You are listening to Hovel Audio's production of Fox's Book of Martyrs by
John Fox, edited by William Byron Forbush.
This book is read by Nadia May.
This book is 283 pages long and is divided into 23 chapters.
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Fox's Book of Martyrs.
Chapter 1.
History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions.
Under Nero.
Christ, our Saviour, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, hearing the confession of Simon
Peter, who, first of all, other, openly acknowledged him to be the Son of
God, and perceiving the secret hand of his father therein, called him, alluding to
his name, a rock, upon which rock he would build his church, so strong that the gates
of hell should not prevail against it.
In which words three things are to be noted.
First, that Christ will have a church in this world.
Secondly, that the same church should mightily be impugned, not only by the
world, but also by the uttermost strength and powers of all hell.
And thirdly, that the same church, notwithstanding the uttermost of the devil
and all his malice, should continue.
Which prophecy of Christ we see wonderfully to be verified, insomuch that
the whole course of the church to this day may seem nothing else but a verifying of
the said prophecy.
First, that Christ hath set up a church, needeth no declaration.
Secondly, what force of princes, kings, monarchs, governors and rulers of
this world, with their subjects publicly and privately, with all their strength and
cunning, have bent themselves against this church.
And thirdly, how the said church, all this notwithstanding, hath yet endured
and holden its own.
What storms and tempests it hath overpassed, wondrous it is to behold.
For the more evident declaration whereof, I have addressed this present history.
To the end, first, that the wonderful works of God in his church might appear to
his glory.
Also, that the continuance and proceedings of the church, from time to time being set
forth, more knowledge and experience may redound thereby to the profit of the
reader and edification of Christian faith.
As it is not our business to enlarge upon our Saviour's history, either before or
after his crucifixion, we shall only find it necessary to remind our readers of the
discomfiture of the Jews by his subsequent resurrection.
Although one apostle had betrayed him, although another had denied him under the
solemn sanction of an oath, and although the rest had forsaken him, unless we may
accept the disciple who was known unto the high priest.
The history of his resurrection gave a new direction to all their hearts,
and after the mission of the Holy Spirit imparted new confidence to their minds.
The powers with which they were endued emboldened them to proclaim his name,
to the confusion of the Jewish rulers and the astonishment of Gentile proselytes.
St. Stephen St. Stephen suffered the next in order.
His death was occasioned by the faithful manner in which he preached the gospel to
the betrayers and murderers of Christ.
To such a degree of madness were they excited that they cast him out of the city
and stoned him to death.
The time when he suffered is generally supposed to have been at the Passover,
which succeeded to that of our Lord's crucifixion, and to the era of his
ascension in the following spring.
Upon this a great persecution was raised against all who professed their belief in
Christ as the Messiah or as a prophet.
We are immediately told by St. Luke that there was a great persecution against the
church which was at Jerusalem, and that they were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles.
About 2,000 Christians, with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons, suffered
martyrdom during the persecution that arose about Stephen.
James the Great The next martyr we meet with, according to St. Luke, in the
History of the Apostles Acts, was James the son of Zebedee, the elder brother of
John and a relative of our Lord, for his mother Salome was cousin German to
the Virgin Mary.
It was not until ten years after the death of Stephen that the second martyrdom took
place, for no sooner had Herod Agrippa been appointed governor of Judea than,
with a view to ingratiate himself with them, he raised a sharp persecution
against the Christians, and determined to make an effectual blow by striking at
their leaders.
The account given us by an eminent primitive writer, Clemens Alexandrinus,
ought not to be overlooked.
But as James was led to the place of martyrdom, his accuser was brought to
repent of his conduct by the apostles' extraordinary courage and undauntedness,
and fell down at his feet to request his pardon, professing himself a Christian,
and resolving that James should not receive the crown of martyrdom alone.
Hence they were both beheaded at the same time.
Thus did the first apostolic martyr cheerfully and resolutely receive that cup
which he had told our Saviour he was ready to drink.
Timon and Parmenas suffered martyrdom about the same time, the one at Philippi
and the other in Macedonia.
These events took place in A.D.
44.
Philip was born at Bethsaida in Galilee, and was first called by the name of
Disciple.
He laboured diligently in Upper Asia, and suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis in
Phrygia.
He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified, A.D.
54.
Matthew, whose occupation was that of a toll-gatherer, was born at Nazareth.
He wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, which was afterwards translated into Greek
by James the Less.
The scene of his labours was Parthia and Ethiopia, in which latter country he
suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd in the city of Nadeba,
A.D.
60.
James the Less is supposed by some to have been the brother of our Lord by a former
wife of Joseph.
This is very doubtful, and accords too much with the Catholic superstition that
Mary never had any other children except our Saviour.
He was elected to the oversight of the Churches of Jerusalem, and was the author
of the epistle ascribed to James in the Sacred Canon.
At the age of 94, he was beat and stoned by the Jews, and finally had his brains
dashed out with a fuller's club.
Matthias, of whom less is known than of most of the other disciples, was elected
to fill the vacant place of Judas.
He was stoned at Jerusalem, and then beheaded.
Andrew was the brother of Peter.
He preached the Gospel to many Asiatic nations.
But on his arrival at Edessa, he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of
which were fixed transversely in the ground, hence the derivation of the term
St. Andrew's Cross.
St. Mark was born of Jewish parents of the tribe of Levi.
He is supposed to have been converted to Christianity by Peter, whom he served as
an amanuensis, and under whose inspection he wrote his Gospel in the Greek language.
Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria at the great solemnity of
Serapis, their idol, ending his life under their merciless hands.
Peter Among many other saints, the blessed apostle Peter was condemned to
death and crucified, as some do right at Rome, albeit some others, and not without
cause, do doubt thereof.
Hegesippus said that Nero sought matter against Peter to put him to death,
which when the people perceived they entreated Peter with much ado that he
would fly the city.
Peter, through their importunity, at length persuaded, prepared himself to
avoid.
But coming to the gate he saw the Lord Christ come to meet him, to whom he,
worshipping, said, Lord, whither dost thou go?
To whom he answered and said, I am come again to be crucified.
By this Peter, perceiving his suffering to be understood, returned into the city.
Jerome saith that he was crucified, his head being down and his feet upward,
himself so requiring, because he was, he said, unworthy to be crucified after
the same form and manner as the Lord was.
Paul Paul the apostle, who was before called Saul, after his great travail and
unspeakable labours in promoting the gospel of Christ, suffered also in this
first persecution under Nero.
Abdias declareth that under his execution Nero sent two of his esquires,
Pherega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death.
They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them that
they might believe, who told them that shortly after they should believe and be
baptised at his sepulchre.
This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution,
where he, after his prayers made, gave his neck to the sword.
Jude, the brother of James, was commonly called Thaddeus.
He was crucified at Edessa, A.D.
72.
Bartholomew preached in several countries, and having translated the gospel of
Matthew into the language of India, he propagated it in that country.
He was at length cruelly beaten, and then crucified by the impatient
idolaters.
Thomas, called Didymus, preached the gospel in Parthia and India, where,
exciting the rage of the pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through
with a spear.
Luke, the evangelist, was the author of the gospel which goes under his name.
He travelled with Paul through various countries, and is supposed to have been
hanged on an olive tree by the idolatrous priests of Greece.
Simon, surnamed Xelotes, preached the gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in
Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, A.D.
74.
John, the beloved disciple, was brother to James the Great.
The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea,
and Thyatira were founded by him.
From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast
into a cauldron of boiling oil.
He escaped, by miracle, without injury.
Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of
Revelation.
Nerva, the successor of Domitian, recalled him.
He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
Barnabas was of Cyprus, but of Jewish descent.
His death is supposed to have taken place about A.D.
73.
And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible
punishments, the church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the
apostles and of men apostolical, and watered plenteously with the blood of
saints.
Chapter 2.
The Ten Primitive Persecutions.
The First Persecution under Nero, A.D.
67 The first persecution of the church took place in the year 67 under Nero,
the sixth emperor of Rome.
This monarch reigned for the space of five years with tolerable credit to himself,
but then gave way to the greatest extravagance of temper and to the most
atrocious barbarities, among other diabolical whims, he ordered that the city
of Rome should be set on fire, which order was executed by his officers,
guards and servants.
While the imperial city was in flames, he went up to the tower of Mycenaeus,
played upon his harp, sung the song of the burning of Troy, and openly declared that
he wished the ruin of all things before his death.
Besides the noble pile called the Circus, many other palaces and houses were
consumed, several thousands perished in the flames, were smothered in the smoke,
or buried beneath the ruins.
This dreadful conflagration continued nine days, when Nero, finding that his conduct
was greatly blamed and a severe odium cast upon him, determined to lay the whole upon
the Christians, at once to excuse himself and have an opportunity of glutting his
sight with new cruelties.
This was the occasion of the first persecution, and the barbarities exercised
on the Christians were such as even excited the commiseration of the Romans
themselves.
Nero even refined upon cruelty and contrived all manner of punishments for
the Christians that the most infernal imagination could design.
In particular, he had some sewed up in the skins of wild beasts and then worried by
dogs until they expired, and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax,
fixed to axel trees, and set on fire in his gardens in order to illuminate them.
This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire, but it rather
increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity.
In the course of it, St. Paul and St. Peter were martyred.
To their names may be added Erastus, Chamberlain of Corinth, Aristarchus,
the Macedonian, and Trophimus, an Ephesian, converted by St. Paul,
and fellow labourer with him Joseph, commonly called Barcibus, and Ananias,
Bishop of Damascus, each of the Seventy.
The Second Persecution under Domitian, A.D.
81 The Emperor Domitian, who was naturally inclined to cruelty, first slew his
brother and then raised the second persecution against the Christians.
In his rage he put to death some of the Roman Senators, some through malice and
others to confiscate their estates.
He then commanded all the lineage of David be put to death.
Among the numerous martyrs that suffered during this persecution was Simeon,
Bishop of Jerusalem, who was crucified, and St. John, who was boiled in oil and
afterwards banished to Patmos.
Flavia, the daughter of a Roman Senator, was likewise banished to Pontus.
And a law was made that no Christian once brought before the tribunal should be
exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion.
A variety of fabricated tales were during this reign composed in order to injure the
Christians.
Such was the infatuation of the pagans that if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes
afflicted any of the Roman provinces, it was laid upon the Christians.
These persecutions among the Christians increased the number of informers,
and many, for the sake of gain, swore away the lives of the innocent.
Another hardship was that when any Christians were brought before the
magistrates, a test oath was proposed, when if they refused to take it,
death was pronounced against them, and if they confessed themselves
Christians, the sentence was the same.
The following were the most remarkable among the numerous martyrs who suffered
during this persecution.
Dionysius the Areopagite was an Athenian by birth, and educated in all the useful
and ornamental literature of Greece.
He then travelled to Egypt to study astronomy, and made very particular
observations on the great and supernatural eclipse which happened at the time of our
Saviour's crucifixion.
The sanctity of his conversation and the purity of his manners recommended him so
strongly to the Christians in general that he was appointed Bishop of Athens.
Nicodemus, a benevolent Christian of some distinction, suffered at Rome during the
rage of Domitian's persecution.
Protasius and Gervasius were martyred at Milan.
Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul and Bishop of Ephesus, where he
zealously governed the Church until A.D.
97.
At this period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called Categogion,
Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them for their
ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people that they fell upon him with
their clubs and beat him in so dreadful a manner that he expired of the bruises two
days later.
The Third Persecution under Trajan, A.D.
108 In the Third Persecution, Pliny II, a man learned and famous, seeing the
lamentable slaughter of Christians and moved therewith to pity, wrote to Trajan
certifying him that there were many thousands of them daily put to death,
of which none did anything contrary to the Roman laws worthy of persecution.
The whole account they gave of their crime or error, whichever it is to be called,
amounted only to this, namely that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet
before daylight and to repeat together a set form of prayer to Christ as a God,
and to bind themselves by an obligation, not indeed to commit wickedness,
but on the contrary never to commit theft, robbery or adultery, never to falsify
their word, never to defraud any man, after which it was their custom to
separate and reassemble to partake in common of a harmless meal.
In this persecution suffered the blessed martyr Ignatius, who is held in famous
reverence among very many.
This Ignatius was appointed to the bishopric of Antioch, next after Peter in
succession.
Some do say that he, being sent from Syria to Rome because he professed Christ,
was given to the wild beasts to be devoured.
It is also said of him that when he passed through Asia, being under the most strict
custody of his keepers, he strengthened and confirmed the churches through all the
cities as he went, both with his exhortations and preaching of the word of
God.
Accordingly, having come to Smyrna, he wrote to the church at Rome,
exhorting them not to use means for his deliverance from martyrdom, lest they
should deprive him of that which he most longed and hoped for.
Now I begin to be a disciple.
I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, so that I may but win
Christ.
Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and
tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body and all the malice of the devil
come upon me.
Be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus.
And even when he was sentenced to be thrown to the beasts, such was the burning
desire that he had to suffer, that he spake, what time he heard the lions
roaring, saying, I am the wheat of Christ, I am going to be ground with the teeth of
wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread.
Trajan being succeeded by Adrian, the latter continued this third
persecution with as much severity as his predecessor.
About this time, Alexander, Bishop of Rome, with his two deacons were martyred,
as were Quirinus and Hernes with their families.
Zenon, a noble Roman man, and about 10,000 other Christians.
In Mount Ararat, many were crucified, crowned with thorns and spears run into
their sides in imitation of Christ's passion.
Eustachius, a brave and successful Roman commander, was by the Emperor ordered to
join in an idolatrous sacrifice to celebrate some of his own victories.
But his faith, being a Christian in his heart, was so much greater than his
vanity, that he nobly refused it.
Enraged at the denial, the ungrateful Emperor forgot the service of this skilful
commander and ordered him and his whole family to be martyred.
At the martyrdom of Faustines and Jovita, brothers and citizens of Bratia,
their torments were so many and their patience so great, that Calloserius,
a pagan beholding them, was struck with admiration and exclaimed in a kind of
ecstasy, Great is the God of the Christians!
for which he was apprehended and suffered a similar fate.
Many other similar cruelties and rigors were exercised against the Christians,
until Quadratus, Bishop of Athens, made a learned apology in their favor
before the Emperor, who happened to be there, and Aristides, a philosopher of the
same city, wrote an elegant epistle, which caused Adrian to relax in his
severities and relent in their favor.
Adrian, dying A.D.
138, was succeeded by Antoninus Pius, one of the most amiable monarchs that ever
reigned and who stayed the persecutions against the Christians.
The Fourth Persecution under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D.
162 Marcus Aurelius followed about the year of our Lord 161, a man of nature more
stern and severe, and although in study of philosophy and in civil government no less
commendable, yet towards the Christians sharp and fierce, by whom was moved the
fourth persecution.
The cruelties used in this persecution were such that many of the spectators
shuddered with horror at the sight and were astonished at the intrepidity of the
sufferers.
Some of the martyrs were obliged to pass, with their already wounded feet,
over thorns, nails, sharp shells, etc., upon their points.
Others were scourged until their sinews and veins lay bare, and after suffering
the most excruciating tortures that could be devised, they were destroyed by the
most terrible deaths.
Germanicus, a young man but a true Christian, being delivered to the wild
beasts on account of his faith, behaved with such astonishing courage that
several pagans became converts to a faith which inspired such fortitude.
Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, hearing that persons were seeking for him,
escaped, but was discovered by a child.
After feasting the guards who apprehended him, he desired an hour in prayer,
which being allowed, he prayed with such fervency that his guards repented that
they had been instrumental in taking him.
He was, however, carried before the proconsul, condemned and burnt in the
marketplace.
The proconsul then urged him, saying, Swear, and I will release thee.
Reproach Christ.
Polycarp answered, Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once
wronged me.
How then shall I blaspheme my king who hath saved me?
At the stake to which he was only tied, but not nailed as usual, as he assured
them he should stand immovable, the flames, on their kindling the faggots,
encircled his body like an arch without touching him.
And the executioner, on seeing this, was ordered to pierce him with a sword,
when so great a quantity of blood flowed out as extinguished the fire.
But his body, at the instigation of the enemies of the gospel, especially Jews,
was ordered to be consumed in the pile, and the request of his friends,
who wished to give it Christian burial, rejected.
They nevertheless collected his bones and as much of his remains as possible,
and caused them to be decently interred.
Metrodorus, a minister who preached boldly, and Pionius, who made some
excellent apologies for the Christian faith, were likewise burnt.
Carpus and Papulus, two worthy Christians, and Agatonica, a pious woman, suffered
martyrdom at Pergamopolis, in Asia.
Felicitatis, an illustrious Roman lady of a considerable family, and the most
shining virtues, was a devout Christian.
She had seven sons, whom she had educated with the most exemplary piety.
Januarius, the eldest, was scourged and pressed to death with weights.
Felix and Philip, the two next, had their brains dashed out with clubs.
Sylvanus, the fourth, was murdered by being thrown from a precipice.
And the three younger sons, Alexander, Vitalis, and Marshal, were beheaded.
The mother was beheaded with the same sword as the three latter.
Justin, the celebrated philosopher, fell a martyr in this persecution.
He was a native of Neapolis, in Samaria, and was born A.D.
103.
Justin was a great lover of truth and a universal scholar.
He investigated the Stoic and Peripatetic philosophy and attempted the Pythagorean.
But the behaviour of one of its professors, disgusting him, he applied
himself to the Platonic, in which he took great delight.
About the year 133, when he was thirty years of age, he became a convert to
Christianity and then, for the first time, perceived the real nature of truth.
He wrote an elegant epistle to the Gentiles and employed his talents in
convincing the Jews of the truth of the Christian rites, spending a great deal of
time travelling until he took up his abode in Rome and fixed his habitation upon the
Viminal Mount.
He kept a public school, taught many who afterwards became great men, and wrote a
treatise to confuse heresies of all kinds.
As the pagans began to treat the Christians with great severity,
Justin wrote his first apology in their favour.
This piece displays great learning and genius, and occasioned the Emperor to
publish an edict in favour of the Christians.
Soon after, he entered into frequent contests with Crescens, a person of a
vicious life and conversation, but a celebrated Cynic philosopher,
and his arguments appeared so powerful, yet disgusting to the Cynic, that he
resolved on, and in the sequel accomplished, his destruction.
The second apology of Justin, upon certain severities, gave Crescens the Cynic an
opportunity of prejudicing the Emperor against the writer of it, upon which
Justin and six of his companions were apprehended.
Being commanded to sacrifice to the pagan idols, they refused and were condemned to
be scourged and then beheaded, which sentence was executed with all
imaginable severity.
Several were beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to the image of Jupiter,
in particular Concordus, a deacon of the city of Spoleto.
Some of the restless northern nations, having risen in arms against Rome,
the Emperor marched to encounter them.
He was, however, drawn into an ambuscade, and dreaded the loss of his whole army.
Enveloped with mountains, surrounded by enemies, and perishing with thirst,
the pagan deities were invoked in vain.
When the men belonging to the Militine, or Thundering Legion, who were all
Christians, were commanded to call upon their god for succour, a miraculous
deliverance immediately ensued, a prodigious quantity of rain fell,
which, being caught by the men and filling their dykes, afforded a sudden and
astonishing relief.
It appears that the storm, which miraculously flashed in the face of the
enemy, so intimidated them, that part deserted to the Roman army, the rest were
defeated, and the revolted provinces entirely recovered.
This affair occasioned the persecution to subside for some time, at least in those
parts immediately under the inspection of the Emperor, but we find that it soon
after raged in France, particularly Lyon, where the tortures to which many of the
Christians were put almost exceed the powers of description.
The principal of these martyrs were Vettius Agathus, a young man, Blandina,
a Christian lady of a weak constitution, Sanctus, a deacon of Vienna, red-hot
plates of brass were placed upon the tenderest parts of his body, Biblius,
a weak woman, once an apostate, Attalus of Pergamos, and Pothinus,
the venerable Bishop of Lyon, who was ninety years of age.
Blandina, on the day when she and the three other champions were first brought
into the amphitheatre, she was suspended on a piece of wood fixed in the ground and
exposed as food for the wild beasts, at which time by her earnest prayers she
encouraged others, but none of the wild beasts would touch her, so that she was
remanded to prison.
When she was again produced for the third and last time, she was accompanied by
Ponticus, a youth of fifteen, and the constancy of their faith so enraged the
multitude that neither the sex of the one nor the youth of the other were respected,
being exposed to all manner of punishments and tortures.
Being strengthened by Blandina, he persevered unto death, and she,
after enduring all the torments heretofore mentioned, was at length slain with a
sword.
When the Christians upon these occasions received martyrdom, they were ornamented
and crowned with garlands of flowers, for which they in heaven received eternal
crowns of glory.
It has been said that the lives of the early Christians consisted of persecution
above ground and prayer below ground.
Their lives are expressed by the Colosseum and the Catacombs.
Beneath Rome are the excavations which we call the Catacombs, which were at once
temples and tombs.
The early Church of Rome might well be called the Church of the Catacombs.
There are some sixty Catacombs near Rome, in which some six hundred miles of
galleries have been traced, and these are not all.
These galleries are about eight feet high, and from three to five feet wide,
containing on either side several rows of long, low, horizontal recesses,
one above the other, like berths in a ship.
In these the dead bodies were placed, and the front closed, either by a single
marble slab or several great tiles laid in mortar.
On these slabs or tiles, epitaphs or symbols are graved or painted.
Both pagans and Christians buried their dead in these Catacombs.
When the Christian graves have been opened, the skeletons tell their own
terrible tale.
Heads are found severed from the body, ribs and shoulder blades are broken,
bones are often calcined from fire.
But despite the awful story of persecution that we may read here, the inscriptions
breathe forth peace and joy and triumph.
Here are a few.
Here lies Marcia, put to rest in a dream of peace.
Lawrence, to his sweetest son, born away of angels.
Victorious in peace and in Christ.
Being called away, he went in peace.
Remember when reading these inscriptions the story the skeletons tell of
persecution, of torture and of fire.
But the full force of these epitaphs is seen when we contrast them with the pagan
epitaphs, such as, Live for the present hour, since we are sure of nothing else.
I lift my hands against the gods who took me away at the age of twenty, though I had
done no harm.
Once I was not, now I am not.
I know nothing about it, and it is no concern of mine.
Traveller, curse me not as you pass, for I am in darkness and cannot answer.
The most frequent Christian symbols on the walls of the Catacombs are the good
shepherd with a lamb on his shoulder, a ship under full sail, harps,
anchors, crowns, vines, and, above all, the fish.
Severus, having been recovered from a severe fit of sickness by a Christian,
became a great favourer of the Christians in general, but the prejudice and fury of
the ignorant multitude prevailing, obsolete laws were put in execution
against the Christians.
The progress of Christianity alarmed the pagans, and they revived the stale calumny
of placing accidental misfortunes to the account of its professors in A.D.
192.
But though persecuting malice raged, yet the gospel shone with resplendent
brightness, and, firm as an impregnable rock, withstood the attacks of its
boisterous enemies with success.
Tertullian, who lived in this age, informs us that if the Christians had
collectively withdrawn themselves from the Roman territories, the empire would have
been greatly depopulated.
Victor, Bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom in the first year of the third century,
A.D.
201.
Leonidas, the father of the celebrated Origen, was beheaded for being a
Christian.
Many of Origen's heroes likewise suffered martyrdom, particularly two brothers named
Plutarchus and Serranus.
Another Serranus, Heron and Heraclides, were beheaded.
Rhaes had boiled pitch poured upon her head and was then burnt, as was Marcella,
her mother.
Portaniana, the sister of Rhaes, was executed in the same manner as Rhaes
had been.
But Basilides, an officer belonging to the army, and ordered to attend her execution,
became her convert.
Basilides, being as an officer required to take a certain oath, refused, saying that
he could not swear by the Roman idols as he was a Christian.
Struck with surprise, the people could not at first believe what they heard,
but he had no sooner confirmed the same than he was dragged before the judge,
committed to prison, and speedily afterward beheaded.
Irenaeus, Bishop of Leon, was born in Greece and received both a conventional
and a Christian education.
It is generally supposed that the account of the persecutions at Leon was written by
himself.
He succeeded the martyr Pothinus as Bishop of Leon and ruled his diocese with great
propriety.
He was a zealous opposer of heresies in general and about A.D.
187 he wrote a celebrated tract against heresy.
Victor, the Bishop of Rome, wanting to impose the keeping of Easter there in
preference to other places, it occasioned some disorders among the Christians.
In particular, Irenaeus wrote him a synodical epistle in the name of the
Gallic churches.
This zeal in favour of Christianity pointed him out as an object of resentment
to the Emperor and in A.D.
202 he was beheaded.
The persecutions, now extending to Africa, many were martyred in that quarter of the
globe, the most particular of whom we shall mention.
Perpetua, a married lady of about twenty-two years, those who suffered with
her were Felicitas, a married lady, big with child at the time of her being
apprehended, and Revocatus, catechumen of Carthage and a slave.
The names of the other prisoners destined to suffer upon this occasion were
Saturninus, Secundulus and Sata.
On the day appointed for their execution they were led to the amphitheatre.
Sata, Saturninus and Revocatus were ordered to run the gauntlet between the
hunters or such as had the care of the wild beasts.
The hunters being drawn up in two ranks, they ran between and were severely lashed
as they passed.
Felicitas and Perpetua were stripped in order to be thrown to a mad bull,
which made his first attack upon Perpetua and stunned her.
He then darted at Felicitas and gored her dreadfully.
But not killing them, the executioner did that office with a sword.
Revocatus and Sata were destroyed by wild beasts.
Saturninus was beheaded and Secundulus died in prison.
These executions were in 205 on the 8th day of March.
Spiratus and twelve others were likewise beheaded as was Andocles in France.
Asclepiades, Bishop of Antioch, suffered many tortures but his life was
spared.
Cecilia, a young lady of good family in Rome, was married to a gentleman named
Valerian.
She converted her husband and brother who were beheaded and the maximus or officer
who led them to execution, becoming their convert, suffered the same fate.
The lady was placed naked in a scalding bath and having continued there a
considerable time, her head was struck off with a sword, A.D.
222.
Callistus, Bishop of Rome, was martyred, A.D.
224, but the manner of his death is not recorded and Urban, Bishop of Rome,
met the same fate, A.D.
232.
The sixth persecution, under Maximinus, A.D.
235.
A.D.
235 was in the time of Maximinus.
In Cappadocia, the president, Seremianus, did all he could to exterminate the
Christians from that province.
The principal persons who perished under this reign were Pontianus, Bishop of Rome,
and Teros, a Grecian, his successor, who gave offence to the government by
collecting the acts of the martyrs, Permacius and Quiritus, Roman senators
with all their families, and many other Christians, Simplicius, senator,
Callipodius, a Christian minister thrown into the Tiber, Marina, a noble and
beautiful virgin, and Hippolytus, a Christian prelate, tied to a wild horse
and dragged until he expired.
During this persecution, raised by Maximinus, numberless Christians were
slain without trial and buried indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes fifty
or sixty being cast into a pit together without the least decency.
The tyrant Maximinus dying, A.D.
238, was succeeded by Gordian, during whose reign, and that of his
successor, Philip, the church was free from persecution for the space of more
than ten years.
But in A.D.
249, a violent persecution broke out in Alexandria at the instigation of a pagan
priest without the knowledge of the emperor.
The seventh persecution, under Decius, A.D.
249.
This was occasioned partly by the hatred he bore to his predecessor, Philip,
who was deemed a Christian, and was partly by his jealousy concerning the amazing
increase of Christianity, for the heathen temples began to be forsaken and the
Christian churches thronged.
These reasons stimulated Decius to attempt the very extirpation of the name of
Christian, and it was unfortunate for the gospel that many errors had about this
time crept into the church.
The Christians were at variance with each other, self-interest divided those whom
social love ought to have united, and the virulence of pride occasioned a
variety of factions.
The heathens in general were ambitious to enforce the imperial decrees upon this
occasion, and looked upon the murder of a Christian as a merit to themselves.
The martyrs upon this occasion were innumerable, but the principle we shall
give some account of.
Fabian, the bishop of Rome, was the first person of eminence who felt the severity
of this persecution.
The deceased emperor Philip, had on account of his integrity, committed his
treasure to the care of this good man.
But Decius, not finding as much as his avarice made him expect, determined to
wreak his vengeance on the good prelate.
He was accordingly seized, and on January 20, A.D.
250, he suffered decapitation.
Julian, a native of Cilicia, as we are informed by St. Chrysostom, was seized
upon for being a Christian.
He was put into a leather bag, together with a number of serpents and
scorpions, and in that condition thrown into the sea.
Peter, a young man, amiable for the superior qualities of his body and mind,
was beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to Venus.
He said, I am astonished you should sacrifice to an infamous woman,
whose debaucheries even your own historians record, and whose life
consisted of such actions as your laws would punish.
No, I shall offer the true God the acceptable sacrifice of praises and
prayers.
Optimus, the proconsul of Asia, on hearing this, ordered the prisoner to
be stretched upon a wheel, by which all his bones were broken, and then he was
sent to be beheaded.
Nicomachus, being brought before the proconsul as a Christian, was ordered to
sacrifice to the pagan idols.
Nicomachus replied, I cannot pay that respect to devils, which is only due to
the Almighty.
This speech so much enraged the proconsul that Nicomachus was put to the rack.
After enduring the torments for a time, he recanted, but scarcely had he given
this proof of his frailty, that he fell into the greatest agonies, dropped down on
the ground, and expired immediately.
Denisa, a young woman of only sixteen years of age, who beheld this terrible
judgment, suddenly exclaimed, O unhappy wretch, why would you buy a moment's ease
at the expense of a miserable eternity?
Optimus, hearing this, called to her, and Denisa, avowing herself to be a
Christian, she was beheaded by his order soon after.
Andrew and Paul, two companions of Nicomachus the martyr, A.D.
251, suffered martyrdom by stoning, and expired, calling on their blessed
Redeemer.
Alexander and Epimachus of Alexandria were apprehended for being Christians,
and, confessing the accusation, were beat with staves, torn with hooks,
and at length burnt in the fire.
And we are informed in a fragment preserved by Eusebius, that four female
martyrs suffered on the same day and at the same place, but not in the same
manner, for these were beheaded.
Lucian and Martian, two wicked pagans, those skilful magicians, becoming converts
to Christianity to make amends for their former errors, lived the lives of hermits,
and subsisted upon bread and water only.
After some time spent in this manner, they became zealous preachers,
and made many converts.
The persecution, however, raging at this time, they were seized upon and carried
before Sabinus, the governor of Bithynia.
On being asked by what authority they took upon themselves to preach, Lucian
answered, that the laws of charity and humanity obliged all men to endeavour the
conversion of their neighbours, and to do everything in their power to
rescue them from the snares of the devil.
Lucian, having answered in this manner, Martian said, their conversion was by the
same grace which was given to St. Paul, who, from a zealous persecutor of the
church, became a preacher of the gospel.
The proconsul, finding that he could not prevail with them to renounce their faith,
condemned them to be burnt alive, which sentence was soon after executed.
Trypho and Respicius, two eminent men, were seized as Christians and imprisoned
at Nice.
Their feet were pierced with nails, they were dragged through the streets,
scourged, torn with iron hooks, scorched with lighted torches,
and at length beheaded, February 1, A.D.
251.
Agatha, a Sicilian lady, was not more remarkable for her personal and acquired
endowments than her piety.
Her beauty was such that Quintian, governor of Sicily, became enamoured of
her, and made many attempts upon her chastity without success.
In order to gratify his passions with a greater conveniency, he put the virtuous
lady into the hands of Aphrodite, a very infamous and licentious woman.
This wretch tried every artifice to win her to the desired prostitution,
but found all her efforts were vain, for her chastity was impregnable,
and she well knew that virtue alone could procure true happiness.
Aphrodite acquainted Quintian with the inefficacy of her endeavours, who,
enraged to be foiled in his designs, changed his lust into resentment.
On her confessing that she was a Christian, he determined to gratify his
revenge as he could not his passion.
Pursuant to his orders, she was scourged, burnt with red-hot irons, and torn with
sharp hooks.
Having borne these torments with admirable fortitude, she was next laid naked upon
live coals intermingled with glass, and then being carried back to prison,
she there expired on February 5, 251.
Cyril, Bishop of Cortina, was seized by order of Lucius, the governor of that
place, who nevertheless exhorted him to obey the imperial mandate, perform the
sacrifices, and save his venerable person from destruction, for he was now
eighty-four years of age.
The good prelate replied that, as he had long taught others to save their
souls, he should only think now of his own salvation.
The worthy prelate heard his fiery sentence without emotion, walked
cheerfully to the place of execution, and underwent his martyrdom with great
fortitude.
The persecution raged in no place more than the island of Crete.
For the governor, being exceedingly active in executing the imperial decrees,
that place streamed with pious blood.
Babilus, a Christian of a liberal education, became Bishop of Antioch,
A.D.
237, on the demise of Zabinus.
He acted with inimitable zeal, and governed the church with admirable
prudence during the most tempestuous times.
The first misfortune that happened to Antioch during his mission was the siege
of it by Saper, king of Persia, who, having overrun all Syria,
took and plundered this city, among others, and used the Christian inhabitants
with greater severity than the rest, but was soon totally defeated by Gordian.
After Gordian's death, in the reign of Decius, that emperor came to Antioch,
where having a desire to visit an assembly of Christians, Babilus opposed him,
and absolutely refused to let him come in.
The emperor dissembled his anger at that time, but soon sending for the bishop,
he sharply reproved him for his insolence, and then ordered him to sacrifice to the
pagan deities as an expiation for his offence.
This being refused, he was committed to prison, loaded with chains, treated with
great severities, and then beheaded together with three young men who had been
his pupils, A.D.
251.
Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem about this time, was cast into prison, on account of
his religion, where he died through the severity of his confinement.
Julianus, an old man lame with gout, and Cronion, another Christian,
were bound on the backs of camels, severely scourged, and then thrown into a
fire and consumed.
Also forty virgins at Antioch, after being imprisoned and scourged,
were burned.
In the year of our lord 251, the emperor Decius, having erected a pagan temple at
Ephesus, he commanded all who were in that city to sacrifice to the idols.
This order was nobly refused by seven of his own soldiers, namely, Maximianus,
Martianus, Joannus, Malchus, Dionysius, Cyrean, and Constantinus.
The emperor, wishing to win these soldiers to renounce their faith by his entreaties
and lenity, gave them a considerable respite, until he returned from an
expedition.
During the emperor's absence, they escaped and hid themselves in a cavern,
which the emperor, being informed of at his return, the mouth of the cave was
closed up, and they all perished with hunger.
Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antioch, on refusing to sacrifice to the
Roman idols, was condemned to the stews, that her virtue might be sacrificed to the
brutality of lust.
Didymus, a Christian, disguised himself in the habit of a Roman soldier, went to the
house, informed Theodora who he was, and advised her to make her escape in his
clothes.
This being effected, and a man found in the brothel instead of a beautiful lady,
Didymus was taken before the president, to whom, confessing the truth and owning
that he was a Christian, the sentence of death was immediately pronounced against
him.
Theodora, hearing that her deliverer was likely to suffer, came to the judge,
threw herself at his feet, and begged that the sentence might fall on her as the
guilty person.
But deaf to the cries of the innocent, and insensible to the calls of justice,
the inflexible judge condemned both, when they were executed accordingly,
being first beheaded, and their bodies afterward burned.
Secundianus, having been accused as a Christian, was conveyed to prison by some
soldiers.
On the way, Varianus and Marcellinus said, Where are you carrying the innocent?
This interrogatory occasioned them to be seized, and all three, after having been
tortured, were hanged and decapitated.
Origen, the celebrated presbyter and catechist of Alexandria, at the age of
sixty-four, was seized, thrown into a loathsome prison, laden with fetters,
his feet placed in the stocks, and his legs extended to the utmost for
several successive days.
He was threatened with fire, and tormented by every lingering means the most infernal
imaginations could suggest.
During this cruel temporizing, the Emperor Decius died, and Gallus,
who succeeded him, engaging in a war with the Goths, the Christians met with a
respite.
In this interim, Origen obtained his enlargement, and, retiring to Tyre,
he there remained until his death, which happened when he was in the
sixty-ninth year of his age.
Gallus, the Emperor, having concluded his wars, a plague broke out in the Empire.
Sacrifices to the pagan deities were ordered by the Emperor, and persecutions
spread from the interior to the extreme parts of the Empire, and many fell martyrs
to the impetuosity of the rabble, as well as the prejudice of the
magistrates.
Among these were Cornelius, the Christian bishop of Rome, and Lucius, his successor,
in 253.
Most of the errors which crept into the Church at this time arose from placing
human reason in competition with revelation, but the fallacy of such
arguments being proved by the most able divines, the opinions they had created,
vanished away like the stars before the sun.
The eighth persecution, under Valerian, A.D.
257, began under Valerian in the month of April 257, and continued for three years
and six months.
The martyrs that fell in this persecution were innumerable, and their tortures and
deaths as various and painful.
The most eminent martyrs were the following, though neither rank,
sex, nor age were regarded.
Rufina and Secunda were two beautiful and accomplished ladies, daughters of
Asterius, a gentleman of eminence in Rome.
Rufina, the elder, was designed in marriage for Armentarius, a young
nobleman, Secunda, the younger, for Varinus, a person of rank and
opulence.
The suitors, at the time of the persecutions commencing, were both
Christians, but when danger appeared, to save their fortunes, they renounced
their faith.
They took great pains to persuade the ladies to do the same, but, disappointed
in their purpose, the lovers were base enough to inform against the ladies,
who, being apprehended as Christians, were brought before Junius Donatus,
governor of Rome, where, A.D.
257, they sealed their martyrdom with their blood.
Stephen, bishop of Rome, was beheaded in the same year, and about that time
Saturninus, the pious orthodox bishop of Toulouse, refusing to sacrifice to idols,
was treated with all the barbarous indignities imaginable and fastened by the
feet to the tail of a bull.
Upon a signal given, the enraged animal was driven down the steps of the temple,
by which the worthy martyr's brains were dashed out.
Sextus succeeded Stephen as bishop of Rome.
He is supposed to have been a Greek, by birth or by extraction, and had for
some time served in the capacity of a deacon under Stephen.
His great fidelity, singular wisdom and uncommon courage distinguished him upon
many occasions, and the happy conclusion of a controversy with some heretics is
generally ascribed to his piety and prudence.
In the year 258, Marcianus, who had the management of the Roman government,
procured an order from the emperor Valerian to put to death all the Christian
clergy in Rome, and hence the bishop, with six of his deacons, suffered
martyrdom in 258.
Let us draw near to the fire of martyred Lawrence, that our cold hearts may be
warmed thereby.
The merciless tyrant, understanding him to be not only a minister of the sacraments,
but a distributor also of the church riches, promised to himself a double prey
by the apprehension of one soul.
First, with a rake of avarice to scrape to himself the treasure of poor Christians,
then with a fiery fork of tyranny so to toss and turmoil them that they should wax
weary of their profession.
With furious face and cruel countenance, the greedy wolf demanded where this
Lawrence had bestowed the substance of the church, who, craving three days' respite,
promised to declare where the treasure might be had.
In the meantime, he caused a good number of poor Christians to be congregated.
So, when the day of his answer was come, the persecutor strictly charged him to
stand to his promise.
Then valiant Lawrence, stretching out his arms over the poor, said, These are the
precious treasure of the church.
These are the treasure indeed in whom the faith of Christ reigneth, in whom Jesus
Christ hath his mansion place.
What more precious jewels can Christ have than those in whom he hath promised to
dwell?
For so it is written, I was unhungered, and ye gave me meat.
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.
I was a stranger, and ye took me in.
And again, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.
What greater riches can Christ our Master possess than the poor people in whom he
loveth to be seen?
Oh, what tongue is able to express the fury and madness of the tyrant's heart?
Now he stamped, he stared, he ramped, he fared as one out of his wits.
His eyes like fire glowed, his mouth like a boar formed, his teeth like a hellhound
grinned.
Now, not a reasonable man, but a roaring lion, he might be called.
Kindle the fire, he cried, of wood, make no spare.
Hath this villain deluded the Emperor?
Away with him, away with him, whip him with scourges, jerk him with rods,
buffet him with fists, brain him with clubs.
Jesteth the traitor with the Emperor?
Pinch him with fiery tongs, gird him with burning plates, bring out the strongest
chains and the fire-forks and the grated bed of iron.
On the fire with it, bind the rebel hand and foot, and when the bed is fire-hot,
on with him, roast him, broil him, toss him, turn him.
On pain of our high displeasure, do every man his office, O ye tormentors.
The word was no sooner spoken, but all was done.
After many cruel handlings, this meek lamb was laid, I will not say on his fiery bed
of iron, but on his soft bed of down.
So mightily God wrought with his martyr Lawrence, so miraculously God tempered his
element the fire, that it became not a bed of consuming pain, but a pallet of
nourishing rest.
In Africa the persecution raged with peculiar violence.
Many thousands received the crown of martyrdom, among whom the following were
the most distinguished characters.
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, an eminent prelate and a pious ornament of the
Church.
The brightness of his genius was tempered by the solidity of his judgment,
and with all the accomplishments of the gentleman he blended the virtues of a
Christian.
His doctrines were orthodox and pure, his language easy and elegant,
and his manners graceful and winning.
In fine he was both a pious and polite preacher.
In his youth he was educated in the principles of gentilism, and having a
considerable fortune, he lived in the very extravagance of splendor and all the
dignity of pomp.
About the year 246, Caecilius, a Christian minister of Carthage,
became the happy instrument of Cyprian's conversion, on which account, and for the
great love that he always afterward bore for the author of his conversion,
he was termed Caecilius Cyprian.
Previous to his baptism he studied the scriptures with care, and being struck
with the beauties of the truths they contained, he determined to practice the
virtues therein recommended.
Subsequent to his baptism he sold his estate, distributed the money among the
poor, dressed himself in plain attire, and commenced a life of austerity.
He was soon after made a presbyter, and being greatly admired for his virtues
and works, on the death of Donatus in AD 248, he was almost unanimously elected
bishop of Carthage.
Cyprian's care not only extended over Carthage, but to Numidia and Mauretania.
In all his transactions he took great care to ask the advice of his clergy,
knowing that unanimity alone could be of service to the church, this being one of
his maxims, that the bishop was in the church, and the church in the bishop,
so that unity can only be preserved by a close connection between the pastor and
his flock.
In AD 250 Cyprian was publicly proscribed by the Emperor Decius under the
appellation of Caecilius Cyprian, bishop of the Christians, and the
universal cry of the pagans was, Cyprian to the lions, Cyprian to the
beasts.
The bishop, however, withdrew from the rage of the populace, and his effects were
immediately confiscated.
During his retirement he wrote thirty pious and elegant letters to his flock,
but several schisms that then crept into the church gave him great uneasiness.
The rigour of the persecution abating, he returned to Carthage and did everything
in his power to expunge erroneous opinions.
A terrible plague breaking out in Carthage, it was as usual laid to the
charge of the Christians, and the magistrates began to persecute
accordingly, which occasioned an epistle from them to Cyprian, in answer to which
he vindicates the cause of Christianity.
AD 257 Cyprian was brought before the proconsul Aspasius Paternus, who exiled
him to a little city on the Libyan sea.
On the death of this proconsul he returned to Carthage, but was soon after seized and
carried before the new governor, who condemned him to be beheaded,
which sentence was executed on the 14th of September, AD 258.
The disciples of Cyprian martyred in this persecution were Lucius, Flavian,
Victoricus, Remus, Montanus, Julian, Primilus, and Donation.
At Utica a most terrible tragedy was exhibited.
Three hundred Christians were, by the orders of the proconsul,
placed round a burning lime kiln.
A pan of coals and incense being prepared, they were commanded either to sacrifice to
Jupiter or to be thrown into the kiln.
Unanimously refusing, they bravely jumped into the pit and were immediately
suffocated.
Fructuosus, bishop of Tarragon in Spain, and his two deacons, Augurius and
Eulogius, were burnt for being Christians.
Alexander, Malchus, and Priscus, three Christians of Palestine,
with a woman of the same place, voluntarily accused themselves of being
Christians, on which account they were sentenced to be devoured by tigers,
which sentence was executed accordingly.
Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda, three virgins of Tuberga, had gall and
vinegar given them to drink, were then severely scourged, tormented on a gibbet,
rubbed with lime, scorched on a gridiron, worried by wild beasts, and at length
beheaded.
It is here proper to take notice of the singular but miserable fate of the emperor
Valerian, who had so long and so terribly persecuted the Christians.
This tyrant, by a stratagem, was taken prisoner by Sapphor, emperor of Persia,
who carried him into his own country, and there treated him with the most
unexampled indignity, making him kneel down as the meanest slave, and treading
upon him as a footstool when he mounted his horse.
After having kept him for the space of seven years in this abject state of
slavery, he caused his eyes to be put out, though he was then eighty-three years of
age.
This not satiating his desire of revenge, he soon after ordered his body to be
flayed alive and rubbed with salt, under which torments he expired,
and thus fell one of the most tyrannical emperors of Rome, and one of the greatest
persecutors of the Christians.
A.D.
260, Gallienus, the son of Valerian, succeeded him, and during his reign,
a few martyrs excepted, the church enjoyed peace for some years.
The Ninth Persecution, under Aurelian, A.D.
274.
The principal sufferers were Felix, Bishop of Rome.
This prelate was advanced to the Roman Sea in 274.
He was the first martyr to Aurelian's petulancy, being beheaded on the 22nd of
December in the same year.
Agapetus, a young gentleman who sold his estate and gave the money to the poor,
was seized as a Christian, tortured, and then beheaded at Prinesti,
a city within a day's journey of Rome.
These are the only martyrs left upon record during this reign, as it was soon
put a stop to by the emperors being murdered by his own domestics at
Byzantium.
Aurelian was succeeded by Tacitus, who was followed by Probus, as the latter
was by Charus.
This emperor, being killed by a thunderstorm, his sons Carnius and
Numerian succeeded him, and during all these reigns, the church had peace.
Diocletian mounted the imperial throne, A.D.
284.
At first, he showed great favour to the Christians.
In the year 286, he associated Maximian with him in the empire, and some
Christians were put to death before any general persecution broke out.
Among these were Felician and Primus, two brothers.
Marcus and Marcellianus were twins, natives of Rome and of noble descent.
Their parents were heathens, but the tutors to whom the education of the
children was entrusted brought them up as Christians.
Their constancy at length subdued those who wished them to become pagans,
and their parents and whole family became converts to a faith they had before
reprobated.
They were martyred by being tied to posts and having their feet pierced with nails.
After remaining in this situation for a day and a night, their sufferings were put
an end to by thrusting lances through their bodies.
Zoe, the wife of the jailer who had the care of the before-mentioned martyrs,
was also converted by them, and hung upon a tree with a fire of straw lighted under
it.
When her body was taken down, it was thrown into a river with a large stone
tied to it in order to sink it.
In the year of Christ 286, a most remarkable affair occurred.
A legion of soldiers, consisting of 6,666 men, contained none but Christians.
This legion was called the Theban Legion, because the men had been raised in
Thebaeus.
They were quartered in the east, until the Emperor Maximian ordered them to
march to Gaul to assist him against the rebels of Burgundy.
They passed the Alps into Gaul under the command of Mauritius, Candidas,
and Exupernus, their worthy commanders, and at length joined the Emperor.
Maximian, about this time, ordered a general sacrifice at which the whole army
was to assist, and likewise he commanded that they should take the oath of
allegiance, and swear at the same time to assist in the extirpation of Christianity
in Gaul.
Alarmed at these orders, each individual of the Theban Legion absolutely refused
either to sacrifice or take the oaths prescribed.
This so greatly enraged Maximian that he ordered the legion to be decimated,
that is, every tenth man to be selected from the rest and put to the sword.
This bloody order having been put in execution, those who remained alive were
still inflexible when a second decimation took place, and every tenth man of those
living was put to death.
This second severity made no more impression than the first had done.
The soldiers preserved their fortitude and their principles, but by the advice of
their officers they drew up a loyal remonstrance to the Emperor.
This, it might have been presumed, would have softened the Emperor,
but it had a contrary effect, for enraged at their perseverance and unanimity,
he commanded that the whole legion should be put to death, which was accordingly
executed by the other troops who cut them to pieces with their swords, September 22,
286.
Alban, from whom St. Alban's in Hertfordshire received its name,
was the first British martyr.
Great Britain had received the Gospel of Christ from Lucius, the first Christian
king, but did not suffer from the rage of persecution for many years after.
He was originally a pagan, but converted by a Christian ecclesiastic named
Amphibolus, whom he sheltered on account of his religion.
The enemies of Amphibolus, having intelligence of the place where he was
secreted, came to the house of Alban.
In order to facilitate his escape, when the soldiers came, he offered himself
up as the person they were seeking for.
The deceit being detected, the governor ordered him to be scourged, and then he
was sentenced to be beheaded, June 22, AD 287.
The Venerable Bede assures us that, upon this occasion, the executioner
suddenly became a convert to Christianity, and entreated permission to die for Alban
or with him.
Obtaining the latter request, they were beheaded by a soldier who voluntarily
undertook the task of executioner.
This happened on the 22nd of June, AD 287, at Verulam, now St Alban's in
Hertfordshire, where a magnificent church was erected to his memory about the time
of Constantine the Great.
The edifice, being destroyed in the Saxon Wars, was rebuilt by Offa, King of Mercia,
and a monastery erected adjoining to it, some remains of which are still visible,
and the church is a noble Gothic structure.
Faith, a Christian female of Aquitaine in France, was ordered to be broiled upon a
gridiron and then beheaded, AD 287.
Quintin was a Christian and a native of Rome, but determined to attempt the
propagation of the gospel in Gaul, with one Lucian they preached together in
Amiens, after which Lucian went to Bomaris, where he was martyred.
Quintin remained in Picardy, and was very zealous in his ministry.
Being seized upon as a Christian, he was stretched with pulleys until his
joints were dislocated, his body was then torn with wire scourges, and boiling oil
and pitch poured on his naked flesh.
Lighted torches were applied to his sides and armpits, and after he had been thus
tortured, he was remanded back to prison, and died of the barbarities he'd suffered,
October 31, AD 287.
His body was sunk in the Somme.
The tenth persecution under Diocletian, AD 303, commonly called the Era of the
Martyrs, was occasioned partly by the increasing number and luxury of the
Christians, and the hatred of Galerius, the adopted son of Diocletian,
who, being stimulated by his mother, a bigoted pagan, never ceased persuading
the Emperor to enter upon the persecution until he had accomplished his purpose.
The fatal day fixed upon to commence the bloody work was the 23rd of February,
AD 303, that being the day in which the Terminalia was celebrated, and on which,
as the cruel pagans boasted, they hoped to put a termination to Christianity.
On the appointed day the persecution began in Nicomedia, on the morning of which the
Prefect of that city repaired, with a great number of officers and
assistants, to the Church of the Christians, where, having forced open the
doors, they seized upon all the sacred books, and committed them to the flames.
The whole of this transaction was in the presence of Diocletian and Galerius,
who, not contented with burning the books, had the Church levelled with the ground.
This was followed by a severe edict, commanding the destruction of all other
Christian churches and books, and an order soon succeeded to render Christians of all
denomination outlaws.
The publication of this edict occasioned an immediate martyrdom, for a bold
Christian not only tore it down from the place to which it was affixed,
but execrated the name of the Emperor for his injustice.
A provocation like this was sufficient to call down pagan vengeance upon his head.
He was accordingly seized, severely tortured, and then burned alive.
All the Christians were apprehended and imprisoned, and Galerius privately ordered
the Imperial Palace to be set on fire, that the Christians might be charged as
the incendiaries, and a plausible pretense given for carrying on the persecution with
the greater severities.
A general sacrifice was commenced, which occasioned various martyrdoms.
No distinction was made of age or sex, the name of Christian was so obnoxious to
the pagans, that all indiscriminately fell sacrifices to their opinions.
Many houses were set on fire, and whole Christian families perished in the flames,
and others had stones fastened about their necks, and being tied together,
were driven into the sea.
The persecution became general in all the Roman provinces, but more particularly in
the East, and as it lasted ten years, it is impossible to ascertain the numbers
martyred, or to enumerate the various modes of martyrdom.
Racks, scourges, swords, daggers, crosses, poison and famine were made use
of in various parts to dispatch the Christians, and invention was exhausted to
devise torches against such as had no crime but thinking differently from the
votaries of superstition.
The city of Phrygia, consisting entirely of Christians, was burnt, and all the
inhabitants perished in the flames.
Tired with slaughter, at length several governors of provinces represented to the
imperial court the impropriety of such conduct, hence many were respited from
execution, but though they were not put to death, as much as possible was done to
render their lives miserable, many of them having their ears cut off, their noses
slit, their right eyes put out, their limbs rendered useless by dreadful
dislocations, and their flesh seared in conspicuous places with red-hot irons.
It is necessary now to particularise the most conspicuous persons who laid down
their lives in martyrdom in this bloody persecution.
Sebastian, a celebrated martyr, was born at Narbonne in Gaul, instructed
in the principles of Christianity at Milan, and afterward became an officer of
the Emperor's Guard at Rome.
He remained a true Christian in the midst of idolatry, unallured by the splendours
of a court, untainted by evil examples, and uncontaminated by the hopes of
preferment.
Refusing to be a pagan, the Emperor ordered him to be taken to a field near
the city, termed the Campus Martius, and there to be shot to death with arrows,
which sentence was executed accordingly.
Some pious Christians, coming to the place of execution in order to give his body
burial, perceived signs of life in him, and immediately moving him to a place of
security, they in a short time effected his recovery, and prepared him for a
second martyrdom, for as soon as he was able to go out, he placed himself
intentionally in the Emperor's way, as he was going to the temple,
and reprehended him for his various cruelties and unreasonable prejudices
against Christianity.
As soon as Diocletian had overcome his surprise, he ordered Sebastian to be
seized, and carried to a place near the palace, and beaten to death.
And that the Christians should not either use means again to recover or bury his
body, he ordered that it should be thrown into the common sewer.
Nevertheless, a Christian lady named Lucina found means to remove it from the
sewer, and bury it in the catacombs, or repositories of the dead.
The Christians, about this time, upon mature consideration, thought it
unlawful to bear arms under a heathen Emperor.
Maximilian, the son of Fabius Victor, was the first beheaded under this
regulation.
Vitus, a Sicilian of considerable family, was brought up a Christian.
When his virtues increased with his years, his constancy supported him under all
afflictions, and his faith was superior to the most dangerous perils.
His father Hylas, who was a pagan, finding that he had been instructed in the
principles of Christianity by the nurse who brought him up, used all his
endeavours to bring him back to paganism, and at length sacrificed his son to the
idols, June 14, A.D.
303.
Victor was a Christian of a good family at Marseilles, in France.
He spent a great part of the night in visiting the afflicted and confirming the
weak, which pious work he could not, consistently with his own safety,
perform in the daytime, and his fortune he spent in relieving the distresses of poor
Christians.
He was at length, however, seized by the Emperor Maximian's decree, who ordered him
to be bound and dragged through the streets.
During the execution of this order, he was treated with all manner of
cruelties and indignities by the enraged populace.
Remaining still inflexible, his courage was deemed obstinacy.
Being by order stretched upon the rack, he turned his eyes toward heaven and
prayed to God to endue him with patience, after which he underwent the tortures with
most admirable fortitude.
After the executioners were tired with inflicting torments on him, he was
conveyed to a dungeon.
In his confinement, he converted his jailers, named Alexander, Felician,
and Longinus.
This affair, coming to the ears of the Emperor, he ordered them immediately to be
put to death, and the jailers were accordingly beheaded.
Victor was then again put to the rack, and mercifully beaten with batons,
and again sent to prison.
Being a third time examined concerning his religion, he persevered in his principles.
A small altar was then brought, and he was commanded to offer incense upon
it immediately.
Fired with indignation at the request, he boldly stepped forward, and with his
foot overthrew both altar and idol.
This so enraged the Emperor Maximian, who was present, that he ordered the foot
with which he had kicked the altar to be immediately cut off, and Victor was thrown
into a mill, and crushed to pieces with the stones.
A.D.
303.
Maximus, governor of Cilicia, being at Tarsus, three Christians were brought
before him.
Their names were Taricus, an aged man, Probus, and Andronicus.
After repeated tortures and exhortations to recant, they at length were ordered for
execution.
Being brought to the amphitheatre, several beasts were let loose upon them,
but none of the animals, though hungry, would touch them.
The keeper then brought out a large bear that had that very day destroyed three
men, but this voracious creature and a fierce lioness both refused to touch the
prisoners.
Finding the design of destroying them by means of wild beasts ineffectual,
Maximus ordered them to be slain by the sword on October 11, A.D.
303.
Romanus, a native of Palestine, was deacon of the Church of Caesarea at
the time of the commencement of Diocletian's persecution.
Being condemned for his faith at Antioch, he was scourged, put to the rack,
his body torn with hooks, his flesh cut with knives, his face scarified,
his teeth beaten from their sockets, and his hair plucked up by the roots.
Soon after, he was ordered to be strangled, November 17, A.D.
303.
Susanna, the niece of Caius, Bishop of Rome, was pressed by the Emperor
Diocletian to marry a noble pagan who was nearly related to him.
Refusing the honour intended her, she was beheaded by the Emperor's order.
Dorotheus, the High Chamberlain of the household to Diocletian, was a Christian,
and took great pains to make converts.
In his religious labours, he was joined by Gorgonius, another Christian, and one
belonging to the palace.
They were first tortured and then strangled.
Peter, a eunuch belonging to the Emperor, was a Christian of singular modesty and
humility.
He was laid on a gridiron and broiled over a slow fire until he expired.
Cyprian, known by the title of the Magician to distinguish him from Cyprian
Bishop of Carthage, was a native of Antioch.
He received a liberal education in his youth, and particularly applied himself to
astrology, after which he travelled for improvement through Greece, Egypt,
India, etc.
In the course of time, he became acquainted with Justina, a young lady of
Antioch, whose birth, beauty, and accomplishments rendered her the
admiration of all who knew her.
A pagan gentleman applied to Cyprian to promote his suit with the beautiful
Justina.
This he undertook, but soon himself became converted, burned his books of astrology
and magic, received baptism, and felt animated with a powerful spirit of grace.