, offensive as it was, any way abate, but seemed rather to enhance their rage. They could extort nothing more from Sanctus than his former confession: and he and Maturus, after a long struggle, had their throats cut; and this their victory was the only entertainment that day.

Blandina was fastened to a post to be devoured by beasts: as her arms were stretched out in the ardour of her prayer, that very posture put the faithful in mind of the sufferings of him who was crucified for their salvation, gave them fresh courage, and assured them that whoever suffers for Jesus Christ, shall partake of the glory of the living God. After she had remained thus exposed for some time, and none of the beasts could be provoked to touch her, she was untied, carried back to prison, and reserved for another combat; in which she was to gain a complete victory over her malicious adversary the devil, (whom she had already foiled and discomfited on several occasions,) and to animate the brethren to the battle by her example. Accordingly, though she was a poor, weak, inconsiderable slave, yet, by putting on Christ, she became an overmatch for all the art and malice of her enemy, and, by a glorious conflict, attained to the crown of immortality.

Attalus was called for next, as a noted person, and the people were very loud in their demands to see him suffer: who, being one that had always borne a glorious character among us for his excellent life and courage in asserting the truth, boldly entered the field of battle. He was led round the amphitheater, and this inscription in Latin carried before him: “This is Attalus, the Christian.” The whole company was ready to discharge their rage on the martyr, when the governor, understanding he was a Roman citizen, remanded him to prison, and wrote to the emperor to know his pleasure concerning him and the rest of the prisoners.

During their reprieve, they gave extraordinary proofs of charity and humility. Notwithstanding such a variety of sufferings for the Faith, they would by no means allow us to call them martyrs; and severely reprimanded any of us, who, in writing or speaking, gave them that title; which, according to their humble way of reasoning, was due only to Jesus Christ, the faithful and true martyr, or witness—the first-born of the dead, and the guide to eternal life; or, at most, could only be extended to such as were freed from the prison of the body. These, indeed, said they, may be termed martyrs, because Christ has sealed them by a glorious death; but we are yet no more than confessors of a mean rank. They then besought the brethren, with tears, to offer up assiduous prayers for their persevering to the end.

But, though they refused the title of martyr, yet every action of theirs was expressive of the power of martyrdom; particularly their meekness, their patience, and the intrepid freedom with which they spoke to the heathens, and which showed them to be void of fear, and in a readiness to suffer anything it was in the power of their enemies to inflict. They humbled themselves at the same time under the powerful hand of God, who hath since raised them to the highest glory; excusing everybody, accusing none; and, like that great protomartyr, St. Stephen, praying for their persecutors.

But their chief concern, on the motive of sincere charity, was how to rescue those unhappy persons from the jaws of the devil, whom that infernal serpent reckoned he had as good as swallowed up. Far from insulting over the lapsed, or valuing themselves upon the comparison, they freely administered to their spiritual wants, out of their abundance, the rich graces with which God had favored and distinguished them; expressing the tenderness of a mother for them, and shedding floods of tears before their heavenly Father for their salvation. Thus they asked for life, and it was granted them, so that their brethren partook of it. For their endeavors were so successful, and their discourse and behavior so persuasive, that the church had the pleasure of seeing several of her children recover new life, ready to make a generous confession of the sacred name they had renounced, and even offer themselves to the trial.

Among the martyrs, there was one Alcibiades, who had long been used to a very austere life, and to live entirely on bread and water. He seemed resolved to continue this practice during his confinement; but Attalus, after his first combat in the amphitheater, understood, by a revelation, that Alcibiades gave occasion of offence to others, by seeming to favor the new sect of the Montanists, who endeavoured to recommend themselves by their extraordinary austerities. Alcibiades listened to the admonition, and from that time he ate of everything with thanksgiving to God, who did not fail to visit his servants with his grace, and the Holy Ghost was their guide and counsellor.

In the meantime the emperor’s answer arrived, directing the execution of all who persisted in their confession, and discharging those who had recanted. The governor took the opportunity of a public festival among the pagans, which drew vast crowds from all parts; and ordered the martyrs to be brought before him with a design of entertaining the people with the sight of their sufferings. After a re-examination of them, finding them resolute, he sentenced such of them as were Roman citizens to lose their heads, and ordered the rest to be thrown to wild beasts. And now the glory of Jesus Christ was magnified in the unexpected confession of such as had before denied their Faith. Those weak persons were examined apart, with a view of giving them their liberty; but, upon their declaring themselves Christians, they were sentenced to suffer with the other martyrs. Some indeed still continued in their apostasy; but then they were only such as never had the least trace of true Faith, nor any regard for the wedding garment; strangers to the fear of God; who, by their way of living, had cast a scandal on the religion they professed, and who may justly be styled sons of perdition.

Alexander, a Phrygian by birth, and physician by profession, was present, when the apostates were brought this second time before the governor. He had lived many years in Gaul, and was universally remarkable for his love of God, and his freedom in publishing the Gospel; for he was full of an apostolic spirit. This man being near the tribunal at that critical moment, he made several signs with his eyes and head, to exhort them to confess Jesus Christ, with as much agitation as a woman in labor; so that it was impossible he should pass unobserved. The heathens exasperated to see those confess who had recanted, clamored against Alexander as the author of this change. Upon which the governor turning himself towards him, asked him who and what he was?

Alexander answered, he was a Christian; which so enraged the governor, that, without any further inquiry, he condemned him to be thrown to the wild beasts. Accordingly, the next day, he was conducted into the arena with Attalus, whom the governor, to oblige the people, had delivered up a second time to the same punishment. Having undergone all the various torments usually inflicted in the amphitheater, they were despatched with the sword. Alexander was not heard to sigh or make the least complaint, conversing only with God in his heart. When Attalus was placed in the iron chair, and the broiling of his body exhaled an offensive smell, he turned to the people, and said to them, in Latin: “This may, with some justice, be called devouring men, and thus you are guilty of that inhuman act; but we are neither guilty of this, nor any other abominable practice we are accused of.” Being asked what was the name of his God, he replied: “God had not a name like us mortals.”

On the last day of the combats of the gladiators, Blandina and Ponticus, a lad not above fifteen years old, were brought into the amphitheater. They had been obliged to attend the execution of the martyrs every day, and were now urged to swear by the idols. Upon their absolutely refusing to comply with the demand, and expressing a thorough contempt of their pretended gods, the people gave a free loose to their rage; and, without any regard either to Ponticus’s youth, or the sex of Blandina, employed all the different sorts of torments upon them, pressing them from time to time, but in vain, to swear by the idols. Ponticus, encouraged by his companion, went through all the stages of his martyrdom with great alacrity, and died gloriously.

Blandina was the last that suffered. She had acted like a mother, animated the other martyrs like so many favorite children, sent them victorious to the heavenly King; and then, passing through the same trials, hastened after them with joy. She was scourged, torn by beasts, put into the burning chair; afterwards wrapped in a net, and exposed to a wild bull, that tossed and gored her a long time. But her close conversation with Christ in prayer, and the lively hopes she had of the good things of the other life, made her insensible to all these attacks on her body; and she too had her throat cut. The heathens themselves could not but wonder at her patience and courage, and own, that, among them, no woman had ever been known to have gone through such a course of sufferings.

Not content with the death of the martyrs, that savage and barbarous people, spurred on by the infernal beast, raised a new persecution against their dead bodies. Those who died in prison were thrown to the dogs, and a strict guard kept, day and night, to prevent our carrying them off. The remains of the other martyrs, such as the beasts or fire had spared, their scattered half-burnt limbs, the heads and trunks, were carefully laid together, and watched by the soldiers several days. Some foamed and gnashed their teeth at the sight of these relics, expressing an eager desire of inflicting more exquisite torments upon them; while others laughed and scoffed at the martyrs, extolling their own idols, ascribing to them the punishment of their enemies. Even those who had behaved themselves with the most moderation, and felt some compassion for their sufferings, could not forbear reproaching them now, by asking, “Where is their God? What hath this religion availed them, which they have preferred to life itself?”

These were the dispositions of the heathens on this occasion, while we were most sensibly afflicted that we could not bury our brethren. The soldiers were always on the guard, not to be gained by entreaty or money, and took as much care to keep the bodies unburied, as if, by so doing, they were to have gained some mighty advantage. The martyrs’ bodies lay thus exposed six days, and then were burnt to ashes and thrown into the Rhone, that no part of them might remain above ground. This they did, as if they had been superior to God, and could thereby have prevented the resurrection, the hopes of which, as they observed, had put them upon introducing a new and strange religion, making a mock of the severest torments, and meeting death with pleasure. Let us now see, said the heathens, if they will ever return again to life, and whether their God can save them, and deliver them out of our hands?

Thus far the incomparable letter of the Christians of Lyons and Vienne, which was inserted entire in Eusebius’s account of the martyrs, as he himself assures us. But that piece is lost, and we have no more of this letter than what that author has given us in his Church History. He adds, that the churches of Vienne and Lyons subjoined, in the close of this epistle, a religious testimony conformable to holy Faith, concerning the Montanists. These martyrs suffered in the beginning of the pontificate of Eleutherius, in the seventeenth year of Marcus Aurelius, as Eusebius testifies, and of Christ 177, not 167, as Dodwell pretends. They are called the martyrs of Lyons, because that city was the theatre of their sufferings, though some of them were citizens of Vienne. St. Gregory of Tours says, they were forty-eight in number, and that part of their ashes was miraculously recovered. These relics were deposited under the altar of the church which anciently bore the name of the Apostles of Lyons.

The fidelity, fervor, and courage, of so many saints, of every age and condition, condemn aloud our tepidity and indifference. We profess the same religion, and fight for the same cause with the primitive martyrs. Whence comes this monstrous disagreement in our conduct and sentiments? if we do not prefer God and his service to every other consideration—that is, if we are not martyrs in the disposition of our souls—we cannot hope to be ranked by Christ among his disciples, or to inherit his promises. What should we do under greater trials, who are unfaithful on the most trifling occasions? What so many followers of our Lord attained to, that may we. Their passions and infirmities were the same with ours: our trials and temptations are far less than theirs: we serve the same God, are guided by the same truths, supported by the same power, elevated by the same hopes; we have the same peace bequeathed us, the same spirit; the same Heaven promised us, and we march under the conduct of the same Captain.

JUNE 3RD
The Martyr of the Day
ST. LUCILLIAN & SONS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 258

At Constantinople, the holy martyr St. Lucillian and his four sons, St. Claud, St. Hypatius, St. Paul, and St. Denis. Lucillian, before he became a Christian, had been a priest of idols. All the five, after they had been put to various tortures, were cast into a furnace, but rain put out the fire, and they all escaped unhurt. Then Lucillian was crucified, and the children were beheaded, and so under Silvanus the President they finished their testimony.

JUNE 4TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. QUIRINUS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 304

St. Quirinus was bishop of Siscia, a city in Pannonia, situate upon the river Save; which being now reduced to a borough, called Sisek or Sisseg, in Hungary, the episcopal see is removed to Zagrab, capital of modern Croatia. St. Jerome makes honorable mention of this saint in his Chronicle, upon the year 309. Prudentius calls him an eminent martyr. Fortunatus ranks him among the most illustrious martyrs of the church. He suffered on the 4th of June, 303, or 304. His acts give the following account of his triumph:

The holy prelate having intelligence that Maximus, the chief magistrate of the city, had given an order for his apprehension, left the town, but was pursued, taken, and carried before him. Maximus asked him where he was fleeing?

The martyr answered: “I did not flee, but went away to obey the order of my master. For it is written: ‘When they persecute you in one city, fly to another!’”

Maximus said: “Who gave you that order?”

Quirinus: “Jesus Christ, who is the true God.”

Maximus: “Know you not that the emperor’s orders would find you out anywhere? Nor can he whom you call the true God help or rescue you when you are fallen into their hands, as you now see to your cost.”

Quirinus: “The God whom we adore is always with us wherever we are, and can always help us. He was with me when I was taken, and is now with me. It is he that strengthens me, and now answers you by my mouth.”

Maximus: “You talk much, and are guilty thereby of delay in executing the commands of our sovereigns: read their divine edicts, and comply with what they enjoin.”

Quirinus: “I make no account of such injunctions, because they are impious; and, contrary to God’s commandments, would oblige us his servants to offer sacrifice to imaginary divinities. The God whom I serve is everywhere; he is in Heaven, on earth, and in the sea. He is above all things, containing everything within himself; and by him alone everything subsists.”

Maximus said: “Old age has weakened your understanding, and you are deluded by idle tales. See, here is incense; offer it to the gods, or you will have many affronts to bear, and will suffer a cruel death.”

Quirinus replied: “That disgrace I account my glory; and that death will purchase me eternal life. I respect only the altar of my God, on which I have often offered to him a sacrifice of sweet odor.”

Maximus retorted: “I see that you are distracted, and that your madness will be the cause of your death. Sacrifice to the gods.”

“No,” said Quirinus, “I do not sacrifice to devils.”

Maximus then ordered him to be beaten with clubs, and the sentence was executed with great cruelty. The judge said to him under that torment: “Now confess the power of the gods whom the great Roman empire adores. Obey, and I will make you the priest of Jupiter.”

Quirinus replied: “I am now performing the true functions of a priest, in offering myself a sacrifice to the living God. I feel not the blows which my body has received: they give me no torment. I am ready to suffer much greater tortures, that they who have been committed to my charge may be encouraged to follow me to eternal life.”

Maximus commanded that he should be carried back to prison and loaded with heavy chains till he grew wiser. The martyr in the dungeon made this prayer: “I thank thee, O Lord, that I have borne reproaches for thy sake; and I beseech thee to let those who are in this prison know that I adore the true God, and that there is no other besides thee.”

Accordingly at midnight a great light was seen in the prison, which being perceived by Marcellus the jailer, he threw himself at the feet of St. Quirinus, and said, with tears: “Pray to the Lord for me; for I believe that there is no other God but him whom you adore.” The holy bishop, after a long exhortation, signed him in the name of Jesus Christ. This expression of the acts seems to imply, that he conferred on him the sacraments of baptism and confirmation.

This magistrate, not having authority to put the martyr to death, after three days’ imprisonment, sent him to Amantius, governor of the province, called the First Pannonia. Prudentius calls him Galerius, governor of Illyricum, under which Pannonia was comprised. He had probably both those names, a usual thing at that time among the Romans. The bishop was carried in chains through all the towns that lay on the Danube, till being brought before Amantius, then on his return from Scarabantia, the governor ordered him to be conducted to Sabaria, whither he himself was going. Certain Christian women in the meantime brought him refreshments, which as he was blessing, his chains dropped-off from his hands and feet.

On his arrival at Sabaria, Amantius ordered him to be brought before him on the public theatre, and having read the records of what had passed between him and Maximus, asked the saint if he owned the truth of the contents, and whether or no he persisted in his former confession of the Christian Faith?

The saint answered: “I have confessed the true God at Siscia. I have never adored any other. Him I carry in my heart, and no man on earth shall ever be able to separate me from him.”

Amantius endeavored to overcome his resolution by large promises, and by the consideration of his old age: but finding him inflexible, he sentenced him to be thrown into the river with a millstone at his neck, and his order was obeyed. But to the great astonishment of the spectators (who were assembled in crowds on the banks of the river to behold the execution), the saint, instead of sinking to the bottom, continued a long time above water, with the millstone at his neck, exhorting the Christians to continue steadfast in the Faith, and to dread neither torments, nor death itself. But perceiving that he sunk not at all, he began to fear he should lose the crown of martyrdom.

He thereupon addressed himself to Christ in these words: “It is not wonderful for thee, O almighty Jesus, to stop the course of rivers as thou didst that of Jordan, nor to make men walk upon the water as Peter did on the sea, by thy divine power. These people have had a sufficient proof in me of the effect of thy power. Grant me what now remains, and is to be preferred to all things, the happiness of dying for thee, Jesus Christ my God.”

He soon after sunk to the bottom: upon whose death the acts of the martyrs make this reflection, “That he with difficulty obtained by his prayers to be drowned.”

His body was found a little below the place, and laid in a chapel built on the bank. Soon after a great church was erected near the gate of Sabaria, leading to Scarabantia, in which his remains were laid. When, by the inroads of barbarians, the Pannonians were afterwards driven out of their country, the relics of this martyr were carried to Rome, and deposited in the catacombs of St. Sebastian, but removed in 1140 into the church of St. Mary beyond the Tiber. Molanus proves, that they are now kept in a monastery in Bavaria. The river in which St. Quirinus was drowned was called Sabarius, now Guntz.

The martyrs are victims of divine love. Their example invites us to shake off all sloth, and to devote our whole lives and all our strength to the service of Him who created us for himself alone, till we shall have consummated our sacrifice to the eternal glory of his holy name. Thus we shall attain to our last end, and shall find immortal happiness; and shall refer to it all our steps in this mortal life, and all the desires of our hearts. These being all formed, actuated, and influenced by Faith and love as by a vital principle, will be consecrated to God, will be a constant source of patience, meekness, charity, zeal, and all heroic virtues, will root the soul daily more and more strongly in a steady habit of holiness, and continually increase her vigor and fervor in the service of God, to the consummation of our sacrifice of love.

JUNE 5TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. BONIFACE
Martyred in the Eighth Century, around 755

St. Boniface was born at Crediton or Kirton in Devonshire, England, about the year 680, and at his baptism named Winfrid. When he was but five years old, his chief delight was to hear holy men converse about God and heavenly things. The edifying deportment and holy instructions of certain pious monks, who, being employed in preaching in that country, happened to come to his father’s house, gave him a strong desire to devote himself to God in a religious state; and though he was then only a child, the deep impressions which their words left upon his heart were never after effaced.

His father exerted his whole authority to divert him from his inclination to a monastic life; till being visited by a dangerous sickness, he acknowledged in it the hand of God, chastising him for opposing his son’s vocation, which he from that time gave him free leave to pursue.

Winfrid was educated from thirteen years of age in the monastery of Escancester or Exeter, under the holy abbot Wolphard. With the study of grammar he joined assiduous devout meditation, and the most rigorous observance of monastic discipline, even before he had professed that state; which he embraced before he left the aforesaid monastery.

After he had spent there some years, the reputation of the schools and discipline of the monastery of Nutcell, in the diocese of Winchester, under the learned abbot Winbert, drew him to that house. He made an extraordinary progress in poesy, rhetoric, history, and in the knowledge of the scriptures; and was afterwards appointed by his abbot to teach the same sciences: of which duty he acquitted himself with great fruit to others, at the same time improving himself in the sciences with that redoubled advantage which maturity of years and judgment, and a diligent review of a well-digested course of former studies give to masters of an elevated genius.

At thirty years of age he was promoted to the order of priesthood; and from that time was chiefly employed in preaching the word of God to the people, and in the care of souls. Such was his reputation that he was entrusted by his superiors with an important commission to Brithwald, archbishop of Canterbury; by which means that prelate and the religious king Ina became acquainted with his extraordinary merit: and the bishops of the province from that time invited him to their synods, that they might be assisted by his learning and advice in their deliberations.

The servant of God, burning with zeal for the divine honor and the salvation of souls, never ceased to bewail, night and day, the misfortune of those nations which lay benighted in the shades of idolatry. In these holy dispositions, after having long implored the light and blessing of Heaven, he, with the leave of his abbot, passed over into Friseland to preach the Gospel to the infidels in 716. But for the trial of his virtue, a war breaking out between Charles Martel, mayor of the French palace, and Radbod, king of Friseland, threw insuperable difficulties in his way. However, he advanced as far as Utrecht, then the capital city of that country, and addressed himself to king Radbod, but without success: and he was obliged to return to his monastery in England.

Winbert dying soon after, Winfrid was unanimously chosen abbot. He did all that in his power lay to decline this promotion, alleging that he was called to the conversion of infidels. Though he was not able then to prevail, he shortly after urged the same motive with such success, as to engage Daniel, the learned and pious bishop of Winchester, to procure that his demission should be accepted, and another nominated abbot in his place.

After having staid two years in England, he set out for Rome in 719, and presented himself to Pope Gregory II. begging his apostolic blessing, and authority that he might preach the Faith to infidels. The pope, fixing his eyes upon him, asked him if he brought with him commendatory letters from his diocesan. Hereupon Winfrid delivered into his hands letters from the aforesaid bishop Daniel, by which he was strongly recommended to his holiness.

Gregory having read them, and conversed some time with the saint, began to treat him with extraordinary marks of kindness and esteem, and gave him an ample commission to preach the Faith to all the infidel nations of Germany. He bestowed on him many holy relics, and dismissed him with his blessing, and letters of recommendation to all Christian princes in his way. The holy missionary lost no time, but taking the road of Germany, crossed the Lower Alps, and travelling through Bavaria into Thuringia, there began his apostolical functions.

He not only baptized great numbers of infidels, but also brought the Christians he found already established in Bavaria, and in the provinces adjoining to France, (especially the priests and bishops,) to reform many irregularities, and to live in a manner agreeable to the precepts of the Gospel, and to the holy canons of the Church; for the commerce of the heathens had almost extinguished in them the sense of the pure maxims of their Faith. Winfrid hearing soon after, that by the death of Radbod, Charles Martel was become master of Friseland, and that a door was there opened for the preaching of the Gospel, he hastened thither, and during three years joined his labors with St. Willebrord to the great increase of the Faith; till, understanding that St. Willebrord intended to make him his successor in the episcopal charge, he was alarmed, and left that mission. For his excuse he alleged that the pope had enjoined him a commission to preach the Gospel to the heathens in Germany.

From Friseland he went into Hesse and part of Saxony; and wherever he came, baptized many thousands of idolaters, destroyed temples, and built churches. He acquainted Pope Gregory with this wonderful success, by a letter which he sent by one of his fellow-laborers, and, at the same time, consulted his holiness upon several difficulties that occurred in his ministry. The pope gave glory to God, and congratulated him by a letter, in which he commanded him to repair to Rome. Winfrid immediately obeyed the order, and arrived there in 723.

Gregory required of him a confession of his Faith, as is usual with regard to bishops elect before their consecration. He likewise put to him several questions concerning his missions and converted countries, and after a few days ordained him bishop. Willibald says, that on this occasion the pope changed his rugged northern name of Winfrid into that of Boniface: but he could only confirm that change; for we find by the saint’s letters, that he then bore the name of Boniface: joining with it that of Winfrid. The saint took an oath to maintain the purity of Faith, and the unity of the Church; a copy of which, written with his own hand, he laid upon the tomb of St. Peter. Pope Gregory gave him a book of select canons of the Church, to serve him for a rule in his conduct, and by letters, recommended him to Charles Martel, and to all bishops and princes wherever he should have occasion to travel.

The saint returning to his mission in Hesse, continued his spiritual conquests, and cut down a tall oak consecrated to Jupiter, the timber of which he employed in building a chapel in honour of the prince of the Apostles. He founded many churches, and a monastery at Orfordt. The harvest growing daily upon his hands, he procured a new supply of labourers from England, whom he stationed in Hesse and Thuringia.

In 732, Gregory III succeeding in the pontificate, St. Boniface sent messengers to Rome, to consult him upon several difficulties. Gregory showed these deputies great respect, and sent by them a pall for St. Boniface, to be used by him only when he celebrated the divine mysteries, or consecrated bishops. He at the time constituted him archbishop and primate of all Germany, with power to erect new bishoprics where he should see it expedient. The saint went himself to Rome for the third time in 738 to visit the tombs of the Apostles, and to confer with his holiness about the churches he had founded. The pope received him as a living saint, and appointed him legate of the apostolic see in Germany.

Boniface on his return to that country was called into Bavaria by the Duke Odilo, to reform several abuses. Finding only one bishopric in that country, namely, Passaw, he established three others, Saltzburg, Freisinghein, and Ratisbon, which division the pope confirmed in 739. The holy primate soon after established three new bishoprics, at Erford for Thuringia, at Baraburg for Hesse, since translated to Paderborn, and at Wurtzbourg for Franconia: he added a fourth at Achstat in the palatinate of Bavaria.

Gregory III dying in November 741, his successor Zachary, upon application made to him by St. Boniface, again confirmed all he had done in settling the church of Germany. At that time happened a memorable revolution in France, in which that crown was transferred into a new family, fruitful in great princes and valiant heroes. Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, having governed France twenty-six years with great valor and prudence, having conquered Burgundy and Aquitaine, humbled the Saxons, and often defeated the Saracens who made formidable invasions from their late settlements in Spain, died in 741, being fifty or fifty-five years old. Since the dignity of mayor of the palace was become hereditary, the title of duke and prince of France had been added to it.

By the death of Charles, his eldest son Carloman became mayor and prince of Austrasia, or Lorrain, and that part of Germany which was then subject to France. He subdued Odilo and Thierry, the former duke of Bavaria, and the latter of Saxony, and made them tributary; but it was his chief aim to consult by peace the happiness of his people, to protect religion, and to cultivate the useful arts. He bent his whole authority to second the zeal of our saint in all his undertakings. Two impostors were stirred up by the devil to disturb the infant church of Germany. T

he one, Adalbert, a Frenchman, pretended to know the secrets of hearts, gave his own hair and the parings of his nails as relics, and wrote his own life, filled with absurd pretended miracles, enthusiasm, and pride. The other, called Clement, a Scotsman, rejecting the canons or the ecclesiastical laws, taught that Christ in his descent into hell delivered all the souls of the damned: he also held heterodox opinions concerning predestination.

St. Boniface, in a council in Germany, condemned them both in 742; Carloman caused them to be confined in close prison, and the sentence of our saint and his council was afterward confirmed by the pope in a synod at Rome in 745. St. Boniface held another council in 743 at Leptines, now Lessines, a palace of the kings of Austrasia, near Ath, in the diocese of Cambray.

Prince Carloman finding him a man full of the science of the saints, and of the spirit of God, listened to his advice in all things relating to the salvation of his soul. By the saint’s pious discourses, his heart was daily more and more inflamed with divine love, till despising the world in the height of its glory, he recommended his estates and his son Drogo to Pepin the Short, his younger brother, and disengaged himself from all the ties of the world. He then went to Rome with a splendid retinue, and having visited the tombs of the Apostles and other holy places of that city, and dismissed his attendants, he received from the hands of Pope Zachary the monastic habit, and retiring to mount Soracte, built there a monastery called St. Sylvester’s.

The neighborhood of Rome drew thither so many visitors, especially among the French lords who lived in that city, that to avoid this distraction, by the advice of the pope, he withdrew to mount Cassino, where he lived several years with great fervor and humility, as the author of the Chronicle of Mount Cassino, Eginhard in his Annals, and other historians of that age testify. He chose and discharged with great cheerfulness the meanest offices, often served in the kitchen, kept the sheep of the monastery, and worked like a day-laborer in the garden. In this he had before his eyes the example of many English-Saxon kings who had done the same.

Ceolwulph, king of the Northumbers, to whom Bede dedicated his History, was the eighth among them who had then exchanged his regal crown for the cowl of a monk, taking the habit at Lindisfarne in 737, as Hoveden, Simeon of Durham, and Matthew of Westminster relate. In the same year Frisisgithe, queen of the West-Saxons, going to Rome, there took the religious veil.

Carloman was doubtless encouraged by these heroic examples. Being sent into France for certain affairs of his Order, he died holily at Vienne in 755. His brother, Pepin the Short, became mayor of the palace for the whole kingdom, till, in 752, he was chosen king by the unanimous consent of the whole nation, when the removal of Childeric III put an end to the Merovingian line of kings.

St. Boniface, as appears by his letters and various consultations, was timorous in decisions, nor did he appear as an actor in this delicate affair. Pope Zachary, as Eginhard, Otto, and others relate, upon the application of the states of the realm, answered, that it was better he should be king, in whom the whole supreme power and authority were lodged, and in this decision all parties peaceably acquiesced; judging that the State could not have two kings at the same time. All writers conspire in giving the highest commendations to the princely virtues of Pepin, whose zeal for religion, and love of the Church and of holy men, could only be rivalled by his consummate experience, wisdom, and valor, by which he laid the foundation of that high pitch of power and glory to which his son carried the French empire.

The new king, desiring to be crowned by the most holy prelate in his dominions, insisted upon the ceremony being performed by St. Boniface. This was done at Soissons, where our saint presided in a synod of bishops, and all the states of the French kingdom assisted at the coronation. St. Boniface in his first council in Germany, is styled legate of St. Peter. From the councils of Lessines and Soissons, he appears to have been legate of the apostolic see in France no less than in Germany.

In 746, he entreated Pope Zachary to send a bishop legate into France, that he might be eased of that burthen. The pope refused to grant this request; but allowed him by a singular privilege, to choose whom he thought best qualified to be his successor in Germany after his death. The saint had been some years archbishop of Germany before he fixed his metropolitan see in any particular city. Cologne was at first judged the most proper, it being then the metropolis; but Gervilio, the bishop of Mentz, having been deposed in a council, that city was pitched upon in 745.

Pope Zachary subjected to this new metropolitan church the bishoprics of Tongres, Cologne, Worms, Spire, Utrecht; also all those which St. Boniface had erected, and those which before were subject to the see of Worms, namely, Strasburg, Ausburgh, Constance, and Coire. Thus was Mentz made the metropolitan church of all Germany; for Triers was then comprised in France. Shortly after Cologne, and in process of time many other churches were raised to the dignity of archbishoprics, though in honour of St. Boniface, Mentz has always retained the primacy.

To assist him in planting the spirit of meekness and Christian piety in a fierce and uncivilized nation, St. Boniface invited over from England many holy men and religious women. Among these were St. Wigbert, St. Burchard, bishop of Wurtzbourg, St. Willibald, bishop of Eichstad, and St. Lullus: and among the holy virgins, were St. Lioba, our saint’s cousin, St. Thecla, St. Walburge, Bertigita, and Contruda, to whom he committed the direction of several nunneries which he erected in Thuringia, Bavaria, and other places.

In 746 he laid the foundation of the great abbey of Fuld or Fulden, which continued long the most renowned seminary of piety and learning in all that part of the world. The abbot is now a prince of the empire, lord of a very extensive territory, and is styled primate of all the abbots in Germany, and chancellor to the empress. St. Boniface had several years before founded a monastery at Fridislar in honor of St. Peter; another at Hamenburgh in honor of St. Michael; and one at Ordorfe in honor of the same archangel, in all which the monks gained their livelihood by the labor of their hands.

The pastoral care of so many churches did not hinder this holy man from extending his zeal to remote countries, especially to that which gave him birth. Ethelbald, king of Mercia, was a lover of justice, and liberal to the poor; but sullied these virtues by abominable lusts, abstaining from matrimony that he might wallow in filthy incontinency; and his scandalous example was imitated by many of his courtiers.

St. Boniface, touched to the quick at the news of such scandals, in 745, wrote to this prince a strong remonstrance and exhortation to penance, putting him in mind how base it was for him to be the slave of lust to the injury of God, by whose benefit he ruled so great a nation; and how heinous a crime it was to set such an example to his subjects. He tells him that chastity is so highly prized among the Pagan inhabitants of old Saxony, that if a married woman was convicted of adultery, or a virgin of fornication, she was strangled, and her body burnt; and he who had dishonoured her was hanged over her grave; or she was scourged on her back by women, and stabbed with knives, first in one village, then in the next, and so round the country, till she expired under her torments. “If Gentiles, who know not God,” says the saint, “have so great a zeal for chastity, what ought to be your sentiments who are a Christian and a king!”

He puts him in mind of the unhappy end of his predecessor, Cœlred, and of Osred, king of the Northumbrians, both addicted to this shameful vice, and both snatched away by sudden death in the midst of their evil courses. From the gift of Croiland, mentioned by Ingulphus, and from the laws of this king in favour of the church, and of the abbey of Ripendune, Natalis Alexander, and some others, think he became a sincere penitent. He was slain soon after, in 755, by Beornred, a rebel, who usurped his throne.

St. Boniface wrote a circular letter to all the bishops, priests, deacons, canons, monks, nuns, and all the people of England, conjuring them earnestly to join in holy prayer, to beg of God, who desires that all may be saved, that he would vouchsafe, in his infinite mercy, to shower down his blessing upon the labors of all those who are employed in endeavoring to bring souls to his saving knowledge and holy love. He often desired books to be sent him from England, especially the works of Bede, whom he calls a lamp of the church.

He entreated the abbess Edburge to send him the epistles of St. Peter written in letters of gold, to inspire carnal men with the greater respect, and to satisfy his devotion to that Apostle, whom he calls the patron of his mission. Writing to the abbot Aldherius, he begs that he would cause the sacrifice of the mass to be offered for the souls of those missionaries who were lately deceased. In several other epistles he mentions the mutual contract of charity between the missionaries abroad and the priests and monks in England, that they should reciprocally pray for their deceased brethren. In a letter to a nun, he mentions how much he had to suffer in his mission from the Pagans, from false Christians, and even from ecclesiastics of debauched morals.

Yet the ardor of his charity made him continually to thirst after greater sufferings, and especially after the honor of laying down his life for the love of him who died for us. In a letter to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, treating of the duties of pastors, he says, “Let us fight for the Lord in these days of bitterness and affliction. If this be the will of God, let us die for the holy laws of our fathers, that we may arrive with them at the eternal inheritance. Let us not be dumb dogs, sleeping sentinels, hirelings that fly at the sight of the wolf: but watchful and diligent pastors; preaching to the great and small, to the rich and poor, to every age and condition, being instant in season and out of season.” St. Boniface, in his homilies, most frequently inculcates the obligation and sanctity of the baptismal vows.

This apostle of so many nations thought he had yet done nothing, so long as he had not spilt his blood for Christ, and earnestly desired to attain to that happiness. Making use of the privilege which Pope Zachary had granted him of choosing his successor, he consecrated St. Lullus, an Englishman, formerly monk of Malmesbury, archbishop of Mentz, in 754, leaving him to finish the churches which he had begun in Thuringia, and that of Fuld, and conjuring him to apply himself strenuously to the conversion of the remaining idolaters. He wrote a letter to Fulrad, abbot of St. Denys, begging him to make this choice of St. Lullus agreeable to King Pepin, and as his infirmities admonished him that he had not long to remain in this world, he conjured that prince to take into his favor and protection his disciples, who were almost all strangers, either priests dispersed in many places for the service of the church, or monks assembled in his little monastery, where they were employed in instructing children. He says that the priests lived on the frontiers of the Pagans, very poor and destitute, and that they were able to get their bread, but not clothing unless they were assisted. Pepin granted his request, and Pope Stephen II confirmed his nomination of Lullus, and his resignation of the see of Mentz, in order that he might go and preach the Gospel to those nations which still remained unconverted.

The saint, looking upon himself as devoted to labor in the conversion of infidels, and being at liberty to follow the call of Heaven, would not allow himself any repose, so long as he saw souls perishing in the shades of darkness, and his extreme desire of martyrdom seemed to give him a foresight of his approaching death. Having therefore settled his church and put all things in the best order possible, he set out with certain zealous companions to preach to the savage infidel inhabitants of the northern parts of East Friesland.

Having converted and baptized some thousands among them, he appointed the eve of Whit-Sunday to administer to the neophytes the sacrament of confirmation in the open fields in the plains of Dockum, near the banks of the little rivulet Bordne. He pitched there a tent, and was waiting in prayer the arrival of the new converts, when, behold, instead of friends, a band of enraged infidels appeared on the plain all in arms, and coming up, rushed into his tent. The servants that were with the holy martyr were for defending his life by fighting; but he would not suffer it, declaring that the day he had long waited for was come, which was to bring him to the eternal joys of the Lord. He encouraged the rest to meet, with cheerfulness and constancy, a death which was to them the gate of everlasting life. While he was thus employed, the Pagans attacked them sword in hand, and put them all to death.

St. Boniface suffered in the seventy-fifth year of his age, on the 5th of June, in the year of Christ 755. With him were martyred fifty-two companions, of whom the principal persons were Eoban, bishop; Wintrung, Walter, and Adelhere, priests; Hamund, Strichald, and Bosa, deacons; Waccar, Gunderhar, Williker, and Hadulph, monks; the rest were laymen.

The barbarians expected to have a great booty of gold and silver in the baggage of the holy martyrs; but found nothing in their trunks but relics and books, which they scattered about the fields, or hid in ditches and marshes. Some of these things were afterwards found, and of them three books are still preserved in the monastery of Fuld, or Fulden: namely, a book of the Gospels written in St. Boniface’s own hand; a copy of a Harmony, or canons of the New Testament; and a third book, which is stained with the martyr’s blood, and contains the letter of St. Leo to Theodorus, bishop of Frejus, and the discourse of St. Ambrose on the Holy Ghost, with his treatise, De bono Mortis; or, On the advantage of Death.

The body of St. Boniface was first carried to Utrecht, thence to Mentz, and lastly to Fuld, where it was deposited by St. Lullus, as the saint himself had desired. It is to this day regarded as the greatest treasure of that monastery. The continuators of Bollandus have given us, under the title of Analecta Bonifaciana, a long history of an incredible number of miracles down to this present time, which have been wrought by God at the relics, and through the intercession of St. Boniface.

He who sincerely loves God, rejoices with this martyr to sacrifice to his honor his life, and whatever he has received of his bounty. With his whole strength he consecrates all his faculties eternally to the glorious and holy functions of divine love. He prays and labours without intermission that God alone may reign in his own soul, and ardently desires that all tongues may never cease to sound forth his praises, and that all creatures may have but one heart, always to be employed with the angels and blessed spirits, in doing his will, in loving him, and in glorifying his adorable name.

There is no danger to which such a one would not with joy expose himself; nothing so difficult that he would not undertake, that one soul might be converted to God. He would rejoice to lay down his life a thousand times, were it possible, to hinder one offence against the divine majesty. Baronius pathetically exhorts the Germans to consider what men their apostles were, and what were the maxims of the Gospel they received from them; for with these their holy pastors and teachers, who will sit with the supreme Judge at the last day, they will be confronted and judged by them.

JUNE 6TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. ARTEMIUS, ST. CANDIDA & ST. PAULINA
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 305

At Rome, the holy martyrs St. Artemius, with St. Candida his wife and St. Paulina his daughter. This Artemius was brought to believe in Christ by the preaching and miracles of the holy Exorcist Peter, and was baptized with all his house by the holy Priest Marcellinus. He was first hided with scourges loaded with lead by order of Serenus the Judge, and afterwards beheaded. His wife and daughters were thrown into a vault, and buried in stones and rubbish.

JUNE 7TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PAUL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 350

St. Paul was a native of Thessalonica, but deacon of the church of Constantinople in 340, when the bishop, Alexander, lying on his death bed, recommended him for his successor. He was accordingly chosen, and being a great master in the art of speaking, and exceedingly zealous in the defense of the Catholic Faith, he was a terror to the Arians.

Macedonius, who was passionately in love with that dignity, and supported by a powerful faction of the heretics, spread abroad many calumnies against the new bishop. But the accusation being destitute of all probability, he was obliged to drop the charge; and he so well acted the part of a hypocrite, that he was soon after ordained priest by St. Paul.

However, Eusebius of Nicomedia, who was the ringleader of the Arians, and had been already translated from the see of Berytus to that of Nicomedia, against the canons, began to cast his ambitious eye on that of Constantinople, revived the old slanders, and impeached Paul falsely, alleging that he had led a disorderly life before his consecration: and secondly, that he ought not to have been chosen bishop without the consent of the two neighboring metropolitans of Heraclea and Nicomedia.

The election of Paul had happened during the absence of Constantius. This was made a third article of the impeachment; and the two former having been easily confuted, this was so much exaggerated to that prince, as a contempt of his imperial dignity, that St. Paul was unjustly deposed by an assembly of Arian prelates, and the ambitious Eusebius placed in his see in 340.

Our saint, seeing himself rendered useless to his flock, whilst Arianism reigned triumphant in the East, under the protection of Constantius, took shelter in the West, in the dominions of Constans. He was graciously received by that prince and by St. Maximinus at Triers, and, after a short stay in that city, went to Rome, where he found St. Athanasius, and assisted at the council held by Pope Julius in 341, of about eighty bishops, in the church, in which, as St. Athanasius informs us, the priest Vito was accustomed to hold assemblies of the people; that is, was priest of that parish. This is that Vito who, with Vincent and Osius, was legate of St. Sylvester in the council of Nice.

By this synod, St. Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, and St. Paul were ordered to be restored to their respective sees. And Pope Julius, as Socrates and Sozomen relate, by virtue of his authority in the church, sent them back with letters to the eastern bishops, requiring them to restore them to their bishoprics. The excellent letter of Pope Julius to the oriental bishops, is preserved by St. Athanasius. The pope particularly reproves the persecutors for having presumed to judge bishops, even of the principal sees which the Apostles had governed, without having first written to him, according to custom.

St. Paul went back to Constantinople, but could not recover his see till the death of his powerful antagonist, who had usurped it, made way for him in 342. Though the Catholics took that opportunity to reinstate him in his dignity, the Arians, who were headed by Theognis of Nice, and Theodorus of Heraclea, constituted Macedonius their bishop.

This schismatical ordination was followed by a furious sedition, in which almost the whole city ran to arms, and several persons lost their lives. Constantius, who was then at Antioch, upon the news of these commotions, ordered his general, Hermogenes, who was going into Thrace, to pass by Constantinople and drive Paul out of the city. The general found the mob in too violent a ferment, and whilst he endeavoured to execute his commission by force, lost his own life. This outrage drew Constantius himself to Constantinople in the depth of winter. At the entreaty of the senate he pardoned the people, but banished Paul. Nevertheless he refused to confirm the election of Macedonius, on account of his share in the late sedition.

St. Paul seems to have retired back to Triers. We find him again at Constantinople in 344, with letters of recommendation from the emperor of the West. Constantius only allowed his re-establishment for fear of his brother’s arms, and the saint’s situation in the East continued very uneasy; for he had much to suffer from the power and malice of the Arian party. He hoped for a redress from the council of Sardica, in 347.

The Eusebians, withdrawing to Philippopolis, thundered out an excommunication against St. Paul, St. Athanasius, Pope Julius, and several other pillars of the Catholic Faith. The death of Constans in 350 left Constantius at full liberty to treat the Catholics as he pleased. Upon application made to him by those of his party, he sent from Antioch, where he then was, an order to Philip, his Præfectus Prætorii, to drive Paul out of the church and city of Constantinople, and to place Macedonius in his see. Philip, being attached to the Arian party, but fearing a sedition from the great affection which the people bore their pastor, privately sent for him to one of the public baths of the city, and there showed him the emperor’s commission.

The saint submitted cheerfully, though his condemnation was in every respect notoriously irregular. The people, suspecting some foul design, flocked about the door; but Philip caused a passage to be made by breaking down a window on the other side of the building, and sent him under a safe guard to the palace, which was not far off. From thence he was shipped away to Thessalonica, and at first allowed to choose the place of his exile. But his enemies soon repented of this mildness; and he was loaded with chains, and sent to Singara in Mesopotamia.

From thence he was carried to Emesa in Syria, and afterwards to Cucusus, a small town on the confines of Cappadocia and Armenia, famous for its bad air and unhealthful situation, in the deserts of mount Taurus. Here he was confined in a close, dark place, and left to starve to death. After he had passed six days without food, he was, to the great disappointment of his enemies, found alive. Upon which they strangled him, and gave out that he died after a short sickness.

Philagius, an Arian officer, who was upon the spot when this was executed, told the whole affair to several persons, from whom St. Athanasius had it. His martyrdom happened in 350 or 351. The divine vengeance soon overtook Philip, who the same year was deprived of his honours and estate, and banished. The Arians from this time remained masters of the church of Constantinople, till the year 379, when St. Gregory Nazianzen was chosen bishop.

The body of St. Paul was brought to Ancyra in Galatia, and, by the order of Theodosius the Great, was thence translated to Constantinople in 381, about thirty years after his death. It was buried there in the great church built by Macedonius, which from that time was known by no other name than that of St. Paul. His remains were removed to Venice in 1226, where they are kept with great respect in the church of St. Laurence, belonging to a noble monastery of Benedictin nuns.

The Arian emperor Constantius objected to the Catholics the prosperity of his reign, as a proof of the justice and truth of his cause; but he had not then seen the issue. When Polycrates of Samos boasted that fortune was in his pay, he little thought that he should shortly after end his life at Sardis on a cross. The smiles of the world are usually, to impenitent sinners, the most dreadful of all divine judgments. By prosperity they are blinded in their passions, and “resemble victims fattened for slaughter, crowned for a sacrifice,” according to the elegant expression of Minutius Felix.

Of this we may understand the divine threat of showing them temporal mercy: Let us have pity on the wicked man, and he will not learn justice. Upon which words St. Bernard cries, “This temporal mercy of God is more cruel than any anger. O Father of mercies, remove far from me this indulgence, excluding from the paths of justice.” Who does not pray that if he err he may rather be corrected by the tenderness of a father, than disinherited as a cast-away? Even the just must suffer with Christ, if they hope to reign with him. He who enjoys here an uninterrupted flow of prosperity, sails among rocks and shelves.

JUNE 8TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. CALLIOPA
Martyred in the Third Century, around 250

By the age of twenty-one (by third century standards a ripe age), Calliopa had already passed the age at which most girls marry. In fact she had no social prospects at all. She spent her days dedicated to her religion with little thought to social life. She hadn't been deemed ready for marriage even though she was obedient and met the criteria for marriage. When at last she seemed ready for marriage, many suitors asked for her hand. One pagan suitor sent word that were she to reject him in favor of another, especially a Christian, he would see to it that the pagan authorities would carry out their form of justice. Calliopa did not hesitate to not only deny this suitor, but made it plain that she would not marry him even if he were a Christian—such a conversion, she said, could not be reliably authentic.

This didn't bring her any more acclaim from the Romans who saw her as rebellious, not to mention that she was a Christian in a pagan land. The spurned suitor arranged for her to be brought before a magistrate, where she was accused of a variety of crimes ranging from a mockery of the pagan Faith to treason against the state. According to legend, the suitor paid a parade of witnesses to testify against Calliopa in order to destroy her reputation. She was deemed guilty, and the rejected suitor stepped forth to offer a withdrawal of the charges against her if she would disavow Christ and become his pagan bride. The alternative was torture, and if that didn’t bend her will, then it was death.

Taken to the public square, she was bound to the post and mercilessly flogged until her clothing and flesh were in tatters. Her beautiful face was scarred with branding irons and salt was poured into her open wounds, and while the breath of life was still within her she was told to disavow Christ. When she refused her breasts were cut away, her flesh burned, she was rolled on broken pottery, and was at last beheaded.

JUNE 9TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. PRIMUS & ST. FELICIANUS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 286

These two martyrs were brothers, and lived in Rome many years, mutually encouraging each other in the practice of all good works. They seemed to possess nothing but for the poor, and often spent both nights and days with the confessors in their dungeons, or at the places of their torments and execution. Some they encouraged to perseverance, others who had fallen they raised again, and they made themselves the servants of all in Christ that all might attain to salvation through him.

Though their zeal was most remarkable, they had escaped the dangers of many bloody persecutions, and were grown old in the heroic exercises of virtue when it pleased God to crown their labors with a glorious martyrdom. The Pagans raised so great an outcry against them, that by a joint order of Diocletian and Maximian Herculius they were both apprehended and put in chains. This must have happened in 286, soon after Maximian was associated in the empire, for the two emperors never seem to have met together in Rome after that year.

These princes commanded them to be inhumanly scourged, and then sent them to Promotus at Nomentum, a town twelve miles from Rome, to be further chastised, as avowed enemies to the gods. This judge caused them to be cruelly tortured, first both together, afterwards separate from each other; and sought by various arts to cheat them into compliance, as by telling Primus that Felician had offered sacrifice.

But the grace of God strengthened them, and they were at length both beheaded on the 9th of June. Their names occur on this day in the ancient western calendars, and in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great. Their bodies were thrown into the fields; but taken up by the Christians, and interred near Nomentum. They were removed to Rome by Pope Theodorus, about the year 645, and deposited in the church of St. Stephen on Mount Celio.

A soul which truly loves God regards all the things of this world as dung, with St. Paul, that she may gain Christ. The loss of goods, the disgrace of the world, torments, sickness, and other afflictions are bitter to the senses; but appear light to him that loves. If we can bear nothing with patience and silence, it is because we love God only in words. “One who is slothful and lukewarm complains of everything, and calls the lightest precepts hard,” says Thomas à Kempis; “but a fervent soul finds everything easy which can unite her more closely to God, and embraces his holy will in all things with cheerfulness.”

JUNE 10TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. GETULIUS & COMPANIONS
Martyred in the Second Century, year unknown

Getulius, the husband of St. Symphorosa, was an officer in the Roman army under Trajan and Adrian; but upon his conversion to the Faith, gave up his commission and retired into the country of the Sabines. His brother Amantius was no less zealous in the profession of the Faith; but retained his dignity of tribune of a legion. The Emperor Adrian sent Cerealis to apprehend Getulius in the country; but that officer was gained to Christ by the two brothers.

The emperor, enraged at this news, commanded Licinius to condemn them to death, unless they could be induced to forsake the Christian religion. By the sentence of this inhuman judge, the three above-mentioned martyrs, and a fourth named Primitivus, after suffering twenty-seven days imprisonment at Tivoli, and divers torments, were beheaded together. St. Symphorosa buried their bodies in an Arenarium upon her estate. They suffered in the beginning of the second century; and are mentioned in the ancient martyrologies on this day.

JUNE 11TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. BARNABUS, APOSTLE
Martyred in the First Century, year unknown

St. Barnabas, though not of the number of the twelve chosen by Christ, is nevertheless styled an Apostle by the primitive fathers, and by St. Luke himself. His singular vocation by the Holy Ghost, and the great share he had in the apostolic transactions and labors, have obtained him this title. He was of the tribe of Levi, but born in Cyprus, where his family was settled, and had purchased an estate, which Levites might do out of their own country. He was first called Joses, which was the softer Grecian termination for Joseph. After the ascension of Christ, the Apostles changed his name into Barnabas, which word St. Luke interprets, son of consolation, on account of his excellent talent of ministering comfort to the afflicted, says St. John Chrysostom. St. Jerome remarks that this word also signifies the son of a prophet, and in that respect was justly given to this Apostle, who excelled in prophetic gifts.

The Greeks say that his parents sent him in his youth to Jerusalem, to the school of the famous Gamaliel, St. Paul’s master; and that he was one of the first, and chief of the seventy disciples of Christ. Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, and St. Epiphanius, testify that he was one of that number, and consequently had the happiness to receive the precepts of eternal life from the mouth of Christ Himself.

The first mention we find of him in Holy Scripture is in the Acts of the Apostles, where it is related that the primitive converts at Jerusalem lived in common, and that as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price and laid it at the feet of the Apostles, that they might contribute all in their power to relieve the indigent, and might themselves be entirely disengaged from the world, and better fitted to follow Christ in a penitential and mortified life. No one is mentioned in particular on this occasion but St. Barnabas; doubtless because he was possessed of a large estate; and perhaps he was the first who set the example of this heroic contempt of the world, which has been since imitated by so many thousands, according to the advice of Christ to the rich man.

This contribution was entirely free; but seems to have implied a vow, or at least a solemn promise of renouncing all temporal possessions for the sake of virtue. For Ananias and his wife Saphira were struck dead at the feet of St. Peter for having secreted some part of the price; and were reproached by that Apostle for having lied to the Holy Ghost, by pretending to put a cheat upon the ministers of God. Origen, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine, are willing to hope that their sin was forgiven them by repentance at the voice of St. Peter, and that it was expiated by their temporal punishment. Though St. John Chrysostom, and St. Basil rather fear that they might perish eternally by impenitence. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory the Great, and other Fathers accuse them of a sacrilegious breach of their vow. St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and St. Isidore of Pelusium, observe that God, by executing His justice by visible judgments on the first authors of a crime, does this to deter others from the like; as in the Antediluvians, Sodomites, Pharaoh, Onan, and Giezi; but those who nevertheless despise His warning, and by a more consummate malice imitate such sinners, if they are not consumed by a deluge, fire, or other visible judgment, must expect a more grievous chastisement in the flames of Hell, proportionate to their hardened malice.

Barnabas made his oblation perfect by the dispositions of his heart with which he accompanied it, and by his piety and zeal became considerable in the government of the church, being a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, as he is styled by the sacred penman. St. Paul coming to Jerusalem three years after his conversion, and not easily getting admittance into the church, because he had been a violent persecutor, addressed himself to St. Barnabas as a leading man, and one who had personal knowledge of him, who presently introduced him to the Apostles Peter and James; and such weight did his recommendation carry, that St. Peter received the new convert into his house, and he abode with him fifteen days.

About four or five years after this, certain disciples, probably Lucius of Cyrene, Simeon, who was called Niger, and Manahen, having preached the Faith with great success at Antioch, some one of a superior, and probably of the episcopal order was wanting to form the church, and to confirm the Neophytes. Whereupon St. Barnabas was sent from Jerusalem to settle this new plantation. Upon his arrival he rejoiced exceedingly at the progress which the Gospel had made, exhorted the converts to fervor and perseverance, and by his preaching made great additions to their number, insomuch that he stood in need of an able assistant.

St. Paul being then at Tarsus, Barnabas took a journey thither and invited him to share in his labors at Antioch. Such a field could not but give great joy to the heart of St. Paul, who accompanied him back, and spent with him a whole year. Their labors prospered, and the church was so much increased at Antioch, that the name of Christians was first given to the faithful in that city. In the eulogium which the Holy Ghost gives to St. Barnabas, he is called a good man by way of eminence, to express his extraordinary mildness, his simplicity void of all disguise, his beneficence, piety and charity. He is also styled full of Faith; which virtue not only enlightened his understanding with the knowledge of heavenly truths, but also passed to his heart, animated all his actions, inspired him with a lively hope and ardent charity, and filled his breast with courage under his labors, and with joy in the greatest persecutions and crosses.

He is said to have been full of the Holy Ghost, his heart being totally possessed by that divine Spirit, and all his affections animated by Him; banishing from them the spirit of the world with its vanities, that of the devil with its pride and revenge, and that of the flesh with the love of pleasure and the gratification of sense. So perfect a Faith was favored with an extraordinary gift of miracles, and prepared him for the merits of the apostleship. By the daily persecutions and dangers to which he exposed himself for the Faith, his whole life was a continued martyrdom. Whence the Council of the Apostles at Jerusalem says of him and St. Paul: “They have given their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Agabus, a prophet at Antioch, foretold a great famine, which raged shortly after over the East, especially in Palestine. Whereupon the church at Antioch raised a very considerable collection for the relief of the poor brethren in Judea, which they sent by SS. Paul and Barnabas to the heads of the church at Jerusalem. Josephus informs us that this famine lay heavy upon Judea during the four years’ government of Cuspius Fadus, and Tiberius Alexander, under the emperor Claudius.

John, surnamed Mark, attended St. Barnabas back to Antioch. He was his kinsman, being son to his sister Mary, whose house was the sanctuary where the Apostles concealed themselves from the persecutors, and enjoyed the conveniency of celebrating the divine mysteries. The church of Antioch was by that time settled in good order, and pretty well supplied with teachers, among whom were Simeon, called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen, the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch, who were all prophets, besides our two Apostles.

As they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them by some of these prophets: “Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have taken them.” The word separate here signifies being entirely set apart to divine functions, and taken from all profane or worldly employments, as it is said of the Levites, and of St. Paul. The work to which these two Apostles were assumed, was the conversion of the Gentile nations. The whole church joined in prayer and fasting to draw down the blessing of Heaven on this undertaking. A model always to be imitated by those who embrace an ecclesiastical state.

After this preparation Saints Paul and Barnabas received the imposition of hands, by which some understand the episcopal consecration. But Estius, Suarez, and others, more probably think that they were bishops before, and that by this right is meant no more than the giving of a commission to preach the Gospel to the Gentile nations, by which they were consecrated the Apostles of the Gentiles.

Paul and Barnabas having thus received their mission, left Antioch, taking with them John Mark, and went to Seleucia, a city of Syria adjoining to the sea; whence they set sail for Cyprus, and arrived at Salamis, a port formerly of great resort. Having there preached Christ in the synagogues of the Jews, they proceeded to Paphos, a city in the same island, chiefly famous for a temple of Venus, the tutelar goddess of the whole island. The conversion of Sergius Paulus, the Roman proconsul, happened there.

These Apostles taking ship again at Paphos, sailed to Perge in Pamphylia. Here John Mark, weary of the hardships and discouraged at the dangers from obstinate Jews and idolaters, which everywhere attended their laborious mission, to the great grief of his uncle Barnabas, left them and returned to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas from Perga travelled eighty miles northward to Antioch in Pisidia. There they preached first in the synagogues of the Jews; but finding them obstinately deaf to the happy tidings of salvation, they told them, that by preference they had announced first to them the words of eternal life; but since they rejected that inestimable grace they would address the same to the Gentiles, as God had commanded by his prophets. The exasperated Jews had interest enough to get them expelled that city.

The Apostles went next to Iconium, the metropolis of Lycaonia, and preached there some time; but at length the malice of the Jews prevailed, and the Apostles narrowly escaped being stoned. They bent their course hence to Lystra in the same province, in which city the idolaters, surprised to see a cripple miraculously healed by St. Paul, declared the gods were come among them. They gave to Paul the name of Mercury because he was the chief speaker, and to Barnabas that of Jupiter, probably on account of his gravity, and the comeliness of his person. In this persuasion they were preparing to offer sacrifices to them, and were with difficulty diverted from it by the two saints. But soon after, at the malicious instigation of the Jews, they passed to the opposite extreme and stoned Paul. However, though left for dead, when the disciples came (probably to inter his body) he rose up, went back into the city, and the next day departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Hence, after numerous conversions they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and the other cities already mentioned, confirming the faithful in the doctrine they had lately received, and ordaining priests in every church. They at length arrived at Antioch in Syria, and continued with the disciples of that city a considerable time, full of joy and thanksgiving for the success of their ministry. During their abode in this city arose the dispute relating to the necessity of observing the Mosaic rites. St. Barnabas joined St. Paul in opposing some of the Jewish converts who urged the necessity of observing them under the Gospel. This weighty question gave occasion to the council of the Apostles at Jerusalem, held in the year 51, wherein Saints Paul and Barnabas gave a full account of the success of their labors amongst the Gentiles, and received a confirmation of their mission, and carried back the synodal letter to the new converts of Syria and Cilicia, containing the decision of the council, which had exempted the new converts from any obligation on the foregoing head.

St. Barnabas gives us a great example of humility in his voluntary deference to St. Paul. He had been called first to the Faith, had first presented St. Paul to the Apostles, and passed for first among the doctors of the church of Antioch, yet on every occasion he readily yields to him the quality of speaker, and the first place; which we must ascribe to his humility. Neither did St. Paul seek any other preeminence than the first place in all labors.

At last a difference in opinion concerning Mark produced a separation, without the least breach of charity in their hearts. John Mark met them again at Antioch. St. Paul proposed to our saint to make a circular visit to the churches of Asia which they had founded. Barnabas was for taking his kinsman Mark with him; but Paul was of a different sentiment in regard to one who before had betrayed a want of courage in the same undertaking. The Holy Ghost would by this occasion separate the two Apostles, that for the greater benefit of the Church the Gospel might be carried into more countries.

John Mark by this check became so courageous and fervent, that he was from that time one of the most useful and zealous preachers of the Gospel. St. Paul afterwards expressed a high esteem of him in his epistle to the Colossians; and during his imprisonment at Rome, charged St. Timothy to come to him, and to bring with him John Mark, calling him a person useful for the ministry. John Mark finished the course of his apostolic labors at Biblis in Phœnicia, and is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on the 27th of September. After this separation St. Paul with Silas travelled into Syria and Cilicia, and Barnabas, with his kinsman, betook himself to his native island, Cyprus. Here the sacred writings dismiss his history.

St. Barnabas always remembered the conversion of nations was the province allotted to him, nor could he be induced to allow himself any repose, whilst he saw whole countries deprived of the light of salvation. Theodoret says he returned again to St. Paul, and was sent by him to Corinth with Titus. Dorotheus and the author of the Recognitions suppose him to have been at Rome. The city of Milan honors him as patron from a tradition, supported by monuments which seem to be of the fourth age, affirming that he preached the Faith there, and was the founder of that church. But how wide soever his missions lay, he always regarded his own country as the province especially allotted to his care; and there he finished his life by martyrdom.

Alexander, a monk of Cyprus in the sixth age, hath written an account of his death, in which he relates, that the Faith having made great progress in Cyprus by the assiduous preaching, edifying example, and wonderful miracles of this Apostle, it happened that certain inveterate Jews who had persecuted the holy man in Syria, came to Salamis and stirred up many powerful men of that city against him. The saint was taken, roughly handled and insulted by the mob, and after many torments stoned to death.

The remains of St. Barnabas were found near the city of Salamis, with a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, in Hebrew, laid upon his breast, written with St. Barnabas’s own hand. The book was sent to the emperor Zeno in 485, as Theodorus Lector relates. St. Paul mentions St. Barnabas as still living in the year 56. St. Chrysostom speaks of him as alive in 63. He seems to have attained to a great age. St. Charles Borromeo, in his sixth provincial council, in 1582, appointed his festival an holiday of obligation. Nicholas Sormani, a priest of the Oblates, maintains that he preached at Milan, and St. Charles Borromeo in a sermon styles him the Apostle of Milan.

St. Barnabas, the more perfectly to disengage his affections from all earthly things, set to the primitive church an heroic example, by divesting himself of all his large possessions in favor of the poor: riches are a gift of God to be received with thankfulness, and to be well employed. But so difficult and dangerous is their stewardship; so rare a grace is it for a man to possess them and not find his affections entangled, and his heart wounded by them, that many heroic souls have chosen, with St. Barnabas, to forsake all things, the more easily to follow Christ in perfect nakedness of heart. Those who are favored with them must employ them in good offices, and in relieving the indigent, not dissipate them in luxury, or make them the fuel of their passions: they must still dare to be poor; must be disengaged in their affections; and must not be uneasy or disturbed if their money takes its flight, being persuaded that the loss of worldly treasures deprives them of nothing they can properly call their own.

JUNE 12TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. ESKILL
Martyred in the Eleventh Century, around 1069

St. Eskill was an Englishman by birth; but, so long as the Catholic religion flourished in the northern kingdoms of Europe, he was honored in that part of the universe as one of the most illustrious martyrs of the Gospel of Christ. St. Anscharius, archbishop of Bremen, having by his zealous labors laid the foundation of a numerous church in Sweden, was obliged to return into Germany.

After his departure the Swedes returned to their paganish superstition, and expelled Simon, whom St. Anscharius had left bishop of that church. The news of this apostasy afflicted extremely the servants of God, who inhabited the northern provinces of England, and St. Sigefride, archbishop of York, resolved to undertake a mission in person to rescue so many souls that were running upon the very brink of perdition.

Eskill, his kinsman, desirous to have a share in this laborious and dangerous enterprise, accompanied him there, and behaved in that country with so much zeal and prudence that, at the request of the king and people, St. Sigefride, before his return to England, consecrated Eskill bishop, at a place called Nordhan’s Kogh.

By his zealous labors, which were supported by the example of his apostolic life, the church was exceedingly propagated, till good King Ingon was slain by the infidels, and the wicked Sweno, surnamed the Bloody, placed on the throne. Upon this revolution they revived their most impious and barbarous superstitions, with which they celebrated a most solemn festival at a place called Strengis.

St. Eskill’s zeal was enkindled at such abominations, and attended by several of his clergy and of the faithful, he hastened to the place of the sacrilegious assembly. There he strongly exhorted the idolaters to renounce their impious worship. Finding them deaf to his remonstrances, he addressed his prayers to the Almighty, beseeching Him by some visible sign to give evidence that He alone was the true God. Instantly a violent storm of hail, thunder, and rain fell upon the spot, and destroyed the altar and sacrifices.

This prodigy the infidels ascribed to art or magic, with which they charged the saint, and by the king’s orders they stoned him to death. His sacred body was buried in the spot upon which he suffered martyrdom, and soon after a church was there built, in which his sacred remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honored with miracles. He glorified God by martyrdom in the eleventh century. His festival was formerly kept on this day in Sweden, Poland, and other northern countries.

JUNE 13TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. AQUILINA
Martyred in the Third Century, around 298

St. Aquilina, a native of the Phoenician city of Byblos, suffered under Emperor Diocletian in the third century. She was raised in Christian piety by her parents. When she was only twelve years old, she persuaded a pagan friend to convert to Christ. One of the servants of Governor Volusian accused her of teaching others to reject paganism. She was taken before the governor where she firmly confessed her belief and said that she would not renounce Him. Volusian tried to influence her through persuasion and flattery, but seeing her confidence, he ordered her to be tortured.

She was struck upon the face, and then stripped and beaten with whips. Her torturers asked, “Where then is your God? Let Him come and take you out of our hands.” But the saint answered, “The Lord is here with me invisibly, and the more I suffer, the more strength and endurance will He give me.”

Heated metal rods were then drilled through her ears, and St. Aquilina fell down as if dead. The torturers thought that she had actually died, and gave orders that her body be thrown outside the city to be eaten by dogs. However, later that night, a holy angel appeared to St Aquilina, roused her and said, “Arise and be healed. Go and denounce Volusian, so that he and his plans may come to nothing.”

St. Aquilina went back before the court and stood before Governor Volusian. Seeing her, he called for his servants and ordered them to keep watch over her until morning.

The next morning he sentenced St. Aquilina to death, saying that she was a sorceress who refused his imperial decrees. While being led to her execution, St. Aquilina prayed and gave thanks to God for allowing her to suffer for His Holy Name.

A voice was heard in answer to her prayer, summoning her to the heavenly Kingdom. Before the executioner could carry out the sentence, the martyr gave up her spirit to God. Still, the executioner cut off her head although she was already dead.

Christians piously buried the martyr’s body. Later, her relics were taken to Constantinople and placed in a church named in her honor.

JUNE 14TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. RUFINUS & ST. VALERIAN
Martyred in the Third Century, around 287

Rufinus and Valerius were imperial tax collectors near the river Vesle, in the territory of Soissons. They were Christians, and their fasts and plentiful alms-deeds were proofs of their extraordinary piety. The emperor Maximian Herculius, having defeated the Bagaudæ near Paris, left the bloody persecutor, Rictius Varus, the præfectus-prætorii, in Gaul, with an order to employ all means in his power to extirpate, if possible, the Christian name. After much blood spilt at Rheims, he came to Soissons, and gave orders for Rufinus and Valerius to be brought before him. They had hid themselves in a wood, but were discovered and tortured by being put on the rack, torn with scourges armed with leaden balls, and at finally beheaded on the high road leading to Soissons. They suffered in the third century, being martyred around 287.

JUNE 15TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. VITUS or GUY, ST. CRESCENTIA &
ST. MODESTUS
Martyred in the Fourth Century, year unknown

These saints are mentioned with distinction in the ancient Martyrologies. According to their acts they were natives of Sicily. Vitus or Guy was a child nobly born, who had the happiness to be instructed in the Faith, and inspired with the most perfect sentiments of his religion by his Christian nurse, named Crescentia, and her faithful husband Modestus. His father Hylas was extremely incensed when he discovered the child’s invincible aversion to idolatry; and finding him not to be overcome by stripes and such like chastisements, he delivered him up to Valerian, the governor, who in vain tried all his arts to work him into compliance with his father’s will and the emperor’s edicts. He escaped out of their hands, and, together with Crescentia and Modestus, fled into Italy. They there met with the crown of martyrdom in Lucania, in the persecution of Diocletian. The heroic spirit of martyrdom which we admire in St. Vitus, was owing to the early impressions of piety which he received from the lessons and example of a virtuous nurse: of such infinite importance is the choice of virtuous masters, nurses, and servants about children.

This reflection unfolds the reason why certain courts and ages were so fruitful in saints. The pagan Romans were solicitous that no slave should ever have access to their children who did not speak with perfect elegance and purity of language; and shall not a Christian be as careful as to manners and virtue? It is a fatal mistake to imagine that infants are ever too young to be infected with the contagion of vice. No age receives deeper impressions, or observes more narrowly everything that passes in others; nor is anything so easily or so insensibly imbibed as a spirit of vanity, pride, revenge, obstinacy, or sloth; or harder to be ever corrected. What a happiness for an infant to be formed from the mother’s breast as it were naturally to all virtue, and for the spirit of simplicity, meekness, goodness, and piety to be molded in its tender frame? Such a foundation being well laid, further graces are abundantly communicated, and a soul improves daily these seeds, and rises to the height of Christian virtue often without experiencing severe conflicts of the passions.

JUNE 16TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. QUIRICUS (CYR) & ST. JULITTA
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 304

Domitian, the governor of Lycaonia, executing with great cruelty the edicts of Diocletian against the Christians, Julitta, a lady of Iconium in that country, withdrew to Seleucia with her little son Cyr or Quiricus, only three years old, and two maids. Alexander, the governor of Seleucia, was not less a persecutor than the prefect of Iconium. Wherefore Julitta went on to Tarsus in Cilicia. Alexander happened to enter that city about the same time with her, and she was immediately apprehended holding her infant in her arms, and conducted to the tribunal of this governor. She was of royal blood, the granddaughter of illustrious kings, and she possessed great estates and riches; out of all which she carried nothing with her but present necessaries. Her two maids, seeing her in the hands of the persecutors, fled and hid themselves. Alexander demanded her name, quality, and country; to all which questions she answered only—”I am a Christian.” The judge, enraged, ordered her child to be taken from her, and that she should be extended and cruelly whipt with thongs; which was accordingly executed. Nothing could be more amiable than the little Cyr, a certain air of dignity spoke his illustrious birth; and this, joined to the sweetness and innocence of his tender age and looks, moved all present exceedingly. It was a difficult thing to tear him from the arms of his mother; and he continued still continually to stretch his little hands towards her. The governor held the infant on his knees, and endeavored to kiss him to pacify him. But the innocent babe having his eyes still fixed upon his mother, and striving to get back to her, scratched the face of the inhuman judge. And when the mother, under her torments, cried out that she was a Christian, he repeated as loud as he was able--”I am a Christian.”

The governor being enraged, took him by the foot, and throwing him to the ground from off his tribunal, dashed out his brains against the edge of the steps, and all the place round about was sprinkled with blood. Julitta seeing him thus expire, rejoiced at his happy martyrdom, and gave thanks to God. Her joy increased the rage of the governor, who commanded her sides to be torn with hooks, and scalding pitch to be poured on her feet, while proclamation was made by a crier—”Julitta, take pity on thyself and sacrifice to the gods, lest thou come to the like unfortunate end with thy son.”

She always answered “I do not sacrifice to devils or to dumb and deaf statues; but I worship Christ, the only begotten Son of God. by whom the Father hath made all things.”

Whereupon the governor commanded her head to be struck off, and the body of the child to be carried out of the city, and thrown where the carcasses of malefactors were usually cast. Remorse and confusion at his own cruelty, and disappointed malice, in the murder of the innocent babe, made him appear more raging than the most furious wild beast.

Julitta being led to the place of execution, prayed aloud, thanking God for having given her son a place in His Kingdom, and begging the same mercy for herself. She concluded by adding “Amen” at which word her head was severed from her body. She suffered in the year 304 or 305. The two maids came privately and buried the remains of both the martyrs in a field near the city.

When Constantine had given peace to the church, one of these maids discovered the place, and “the faithful of the country strove everyone to procure some portion of these sacred pledges for a protection and safeguard, glorified God, and devoutly visited their tombs,” says the author of these acts. They are named in the Roman Martyrology on the 16th of June; but they seem to have received their crowns on the 15th of July, on which day their festival is kept by the Greeks, Muscovites, Armenians, and Nestorians. The Abyssinians celebrate it two days before, on the 19th of their month of Hamle, also on the 20th of January.

St. Cyr is patron of Nevers, and of many churches and monasteries in France, and formerly in England. The relics of St. Cyr having been brought from Antioch by St. Amator, bishop of Auxerre, were distributed in several places at Nevers, Toulouse, St. Amand’s in Flanders, and elsewhere.

This happy victim, Quiricus, completed early his sacrifice. Men ought properly to be said to live only for that time which they devote to the end for which they receive their being, the service of their creator. How many will a long life condemn! How much of their precious time do many throw away in sloth, empty follies, and even in sin! How many go off the stage of this world without having done anything of all those great duties for which they were born! Who have lived so as to have been mere blanks in the creation, if the divine justice would allow us to give that name to what He punishes with everlasting torments! We have a great work upon our hands to form our hearts upon that of our divine original, our Blessed Redeemer: to expel the subtle poison of pride, vanity, and all inordinate self-love out of our affections, and put on the perfect heavenly spirit of meekness, patience, humility, charity, holy zeal, and devotion. Without this we can never belong to Christ, or to the company of the saints.

JUNE 17TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. NICANDER & ST. MARCIAN
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 303

These saints, as appears from the circumstances of their acts, suffered under Diocletian, and probably in Mœsia, a province of Illyricum, under the same governor who condemned St. Julius; though some moderns place their martyrdom at Venafro, at present in the kingdom of Naples.

They had served some time in the Roman troops, but when the edicts were everywhere published against the Christians, foregoing all expectations from the world, they forsook the army. This was made a crime in them, and they were impeached before Maximus the governor of the province. The judge informed them of the imperial order that all were commanded to sacrifice to the gods. Nicander replied, that order could not regard Christians, who looked upon it as unlawful to abandon the immortal God, to adore wood and stones.

Daria the wife of Nicander was present, and encouraged her husband.
Maximus interrupting her said: “Wicked woman, why would you have your husband die?”
“I wish not for his death,” said she, “but that he live in God, so as never to die.”
Maximus reproached her that she desired his death, because she wanted another husband.
“If you suspect that,” said she, “put me to death first.”
The judge said his orders did not extend to women; for this happened upon the first edict which regarded only the army. However, he commanded her to be taken into custody; but she was released soon after, and returned to see the issue of the trial.

Maximus, turning again to Nicander, said: “Take a little time, and deliberate with yourself whether you choose to die or to live.”
Nicander answered: “I have already deliberated upon the matter, and have taken the resolution to save myself.”
The judge took it that he meant he would save his life by sacrificing to the idols, and giving thanks to his gods, began to congratulate and rejoice with Suetonius one of his assessors, for their imaginary victory.
But Nicander soon undeceived him, by crying out: “God be thanked,” and by praying aloud that God would deliver him from the dangers and temptations of the world.
“How now,” said the governor, “you but just now desired to live, and at present you ask to die.”
Nicander replied: “I desire that life which is immortal, not the fleeting life of this world. To you I willingly yield up my body; do with it what you please, I am a Christian.”

“And what are your sentiments, Marcian?” said the judge, addressing himself to the other.
Marcian declared that they were the same with those of his fellow-prisoner.
Maximus then gave orders that they should be both confined in the dungeon, where they lay twenty days. After which they were again brought before the governor, who asked them if they would at length obey the edicts of the emperors.
Marcian answered: “All you can say will never make us abandon our religion or deny God. We behold him present by Faith, and know whither he calls us. Do not, we beseech you, detain or retard us; but send us quickly to him, that we may behold him who was crucified, whom you stick not to blaspheme, but whom we honour and worship.”
The governor granted their request, and excusing himself by the necessity he lay under of complying with his orders, condemned them both to lose their heads.
The martyrs expressed their gratitude, and said: “May peace be with you, O most clement judge.”

They walked to the place of execution joyful, and praising God as they went. Nicander was followed by his wife Daria, with his child, whom Papinian, brother to the martyr, St. Pasicrates, carried in his arms. Marcian’s wife, differing much from the former, and his other relations, followed him, weeping and howling in excess of grief. She in particular did all that in her lay to overcome his resolution, and for that purpose often showed him his little child, the fruit of their marriage; and continually pulled and held him back, till he, having rebuked her, desired Zoticus, a zealous Christian to keep her behind.

At the place of execution he called for her, and embracing his son and looking up to heaven, said: “Lord, all-powerful God, take this child into thy special protection.” Then with a check to his wife for her base cowardice, he bade her go away in peace, because she could not have the courage to see him die. The wife of Nicander continued by his side, exhorting him to constancy and joy. “Be of good heart, my lord,” said she, “ten years have I lived at home from you, never ceasing to pray that I might see you again. Now am I favored with that comfort, and I behold you going to glory, and myself made the wife of a martyr. Give to God that testimony you owe to his holy truth, that you may also deliver me from eternal death;” meaning, that by his sufferings and prayers he might obtain mercy for her. The executioner having bound their eyes with their handkerchiefs, struck off their heads on the 17th of June.

Faith and grace made these martyrs triumph over all considerations of flesh and blood. They did not abandon their orphan babes, to whom they left the example of their heroic virtue, and whom they committed to the special protection of their heavenly Father. We never lose what we leave to obey the voice of God. When we have taken all prudent precautions, and all the care in our power, we ought to commend all things with confidence to the divine mercy. This ought to banish all anxiety out of our breasts. God’s blessing and protection are all we can hope or desire; we are assured he will never fail on his side; and what can we do more than to conjure him never to suffer us by our malice to put any obstacle to his mercy? On it is all our reliance for the salvation of our own souls. How much more ought we to trust to his goodness in all other concerns?

JUNE 18TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. MARCUS & ST. MARCELLIANUS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 286

Marcus and Marcellianus were twin brothers of an illustrious family in Rome, had been converted to the Faith in their youth, and were honorably married. Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in 284; soon after which the heathens raised tumultuary persecutions, though this emperor had not yet published any new edicts against the church. These martyrs were thrown into prison, and condemned by Chromatius, lieutenant of the prefect of Rome, to be beheaded. Their friends obtained a respite of the execution for thirty days, that they might prevail with them to comply with the judge, and they were removed into the house of Nicostratus the public register.

Tranquillinus and Martia, their afflicted heathen parents, in company with their sons’ own wives and their little babes at their breasts, endeavored to move them by the most tender entreaties and tears. St. Sebastian, an officer of the emperor’s household, coming to Rome soon after their commitment, daily visited and encouraged him. The issue of the conferences was the happy conversion of the father, mother, and wives, also of Nicostratus, and soon after of Chromatius, who set the saints at liberty, and abdicating the magistracy retired into the country.

Marcus and Marcellianus were hid by Castulus, a Christian officer of the household, in his apartments in the palace; but they were betrayed by an apostate named Torquatus, and retaken. Fabrian who had succeeded Chromatius, condemned them to be bound to two pillars with their feet nailed to the same. In this posture they remained a day and a night, and on the following day were stabbed with lances, and buried in the Arenarium, since called their cemetery, two miles out of Rome, between the Appian and Ardeatine roads. All the ancient Martyrologies mark their festival on the 18th of June.

Virtue is often false, and in it the true metal is not to be distinguished from dross until persecution has applied the touchstone, and proved the temper. We know not what we are till we have been tried. It costs nothing to say we love God above all things, and to show the courage of martyrs at a distance from the danger; but that love is sincere which has stood the proof. “Persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor,” says St. Bernard.

JUNE 19TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. GERVASIUS & ST. PROTASIUS
Martyred in the Second Century, year unknown

St. Ambrose calls these saints the protomartyrs of Milan. They seem to have suffered in the first persecution under Nero, or at latest under Domitian, and are said to have been the sons of Saints Vitalis and Valeria, both martyrs, the first at Ravenna, the second at Milan. This latter city was the place which Saints Gervasius and Protasius rendered illustrious by their glorious martyrdom and miracles. St. Ambrose assures us, that the divine grace prepared them a long time for their crown by the good example which they gave, and by the constancy with which they withstood the corruption of the world. He adds they were beheaded for the Faith. They are said to have been twin brothers.

The faithful at Milan, in the fourth century, had lost the remembrance of these saints. Yet the martyrs had not ceased to assist that church in its necessities; and the discovery of their relics rescued it from the utmost danger. The Empress Justina, widow of Valentinian I and mother of Valentinian the Younger, who then reigned, and resided at Milan, was a violent abettor of Arianism, and used her utmost endeavors to expel St. Ambrose. The Arians did not hesitate to have recourse to the most horrible villanies and forgeries to compass that point. In so critical a conjuncture, our martyrs declared themselves the visible protectors of that distressed church.

St. Augustine, both in his twenty-second book Of the City of God, and in his Confessions, says, that God revealed to St. Ambrose by a vision in a dream, the place where their relics lay. Paulinus, in his life of St. Ambrose, says, this was done by an apparition of the martyrs themselves. The bishop was going to dedicate a new church, the same which was afterwards called the Ambrosian basilica, and now St. Ambrose the Great. The people desired him to do it with the same solemnity as he had already consecrated another church in the quarter near the gate that led to Rome, in honor of the holy apostles, in which he had laid a portion of their relics. He was at a loss to find relics for this second church. The bodies of Saints Gervasius and Protasius lay then unknown before the rails which enclosed the tomb of Saints Nabor and Felix. St. Ambrose caused this place to be dug up, and there found the bodies of two very big men, with their bones entire, and in their natural position, but the heads separated from their bodies, with a large quantity of blood, and all the marks which could be desired to ascertain the relics.

A possessed person who was brought to receive the imposition of hands, before he began to be exorcised, was seized, and, in horrible convulsions, thrown down by the evil spirit upon the tomb. The sacred relics were taken up whole, and laid on litters in their natural situation, covered with ornaments, and conveyed to the basilica of Faustus, now called Saints Vitalis and Agricola, near that of St. Nabor, which at present bears the name of St. Francis. They were exposed here two days, and an incredible concourse of people watched the two nights in prayer. On the third day, which was the 18th of June, they were translated into the Ambrosian basilica with the honor due to martyrs, and with the public rejoicings of the whole city.

In the way happened the famous cure of a blind man named Severus, a citizen of Milan, well known to the whole town. He had been a butcher, but was obliged, by the loss of his sight, to lay aside his profession. Hearing of the discovery of the relics, he desired to be conducted to the place where they were passing by, and upon touching the fringe of the ornaments with which they were covered, he that instant perfectly recovered his sight in the presence of an infinite multitude. This miracle is related by St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and Paulinus, who were all three then at Milan.

Severus made a vow to be a servant in the church of the saints; that is, the Ambrosian basilica, where their relics lay. St. Augustine, when he went from Milan, in 387, left him in that service, and he continued in it when Paulinus wrote the life of St. Ambrose, in 411. Many other lame and sick persons were cured of divers distempers by touching the shrouds which covered the relics, or linen cloths which had been thrown upon them. Devils also, in possessed persons, confessed the glory of the martyrs, and declared they were not able to bear the torments which they suffered in the presence of the bodies of the saints.

All this is attested by St. Ambrose in his letter to his sister, in which he has inserted the sermon which he preached in the Ambrosian basilica when the relics arrived there. Two days after, he deposited them in the vault under the altar on the right hand. St. Ambrose adds, that the blood found in their tomb was likewise an instrument of many miracles. We find the relics of these saints afterwards dispersed in several churches, chiefly this blood, which was gathered and mixed with a paste, as St. Gaudentius says. Also linen cloths dipped in this blood were distributed in many places, as St. Gregory of Tours relates.

St. Augustine mentions a church in their honor in his diocese of Hippo, where many miracles were wrought, and relates one that was very remarkable. He preached his two hundred and eighty-sixth sermon on their festival in Africa, where we find it marked in the old African Calendar on the 19th of June, on which day it was observed over all the West; and with great solemnity at Milan, and in many dioceses and parish churches, of which these martyrs are the titular saints.

St. Ambrose observes, that the Arians at Milan, by denying the miracles of these martyrs, showed they had a different faith from that of the martyrs; otherwise they would not have been jealous of their miracles: but this faith, as he says, is confirmed by the tradition of our ancestors, which the devils are forced to confess, but which the heretics deny.

JUNE 20TH
The Martyr of the Day
POPE ST. SILVERIUS
Martyred in the Sixth Century, around 538

Silverius was son of Pope Hormisdas, who had been engaged in wedlock before he entered the ministry. Upon the death of St. Agapetus, after a vacancy of forty-seven days, Silverius, being then subdeacon, was chosen pope, and ordained on the 8th of June, 536, Theodatus the Goth being king of Italy.

Theodoric had bequeathed that kingdom to his grandson Athalaric, under the tuition of his mother Amalasunta, a most wise and learned princess. Athalaric died in 534, after a reign of eight years: when Amalasunta called Theodatus, a nephew of her father Theodoric by a sister, to the throne; but the ungrateful king, jealous of his power, caused her to be confined in an island in the lake of Bolsena, and there strangled in a bath before the end of the same year, 534.

The shocking barbarity of this action encouraged the emperor Justinian to attempt the reduction of Italy. Belisarius, his general, had been successful in all his wars against rebels at home, the Persians in the East, and Gelimer the Vandal in Africa, whom he had brought prisoner to Constantinople in 534; by which victory he extinguished the puissant kingdom of the Vandals, and reunited Africa to the empire, after it had been separated above one hundred years.

By the emperor’s order in 535, being then consul, he marched with his victorious army against Italy. He that year made himself master of Sicily, and passing thence into Italy in 536, took Naples. Upon which the Goths deposed Theodatus, and raised Vitiges, an experienced officer, to the throne. The senate and people of Rome, at the persuasion of Pope Silverius, opened the city to the imperialists, who entered by the Asinarian gate, whilst the Gothic garrison retired by the Flaminian towards Ravenna, where Vitiges had shut himself up.

Theodora, the empress, a violent and crafty woman, seeing Justinian now master of Rome, resolved to make use of that opportunity to promote the sect of the Acephali, or most rigid Eutychian, who rejected the council of Chalcedon, and also the Henoticon of Zeno, which Petrus Mongus, the Eutychian patriarch of Alexandria, had received, endeavoring in some degree to qualify that heresy. Anthimus, patriarch of Constantinople, was violently suspected of abetting the Acephali, and by the credit of the empress had been translated, against the canons, from the see of Trapezus or Trebisond to that of the imperial city.

When Pope Agapetus came to Constantinople, in 536, he refused to communicate with Anthimus because he could never be brought to own in plain terms two natures in Christ; whereupon he was banished by Justinian; and St. Menas, an orthodox holy man, was ordained bishop of Constantinople by Pope Agapetus himself, who by a circular letter notified, that “the heretical bishop had been deposed by the apostolic authority, with the concurrence and aid of the most religious emperor.”

This affair gave the empress great uneasiness, and she never ceased studying some method of recalling Anthimus, till the taking of Rome offered her a favorable opportunity of attempting to execute her design. Silverius being then in her power, she endeavored to win him over to her interest, and wrote to him requiring that he would acknowledge Anthimus lawful bishop, or repair in person to Constantinople, and reexamine his cause on the spot. The good pope was sensible how dangerous a thing it was to oppose the favorite project of an empress of her violent temper, and said with a sigh in reading her letter, that this affair would in the end cost him his life. However he, without the least hesitation or delay, returned her a short answer, by which he peremptorily gave her to understand, that she must not flatter herself that he either could or would come into her unjust measures, and betray the cause of the Catholic faith.

The empress saw from the firmness of his answer, that she could never expect from him anything favorable to her impious designs, and from that moment resolved to compass his deposition. Vigilius, archdeacon of the Roman Church, a man of address, was then at Constantinople; where he had attended the late pope Agapetus. To him the empress made her application, and finding him taken by the bait of ambition, promised to make him pope, and to bestow on him seven hundred pieces of gold, provided he would engage himself to condemn the council of Chalcedon, and receive to communion the three deposed Eutychian patriarchs, Anthimus of Constantinople, Severus of Antioch, and Theodosius of Alexandria.

The unhappy Vigilius having assented to these conditions, the empress sent him to Rome, charged with a letter to Belisarius, commanding him to drive out Silverius, and to contrive the election of Vigilius to the pontificate. Belisarius was at first unwilling to have any hand in so unjust a proceeding; but after showing some reluctance, he had the weakness to say: “The empress commands, I must therefore obey. He who seeks the ruin of Silverius shall answer for it at the last day; not I.” Vigilius urged the general, on one side, to execute the project, and his wife Antonina on the other, she being the greatest confidant of the empress, and having no less an ascendant over her husband than Theodora had over Justinian.

The more easily to make this project to bear, the enemies of the good pope had recourse to a new stratagem, and impeached him for high treason. Vitiges the Goth returned from Ravenna in 537, with an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, and invested the city of Rome. The siege lasted a year and nine days, during which both Goths and Romans performed prodigies of valor; but the latter defeated all the attempts and stratagems of the barbarians, and in the end obliged them to retire.

The pope was accused of corresponding during the siege with the enemy, and a letter was produced, which was pretended to have been written by him to the king of the Goths, inviting him into the city, and promising to open the gates to him. Belisarius saw evidently this to be a barefaced calumny, and discovered the persons who had forged the said letter, namely, Marcus, a lawyer, and Julianus, a soldier of the guards, who had been both suborned by the pope’s enemies. The general, therefore, dropped this charge of treason, but entreated the pope to comply with the will of the empress, assuring him he had no other means of avoiding the loss of his see, and the utmost calamities.

Silverius always declared that he could never condemn the council of Chalcedon, nor receive the Acephali to his communion. Upon leaving the general’s house, he fled for sanctuary to the basilica of the martyr St. Sabina; but a few days after, by an artful stratagem of Belisarius, was drawn thence, and summoned to repair to the Pincian palace, where the general resided during the siege. He was admitted alone, and his clergy, whom he left at the door, saw him no more.

Antonina received him sitting upon her bed, whilst Belisarius was seated at her feet; she loaded him with reproaches, and immediately a subdeacon tore the pall off his shoulders. He was then carried into another room, stripped of all his pontifical ornaments, and clothed with the habit of a monk. After this it was proclaimed that the pope was deposed, and become a monk. Belisarius the next day caused Vigilius to be chosen pope, and he was ordained on the 22nd of November, 537.

In the meantime Silverius was conducted into banishment to Patara, in Lycia. The bishop of that city received the illustrious exile with all possible marks of honor and respect; and thinking himself bound to undertake his defense, soon after the pope’s arrival repaired to Constantinople, and having obtained a private audience, spoke boldly to the emperor, terrifying him with the threats of the divine judgments for the expulsion of a bishop of so great a see, telling him--”There are many kings in the world, but there is only one pope over the church of the whole world.” It must be observed that these were the words of an oriental bishop, and a clear confession of the supremacy of the Roman see.

Justinian, who had not been sufficiently informed of the matter, appeared startled at the atrocity of the proceedings, and gave orders that Silverius should be sent back to Rome, and in case he was not convicted of the treasonable intelligence with the Goths, that he should be restored to his see; but if found guilty, should be removed to some other see. Belisarius and Vigilius were uneasy at this news, and foreseeing that if the order of the emperor were carried into execution, the consequence would necessarily be the restoration of Silverius to his dignity, they contrived to prevent it, and the pope was intercepted in his road towards Rome. His enemies saw themselves again masters of his person, and Antonina resolving at any rate to gratify the empress, prevailed with Belisarius to deliver up the pope to Vigilius, with full power to secure him as he should think fit.

The ambitious rival put him into the hands of two of his officers, called the defenders of the church, who conveyed him into the little inhospitable island of Palmaria, now called Palmeruelo, over against Terracina, and near two other abandoned desert islands, the one called Pontia, now Ponza, and the other Pandataria, now Vento Tiene. In this place Silverius died in a short time of hard usage; Liberatus, from hearsay, tells us of hunger; but Procopius, a living witness, says he was murdered, at the instigation of Antonina, by one Eugenia, a woman devoted to their service. The death of Pope Silverius happened on the 20th of June, 538. Vigilius was an ambitious intruder and a schismatic so long as St. Silverius lived; but after his death became lawful pope by the ratification or consent of the Roman church, and from that time renounced the errors and commerce of the heretics. He afterwards suffered much for his steadfast adherence to the truth; and though he entered as a mercenary and a wolf, he became the support of the orthodox faith.

The providence of God in the protection of his church never appears more visible than when he suffers tyrants or scandals seemingly almost to overwhelm it. Then does he most miraculously interpose in its defense to show that nothing can make void his promises. Neither scandals nor persecutions can make his word fail, or overcome the church which he planted at so dear a rate. He will never suffer the devil to wrest out of his hands the inheritance which his Father gave him, and that kingdom which it cost him his most precious blood to establish, that his Father might always have true adorers on earth, by whom his name shall be for ever glorified. In the tenth century, by the power and intrigues of Marozia, wife to Guy, Marquess of Tuscany, and her mother and sister, both called Theodora, three women of scandalous lives, several unworthy popes were intruded into the apostolic chair, and ignorance and scandals gained ground in some parts. Yet at that very time many churches were blessed with pastors of eminent sanctity, and many saints preached penance with wonderful success; nor did any considerable heresy arise in all that century. Pride, indeed, and a conceit of learning, are the usual source of that mischief. But this constant conservation of the church can only be ascribed to the singular protection of God, who watches over his church, that it never fail.

JUNE 21ST
The Martyr of the Day
ST. EUSEBIUS
Martyred in the Fourthth Century, around 380

The city of Samosata, capital of Comagene in Syria, now called Sempsat, was an ancient episcopal see under the metropolitan of Hieropolis. In 361, by an appointment of divine providence, St. Eusebius was placed in this see at a time when most of the neighboring bishoprics were occupied by Arians. In the same year he was present in a council at Antioch, composed chiefly of Arians, whilst the Emperor Constantius was in that city. St. Eusebius concurred strenuously to the election of St. Meletius, patriarch of Antioch, being well assured of his zeal for the orthodox Faith. Such was the opinion which the Arians themselves entertained of Eusebius’s virtue, that though they knew him to be an irreconcileable enemy to their heresy, they placed an entire confidence in his probity.

On this account, they entrusted in his hands the synodal act of the election of St. Meletius. A few days after, being provoked at the vigor with which Meletius preached the Faith of the Nicene council in his first discourse to his people, they sought to set him aside, and, at their instigation the Emperor Constantius sent an officer to extort out of the hands of St. Eusebius the act of his election.

The saint answered he could not surrender it without the consent of all the parties concerned in it. The officer threatened to cause his right hand to be cut off if he refused to comply with the emperor’s orders. The saint stretched out not only his right but also his left hand, saying he might cut them both off; but that he would never concur to an unjust action. Both the officer and the emperor admired his heroic virtue, and highly commended an action which thwarted their favorite projects.

For some time St. Eusebius refused not to assist at the councils and conferences of the Arians, in order to maintain the truth. But finding this conduct gave scandal to some, he broke off all commerce with them in ecclesiastical deliberations after the council of Antioch in 363, in the reign of Jovian. In 370 he assisted at the election of St. Basil, archbishop of Cæsarea, and contracted a strict friendship with that great pillar of faith and virtue. So remarkable was the zeal of our saint and so bright the luster of his sanctity, that St. Gregory Nazianzen, in a letter which he wrote about that time, styles him the pillar of truth, the light of the world, the instrument of the favors of God on his people, and the support and glory of all the orthodox.

When the persecution of Valens began to rage, St. Eusebius not content to secure his own flock against the poison of heresy, made several progresses through Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine, disguised in the dress of an officer, to strengthen the Catholics in the faith, ordain priests where they were wanting, and assist the orthodox bishops in filling vacant sees with worthy pastors.

His zeal gave every day some new stroke to the Arian party; so that in 374 Valens sent an order for his banishment into Thrace. The imperial messenger arrived at Samosata in the evening, and signified the emperor’s orders to the bishop, who begged he would keep it secret, saying: “If the people should be apprized, such is their zeal for the Faith, that they would rise in arms against you, and your death might be laid to my charge.”

The holy bishop celebrated the night office as usual, and when all were gone to rest, walked out with one trusty servant to the Euphrates, which runs under the walls of the city, where going on board a small vessel, he fell down the river seventy miles to Zeugma. In the morning the people were in an uproar at what had happened, and in an instant the river was covered with boats to search him out. He was overtaken by a great number at Zeugma, who conjured him not to abandon them to the wolves. He was strongly affected, but urging the necessity of obeying, exhorted them to confidence in God. They offered him money, slaves, clothes, and all kind of provisions; but he would accept very little, and commending his dear flock to God, pursued his journey to Thrace.

The Arians intruded into his chair one Eunomius, not the famous heresiarch of that name, but a man of great moderation. Yet the people universally shunned him, the city council and the magistrates above the rest; not one of the inhabitants, rich or poor, young or old, of the clergy or laity, would see him, and whether in the church, at home, or in public, he saw himself left alone. Disgusted at his situation he withdrew and left the people to themselves. The heretics substituted in his place one Lucius, a violent man, who banished the deacon Evoltius to the desert of Oasis, beyond Egypt, a priest named Antiochus into a remote corner of Armenia, and others to other places. Yet he could not gain any over to his interest. The behavior of the people was the same to him as it had been to his predecessor; for an instance of which, it is mentioned, that as he passed one day through a public square where several children were at play, their ball hit the hoof of his mule, and as if it had been defiled, they threw it into the fire.

The Goths plundered Thrace in 379, and to escape their swords, St. Eusebius obtained leave to return to his church, but to crown his sufferings with martyrdom. He appeared no way broken or daunted by his banishment, but seemed more indefatigable than ever in his labours for the church. When the death of Valens had put an end to the persecution in 378, he travelled over great part of the country to procure Catholic bishops to be chosen where the sees were destitute. This he effected at Beræa, Hierapolis, and Cyrus.

At Dolicha, a small episcopal city in Comagene, forty-one miles from Samosata, Maris was by his endeavors ordained bishop. The whole town being inhabited by obstinate Arians, St. Eusebius would attend him thither when he went to take possession of his church. An Arian woman seeing him pass in the street, threw a tile from the top of her house upon his head; of which wound he died a few days after, in 379 or 380. In his last moments, in imitation of his divine Master, he bound his friends by oath never to prosecute his murderer or her accomplices. He is honored by the Greeks on the 22nd, by the Latins on the 21st of June.

JUNE 22ND
The Martyr of the Day
ST. ALBAN
Martyred in the Fourthth Century, around 303

The Christian Faith had already penetrated into England in the times of the Apostles, and had received an increase in numbers by the conversion of King Lucius, in the year 180. But the first persecutions seem not to have reached this island, where, perhaps, the Christians, in times of danger, retired to places distant from the Roman colonies; or the mildness of their governors, in a province so remote as to seem another world, might sometimes shelter them. But the rage of Diocletian penetrated into these recesses, and many of both sexes here received, by unheard of torments, the crown of martyrdom, as Gildas and St. Bede testify.

The first and most renowned of these Christian heroes was St. Alban, whose death was rendered more illustrious by many miracles and other extraordinary circumstances, and whose blood was an agreeable sacrifice to God, a glorious testimony to the honor of his name, and to his holy faith, and a fruitful seed of divine blessings on his country. So great was the glory of his triumph, that his name was most famous over the whole Church, as Fortunatus assures us. A copy of the ancient Acts of his Martyrdom was published by Bishop Usher, and the principal circumstances are mentioned by St. Gildas, and recorded by venerable St. Bede.

Alban seems to have been a Roman name, and this saint seems to have been a person of note, as some ancient monuments quoted by Leland, Usher, Alford, and Cressy affirm. He was a native of Verulam, which was for many ages one of the strongest and most populous cities in Britain, till having suffered much by sieges under the Saxon conquest it fell to decay, and the present town of St. Alban’s rose up close by its ruins, of which no vestiges are now to be seen, except some broken foundations of walls and chequered pavements; and Roman coins have been often dug up there. The river Werlame ran on the east, and the great Roman highway, called Watling Street, lay on the west side of the town.

Alban travelled to Rome in his youth to improve himself in learning and in all the polite arts, as appears by authorities which the judicious Leland produces. Being returned home he settled at Verulam, and lived there with some dignity; for he seems to have been one of the principal citizens of the place. Though a stranger to the Christian faith he was hospitable and compassionate, and in recompense of his charitable disposition God was pleased to conduct him to the light of the Gospel, and to discover to him the inestimable jewel of immortal life. He was yet a Pagan when the edicts of the emperors against the Christians began to be put rigorously in execution in Britain.

A certain clergyman, called by some writers Amphibalus, sought, by flight, to escape the fury of the persecutors, and Alban gave him a shelter, and kindly entertained him in his house. Our saint was much edified by the holy deportment of this stranger, and admired his Faith and piety, and in particular his assiduity in prayer, in which the faithful servant of God watched night and day. Alban was soon engaged to listen to his wholesome admonitions and instructions, and in a short time became a Christian. And with such ardor did he open his heart to the divine grace, that he was at once filled with the perfect spirit of this holy religion, and rejoicing that he had found so precious a treasure he no longer regarded anything else, despising for it the whole world and life itself.

He had harbored this apostolic man some days when an information was given in to the governor, that the preacher of the Christian religion, after whom the strictest inquiry was making, lay hid at Alban’s house. Soldiers were despatched thither to make diligent search after the man of God; but he was then secretly fled. Christ promises that he who receives a prophet, in the name of a prophet, shall meet with the recompense of a prophet. This was fulfilled in Alban, who, by entertaining a confessor of Christ, received the grace of Faith, and the crown of martyrdom. He exchanged clothes with his guest, that the preacher might more easily escape in that disguise to carry the news of salvation to others; and himself put on the stranger’s long robe, called Caracalla.

Alban earnestly desiring to shed his blood for Christ, whom he had but just learned to know, presented himself boldly in this habit to the soldiers, and was by them bound and led to the judge, who happened at that very time to be standing at the altar, and offering sacrifice to his idols. When he saw Alban he was highly provoked at the cheat which the saint had put upon him by substituting himself for his guest, and ordering him to be dragged before the images of his gods, he said: “As you have chosen to conceal a sacrilegious person and a blasphemer, the punishment which he should have suffered shall fall upon you, in case you refuse to comply with the worship of our religion.”
The saint answered with a noble courage, that he would never obey such an order.
The magistrate then asked him of what family he was?
Alban replied: “To what purpose do you inquire of my family? If you would know my religion, I am a Christian.”
The judge asked his name.
To which he answered: “My name is Alban, and I worship the only true and living God, who created all things.”
The magistrate said: “If you would enjoy the happiness of life, sacrifice instantly to the great gods.”
Alban replied: “The sacrifices you offer are made to devils, who neither help their votaries nor grant their petitions. Whoever shall sacrifice to these idols, shall receive for his reward the everlasting pains of Hell.”
The judge, enraged beyond measure at these words, commanded the holy confessor to be scourged; and seeing him bear with an unshaken constancy, and even with joy, the most cruel tortures, he at last condemned him to be beheaded.

An exceeding great multitude of people went out to behold his execution, and the judge remained almost alone in the city without attendance. In the road was a river, and the stream in that part, which was pent up by a wall and sand, was exceedingly rapid. So numerous was the crowd that was gone out before, that the martyr could scarcely have passed the bridge that evening, had he waited for them to go before him. Therefore, being impatient to arrive at his crown, he went to the bank, and lifting up his eyes to heaven made a short prayer. Upon this the stream was miraculously divided, and the river dried up in that part, so as to afford a passage to the martyr and a thousand persons.

This river must have been the Coln, which runs between Old Verulam and new St. Alban’s. The executioner was converted at the sight of this miracle, and of the saintly behavior of the martyr, and throwing away his naked sword, he fell at the feet of the saint, begging to die with him, or rather in his place. The sudden conversion of the executioner occasioned a delay in the execution.

In the meantime the holy confessor, with the crowd, went up the hill, which was a most pleasant spot, covered with several sorts of flowers, about five hundred paces from the river. There Alban falling on his knees, at his prayer a fountain sprung up, with the water whereof he refreshed his thirst. A new executioner being found, he struck off the head of the martyr, but miraculously lost his eyes, which fell to the ground at the same time. Together with St. Alban, the soldier, who had refused to imbrue his hands in his blood, and had declared himself a Christian, was also beheaded, being baptized in his own blood. This soldier is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. Capgrave calls him Heraclius; some others Araclius.

Many of the spectators were converted to the Faith, and following the holy priest, who had converted St. Alban, into Wales, to the number of one thousand, received the sacrament of baptism at his hands, as Harpsfield’s memoirs relate; but these converts were all cut to pieces by the idolaters for their Faith. The priest was brought back and stoned to death at Radburn, three miles from St. Alban’s, as Thomas Radburn, who was born in that place, Matthew Paris, and others affirm, from ancient records kept in St. Alban’s abbey. This priest is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and others, St. Amphibalus, though Bishop Usher conjectures that Greek name to have been borrowed from his garment, the Caracalla. St. Bede testifies, that St. Alban suffered martyrdom on the 22nd of June, some say in the year 286, but most say it was in 303, when the Roman Emperor Diocletian began his great persecution; to which the Empereror Constantius put a stop in Britain, the year following.

Some moderns are offended at the above-mentioned miracles; but the ingenious Mr. Collier writes thus concerning them: “As for St. Alban’s miracles, being attested by authors of such credit, I do not see why they should be questioned. That miracles were wrought in the church at that time of day, is clear from the writings of the ancients. To imagine that God should exert his omnipotence, and appear supernaturally for his servants, in no age since the apostles, is an unreasonable fancy; for since the world was not all converted by the apostles, why should we not believe that God should honor his servants with the most undisputed credentials? Why then should St. Alban’s miracles be disbelieved, the occasion being great enough for so extraordinary an interposition?”

These miracles of stopping the river, and of the spring rising in the place where St. Alban was beheaded, are expressly mentioned by Gildas, Bede, and others. The place was called in the Anglo-Saxon language, Holm-hurst, Hurst signifying a wood; and this place was once overgrown with trees, as Bishop Usher proves. In aftertimes it obtained the name of Derswoldwood, and was the spot on which the present town of St. Alban’s is built.

In the time of Constantine the Great, a magnificent church of admirable workmanship was erected on the place where the martyr suffered, and was rendered illustrious by frequent great miracles, as St. Bede testifies. The pagan Saxons destroyed this edifice; but Offa, king of the Mercians, raised another in 793, with a great monastery, on which, he bestowed most ample possessions. Several popes honored it with the most singular privileges and exemptions, and all the lands possessed by it were freed from the payment of the “Romescot” or “Peterpence”.

The church is still standing, having been redeemed from destruction when the abbey was suppressed under Henry VIII. It was purchased by the townsmen to be their parochial church, for the sum of four hundred pounds, which, according to the present value of money, would be above seven times as much.

England, for many ages, had recourse to St. Alban as its glorious protomartyr (first martyr) and powerful patron with God, and acknowledged many great favors received from God, through his intercession. By it St. Germanus procured a triumph without Christian blood, and gained a complete victory both over the spiritual and corporal enemies of this country.

Of the rich shrine of St. Alban, most munificently adorned by Offa, by his son Egfrig, and many succeeding kings and others, nothing is now remaining, as Weever writes, but a marble stone to cover the place where the dust of the sacred remains lies. Over against which, on a wall, some verses are lately painted, says the same author, to tell us there was formerly a shrine in that place. A village in Forez in France, a league and a half from Rouanne, bears the name of St. Alban, famous for mineral waters, abounding with nitrous salt.

JUNE 23RD
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. ZENO & ST. ZENAS
Martyred in the Fourthth Century, around 303

The Holy Martyrs Zeno and Zenas lived in the Arabian city of Philadelphia, and led a pious life. Zeno was a Roman officer in the Arabian town of Philadelphia and Zenas was his servant. Saint Zeno possessed a large fortune, but he distributed his substance to the poor and manumitted slaves.

When the persecution of Christians began during the reign of Emperor Maximian, St. Zeno, together with his devoted servant Zenas, went to the governor and boldly appeared before Commander Maximus, confessed his Faith in the One Living God and counseled Maximus that, he too, renounce lifeless idols and embrace the only true Faith and accept Christ. The commander became enraged and cast Zeno into prison. When the faithful Zenas visited his master in prison, he also was seized and arrested.

Both of them were tortured for Christ. They were tied to pillars, struck with iron hooks, and their wounds were rubbed with vinegar and salt. Their sides and chests were scorched with fire, they were thrown in a pit, and boiling oil was poured over the sufferers. The saints endured all the tortures with forbearance and by the power of God they remained alive. Finally, the martyrs were beheaded with a sword.

JUNE 24TH
The Martyrs of the Day
THE MARTYRS OF ROME UNDER EMPEROR NERO
Martyred in the First Century, around 64

Tertullian observes, that it was the honor of the Christian religion that Nero, the most avowed enemy to all virtue, was the first Roman emperor who declared against it a most bloody war. The sanctity and purity of the manners of the primitive Christians was a sufficient motive to stir up the rage of that monster; and he took the following occasion to draw his sword against them. The city of Rome had been set on fire, and had burned nine days, from the 19th to the 28th of July, in the year 64; in which terrible conflagration, out of the fourteen regions or quarters into which it was then divided, three were entirely laid in ashes, seven of them were miserably defaced and filled with the ruins of half-burnt buildings, and only four entirely escaped this disaster.

During this horrible tragedy, Nero came from Antium to Rome, and seated himself on the top of a tower upon a neighboring hill, in the theatrical dress of a musician, singing a poem which himself had composed on the burning of Troy. The people accused him of being the author of this calamity, and said he caused fire to be set to the city that he might glut his eyes with an image of the burning of Troy.

Tillemont, Crevier, and other judicious critics make no doubt that he was the author of this calamity. Suetonius and Dion Cassius positively charge him with it. Tacitus indeed doubts whether the fire was owing to accident or to the wickedness of the prince; but by a circumstance which he mentions, it appears that the flame was at least kept up and spread for several days by the tyrant’s orders; for several men hindered all that attempted to extinguish the fire, and increased it by throwing lighted torches among the houses, saying they were ordered so to do. In which, had they been private villains, they would not have been supported and backed, but brought to justice.

Besides, when the fire had raged seven days, and destroyed everything from the great circus, at the foot of mount Palatine, to the further end of the Esquiliæ, and had ceased for want of fuel, the buildings being in that place thrown down, it broke out again in Tigellinus’s gardens, which place increased suspicion, and continued burning two days more. Besides envying the fate of Priam, who saw his country laid in ashes, Nero had an extravagant passion to make a new Rome, which should be built in a more sumptuous manner, and extended as far as Ostia to the sea; he wanted room in particular to enlarge his own palace; accordingly, he immediately rebuilt his palace of an immense extent, and adorned all over with gold, mother-of-pearl, precious stones, and whatever the world afforded that was rich and curious, so that he called it the Golden Palace. But this was pulled down after his death.

The tyrant seeing himself detested by all mankind as the author of this calamity, to turn off the odium and infamy of such an action from himself, and at the same time to gratify his hatred of virtue and thirst after blood, he charged the Christians with having set the city on fire. Tacitus testifies, that nobody believed them guilty; yet the idolaters, out of extreme aversion to their religion, rejoiced in their punishment.

The Christians therefore were seized, treated as victims of the hatred of all mankind, insulted even in their torments and death, and made to serve for spectacles of diversion and scorn to the people. Some were clothed in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to dogs to be torn to pieces: others were hung on crosses set in rows, and many perished by flames, being burnt in the night-time that their execution might serve for fires and light, says Tacitus. This is further illustrated by Seneca, Juvenal, and his commentator, who say that Nero punished the magicians, (by which impious name they meant the Christians,) causing them to be besmeared over with wax, pitch, and other combustible matter, with a sharp spike put under their chin to make them hold it upright in their torments, and thus to be burnt alive. Tacitus adds, that Nero gave his own gardens to serve for a theatre to this spectacle.

The Roman Martyrology makes a general mention of all these martyrs on the 24th of June, styling them the disciples of the apostles, and the first fruits of the innumerable martyrs with which Rome, so fruitful in that divine seed, peopled heaven. These suffered in the year 64, before the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, who had pointed out the way to them by their holy instructions. After this commencement of the persecution, laws were made, and edicts published throughout the Roman empire, which forbade the profession of the faith under the most cruel torments and death, as is mentioned by Sulpicius Severus, Orosius, and others. No sooner had the imperial laws commanded that there should be no Christians, but the senate, the magistrates, the people of Rome, all the orders of the empire, and every city rose up against them, says Origen. Yet the people of God increased the more in number and strength the more they were oppressed, as the Jews in Egypt had done under Pharaoh.

JUNE 25TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. AGOARD & ST. AGLIBERT
Martyred in the Sixth Century, around 500

Agoard and Aglibert were strangers to Gaul (France) who came originally from the borders of the Rhine, but were settled in the neighbourhood of Paris at Creteil, a village two leagues from that city. They were converted to the faith by the apostolic preachers Altin and Eoald, together with many others. Having by common consent pulled down a heathenish temple, they were put to the sword with a troop of holy companions, by an order of a heathenish governor; or, according to Baillet, by the Vandals, about the year 400. A church was afterwards erected over the place of their burial. Their relics are now enshrined in the same. Their festival is marked in Martyrologies on the 24th, but kept at Cretail and in the whole diocese of Paris on the 25th of June.

JUNE 26TH
The Martyrs of the Day
ST. JOHN & ST. PAUL
Martyred in the Fourth Century, around 362

They were both officers in the army under Julian the Apostate, and received the crown of martyrdom, probably in 362, under Apronianus, prefect of Rome, a great enemy of the Christians. These saints glorified God by a double victory: they despised the honors of the world, and triumphed over its threats and torments. They saw many wicked men prosper in their impiety, but were not dazzled by their example. They considered that worldly prosperity which attends impunity in sin is the most dreadful of all judgments; and how false and short-lived was this glittering prosperity of Julian, who in a moment fell into the pit which he himself had dug!

But the martyrs, by the momentary labor of their conflict, purchased an immense weight of never-fading glory: their torments were, by their heroic patience and invincible virtue and fidelity, a spectacle worthy of God, who looked down upon them from the throne of his glory, and held his arm stretched out to strengthen them, and to put on their heads immortal crowns in the happy moment of their victory. An old church in Rome, near that of Saints Peter and Paul, bore the name of Saints John and Paul, as appears by the calendar published by F. Fronto. They have a proper Office and Mass in the sacramentaries of St. Gelasius and St. Gregory the Great; also in the ancient Gallican Liturgy. In England the council of Oxford, in 1222, ordered their festival to be kept of the third class; that is, with an obligation of hearing Mass before work. How famous the names of Saints John and Paul have been in the church ever since the fifth century, is set forth at large by Rondininus.

The saints always accounted that they had done nothing for Christ so long as they had not resisted to blood, and by pouring forth the last drop completed their sacrifice. Every action of our lives ought to spring from this fervent motive, and consecration of ourselves to the divine service with our whole strength; we must always bear in mind that we owe to God by innumerable titles all that we are; and, after all we can do, are unprofitable servants, and do only what we are bound to do. But how base are our sloth and ingratitude, who in every action fall so much short of this fervor and duty! How does the blood of the martyrs reproach our lukewarmness!

JUNE 27TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. CRESCENS
Martyred in the Second Century, year unknown

Crescens, a companion of Paul during his second Roman captivity, appears but once in the New Testament, when he is mentioned as having left the Apostle to go into Galatia: “Make haste to come to me quickly”, Paul writes to Timothy, “for Demas hath left me, loving this world, and is gone to Thessalonica, Crescens into Galatia, Titus into Dalmatia” (2 Timothy 4:8-10). All commentators agree in ranking Crescens with Titus rather than with Demas, and in seeing here, therefore, a reference to a missionary journey into Galatia. This term, in New Testament times, might mean either Gaul or the Roman province of Galatia in Asia Minor, where Paul had labored so much; and here it has been interpreted in either sense. In the other passages where it occurs in the New Testament, however, it denotes Galatia, and most probably it would be so understood here by Timothy, especially as the other regions mentioned are likewise to the east of Rome. Moreover, Paul might easily have a reason for sending a disciple to visit his old Churches in Galatia, while there is no proof that he had an active interest in Gaul.

Accordingly, the earliest tradition (Apostolic Constitutions, VII, 46) represents Crescens as a bishop of the Churches in Galatia. Later traditions, on the other hand, locate him as Bishop of Vienne in Gaul, also at Mainz on the Rhine. But the earliest known traditions of Gaul itself record nothing of this disciple of the Apostle as a founder of their Churches, and the belief is thought to have arisen later from the desire of an Apostolic origin. The claims of Vienne have been most strongly urged; but they are based upon the mistaken identification of its first bishop, Crescens, who lived in the third century, with the disciple of Paul. As little can be said for Mainz. The reading of certain manuscripts (Sinaiticus, Ephræmi), which have “Gallia” instead of “Galatia”, has also been advanced in favor of Gaul; but the traditional reading is supported by the great mass of manuscript evidence. Crescens is mentioned as one of the Seventy Apostles of Christ by Pseudo-Dorotheus. His martyrdom in Galatia, under Trajan, commemorated on 27 June by the Roman Martyrology, lacks the confirmation of older Martyrologies.

JUNE 28TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. IRENAEUS
Martyred in the Third Century, around 202

This saint is himself our voucher that he was born near the times of Domitian, consequently not at the close, but in the beginning of Adrian’s reign, about the year 120. He was a Grecian, probably a native of Lesser Asia. His parents who were Christians, placed him under the care of the great St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. It was in so holy a school, that he learned that sacred science which rendered him afterwards a great ornament of the Church in the days of her splendor, and the terror of her enemies. St. Polycarp cultivated his rising genius, and formed his mind to piety by precepts and example; and the zealous scholar was careful to reap all the advantages which were offered him by the happiness of such a master. Such was his veneration for his sanctity, that he observed every action and whatever he saw in that holy man, the better to copy his example, and learn his spirit. He listened to his instructions with an insatiable ardor, and so deeply did he engrave them in his heart, that the impressions remained most lively even to his old age, as he declares in his letter to Florinus, quoted by Eusebius.

St. Jerome informs us, that St. Irenæus was also a scholar of Papias, another disciple of the apostles. In order to confute the heresies of that age which, in the three first centuries, were generally a confused medley drawn from the most extravagant systems of the heathens and their philosophers, joined with Christianity, this father studied diligently the mythology of the Pagans, and made himself acquainted with the most absurd conceits of their philosophers, by which means he was qualified to trace up every error to its source, and set it in its full light. On this account he is styled by Tertullian, “The most diligent searcher of all doctrines.” St. Jerome often appeals to his authority. Eusebius commends his exactness. St. Epiphanius calls him “A most learned and eloquent man, endowed with all the gifts of the Holy Ghost.” Theodoret styles him, “The light of the western Gauls.”

The great commerce between Marseilles and the ports of Lesser Asia, especially Smyrna, made the intercourse between those places very open. The faith of Christ was propagated in that part of Gaul in the times of the apostles; and from thence soon reached Vienne and Lyons, this latter town being then by the advantage of the Rhone no less famous a mart than it is at this day. While the desire of wealth encouraged many to hazard their persons, amidst the dangers of the seas and robbers, in the way of trade, a zeal for the divine honor and the salvation of souls was a more noble and more powerful motive with others to face every danger and surmount every difficulty for so glorious an achievement.

Among the Greeks and Orientals, whom we find crowned with martyrdom with others at Lyons and Vienne, several doubtless had travelled into those parts with a view only to carry thither the light of the gospel. St. Gregory of Tours informs us, that St. Polycarp himself sent St. Irenæus into Gaul, perhaps in company with some priest. He was himself ordained priest of the church of Lyons by St. Pothinus; and in 177, he was sent deputy, in the name of that church, to Pope Eleutherius to entreat him not to cut off from the communion of the Church the Orientals, on account of their difference about the celebration of Easter, as Eusebius and St. Jerome take notice.

The multitude and zeal of the faithful at Lyons stirred up the rage of the heathens, and gave occasion to a tumultuary and most bloody persecution, of which an account has been given for June 2nd. St. Irenæus gave great proofs of his zeal in those times of trial; but survived the storm, during the first part of which he had been absent in his journey to Rome. St. Pothinus having glorified God by his happy death in the year 177, our saint upon his return was chosen the second bishop of Lyons, in the heat of the persecution. By his preaching, he in a short time converted almost that whole country to the faith, as St. Gregory of Tours testifies. Eusebius tells us that he governed the churches of Gaul; but the faith was not generally planted in the more remote provinces from Marseilles and Lyons before the arrival of St. Dionysius and his companions in the following century.

Commodus succeeding his father Marcus Aurelius in the empire in 180, though an effeminate debauched prince, restored peace to the Church. But it was disturbed by an execrable spawn of heresies, particularly of the Gnostics and Valentinians. St. Irenæus wrote chiefly against these last, his five books against heresies. The original Greek text of this work was most elegant, as St. Jerome testifies. But, except some few Greek passages which have been preserved, only a Latin translation is extant, in which the style is embarrassed, diffusive, and unpolished. It seems to have been made in the life-time of St. Irenæus, and to be the same that was made use of by Tertullian, as Dom Massuet shows. This Valentinus was a good scholar, and preached with applause, first in Egypt, and afterwards at Rome. We learn from Tertullian, that he fell by pride and jealousy, because another was preferred before him in an election to a bishopric in Egypt. He first broached his heresy in Cyprus, but afterwards propagated it in Italy and Gaul.

When Florinus who had been his fellow-disciple under St. Polycarp, and was afterwards a priest of the Church of Rome, blasphemously affirmed that God is the author of sin, and was on that account deposed from the priesthood, St. Irenæus wrote him a letter entitled, “On the Monarchy or Unity of God, and that God is not the author of sin,” which is now lost. Eusebius quotes from it a passage in which the holy father in the most tender manner reminds him with what horror their common master St. Polycarp, had he been living, would have heard such impieties. Florinus was by this letter reclaimed from his error, but being of a turbulent proud spirit, he soon after fell into the Valentinian heresy. On which occasion St. Irenæus wrote his Ogdoade, or Confutation of Valentinus’s eight principal Æônes, by whom that heresiarch pretended that the world was created and governed. In the end of this book, the saint added the following adjuration, preserved by Eusebius: “I conjure you who transcribe this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by his glorious coming to judge the living and the dead, that you diligently compare your copy, and correct it by the original.”

By this precaution, we may judge of the extreme care of the Fathers of the Church in this respect, and how great their abhorrence was of the impudent practice of some heretics in adulterating writings. One Blastus, a priest at Rome, formed a schism, by keeping Easter on the 14th day of the first moon, and to this schism added heresy, teaching this to be a divine precept. He was deposed from the priesthood, and St. Irenæus wrote against him his treatise on schism. The dispute about Easter being renewed, Pope Victor threatened to excommunicate the Asiatics; but was prevailed upon to tolerate for some time that practice of discipline by a letter of St. Irenæus, who entreated and advised that, considering the circumstances, a difference of practice might be allowed, in like manner, as the faithful did not all observe in the same manner the fast of Superposition, or of one or more days without taking any sustenance in holy week, but some kept it of one, others of two, others of more days. Thus the pope’s severity prevented these false teachers who pretended the legal ceremonies to be of precept, from drawing any advantage from this practice of the Orientals; and the moderation of St. Irenæus preserved some from a temptation of sinning by obstinacy and disobedience, till a uniformity in that important point of discipline could be more easily established.

The peace which the Church at that time enjoyed, afforded our saint leisure to exert his zeal, and employ his pen to great advantage. Commodus began his reign with extraordinary moderation; and though he afterwards sunk into debauchery and cruelty, yet he never persecuted the Christians. He was poisoned and strangled in 192, being thirty-one years old, of which he had reigned twelve.

Pertinax, an old man, was made emperor by compulsion, but reigned only eighty-seven days, always trembling for his own safety. Being esteemed too frugal and rigorous, he was slain; and the prætorian guards, who had often made and unmade emperors at pleasure, whom the never-gainsaying senate confirmed, on that occasion debased to the last degree the dignity of the Roman empire by exposing it to sale by public auction.

Didius Julianus and Sulpicianus having several times outbid each other, when the latter had offered five thousand drachms, Julianus at once rose to six thousand two hundred and fifty drachms, which he promised to give every soldier; for which price he carried the empire. The senate confirmed the election, but the purchaser being embarrassed to find money to acquit himself of his engagement, was murdered sixty-six days after; having dearly bought the honor of wearing the purple, and of having his name placed among the emperors.

Severus was next advanced to the throne by a part of the troops, and acknowledged emperor by the senate. Niger and Albinus were proclaimed by different armies; but Severus defeated the first by his generals in 194, and the latter himself near Lyons in Gaul, in 197.

The Christians had no share in these public broils. Tertullian at that time much extols the fidelity of the Christians to their princes, and says, none of them were ever found in armies of rebels, and particularly, that none of them were ever engaged in the party, either of Niger or of Albinus. It is evident from the whole series of the history of the Roman emperors, that the people, from the days of Augustus, never looked upon that dignity as strictly hereditary. The confirmation of the senate in the name of the whole Roman people, seems to have been regarded as the solemn act of the state, by which the emperor was legally invested with that supreme dignity; on this account the Christians everywhere acknowledged and faithfully obeyed Severus. He had also other obligations to them. Tertullian tells us, that a Christian, called Proculus, cured him of a certain distemper, for which benefit the emperor was for some time favorable to the Christians, and kept Proculus as long as he lived in his palace.

This Proculus was the steward of Euhodus, who was a freed man of the emperor Severus, and by him appointed to educate his son Caracalla. Tertullian mentions this cure as miraculous, and joins it to the history of devils cast out. This cure is confirmed by pagan writers. Yet the clamors of the heathens at length moved this ungrateful emperor, who was naturally inclined to severity, to raise the fifth persecution against the Church; for he was haughty, cruel, stubborn, and unrelenting. He published his bloody edicts against the Christians about the tenth year of his reign, of Christ 202.

Having formerly been governor of Lyons, and eye-witness to the nourishing state of that church, he seems to have given particular instructions that the Christians there should be proceeded against with extraordinary severity; unless this persecution was owing to the fury of the particular magistrates and of the mob. For the general massacre of the Christians at Lyons seems to have been attended with a popular commotion of the whole country against them, whilst the pagans were celebrating the decennial games in honor of Severus. It seems to have been stirred up, because the Christians refused to join the idolaters in their sacrifices. Whence Tertullian says in his Apology: “Is it thus that your public rejoicings are consecrated by public infamy?”

Ado, in his chronicle, says, St. Irenæus suffered martyrdom with an exceeding great multitude. An ancient epitaph, in leonine verses, inscribed on a curious mosaic pavement in the great church of St. Irenæus at Lyons, says, the martyrs who died with him amounted to the number of nineteen thousand. St. Gregory of Tours writes, that St. Irenæus had in a short time converted to the faith almost the whole city of Lyons; and that with him were butchered almost all the Christians of that populous town; insomuch, that the streets ran with streams of blood.

Most place the martyrdom of these saints in 202, the beginning of the persecution, though some defer it to the year 208, when Severus passed through Lyons in his expedition into Britain. The precious remains of St. Irenæus were buried by his priest Zachary, between the bodies of the holy martyrs Saints Epipodius and Alexander. They were kept with honor in the subterraneous chapel in the church of St. John, till in 1562, they were scattered by the Calvinists, and a great part thrown into the river. The head they kicked about in the streets, then cast it into a little brook; but it was found by a Catholic and restored to St. John’s church. The Greeks honour his memory on the 23rd of August; the Latins on the 28th of June. The former say he was beheaded.

It was not for want of strength or courage, that the primitive Christians sat still and suffered the most grievous torments, insults, and death; but from a principle of religion which taught them the interest of faith does not exempt men from the duty which they owe to the civil authority of government, and they rather chose to be killed than to sin against God, as Tertullian often takes notice. Writing at this very time, he tells the Pagans, that the Maurs, Marcomans, and Parthians, were not so numerous as the Christians, who knew no other bounds than the limits of the world. “We are but of yesterday,” says he, “and by to-day we are grown up, and overspread your empire; your cities, your islands, your forts, towns, assemblies, and your very camps, wards, companies, palace, senate, forum, all swarm with Christians. Your temples are the only places which you can find without Christians. What war are not we equal to? And supposing us unequal in strength, yet considering our usage, what should we not attempt? we whom you see so ready to meet death in all its forms of cruelty. Were the numerous hosts of Christians but to retire from the empire, the loss of so many men of all ranks would leave a hideous gap, and the very evacuation would be abundant revenge. You would stand aghast at your desolation, and be struck dumb at the general silence and horror of nature, as if the whole world was departed.”

He writes that the Christians not only suffered with patience and joy every persecution and insult, but loved and prayed for their enemies, and by their prayers protected the state, and often delivered the persecutors from many dangers of soul and body, and from the incursions of their invisible enemies the devils.

He says: “When we come to the public service of God, we come as it were in a formidable body to do violence to him, and to storm heaven by prayer; and this violence is most grateful to God. When this holy army of supplicants is met, we all send up our prayers for the life of the emperors, for their ministers, for magistrates, for the good of the state, and for the peace of the empire.”

And in another place: “To this Almighty Maker and Disposer of all things it is, that we Christians offer up our prayers, with eyes lifted up to heaven; and without a prompter, we pray with our hearts rather than with our tongues; and in all our prayers are ever mindful of all our emperors and kings wheresoever we live, beseeching God for every one of them, that he would bless them with length of days, and a quiet reign, a well-established family, a valiant army, a faithful senate, an honest people, and a peaceful world, with whatever else either prince or people can wish for. Thus while we are stretching forth our hands to God, let your tormenting irons harrow our flesh, let your gibbets exalt us, or your fires consume our bodies, or let your swords cut off our heads, or your beasts tread us to the earth. For a Christian, upon his knees to his God, is in a posture of defence against all the evils you can crowd upon him. Consider this, O you impartial judges, and go on with your justice; rack out the soul of a Christian, which is pouring out herself to God for the life of the emperor.”

He says, indeed, that there are some Christians, who do not live up to their profession; but then they have not the reputation of Christians among those who are truly such; and no Christian had then ever been guilty of rebellion; though even philosophers among the heathens were often stained with that and other crimes. Hippias was killed whilst he was engaged in arms against his country; whereas no Christian had ever recourse to arms or violence, even for the deliverance of his brethren, though under the most provoking and barbarous usage.

JUNE 29TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PETER THE APOSTLE
Martyred in the First Century, around 67

The final years of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome are shrouded in uncertainties. The last historical Scriptural reference to Peter has him at the Council of Jerusalem, where he is seen supporting Paul’s mission to the Gentiles (Acts 15). The last reference we have of St. Paul, puts him at Rome awaiting trial before the emperor (Acts 28).

That both men were martyred there, most probably in the persecution of the emperor Nero, is accepted by most historians and church tradition. Twentieth-century archeology strongly strengthens this by identifying the places where each died and where each is buried. In addition to that, there is a wealth of material, passed down through the ages, which appeared in the years after the apostles died, that corroborates this..

The best known appears in the so-called work, the ”Acts of Peter”, a third-century work that records that, when the Neronian persecution began, Peter’s friends entreated the Apostle to save his life by leaving the city. Peter at last consented, but on condition that he should go away alone. So Peter prepared to flee the city rather than face crucifixion with other Christians in the Hippodrome. However, as he was leaving Rome through the southern gate that led out onto the Appian Way, he saw Christ coming into Rome through the same gate. Falling down in adoration, Peter says to Him: ”Quo vadis, Domine?” which means, ”Where are you going, Lord?”Jesus, in what became known as the Quo Vadis Legend, replies. ”To Rome, to be crucified again.” Peter then says to Him ”Lord, do you want to be crucified again?” And the Lord said to him ”Yes, I will again be crucified.” Peter said to Him ”Lord, I will return and will follow Thee.” And at these words the Lord ascended into Heaven.

Peter, coming to his senses, then understood that it was of his own (Peter’s) passion that Our Lord had been speaking, and that Our Lord would suffer with him. For, as St. Paul explains, when we suffer anything, we are making up for or filling up the sufferings that Christ did not have time to suffer during His brief spell on earth: ”…fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1:24). The Apostle Peter, once again humiliated, thinks again, turns, and goes back to the city with joy to meet the death which the Lord had signified that he should die. Peter, at his own request, he is crucified upside down, feeling himself unworthy of being crucified in the same way as his Master.

Some Protestants even accept the story to be true. Regarding the authenticity of the story, the Protestant scholar Edmundson, in The Church in Rome in the First Century, says, ”That it contains a story that is authentic in the sense of being based on events that really occurred is not improbable. The Peter described here is the Peter of the Gospels.” Another Protestant, J.B. Lightfoot in his Ordination Addresses and Counsel to Clergy defended the authenticity of the story: “Why should we not believe it true? ... because it is so subtly true to character and because it is so eminently profound in its significance, we are led to assign to this tradition a weight which the external testimony in its favor would hardly warrant.”

What can we learn from this encounter? Well, the first thing that comes to mind are the words of God, spoken through Isaias, His Prophet: ”For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). Peter’s way was not the Lord’s way—neither in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter tried to draw the sword and fight his way out of the trouble they were in; nor was Peter’s way the Lord’s way, when Peter said that he would not let Our Lord suffer, for which comment he received the rebuke of Our Lord: ”Go behind Me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men” (Matthew 16:23). After His Resurrection, Our Lord foretold to Peter his future martyrdom, saying: ”When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not” (John 21:18).

Usually, when we speak to God about something happening in our live, we say something like: ”Lord, be with me. Lord, go with me. Lord, help me with [ …fill in the blank].” We rarely say, ”Lord, where are You going? I want to go with You. Take my hand and lead me where You want me to go.” Perhaps we need to write or type the words ”Domine, quo vadis?” on a little piece of paper and tape it to our desk, kitchen counter, fridge, car dashboard, or anywhere and everywhere that we might be reminded that God’s ways are not our ways, and that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Then, every time we see that those words, we can say: ”Where are You going today, Lord? I want to go with you.”

The New Testament only records the death of the Apostle St. James, so most other knowledge of the deaths of the other Apostles and disciples relies on tradition. As for St. Peter’s death, there are various accounts and stories that might shed some light upon his martyrdom. Traditionally, the year of his martyrdom was thought to be 67 AD. Recent research, conducted from 1963 to 1968, under the direction of Margherita Guarducci, believes the death of St. Peter to have occurred in 64 AD, on October 13th, during the festivities of the ”dies imperii” – the imperial anniversary day of Emperor Nero. These festivities are known to have taken place three months after the disastrous fire that destroyed the city of Rome. Emperor Nero blamed the fire on the Christians. The dies imperii took placed exactly ten years after Nero came to the throne and was accompanied by much bloodshed.

The ancient historian Flavius Josephus describes ways the Roman soldiers amused themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions. The position attributed to the crucifixion of St. Peter is plausible on account of the Roman tendency to improvise their tortures—tradition says St. Peter requested not to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus, as he was not worthy to die in the same way as his Lord. So the Roman soldiers crucified him upside down.

More gruesome details concerning the martyrdom of St. Peter have circulated for ages; including that it took Peter three days to die upside down. Death in the ordinary position of crucifixion is thought to cause suffocation in certain positions (though modern research disputes this), but one does not suffocate when hanging upside down. There are stories that the soldiers attempted to burn St. Peter, while he was crucified on his cross, but this failed, and he did not die from the burns. After three days he is said to have been beheaded while hanging upside down.

Pope Clement of Rome, in his Letter to the Corinthians (chapter 5), wrote, ”Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death… Peter, through unjust envy, endured, not one, or two but many labors, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him.”

St. Peter's place of execution is believed to be in the Neronian Gardens (now located in the Vatican City) where, generally, the gruesome scenes of the Neronian persecutions took place. The historian Eusebius, a contemporary of the emperor Constantine, wrote that St. Peter ”came to Rome, and was crucified with his head downwards,” though he attributes this information to the much earlier theologian, Origen, who died around 254 AD.

Peter’s place and manner of death are also mentioned by Tertullian (c. 160-220) in Scorpiace, where the death is said to take place during the Christian persecutions by Nero. Tacitus (56-117) describes the persecution of Christians in his Annals, though he does not specifically mention Peter. ”They were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt.” Furthermore, Tertullian says these events took place in the imperial gardens, near the Circus of Nero. No other area would have been available for public persecutions, after the Great Fire of Rome destroyed the Circus Maximus and most of the rest of the city in the year 64 AD.

This account is supported by other sources. In The Passion of Peter and Paul, dating to the fifth century, the crucifixion of Peter is recounted. Then it adds, ”Holy men ... took down his body secretly and put it under the terebinth tree near the Naumachia, in the place which is called the Vatican.” The place called Naumachia would be an artificial lake within the Circus of Nero, where naval battles were reenacted for an audience. The place called “Vatican” was, at the time, a hill next to the complex and also next to the Tiber River, featuring a cemetery of both Christian and pagan tombs.

Catholic tradition holds that Peter's inverted crucifixion occurred at the spot now occupied by the Clementine Chapel in the grottoes of Saint Peter's Basilica, with the burial in Saint Peter's tomb nearby.

In the 1960s, excavations beneath St Peter's Basilica were re-examined, and the bones of a male person were identified. A forensic examination found them to be a male of about 61 years of age from the 1st century. This caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce them most likely to be the relics of Apostle Peter. On November 24, 2013, Pope Francis revealed these relics of nine bone fragments for the first time in public during a Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square.

Saint Peter’s tomb is a site under St. Peter’s Basilica that includes several graves and a structure said by Vatican authorities to have been built to memorialize the location of St. Peter’s grave. St. Peter’s tomb is near the west end of a complex of mausoleums that date between about 130 AD and 300 AD. The complex was partially torn down and filled with earth to provide a foundation for the building of the first St. Peter’s Basilica during the reign of Constantine I in about 330 AD. Though many bones have been found at the site of the 2nd-century shrine, as the result of two campaigns of archaeological excavation, Pope Pius XII stated in December, 1950, that none could be confirmed to be Saint Peter’s with absolute certainty. However, following the discovery of further bones and an inscription, on June 26, 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St. Peter had been identified.

As St. Paul was executed on the same day (most likely by beheading) it is believed the two Apostles lay in the same grave for a period of time. Remains of both were said to have been moved to where the Church of St. Sebastian now stands, as a means of protecting them during the Valerian persecutions of 258 AD. Both remains were later restored to their former resting places before Constantine the Great erected the Basilica, over the grave of St. Peter, at the foot of the Vatican Hill. Today, the bones of St. Peter are enshrined beneath the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica.

JUNE 30TH
The Martyr of the Day
ST. PAUL OF TARSUS
Martyred in the First Century, around 67

The Catholic Church has always been marked by men and women of distinction. St. Augustine (d. 430) stands out for his great conversion. St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) left her legacy by her profound spirituality. St. Robert Bellarmine (d. 1621) established himself because of his towering intellect. St. Therese Lisieux (d. 1897) is renowned for her genuine piety. Countless others, known to God alone, can be grouped with these Church faithful. One eminent member, possessing the above characteristics, was St. Paul the Apostle. The New Testament serves as the primary source document for an examination of his life.

St. Paul (died AD 67/68) was born in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia (cf. Acts 22:3), a provincial capital under Hellenistic (Greek) influence. Tarsus was a noteworthy locale; a place of culture and learning. As a Tarsusian, the Apostle could claim citizenship from Tarsus and from Rome. This dual citizenship was a useful tool, later employed by St. Paul when he defended himself before the authorities as a Christian “troublemaker” (cf. Acts 16:35-39).

It is not surprising that the Apostle’s upbringing fostered both learning and piety (cf. Acts 26:4). By age five, Paul would have started learning Hebrew and studying the Old Testament. It is probable that the future Apostle spoke the Aramaic dialect in his household. As well, because of the Hellenistic background of Tarsus, St. Paul may have picked up the Greek language. Sacred Scripture affirms the Apostle’s use of the Hebrew and Greek tongues (cf. Acts 21:37-40).

Paul or Saul?
St. Paul was known by two names: his Jewish name “Saul” (cf. Acts 7:58), which can be translated “asked of Yahweh,” and the Roman name “Paulus,” rendered simply as “Paul” (cf. Titus 1:1). Holding two names was a common practice among the Diaspora; those Jews who lived outside Palestine (cf. 1 Peter 1:1). Even today, the affixing of a “first” and “middle” name appears to echo this ancient practice.

The Apostle was a descendent from the tribe of Benjamin (cf. Phil. 3:5), one of the famous “Twelve Tribes of Israel” (cf. Genesis 49:1-28). This particular tribe brought forth King Saul; the first king of that chosen nation (cf. 1 Kings 10:17—11:15). The Benjaminite tribe held favor with God (cf. Deuteronony 33:12), a point of pride for St. Paul during his evangelization efforts (cf. Romans 11:1).

Having lived a strict life as a Pharisee (cf. Acts 26:5), St. Paul stated that he had kept “the Law” to a great degree of perfection and enthusiasm (cf. Galatians 1:14). This Pharisaical life was nurtured by his teacher, Rabbi Gamaliel, considered the greatest master of his day. This teacher may have been the same Gamaliel who stood before the Sanhedrin and asked for tolerance on behalf of the Christians (cf. Acts 5:33-40).

During St. Paul’s life, the Apostle practiced the skill of tent-making (cf. Acts 18:3), a trade he utilized in his missionary efforts as a means of financial support (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:12). Fittingly, St. Paul placed a strong emphasis on honest manual labor (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12), as well as the proper use of one’s time (Ephesians 5:15-16).

St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity is one of the most decisive landmarks in history. Acts 9:1-9 records this monumental event during the Apostle’s travel to Damascus; a story recounted on two other occasions (cf. Acts 22:3-10; 26:12-18). St. Paul heard the actual voice of the Lord Jesus Christ; an encounter with a lasting influence. The Savior’s words concerning His relationship to the Church, recorded in Acts 9:4 (“Why do you persecute Me?”), is a theme St. Paul would expound in the future: the doctrine of the “Mystical Body of Christ” (cf. Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-30).

Arrival in Rome
Around 61 A.D. Paul arrived in Rome to undergo judgment. He had been imprisoned in Rome after being accused by some Jews of having brought Gentiles into the Temple. Paul’s first gesture in the capital city of the Empire and also his last words, documented in the Acts of the Apostles, were aimed at launching – once more – an appeal to the Jews. He did so in the same manner as in his earlier Letter to the Romans:

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek” (Romans 1:16). In this way, at the conclusion of his mission, the man whom the Lord had chosen as Apostle to the Nations did not want to forget even the ”least brothers of mine” (Matthew 25:40), ”for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains” (Acts 28:20).

He launched his final and vibrant appeal to the “conversion” of his people, to the radical change of life he had come to know. In Christ, God’s Covenant is now open to all people. His final words did not mean the end of Paul, for on the contrary, Christianity and the Good News spread to all the ends of the earth due to his great witness to the Risen One, in whose image Paul became a ”Light of the Nations” (Isaias 49:6; Acts 13:47).

First Trial—Acquittal—Second Trial—Death
He appealed to Caesar on the grounds of being a Roman citizen, and as a result was allowed to remain in Rome to be tried instead of being sent to Jerusalem. His trial is assumed to have ended in his acquittal sometime around 65 after being held for several years, at which point it seems he went to Macedonia. Upon his return to Rome, under the Emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians, whom he had blamed for the destructive fire of Rome, Paul was arrested once again, imprisoned, tortured severely and ordered to have his head cut off.. Because he was a Roman citizen, he received a different punishment than some other criminals of the time (who were often crucified), and was beheaded between 66-68 AD at Aquae Salviae, which is now known as Tre Fontane.

Account of Paul’s Martyrdom
It is commonly thought that Peter and Paul were executed on the same day. Paul’s martyrdom is recounted for the first time in the apocryphal Acts of Paul, written towards the end of the second century. They say that Nero condemned him to death by beheading, an order which was carried out immediately (cf. 9: 5). The date of his death already varies in the ancient sources which set it between the persecution unleashed by Nero himself after the burning of Rome in July 64 and the last year of his reign, that is, the year 68 (cf. Jerome, De viris ill. 5, 8).

One version of his martyrdom states that it occurred at the Acquae Salviae, on the Via Laurentina, and that after he was beheaded, his head bounced three times, giving rise to a source of water each time that it touched the ground, which is why, to this day, the place is called the ”Tre Fontane” [three fountains] (Acts of Peter and Paul by the Pseudo-Marcellus, fifth century).

Another account, which is in harmony with the ancient account of the priest Gaius and Christian tradition, adds the fact that Paul’s body was buried two miles away from the place of his martyrdom, in a vineyard, in the sepulchral area along the Ostian Way, which was part of a pre-existent burial place, owned by a Roman Christian, named Lucina, who was also a devout Christian. The ancient account states that his burial not only took place ”outside the city... at the second mile on the Ostian Way”, but more precisely ”on the estate of Lucina”, who was a Christian matron (Passion of Paul by the Pseudo-Abdias, fourth century). Even though he was a Christian, it was possible to bury the Apostle Paul in a Roman necropolis, due to his Roman citizenship.

Another account says that while St. Paul was passing along with the executioner, he met a damsel who was a kinswoman of the Emperor Nero, and who had believed through him. She walked along with St. Paul, weeping, to where they carried out the sentence. He comforted her and asked her for her veil. He wrapped his head with the veil, and asked her to return back. The executioner cut off his head and left it wrapped in the veil of the young girl, and that was in the year 67 A.D. The young girl met the executioner on his way back to the Emperor, and asked him about Paul and he replied, ”He is lying where I left him and his head is wrapped in your veil.” She told him, ”You are lying, for he and Peter have just passed by me, they were arrayed in the apparel of kings, and had crowns decorated with jewels on their heads, and they gave me my veil, and here it is.” She showed it to the executioner, and to those who were with him. They marveled, and believed in the Lord Christ and were converted to the Faith.

Shrine to St. Paul
Shortly thereafter, his tomb would become a place of worship and veneration. Upon it was erected a cella memoriae or tropaeum, namely a memorial, where during the first centuries of persecution many of the faithful and pilgrims would go to pray, drawing the strength necessary to carry out the work of evangelization of this great missionary.

The shrine grew and grew, before the Emperor Constantine, who had ended the persecution of Christians and allowed a freedom of worship, built a first church, which was consecrated as a basilica in 324. Then, between the fourth and fifth centuries it was considerably enlarged by the Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius and Arcadius. The present-day Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls was built in the 19th century, after a fire destroyed it in 1800.

THE TOMB OF ST. PAUL

The Marble Tombstone
Around 5 feet below the present Papal Altar lies a marble tombstone (7 feet x 4 feet), bearing the Latin inscription PAULO APOSTOLO MART (Paul Apostle Martyr). It is composed of various pieces. On the piece where PAULO is written there are three holes, a round and two square ones. Linen cloths can be pushed through the holes, so as to touch whatever remains are in the sacrophagus. In ancient times, these holes would be used for the pouring of perfumes into the sacrophagus.

The Sarcophagus or Body Encasement
The tombstone is above a massive sarcophagus, measuring over 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 3 feet high, that the “Altars of Confession” were later placed. During recent work in the Basilica, a large window-like opening was made just below the Papal Altar, in order to allow the faithful to see the Apostle’s tomb.

Vatican archaeologists uncovered the tomb in 2006 in a crypt under the basilica and said, in view of the fact that this tomb was positioned exactly underneath the epigraph 'Paulo Apostolo Mart.' (Paul the Apostle and Martyr), at the base of the cathedral's main altar, was sufficient and conclusive proof that it was the apostle's sarcophagus.

Conclusion
St. Paul’s influence on Christianity is immeasurable. His tireless work as a missionary to spread the Gospel, and his writing of a sizeable portion of the New Testament, will be examined in the future. No doubt, the faithful can appreciate the greatness of this inspired Apostle, God’s chosen vessel in the fledgling years or infancy of the Catholic Church.

The figure of St Paul towers far above his earthly life and his death; in fact, he left us an extraordinary spiritual heritage. He too, as a true disciple of Christ, became a sign of contradiction. Like so many other martyrs, he received a gradual preparation in ever-increasing suffering throughout his life. The Acts of the Apostles tell us of the many sufferings that God had prepared for Paul—for God had told Ananias: ”This man is to Me a vessel of election, to carry My name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake” (Acts 9:15-16). St. Paul, himself, gives us a tiny peephole into some of many great sufferings God’s Providence had shown him at that point in time:

Comparing himself to the Apostles, St. Paul says: ”They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I. They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise). I am more: in many more labors; in prisons more frequently; in stripes above measure; in deaths often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods; once I was stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils from my own nation; in perils from the Gentiles; in perils in the city; in perils in the wilderness; in perils in the sea; in perils from false brethren. In labor and painfulness; in much watchings; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness. Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:22-28).

This is what Our Lord means by the cross, that He expects us take up daily in our quest for Heaven: ”If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). ”He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:37-39).