Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe (top 50 books to read .TXT) 📕

Agrape, Chioma, and Irene, three sisters, were seized upon at Thessalonica, when Diocletian's persecution reached Greece. They were burnt, and received the crown of martyrdom in the flames, March 25, A. D. 304. The governor, finding that he could make no impression on Irene, ordered her to be exposed naked in the streets, which shameful order having been executed, she was burnt, April 1, A. D. 304, at the same place where her sisters suffered.

Agatho, a man of a pious turn of mind, with Cassice, Phillippa, and Eutychia, were martyred about the same time; but the particulars have not been transmitted to us.

Marcellinus, bishop of Rome, who succeeded Caius in that see, having strongly opposed paying divine honours to Diocletian, suffered martyrdom, by a variety of tortures, in the year 321, comforting his soul till he expired with the prospect of those glorious rewards it would receive by the tortures suffered in the body.

Victorius, Carpophorus, Severus, and Severianus, were brothers, and all four employed in places of great trust and honour in the city of Rome. Having exclaimed against the worship of idols, they were apprehended, and scourged, with the plumbetæ, or scourges, to the ends of which were fastened leaden balls. This punishment was exercised with such excess of cruelty, that the pious brothers fell martyrs to its severity.

Timothy, a deacon of Mauritania, and Maura his wife, had not been united together by the bands of wedlock above three weeks, when they were separated from each other by the persecution.—Timothy, being apprehended as a christian, was carried before Arrianus, the governor of Thebais, who, knowing that he had the keeping of the Holy Scriptures, commanded him to deliver them up to be burnt; to which he answered, "Had I children, I would sooner deliver them up to be sacrificed, than part with the word of God." The governor being much incensed at this reply, ordered his eyes to be put out with red-hot irons, saying "The books shall at least be useless to you, for you shall not see to read them." His patience under the operation was so great, that the governor grew more exasperated; he, therefore, in order, if possible, to overcome his fortitude, ordered him to be hung up by the feet, with a weight tied about his neck, and a gag in his mouth. In this state, Maura, his wife, tenderly urged him for her sake to recant; but, when the gag was taken out of his mouth, instead of consenting to his wife's entreaties, he greatly blamed her mistaken love, and declared his resolution of dying for the faith. The consequence was, that Maura resolved to imitate his courage and fidelity and either to accompany or follow him to glory. The governor, after trying in vain to alter her resolution, ordered her to be tortured which was executed with great severity. After this, Timothy and Maura were crucified near each other, A. D. 304.

Sabinus, bishop of Assisium, refusing to sacrifice to Jupiter, and pushing the idol from him, had his hand cut off by the order of the governor of Tuscany. While in prison, he converted the governor and his family, all of whom suffered martyrdom for the faith. Soon after their execution, Sabinus himself was scourged to death. Dec.. A. D. 304.

Tired with the farce of state and public business, the emperor Diocletian resigned the imperial diadem, and was succeeded by Constantius and Galerius; the former a prince of the most mild and humane disposition and the latter equally remarkable for his cruelty and tyranny. These divided the empire into two equal governments, Galerius ruling in the east, and Constantius in the west; and the people in the two governments felt the effects of the dispositions of the two emperors; for those in the west were governed in the mildest manner, but such as resided in the east, felt all then miseries of oppression and lengthened tortures.

Among the many martyred by the order of Galerius, we shall enumerate the most eminent.

Amphianus was a gentleman of eminence in Lucia, and a scholar of Eusebius; Julitta, a Lycaonian of royal descent, but more celebrated for her virtues than noble blood. While on the rack, her child was killed before her face. Julitta, of Cappadocia, was a lady of distinguished capacity, great virtue, and uncommon courage.—To complete the execution, Julitta had boiling pitch poured on her feet, her sides torn with hooks, and received the conclusion of her martyrdom, by being beheaded, April 16, A. D. 305.

Hermolaus, a venerable and pious christian, of a great age, and an intimate acquaintance of Panteleon's, suffered martyrdom for the faith on the same day, and in the same manner as Panteleon.

Eustratius, secretary to the governor of Armina, was thrown into a fiery furnace, for exhorting some christians who had been apprehended, to persevere in their faith.

Nicander and Marcian, two eminent Roman military officers, were apprehended on account of their faith. As they were both men of great abilities in their profession, the utmost means were used to induce them to renounce christianity: but these endeavours being found ineffectual, they were beheaded.

In the kingdom of Naples, several martyrdoms took place, in particular, Januaries, bishop of Beneventum; Sosius, deacon of Misene Proculus, another deacon; Eutyches and Acutius, two laymen: Festus, a deacon; and Desiderius, a reader; were all, on account of being christians, condemned by the governor of Campania, to be devoured by the wild beasts. The savage animals, however, not touching them, they were beheaded.

Quirinus, bishop of Siscia, being carried before Matenius, the governor, was ordered to sacrifice to the pagan deities, agreeably to the edicts of various Roman emperors. The governor, perceiving his constancy, sent him to jail, and ordered him to be heavily ironed; flattering himself, that the hardships of a jail, some occasional tortures and the weight of chains, might overcome his resolution. Being decided in his principles, he was sent to Amantius, the principal governor of Pannonia, now Hungary, who loaded him with chains, and carried him through the principal towns of the Danube, exposing him to ridicule wherever he went. Arriving at length at Sabaria, and finding that Quirinus would not renounce his faith, he ordered him to be cast into a river, with a stone fastened about his neck. This sentence being put into execution, Quirinus floated about for some time, and, exhorting the people in the most pious terms, concluded his admonitions with this prayer: "It is no new thing, O all-powerful Jesus, for thee to stop the course of rivers, or to cause a man to walk upon the water as thou didst thy servant Peter; the people have already seen the proof of thy power in me; grant me now to lay down my life for thy sake, O my God." On pronouncing the last words he immediately sank, and died, June 4, A. D. 308; his body was afterwards taken up, and buried by some pious christians.

Pamphilus, a native of Phœnicia, of a considerable family, was a man of such extensive learning, that he was called a second Origen. He was received into the body of the clergy at Cæsarea, where he established a public library and spent his time in the practice of every christian virtue. He copied the greatest part of the works of Origen with his own hand, and, assisted by Eusebius, gave a correct copy of the Old Testament, which had suffered greatly by the ignorance or negligence of firmer transcribers. In the year 307, he was apprehended, and suffered torture and martyrdom.

Marcellus, bishop of Rome, being banished on account of his faith, fell a martyr to the miseries he suffered in exile, 16th Jan. A. D. 310.

Peter, the sixteenth bishop of Alexandria, was martyred Nov. 25, A. D. 311, by order of Maximus Cæsar, who reigned in the east.

Agnes, a virgin of only thirteen years of age, was beheaded for being a christian; as was Serene, the empress of Diocletian. Valentine, a priest, suffered the same fate at Rome; and Erasmus, a bishop, was martyred in Campania.

Soon after this the persecution abated in the middle parts of the empire, as well as in the west; and Providence at length began to manifest vengeance on the persecutors. Maximian endeavoured to corrupt his daughter Fausta to murder Constantine her husband; which she discovered, and Constantine forced him to choose his own death, when he preferred the ignominious death of hanging, after being an emperor near twenty years.

Galerius was visited by an incurable and intolerable disease, which began with an ulcer in his secret parts and a fistula in ano, that spread progressively to his inmost bowels, and baffled all the skill of physicians and surgeons. Untried medicines of some daring professors drove the evil through his bones to the very marrow, and worms began to breed in his entrails; and the stench was so preponderant as to be perceived in the city; all the passages separating the passages of the urine, and excrements being corroded and destroyed. The whole mass of his body was turned unto universal rottenness; and, though living creatures, and boiled animals, were applied with the design of drawing out the vermin by the heat, by which a vast hive was opened, a second imposthume discovered a more prodigious swarm, as if his whole body was resolved into worms. By a dropsy also his body was grossly disfigured; for although his upper parts were exhausted, and dried to a skeleton, covered only with dead skin; the lower parts were swelled up like bladders, and the shape of his feet could scarcely be perceived. Torments and pains insupportable, greater than those he had inflicted upon the christians, accompanied these visitations, and he bellowed out like a wounded bull, often endeavouring to kill himself and destroying several physicians for the inefficacy of their medicines. These torments kept him in a languishing state a full year, and his conscience was awakened, at length, so that he was compelled to acknowledge the God of the christians, and to promise, in the intervals of his paroxysms, that he would rebuild the churches, and repair the mischief done to them. An edict in his last agonies, was published in his name, and the joint names of Constantine and Licinius, to permit the christians to have the free use of religion, and to supplicate their God for his health and the good of the empire; on which many prisoners in Nicomedia were liberated, and amongst others Donatus.

At length, Constantine the Great, determined to redress the grievances of the christians, for which purpose he raised an army of 30,000 foot, and 8000 horse, which he marched towards Rome against Maxentius, the emperor; defeated him, and entered the city of Rome in triumph. A law was now published in favour of the christians, in which Licinius was joined by Constantine, and a copy of it was sent to Maximus in the east. Maximus, who was a bigoted pagan, greatly disliked the edict, but being afraid of Constantine, did not openly avow his disapprobation. Maximus at length invaded the territories of Licinius, but, being defeated, put an end to his life by poison. Licinius afterwards persecuting the christians, Constantine the Great marched against him, and defeated him: he was afterwards slain by his own soldiers.

We shall conclude our account of the tenth and last general persecution with the death of St. George, the titular saint and patron of England. St. George was born in Cappadocia, of christian parents; and giving proofs of his courage, was promoted in the army of the emperor Diocletian. During the persecution, St. George threw up his command, went boldly to the senate house, and avowed his being a christian, taking occasion at the same time to remonstrate against paganism, and point out the absurdity of worshipping idols. This