Alexander, sixth after Peter, succeeded Evaristus in the papacy. As is found in the Book of Pontiffs, he was a Roman. He sat for ten years and, because of his great holiness, was assumed to the supreme prelacy in the thirtieth year of his age. At last he was crowned with martyrdom by Count Aurelian under Emperor Adrianus, as will be said below.
He inserted the Lord’s Passion into the priests’ prayer when Mass is celebrated, namely: “Who, on the day before he suffered,” and so forth. He also instituted the sacramental use of blessed water and its sprinkling in dwellings. Thus he himself says in On Consecration, Distinction 3: “We bless water sprinkled with salt for the peoples, so that by it all may be sanctified and purified,” and so forth. He there explains its effects.
As is found in Alexander’s deeds, he converted Hermes, prefect of the city. Count Aurelian therefore sent Alexander to prison, and because Hermes had believed, he too was in chains in the custody of the tribune Quirinus.
The tribune said to Hermes: “I marvel that you, a prudent man, should abandon the dignity of the prefecture and believe in another life.”
[Running head: Chapter Five, Folio 221.]
Hermes answered: “Before these years I mocked everything and did not think there was another life, but only this one.”
Quirinus said to him: “Cause me, therefore, to prove what you believe, and I shall believe.”
Hermes answered him: “Saint Alexander, who is in chains, taught me these things.”
On hearing this, Quirinus began to curse Alexander, saying: “I tell you to cause me to prove these things, and you name to me one whom I keep bound in chains for his crimes. Nevertheless, if you speak the truth, I shall go to him and tell him: ‘If you wish me to believe through you, make it so that I find you together with Hermes.’”
Hermes said: “Let it be done.”
Quirinus therefore departed, tripled the guards and barriers around Alexander, and told him why he was doing this. When Saint Alexander prayed, however, an angel of the Lord led him to Hermes in prison. Finding them together in the prison, Quirinus marveled.
Hermes himself also told Quirinus how Saint Alexander had raised his son and given light to his blind maidservant.
Quirinus said: “I too have a daughter who is blind and swollen in the throat, and I promise that I shall believe if she is healed by you.”
Saint Alexander said to him: “Go, lead your daughter to my prison, place my iron collar around her neck, and in the morning you will find her healed.”
Quirinus said to him: “Since you are here in prison, how shall I find you there?”
Alexander answered: “Go quickly, for he who brought me here will lead me back there.”
When Quirinus went to the prison with his daughter, therefore, he found Saint Alexander there and, prostrating himself before him, asked pardon. Alexander commanded him to bring to him Eventius the priest and Theodolus the deacon, who were bound for Christ in the same prison.
Before Quirinus returned, he found his daughter healed. He was baptized with his daughter and many others.
When Aurelian heard these things, he asked Quirinus why he was abandoning him and following Alexander.
Quirinus answered: “I am a Christian. Do what you wish, for I shall be no other.”
Aurelian then ordered his tongue to be cut out and him to be tortured on the rack. Because Quirinus still spoke and defied Aurelian, he was ordered to have his hands and feet cut off; he was beheaded and cast to the dogs.
His daughter Balbina remained in virginity. When she often kissed the iron collar through which she had been healed, Saint Alexander said to her: “Daughter, do not kiss my iron collar, but rather kiss the chains of Saint Peter.” After she had long done so, he entrusted her to Theodora, Saint Hermes’s sister. This Theodora buried the body of Hermes after he was beheaded by Aurelian.
When Saint Alexander had worked many miracles and, though arrested, could in no way be changed, he was tortured on the rack. When he said nothing, Aurelian said to him: “Why are you silent?”
Alexander answered: “Because during prayer a Christian speaks with God.”
He was next cast into a furnace heated for three days and remained unharmed within it. When he praised God there, Aurelian said to his attendants: “Let us hear what that wretch is babbling in the fire.” When he drew near, his face was half burned, while half of his cloak escaped unburned. Many of his soldiers died in the flame.
Aurelian then ordered Alexander to be drawn out and cast into another, still hotter furnace. When this was done, the aforesaid deacon Theodolus began to weep and, standing among the people, reproved Aurelian for his unjust judgment. Hearing this, Aurelian ordered him cast into the same furnace.
Theodolus cried out: “Saint Alexander, help me, for I am a sinner and cannot bear the fire.”
Alexander answered him: “Do not fear. Stand and act manfully.” When he had prayed, he called him, saying: “Come here to the place of refreshment, for with me is he who delivered the three boys in Babylon.”
Theodolus immediately leapt into the furnace and began to praise God together with Alexander. Hearing Theodolus speaking with Alexander, Aurelian was angered and ordered him cast into a burning oven.
Alexander then said to Theodolus: “Which do you choose: to come out healthy or to proceed with me to God?”
Theodolus answered him: “Father, I shall not abandon you. Although I was grievously tormented at the beginning, since you prayed for me I have felt neither pain nor burning.”
Alexander said to the ministers: “Cease from your labor, for before you add new fires we are hastening to the Lord.” Praying, Alexander and Theodolus breathed forth their spirits together.
When Aurelian heard this and proceeded to insult the dead, a fiery iron rod suddenly appeared before his feet. A voice was heard by everyone, saying: “Aurelian, receive the reward of your merits, with which you may know that you are to be sent into hell.”
Attributing this to magical arts, he angrily ordered Saint Eventius to be brought and cast into the furnace among the saints. But before the fire was applied, Eventius breathed forth his spirit. When Aurelian also insulted him, a voice was heard, saying: “Aurelian, heaven has been opened to those whom you insult, and they shall ascend to it. Tartarus, however, has been opened for you, so that you may descend there.”
Terrified by this voice, Aurelian was seized by so great a fear and trembling that he was carried back to the palace in his servants’ hands. His wife Severina received him and reproached him for his wickedness. She went to the saints of God and buried them honorably. Returning to her husband, she found him biting his own tongue because of excessive pain and immediately expiring. The bodies of these saints now rest in the church of Saint Sabina.
§ I: Pope Sixtus I and Saint Peregrinus
Alexander was succeeded by Sixtus I, a Roman by birth, who sat for ten years. He ordained that consecrated vessels should be touched only by ministers. He also ordained that any bishop summoned to the Apostolic See should not be received back into his parish except with letters of apostolic greeting. At last he was crowned with martyrdom on the third day before the Nones of April.
Sixtus sent Saint Peregrinus to Gaul and appointed him bishop of Anthiſiodorenſem, so that he might rekindle the lamp of faith, already extinguished, and convert the unbelievers by preaching. He gave him as companions Marcus the priest, Concordianus the deacon, Jovinian the subdeacon, and Jovinian, whom he ordained lector.
After much preaching and the conversion of many people of Anthiſiodorenſem, Peregrinus went to another place for the sake of evangelizing. There he was beheaded at the command of Emperor Adrianus. At the command of a holy angel, who accompanied him on the way, his body was carried with oxen in the cart of a certain Christian peasant to a place near Parisius, and was deposited in the monastery of Saint Dyonisius.
§ II: Saint Taurinus
In that time Saint Taurinus, bishop of Ebroycenſis and a Roman by birth, was sent from the city to preach in Gaul. While he traveled about evangelizing, two magicians, Cambises and Saraa, priests of Diana, sent twenty of their disciples to kill him.
When Taurinus saw them, he made the sign of the cross and ordered them to remain fixed, unable to move themselves. When they had been freed by the saint’s word, they prostrated themselves before Saint Taurinus, asked for baptism, and received it.
[Running head: Seventh Title.]
Licinius, a governor and a Gentile, caused Taurinus to be presented to him. Questioning him about his parents and receiving an answer, Licinius acknowledged that he was Taurinus’s cousin and that some years earlier he himself had caused Taurinus’s mother to be killed for the faith. At this the saint gave thanks to God that his mother had ascended to heaven by martyrdom.
Licinius ordered Taurinus to be beaten with rods. While amid the blows the saint said, “Lord, look upon me and have mercy on me, now an old man,” a voice came from heaven saying: “Do not fear, my servant, for I am with you.” Immediately the hands of those striking him withered.
Meanwhile it was reported to Governor Licinius that his son and his son’s armor-bearer had fallen from a precipice and died while engaged in hunting. Licinius’s wife Leonilla had already conceived a purpose of faith and had reproached her husband for torturing his cousin. On hearing this news, she fell at the saint’s feet and begged for her son’s resurrection, because report had already spread that Taurinus had raised another dead man.
Licinius too, almost in mockery, asked the saint whether by his magical arts he could raise his son.
The saint said: “All things are possible to one who believes. You therefore only have faith, and you shall receive your son alive.”
When Licinius believed his words, the saint raised the young man by his prayer. The youth, who was called Marinus, rose as though from sleep, prostrated himself at the saint’s feet, and asked for baptism, saying that this had been commanded him by an angel.
He said to his father: “Alas, Father, you do not know how wretched a life we lead, how great the punishments reserved because of it for people like us, and how great the glory prepared for those who worship and serve the God whom this kinsman of ours, Taurinus, worships. I saw him present among the choirs of angels, interceding for us.”
As Marinus preached these and other things concerning future glory, Licinius, his wife, and that son were converted to the faith and baptized with 1,208 others.
The youth who had been restored to life said: “Man of the Most High God, I beg you, raise my armor-bearer, lest he remain in the punishments in which I left him.”
When Taurinus prayed for him, the man, named Pascasius, arose and said: “Holy man, I was enduring great punishments when a messenger came from on high, bearing a command that I be brought back to you.”
He said to his master: “On the eighth day, when you have laid aside the white garments, he who brought me here commands you to return to him.” Marinus was soon seized by a slight fever and, in accordance with the message, died on the eighth day.
While these things were happening and all the people rejoiced under so great a shepherd, the enemy of truth stirred up a vast eastern scourge against the Gauls. When the Gauls learned with greater certainty that they would fall and could resist in no way, they all fled for help to the man of God.
He proclaimed a three-day fast. While he prayed concerning this matter, an angel appeared to him and said: “Give thanks to your Creator, for you have obtained only their souls. This place will be deserted for a long time, but it will again be restored to a better condition. You will receive a crown from God for your labors on the eighth day.”
When morning came, Taurinus announced the Lord’s revelation to the assembled people. He greatly comforted those who were terrified, saying: “Do not lose confidence. Hasten to Rome and make known to Blessed Pope Sixtus the day of my departure.”
On the appointed day, therefore, when all the people were standing in the church and the office had been prepared, Taurinus greatly comforted them as they lamented deeply over their father’s departure. He foretold many things that were afterward fulfilled. Finally, sitting upon the episcopal throne, he blessed them, saying: “Go, my little children, in peace, and the Lord will be with you.”
When Saint Taurinus had said this, an innumerable multitude of persons clothed in white suddenly appeared around the altar. A voice was heard saying, “Come with us, holy Taurinus of God.” With the voice there arose so dense a cloud that no one could see the person standing beside him. After an hour that fragrant cloud disappeared, and the saint was seen dead upon his throne, his face turned toward heaven and his hands raised upward.
Since the people did not know where his body ought to be buried, a venerable man, white as snow, appeared and said: “Take up the body and follow me. I shall show you the place where it must be laid.” When they had proceeded about a third of a mile, he indicated the place to them.
As everyone wept and wailed toward heaven, Saint Taurinus raised himself from the grave as though alive and said: “What are you doing, my little children? Do not be afraid, but listen to this man who appeared before you.” Then, bowing his head, he became silent again.
The one who had appeared—an angel of the Lord in human form—said to those looking upon him: “Brothers, you fear that your father will be taken from you by enemies. This shall not happen. I guarded him while he lived, and I shall guard him now that he is dead. This city will presently be overthrown, but none of you will perish.” When all the burial rites had been completed, he said: “Depart quickly, lest you be caught up by the enemy.” Having said this, he was never seen again.
§ III: Saint Eustace and His Family
At this time Eustace, together with his wife Theospita and his sons Agapitus and Theospitus, returned from a victory. Because they refused to sacrifice to the idols in thanksgiving for the victory, they were exposed to a lion; but the lion harmed none of them. They were then shut inside a hollow bronze bull, which was heated with fire. There, while praying, they gave up their spirits. When their bodies were taken out, neither their hair nor their clothing had been burned.
The account of their conversion and subsequent life contains many wonders. Eustace, although a pagan, devoted himself to works of mercy and was a commander in Trajan’s army. While occupied in hunting, he pursued a stag more beautiful than all the others. The stag stopped upon a high place. As Eustace looked for a way to capture it, the image of Christ crucified appeared to him between its antlers and said: “Why do you pursue me?” When Eustace asked who he was, the figure answered: “I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came from heaven to earth, was crucified for the salvation of humankind, and rose again.” When Eustace asked what he must do for his salvation, Christ answered that he should receive the faith of Christ and baptism, and that after this he should return to the place, where it would be shown to him what must befall him.
He carried out all these commands and returned home. His wife told him that the Lord had revealed the same thing to her in a dream. He therefore received baptism together with his wife and two sons. When he returned after their baptism to the place already mentioned, the Lord appeared to him, commended him for the baptism and faith he had received, foretold that he would suffer many things, and strengthened him to endure them.
Soon afterward all his servants and slaves died, all his livestock perished, and his goods were plundered. Reduced to poverty and ashamed to remain among those who had known his former prosperity, he departed with his wife and sons for Egypt.
When they disembarked at the port after crossing the sea, Eustace lacked the fare for the voyage. The shipmaster therefore retained his exceedingly beautiful wife as payment. When Eustace complained, the ship’s master threatened to plunge him into the sea. Grieving, he was therefore compelled to depart without her, taking his two sons with him. The Lord God nevertheless protected her chastity, so that the man did not touch her.
Coming to a river, he left one child on the bank and carried the other across upon his shoulders. While he stood in the middle of the river returning for the second, he saw a lion seize the child already carried over and bear him into the forest. Turning back in despair toward the other, he saw a wolf seize that boy and flee with him into a wood. Believing that both children had been devoured by the beasts, he was driven by overwhelming grief to think of drowning himself. God comforted him, however, and he gave thanks for all things. In fact, shepherds and farmers had seen what happened, pursued the animals with dogs, and rescued the little children from the jaws of the lion and wolf.
Eustace therefore went alone to a village and served there for fifteen years as the steward and keeper of another man’s fields. Meanwhile a province rebelled against Trajan’s empire. Remembering Eustace’s skill and energy in battle, the emperor sent many messengers into different regions to seek him. Some of them came to the village where he was living and lodged in his master’s house. At last they recognized him by the mark of a scar upon his head. They made his former rank and dignity known to the others and announced that the emperor was seeking him. He was honorably clothed and revered by all, then presented himself to Trajan, who received him with great joy. When asked the reason for his disappearance, Eustace explained that he had lost his wife and sons. He was then made commander of the army and sent against the enemy.
When recruits were assembled from many places, the two sons of Eustace, now grown to young manhood, were among those presented to him. Although he did not know that they were his sons, their nobility of conduct, ability, and a certain instinct of natural affection moved him to give them the first places among his table companions.
He departed for war and won a very great victory over the enemy. On his return he lodged at a place where his wife was then living. One day the two young men spoke together about their parentage. One related that his father, a commander of the army, had left the city with his wife and two sons; that a shipmaster had taken his wife from him; and that as his father returned for him after carrying the other boy across a river, a lion had seized him, though shepherds had rescued him from its mouth. The other replied that something similar had happened to him. From these accounts they recognized that they were brothers. Their mother heard all of this and began to consider whether they might be her sons.
The next day the woman approached Eustace, the commander, and asked him to take her back to the city of Rome. Looking carefully at his face and certain marks upon his body, she recognized her living husband and disclosed herself to him. He too recognized his wife. They embraced, unable to restrain their tears. When she asked about their sons, he said that beasts had devoured them and explained how. She then related what she had heard the day before from the young men who had recognized one another as brothers. She had them summoned and questioned them about what they had said, and they recognized them as their sons. Great joy and celebration arose throughout the army both over the family’s discovery and over the victory against the barbarians.
When Eustace returned to Rome, Trajan had died and Hadrian had succeeded him. Hadrian received him with great honor; but when Eustace and his family refused to sacrifice to the idols, he caused them all to suffer the martyrdom described above.
§ IV: The Ten Thousand Martyrs of Mount Ararat
Under this same Hadrian, ten thousand martyrs were crucified upon Mount Ararat. Vincent recounts their passion in Book Eleven, Chapter 98 of the Historical Mirror, saying that Anastasius, librarian of the Apostolic See, translated it from Greek into Latin.
The peoples called the Gadarenes and Euphratensians had rebelled against the Roman Empire. Sixteen thousand Roman soldiers were sent against them under Achacius, their commander-in-chief, and Heliades, a duke; the army carried images of Jupiter and Apollo. When they advanced to battle and saw the enemy’s extraordinarily great multitude—for there were one hundred thousand—they were overcome with fear, and seven thousand fled. Achacius urged the nine thousand who remained to sacrifice to their gods so that they might triumph. They did so and advanced again, but were nevertheless put to flight by the enemy.
Then an angel of the Lord in the form of a young man came before them and said: “Believe in Jesus Christ, the immortal king. He will fight for you, and you will prevail over your enemies.” After taking counsel together, they all accepted the angel’s persuasion and cried out: “Lord Jesus, we believe in you, and we promise to do what this young man says.” Trusting in him, they advanced against the enemy and obtained a complete victory: all their foes fell by the sword, were drowned in a nearby lake, or were killed by plunging over a precipice.
The angel then led them in triumph to Mount Ararat, five hundred stadia from Alexandria, as they glorified God. While the angel sat among them, the heavens opened and seven angels descended to teach them. They said: “Blessed are you who have believed in God. In three days you will be sought and brought before kings, but do not fear them, for the Lord is with you.”
Messengers sent by Hadrian and his adopted son and fellow ruler Antoninus came to them. When the emperors learned that the soldiers had become Christians, they were deeply grieved. They summoned the princes of the neighboring regions and sent another army against them.
Achacius exhorted his companions to pray against the devil’s assaults. A voice from heaven said: “Do not fear those who kill the body. I will strengthen you.”
The soldiers sent against them said: “Kings and emperors have sent us to command you to come before them.” They descended the mountain and presented themselves, and the emperors wept at the sight of them.
[Running head: Seventh Title.]
Hadrian asked how and why they had abandoned their gods and believed in the crucified Christ. When Achacius had told him what happened, Hadrian became exceedingly angry and answered: “Since you all believe in Christ, you shall suffer every punishment that he suffered.”
When they scorned the rulers’ threats, Hadrian ordered them to be stoned, but the stones rebounded into the faces of those who threw them. He next ordered them to be scourged. While they were being beaten cruelly, Trachonarius, brother of Achacius and Heliades, said: “Holy men, pray for us, because the things we suffer are grievous.” Achacius answered: “Persevere, brothers, in your confession, for the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.”
As they prayed, an earthquake suddenly occurred, and the hands of those who were striking them withered. A commander named Theodorus was present from the army of Prince Maximus and had one thousand men under him. Struck with wonder at the miracle, he cried: “Lord God of heaven and earth, who have granted the help of your mercy to nine thousand men, deign to unite us sinners with your holy martyrs.” Departing from Prince Maximus, Theodorus and his men joined the saints, believed in Christ, and confessed him, bringing the number of the martyrs to ten thousand.
When, therefore, all ten thousand were urged to worship the idols and they refused, the persecutors scattered very sharp, three-pointed nails along twenty stadia of road and made the saints walk over them barefoot. An angel gathered the nails away, however, and the saints passed unharmed.
At last the rulers sentenced them to suffer like Christ. They crowned them with thorns, fastened them to the ground with nails upon Mount Ararat, and opened their sides with sharp reeds. At the sixth hour an earthquake occurred and the rocks split. At the ninth hour their souls passed to heaven amid a brilliant light, and angels buried their bodies.
§ V: Saint Sophia and Her Daughters
At the same time the noble woman Sophia came to the city with her daughters Faith, Hope, and Charity. By the example of their piety and sobriety they converted many noble women to Christ. These women abhorred their unbelieving husbands because of their idolatry and other vices and abstained from their husbands’ beds, believing that no one could advance except in the worship of Christ.
A nobleman named Antiochus denounced Sophia and her daughters to Hadrian, alleging that a Christian woman had arrived in the city and by her novel teaching was causing wives to abstain from their husbands’ beds. Hadrian ordered them to be brought before him. The girls were exceedingly beautiful and thoroughly instructed in the divine Scriptures. Strengthening themselves with the sign of the cross, they stood with their mother before the emperor.
Greatly admiring their beauty, Hadrian asked their mother her name. Sophia answered: “My first and noblest name is Christian. According to the flesh I am called Sophia, and I descend from the noblest Italian lineage. I have come to Rome to offer my daughters as a gift to Christ.”
Hadrian entrusted them for three days to the senator Palladius. During that time the mother exhorted her daughters to despise the present life and to endure courageously for Christ.
After three days they were brought before Hadrian. He said to them: “O little girls, have pity on your tender age and on your mother’s old age.”
“Sacrifice to the rulers of the city, and I shall adopt you as my daughters in the presence of the senate and army. But if you refuse, I swear by the gods that I shall spare neither your age, your lineage, nor your beauty, but shall consume you with torments.”
The girls answered: “Neither your promises are dear to us nor do your threats terrify us. We have a Father who has adopted us for an eternal inheritance, and we fear his eternal threats. Apply every torture you can devise, and you will learn that Christians are stronger than every torment.”
Angered, Hadrian summoned the mother and said: “Tell me the girls’ names in order of age.” She said: “The first is called Faith, aged twelve years; the second, Hope, aged ten; the third, Charity, aged nine.”
Hadrian summoned Faith and said: “Sacrifice to the great Diana and recognize how beautiful she is.”
Faith answered: “O folly of human blindness! Why do you abandon the Lord who made all things from nothing by his word and worship wood and stone, things fashioned by human art and adorned by carving?”
He ordered her to be stripped and beaten with rods until she should promise to sacrifice. Twelve centurions took turns striking her, yet no wound appeared upon her body. Her breasts were then cut off, but milk rather than blood flowed from them.
Faith said to the emperor: “These,” she said, “are all your threats.” She was placed upon a heated griddle, but rested upon it as peacefully as a ship upon a calm sea. She was then cast into a pan filled with pitch, wax, and bitumen, but emerged unharmed. When she had not been harmed at all even by this torment, Hadrian, angry because he had been unable in any way to persuade the virgin to sacrifice, ordered her to be struck with the sword.
Hadrian then summoned the second daughter and began to urge her to sacrifice to Diana and escape the torments. She answered: “Know, emperor, that you will accomplish nothing with empty words.” She was stripped and beaten with oxhide scourges. Ten centurions took turns striking her, but they could not move her to consent.
She said to the emperor: “Enemy of piety, apply every torment, so that you may learn the power of my God.”
She was cast alive into a furnace, but the flame went out, and she praised the Lord. She was then suspended and tortured, yet the sweetest fragrance issued from her body. She said: “With Christ present, I feel no pain.”
A bronze vessel was brought and filled with pitch, fat, wax, and resin. When it was boiling and the attendants attempted to put the girl into it, the vessel dissolved and burst apart, and its liquid burned the executioners to their bones. Not softened even by so great a miracle, Hadrian ordered Hope to be beheaded.
Charity was next brought forward. When she refused to obey the emperor’s words and sacrifice to the idol, she was suspended, subjected to certain new devices of torture, and scourged. Then, strengthening herself with the sign of the cross, she was cast into the fire; but the flame suddenly burst out of the furnace and burned a great crowd of the attendants.
[Running head: Chapter Six, Folio 223.]
She walked unharmed in the midst of the fire, praising God. Hadrian ordered his guards to bring her out. As they approached the mouth of the furnace, they saw three persons walking with her, brighter than the sun, and fell upon their faces in terror. When they recovered their senses, they begged the virgin to come out. She did so and was presented to the emperor, who ordered her to be killed.
Sophia gathered the bodies of her daughters, had them carried to the eighteenth milestone from the city, and buried them there. In the presence of the crowds she cast herself down in prayer over their tombs and said with tears: “My daughters, receive me to yourselves.” Then, as though overcome by sleep, she rested in peace.
§ VI: Saints Serapia and Sabina
At that time the blessed virgin Serapia, a native of Antioch, was brought before the judge Belillus. She had been living in the house of the illustrious Roman woman Sabina, formerly the wife of Valentinus and daughter of Herod, but now a widow.
When Serapia was seized and refused to sacrifice to the gods, the judge ordered her to be shut in a dark chamber. At his command two lustful young men entered to violate her, but they fell to the ground paralyzed as though dead. When they were brought before the judge, Serapia restored them by her prayer.
The impious judge ordered burning lamps to be applied to both her sides, but the attendants were turned backward. She was then beaten with clubs, but a great earthquake arose. A splinter flew from the club with which she was struck and entered the judge’s eye; after much pain it left him blind in that eye.
Serapia was then put to death by the sword. Sabina, who had been converted through her, placed her body in her own tomb on the twenty-ninth day of July.
Sabina, a most noble and wealthy woman devoted to works of mercy, was afterward denounced as a Christian to the prefect Helpidius, whom the account calls a most rabid dog. When she was commanded to sacrifice, she answered that she would not sacrifice to false and mute gods, but to the living and true God who created all things, and that the emperors who worshiped the images of demons would burn together with them.
She was therefore condemned to death on the twenty-ninth day of August. The bodies of both women rest in the church of Saint Sabina at Rome.
§ VII: Saint Mary
At this time a virgin named Mary, a slave by condition but secretly a Christian, was denounced to the judge. She was urged with threats to sacrifice to the gods.
As she refused and the instruments of torture were prepared, the surrounding crowd felt compassion for the virgin and cried out as if with one voice that she was being torn unjustly through the cruelty of the judge, not for the guilt of any sin, and that everything was being done contrary to law. Fearing a riot, the judge ordered her released and held under a relaxed guard.
Mary prayed and saw an army of angels, a multitude of saints, and the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father. From this she received the greatest joy. When she departed and saw herself surrounded by persecutors, she prayed to the Lord to deliver her from their hands. She was immediately heard. A great rock before her opened at God’s command, revealing a cleft of refuge to receive the virgin. As soon as she had entered, its previously opened sides closed, so that those surrounding the rock could neither find nor see her.
On hearing this, the judge sent a great multitude to the place, and the people gathered there. When they attempted to lay hands upon the rock, a flash of exceeding brilliance immediately arose in the east. Without delay came thunder and such a crash that everything seemed to collapse; the earth shook, and all fell to the ground.
Then two horsemen, angels shining like fire, appeared, and many of the persecutors died. The survivors fled into the temple of the idols, but fire from heaven consumed both the people and the temple. In all, 2,700 died.
Those who survived cried out: “Great is the God of Mary! Great is the God of the Christians!” Nearly three thousand souls then believed in Christ.
Saints Faustinus, Jovita, and Callocerius
At Brescia in Italy, in the same period, Saints Faustinus and Jovita suffered. First, various kinds of exceedingly savage beasts were sent against them. The beasts did them no harm, but became gentle and lay prostrate at their feet. Seeing this, the people cried out, “Great is the God of heaven,” and more than three thousand believed.
The saints were cast into a fire but remained unharmed. The persecutors ordered them to be flayed, but the executioners were unable to accomplish it. Their arms were bound and they were suspended high in the air while molten lead was poured over them, yet they felt nothing. They were stretched upon the rack and burning lamps were applied, but the lamps went out. At last they were led outside the city and beheaded.
Blessed Callocerius suffered with them because he had cried out: “Truly great is the God of the Christians.”