June 1st - Sts. Justin the Philosopher, Pamphilus, Caprais, Peter of Pisa, and Wistan

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Saints Honored on This Day: Sts. Justin the Philosopher, Pamphilus, Caprais, Peter of Pisa, and Wistan

Taken from Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints

ST. JUSTIN THE PHILOSOPHER, M.

From the life of the saint, compiled from his writings by Dom. Marand, the learned and judicious editor of St. Justin’s works, printed at Paris in 1742; and at Venice in 1747. Also from Tatian Eusebius, and the original short acts of his martyrdom, in Ruinart. On his writings, see Dom. Nourry, Apparatus is Bibl. Patr. Ceillier, and Marechal, Concordance des Pères, t. 1.

A. D. 167.

ST. JUSTIN was born at Neapolis, now Naplosa, the ancient Sichem, and formerly the capital of the province of Samaria. Vespasian, having endowed its inhabitants with the privileges belonging to Roman citizens, gave it the name of Flavia. His son Titus sent thither a colony of Greeks, among whom were the father and grandfather of our saint. His father, a heathen,* brought him up in the errors and superstitions of paganism, but at the same time did not neglect to cultivate his mind by several branches of human literature. St. Justin accordingly informs us,1 that he spent his youth in reading the poets, orators, and historians. Having gone through the usual course of these studies, he gave himself up to that of philosophy in quest of truth, an ardent love of which was his predominant passion. He addressed himself first to a master who was a Stoic; and after having stayed some time with him, seeing he could learn nothing of him concerning God, he left him, and went to a Peripatetic, a very subtle man in his own conceit: but Justin, being desired the second day after admission, to fix his master’s salary, that he might know what he was to be allowed for his pains in teaching him, he left him also, concluding that he was no philosopher. He then tried a Pythagorean, who had a great reputation, and who boasted much of his wisdom; but he required of his scholar, as a necessary preliminary to his admission, that he should have learned music, astronomy, and geometry. Justin could not bear such delays in the search of God, and preferred the school of an Academic, under whom he made great progress in the Platonic philosophy, and vainly flattered himself with the hope of arriving in a short time at the sight of God, which the Platonic philosophy seemed to have had chiefly in view. Walking one day by the sea-side, for the advantage of a greater freedom from noise and tumult, he saw, as he turned about, an old man who followed him pretty close. His appearance was majestic, and had a great mixture in it of mildness and gravity. Justin looking on him very attentively, the man asked him if he knew him. Justin answered in the negative. “Why then,” said he, “do you look so steadfastly upon me?” Justin replied: “It is the effect of my surprise to meet any human creature in this remote and solitary place.” “What brought me hither,” said that old man, “was my concern for some of my friends. They are gone a journey, and I am come hither to look out for them.”† They then fell into a long discourse concerning the excellency of philosophy in general, and of the Platonic in particular, which Justin asserted to be the only true way to happiness, and of knowing and seeing God. This the grave person refuted at large, and at length by the force of his arguments convinced him that those philosophers whom he had the greatest esteem for, Plato and Pythagoras, had been mistaken in their principles, and had not a thorough knowledge of God and of the soul of man, nor could they in consequence communicate it to others. This drew from him the important query, Who were the likeliest persons to set him in the right way? The stranger answered, that long before the existence of these reputed philosophers, there were certain blessed men, lovers of God, and divinely inspired, called prophets, on account of their foretelling things which have since come to pass; whose books, yet extant, contain many solid instructions about the first cause and end of all things, and many other particulars becoming a philosopher to know. That their miracles and their predictions had procured them such credit, that they established truth by authority, and not by disputes and elaborate demonstrations of human reason, of which few men are capable. That they inculcated the belief of one only God, the Father and author of all things, and of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he had sent into the world. He concluded his discourse with this advice: “As for thyself, above all things, pray that the gates of life may be opened unto thee: for these are not things to be discerned, unless God and Christ grant to a man the knowledge of them.” After these words he departed, and Justin saw him no more: but his conversation left a deep impression on the young philosopher’s soul, and kindled there an ardent affection for these true philosophers, the prophets. And upon a further inquiry into the credibility of the Christian religion, he embraced it soon after. What had also no small weight in persuading him of the truth of the Christian faith, was the innocence and true virtue of its professors; seeing with what courage and constancy, rather than to betray their religion, or commit the least sin, they suffered the sharpest tortures, and encountered, nay, even courted death itself, in its most horrible shapes. “When I heard the Christians traduced and reproached,” says he, “yet saw them fearless and rushing on death, and on all things that are accounted most dreadful to human nature, I concluded with myself that it was impossible those men should wallow in vice, and be carried away with the love of lust and pleasure.”2 Justin, by the course of his studies, must have been grown up when he was converted to the faith. Tillemont and Marand understand, by an obscure passage in St. Epiphanius,3 that he was in the thirtieth year of his age.*

St. Justin, after he became a Christian, continued to wear the pallium, or cloak, as Eusebius and St. Jerom inform us, which was the singular badge of a philosopher. Aristides, the Athenian philosopher and a Christian, did the same; so did Heraclas, even when he was bishop of Alexandria. St. Epiphanius calls St. Justin a great ascetic, or one who professed a most austere and holy life. He came to Rome soon after his conversion, probably from Egypt. Tillemont and Dom. Marand think that he was a priest, from his description of baptism, and the account he gave at his trial of people resorting to his house for instruction. This, however, is uncertain; and Ceillier concludes, from the silence of the ancients on this head, that he was always a layman: but he seems to have preached, and therefore to have been at least deacon. His discourse, or oration to the Greeks,4 he wrote soon after his conversion, in order to convince the heathens of the reasonableness of his having deserted paganism. He urges the absurdity of idolatry, and the inconsistency of ascribing lewdness and other crimes to their deities: on the other hand, he declares his admiration of, and reverence for, the purity and sanctity of the Christian doctrine, and the awful majesty of the divine writings which still the passions, and fix in a happy tranquillity the mind of man, which finds itself everywhere else restless. His second work is called his Parænesis, or Exhortation to the Greeks, which he drew up at Rome: in this he employs the flowers of eloquence, which even in his apologies he despises. In it he shows the errors of idolatry, and the vanity of the heathen philosophers; reproaches Plato with making an harangue to the Athenians, in which he pretended to establish a multitude of gods, only to escape the fate of Socrates; while it is clear, from his writings, that he believed one only God. He transcribes the words of Orpheus the Sibyl, Homer, Sophocles, Pythagoras, Plato, Mercury, and Acmon, or rather Ammon, in which they profess the unity of the Deity. He wrote his book on Monarchy,5 expressly to prove the unity of God, from the testimonies and reasons of the heathen philosophers themselves. The epistle to Diognetus is an incomparable work of primitive antiquity, attributed to St. Justin by all the ancient copies, and doubtless genuine, as Dr. Cave, Ceillier, Marand. &c., show; though the style is more elegant and florid than the other works of this father. Indeed it is not mentioned by Eusebius and St. Jerom; but neither do they mention the works of Athenagoras. And what wonder that, the art of printing not being as yet discovered, some writings should have escaped their notice? Tillemont fancies the author of this piece to be more ancient, because he calls himself a disciple of the apostles: but St. Justin might assume that title, who lived contemporary with St. Polycarp, and others, who had seen some of them. This Diognetus was a learned philosopher, a person of great rank, and preceptor to the emperor Marcus Aurelius, who always consulted and exceedingly honored him. Dom. Nourry6 mistakes grossly, when he calls him a Jew: for in this very epistle is he styled an adorer of gods. This great man was desirous to know upon what assurances the Christians despised the world, and even torments and death, and showed to one another a mutual love, which appeared wonderful to the rest of mankind, for it rendered them seemingly insensible to the greatest injuries. St. Justin, to satisfy him, demonstrates the folly of idolatry, and the imperfection of the Jewish worship and sets forth the sanctity practised by the Christians, especially their humility, meekness, love of those who hate them without so much as knowing any reason of their hatred, &c. He adds, that their numbers and virtue are increased by tortures and massacres, and explains clearly the divinity of Christ,7 the maker of all things, and Son of God. He shows that by reason alone we could never attain to the true knowledge of God, who sent his Son to teach us his holy mysteries; and, when we deserved only chastisement, to pay the full price of our redemption;—the holy One to suffer for sinners,—the person offended for the offenders? and when no other means could satisfy for our crimes, we were covered under the wings of justice itself, and rescued from slavery. He extols exceedingly the immense goodness and love of God for man, in creating him, and the world for his use; in subjecting to him other things, and in sending his only-begotten Son with the promise of his kingdom, to those who shall have loved him. “But after you shall have known him,” says he, “with what inexpressible joy do you think you will be filled! How ardently will you love him who first loved you! And when you shall love him, you will be an imitator of his goodness. He who bears the burdens of others, assists all, humbles himself to all, even to his inferiors, and supplies the wants of the poor with what he has received from God, is truly the imitator of God. Then will you see on earth that God governs the world; you will know his mysteries, and will love and admire those who suffer for him: you will condemn the imposture of the world, and despise death, only fearing eternal death, in never-ending fire. When you know that fire, you will call those blessed who here suffer flames for justice. I speak not of things to which I am a stranger, but having been a disciple of the apostles, I am a teacher of nations,& c.”

St. Justin made a long stay in Rome, dwelling near the Timothin baths, on the Viminal hill. The Christians met in his house to perform their devotions, and he applied himself with great zeal to the instruction of all those who resorted to him. Evelpistus, who suffered with him, owned at his examination that he had heard with pleasure Justin’s discourses. The judge was acquainted with his zeal, when he asked him, in what place he assembled his disciples. Not content with laboring in the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, he exerted his endeavors in defending the Catholic faith against all the heresies of that age. His excellent volumes against Marcion, as they are styled by St. Jerom, are now lost, with several other works commended by the ancients. The martyr, after his first Apology, left Rome, and probably performed the functions of an evangelist, in many countries, for several years. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, being at Ephesus, and casually meeting, in the walks of Xistus, Tryphon, whom Eusebius calls the most celebrated Jew of that age, and who was a famous philosopher, he fell into discourse with him, which brought on a disputation, which was held in the presence of several witnesses during two entire days. St. Justin afterwards committed to writing this dialogue with Tryphon, which work is a simple narrative of a familiar unstudied conversation. Tryphon, seeing Justin in the philosopher’s cloak, addressed him on the excellency of philosophy. The saint answered, that he admired he should not rather study Moses and the prophets, in comparison of whom all the writings of the philosophers are empty jargon and foolish dreams. Then, in the first part of his dialogue, he showed, that, according to the prophets, the old law was temporary, and to be abolished by the new: and in the second, that Christ was God before all ages, distinct from the Father,—the same that appeared to Abraham, Moses, &c., the same that created man, and was himself made man, and crucified. He insists much on that passage, Behold, a virgin shall conceive.8 From the beginning of the conversation, Tryphon had allowed that from the prophets it was clear that Christ must be then come; but he said, that he had not yet manifested himself to the world.9 So evident was it that the time of his coming must be then elapsed, that no Jew durst deny it, as Fleury observes From the Apocalypse and Isaiah, by a mistaken interpretation, Justin inferred the futurity of the Millennium, or of Christ’s reign upon earth for a thousand years, before the day of judgment, with his elect, in spiritual, chaste delights: but adds, that this was not admitted by many true orthodox believers.10 This point was afterwards cleared up, and that mistake of some few corrected and exploded, by consulting the tradition of the whole church. In the third part, St. Justin proves the vocation of the Gentiles, and the establishment of the church. Night putting an end to the conversation, Tryphon thanked Justin, and prayed for his happy voyage: for he was going to sea. By some mistakes made by St. Justin in the etymologies, or derivation of certain Hebrew names, it appears that he was a stranger to that language. The Socinians dread the authority of this work, on account of the clear proofs which it furnishes of the divinity of Christ. St. Justin testifies11 that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, of curing the sick, and casting out devils in the name of Christ, were then frequent in the church. He excludes from salvation wilful heretics no less than infidels.

But the Apologies of this martyr have chiefly rendered his name illustrious. The first or greater, (which by the first editors was, through mistake, placed and called the second,) he addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, his two adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Commodus, and the senate, about the year 150. That mild emperor had published no edicts against the Christians; but, by virtue of former edicts, they were often persecuted by the governors, and were everywhere traduced as a wicked and barbarous set of people, enemies to their very species. They were deemed atheists; they were accused of practising secret lewdness, which slander seems to have been founded on the secrecy of their mysteries, and partly on the filthy abominations of the Gnostic and Carpocratian heretics: they were said in their sacred assemblies to feed on the flesh of a murdered child; to which calumny a false notion of the blessed eucharist might give birth. Celsus and other heathens add,12 that they adored the cross, and the head of an ass. The story of the ass’s head was a groundless calumny, forged by a Jew, who pretended to have seen their mysteries, which was readily believed and propagated by those whose interest it was to decry the Christian religion, as Eusebius,13 St. Justin, Origen, and Tertullian relate. The respect shown to the sign of the cross, mentioned by Tertullian and all the ancient fathers, seems ground enough for the other slander. These calumnies were advanced with such confidence, and, through passion and prejudice, received so eagerly, that they served for a pretence to justify the cruelty of the persecutors, and to render the very name of a Christian odious. These circumstances stirred up the zeal of St. Justin to present his apology for the faith in writing, begging that the same might be made public. In it he boldly declares himself a Christian, and an advocate for his religion: he shows that Christians ought not to be condemned barely for the name of Christian, unless convicted of some crime; that they are not atheists, though they adore not idols; for they adore God the Father, his Son, and the Holy Ghost,14 and the host of good angels.* He exhorts the emperor to hold the balance even, in the execution of justice; and sets forth the sanctity of the doctrine and manners of Christians, who fly all oaths, abhor the least impurity, despise riches, are patient and meek, love even enemies, readily pay all taxes, and scrupulously and respectfully obey and honor princes, &c. Far from eating children, they even condemned those that exposed them.† He proves their regard for purity from the numbers among them of both sexes who had observed strict chastity to an advanced age. He explains the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the flesh, and shows from the ancient prophets that God was to become man, and that they had foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the vocation of the Gentiles, &c. He mentions a statue erected in Rome to Simon Magus, which is also testified by Tertullian, Saint Austin, Theodoret, &c.15 The necessity of vindicating our faith from slanders, obliged him, contrary to the custom of the primitive church, to describe the sacraments of baptism and the blessed eucharist, mentioning the latter also as a sacrifice. “No one,” says he,16 “is allowed to partake of this food but he that believes our doctrines to be true, and who has been baptized in the laver of regeneration for remission of sins, and lives up to what Christ has taught. For we take not these as common bread and common drink; but like as Jesus Christ our Saviour, being incarnate by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation; so are we taught that this food, by which our flesh and blood are nourished, over which thanks have been given by the prayers in his own words, is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus.” He describes the manner of sanctifying the Sunday, by meeting to celebrate the divine mysteries, read the prophets, hear the exhortation of him that presides, and make a collection of alms to be distributed among the orphans, widows, sick, prisoners, and strangers. He adds the obscure edict of the emperor Adrian in favor of the Christians. It appears that this Apology had its desired effect—the quiet of the church. Eusebius informs us,17 that the same emperor sent into Asia a rescript to the following purport: “When many governors of provinces had written to my father, he forbade them (the Christians) to be molested, unless they had offended against the state. The same answer I gave when consulted before on the same subject. If any one accuse a person of being a Christian, it is my pleasure that he be acquitted, and the accuser chastised, according to the rigor of the law.” Orosius and Zonaras tell us, that Antoninus was prevailed upon by the Apology of Justin to send this order.

He composed his second Apology near twenty years after, in 167, on account of the martyrdom of one Ptolemy, and two other Christians, whom Urbicus, the governor of Rome, had put to death. The saint offered it to the emperor Marcus Aurelius (his colleague Lucius Verus being absent in the East) and to the senate. He undertakes in it to prove that the Christians were unjustly punished with death, and shows how much their lives and doctrine surpassed the philosophers, and that they could never embrace death with so much cheerfulness and joy, had they been guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. Even Socrates, notwithstanding the multitude of disciples that followed him, never found one that died in defence of his doctrine. The apologist added boldly, that he expected death would be the recompense of his Apology, and that he should fall a victim to the snares and rage of some or other of the implacable enemies of the religion for which he pleaded; among whom he named Crescens, a philosopher in name, but an ignorant man, and a slave to pride and ostentation. His martyrdom, as he had conjectured, was the recompense of this Apology: it happened soon after he presented this discourse, and probably was procured by the malice of those of whom he spoke. The genuine acts seem to have been taken from the prætor’s public register. The relation is as follows:

Justin and others that were with him were apprehended, and brought before Rusticus, prefect of Rome, who said to Justin, “Obey the gods, and comply with the edicts of the emperors.” Justin answered, “No one can be justly blamed or condemned for obeying the commands of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” RUSTICUS—“What kind of literature and discipline do you profess?” JUSTIN—“I have tried every kind of discipline and learning, but I have finally embraced the Christian discipline, how little soever esteemed by those who were led away by error and false opinions” RUSTICUS—“Wretch, art thou then taken with that discipline?” JUSTIN—“Doubtles I am, because it affords me the comfort of being in the right path.” RUSTICUS—“What are the tenets of the Christian religion?” JUSTIN—“We Christians believe one God, Creator of all things visible and invisible; and we confess our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, foretold by the prophets, the Author and Preacher of salvation, and the Judge of mankind.” The prefect inquired in what place the Christians assembled. Justin replied, “Where they please, and where they can: God is not confined to a place: as he is invisible, and fills both heaven and earth, he is everywhere adored and glorified by the faithful.” RUSTICUS—“Tell me where you assemble your disciples.” JUSTIN—“I have lived till this time near the house of one called Martin, at the Timothin baths. I am come a second time to Rome, and am acquainted with no other place in the city. If any one came to me, I communicated to him the doctrine of truth.” RUSTICUS—“You are then a Christian?” JUSTIN—“Yes, I am.” The judge then put the same question to each of the rest, viz., Chariton, a man; Charitana, a woman; Evelpistus, a servant of Cæsar, by birth a Cappadocian; Hierax, a Phrygian; Peon, and Liberianus, who all answered, “that, by the divine mercy, they were Christians.” Evelpistus said he had learned the faith from his parents, but had with great pleasure heard Justin’s discourses. Then the prefect addressed himself again to Justin in this manner: “Hear you, who are noted for your eloquence, and think you make profession of the right philosophy, if I cause you to be scourged from head to foot, do you think you shall go to heaven?” Justin replied, “If I suffer what you mention, I hope to receive the reward which those have already received who have observed the precepts of Jesus Christ.” Rusticus said, “You imagine then that you shall go to heaven, and be there rewarded.” The martyr answered, “I do not only imagine it, but I know it; and am so well assured of it, that I have no reason to make the least doubt of it.” The prefect seeing it was to no purpose to argue, bade them go together and unanimously sacrifice to the gods, and told them that in case of refusal they should be tormented without mercy. Justin replied, “There is nothing which we more earnestly desire than to endure torments for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; for this is what will promote our happiness, and give us confidence at his bar, where all men must appear to be judged.” To this the rest assented, adding, “Do quickly what you are about. We are Christians, and will never sacrifice to idols.” The prefect thereupon ordered them to be scourged and then beheaded, as the laws directed. The martyrs were forthwith led to the place where criminals were executed, and there, amidst the praises and thanksgivings which they did not cease to pour forth to God, were first scourged, and afterwards beheaded. After their martyrdom, certain Christians carried off their bodies privately, and gave them an honorable burial. St. Justin is one of the most ancient fathers of the church who has left us works of any considerable note.* Tatian, his disciple, writes, that, of all men, he was the most worthy of admiration.18 Eusebius, St. Jerom, St. Epiphanius, Theodoret, &c., bestow on him the highest praises. He suffered about the year 167, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The Greeks honor him on the 1st of June; in Usuard and the Roman Martyrology his name occurs on the 13th of April.

St. Justin extols the power of divine grace in the virtue of Christians, among whom many who were then sixty years old, had served God from their infancy in a state of spotless virginity, having never offended against that virtue, not only in action, but not even in thought: for our very thoughts are known to God.19 They could not be defiled with any inordinate love of riches, who threw their own private revenues into the common stock, sharing it with the poor.20 So great was their abhorrence of the least wilful untruth, that they were always ready rather to die than to save their lives by a lie.21 Their fidelity to God was inviolable, and their constancy in confessing his holy name, and in observing his law, invincible. “No one,” says the saint,22 “can affright from their duty those who believe in Jesus. In all parts of the earth we cease not to confess him, though we lose our heads, be crucified, or exposed to wild beasts. We suffer dungeons, fire, and all manner of torments: the more we are persecuted, the more faithful and the more pious we become, through the name of Jesus. Some adore the sun: but no one yet saw any one lay down his life for that worship; whereas we see men of all nations suffer all things for Jesus Christ.” He often mentions the devotion and fervor of Christians in glorifying God by their continual homages, and says, that the light of the gospel being then spread everywhere, there was no nation, either of Greeks or barbarians, in which prayers and thanksgivings were not offered to the Creator in the name of the crucified Jesus.23

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SAINT PAMPHILUS, PRIEST AND MARTYR

From Eusebius, St. Jerom, &c. See Ceillier, t. 3, p. 435.

A. D. 309.

LEARNING is truly valuable when sanctified by piety, and consecrated to the divine honor, to which St. Pamphilus devoted himself and all his labors. He was of a rich and honorable family, and a native of Berytus; in which city, at that time famous for its schools, he in his youth ran through the whole circle of the sciences, and was afterwards honored with the first employments of the magistracy. After he began to know Christ, he could relish no other study but that of salvation, and renounced every thing else that he might apply himself wholly to the exercises of virtue, and the studies of the holy scriptures. This accomplished master in profane sciences, and this renowned magistrate, was not ashamed to become the humble scholar of Pierius, the successor of Origen in the great catechetical school of Alexandria. He afterwards made Cæsarea in Palestine his residence, where, at his private expense, he collected a great library which he bestowed on the church of that city. St. Isidore of Seville reckons that it contained near thirty thousand volumes. Almost all the works of the ancients were found in it. The saint established there also a public school of sacred literature, and to his labors the church was indebted for a most correct edition of the holy Bible, which, with infinite care, he transcribed himself; many copies whereof he distributed gratis; for he was of all men the most communicative and beneficent, especially in encouraging sacred learning.* He set a great value on the works of Origen, many of which he copied with his own hand. During his imprisonment, he, with Eusebius composed an Apology for Origen in five books; of which the first, in Rufinus’s Latin translation, is extant among the works of St. Jerom, and is a finished piece.† But nothing was more remarkable in this saint than his extraordinary humility, as Eusebius often observes; which the saint himself feelingly expresses in his preface to an abridgment of the Acts of the Apostles. His paternal estate he at length distributed among the poor: towards his slaves and domestics his behavior was always that of a brother or tender father. He led a most austere life, sequestered from the world and its company; and was indefatigable in labor. Such a virtue was his apprenticeship to the grace of martyrdom.

In the year 307, Urbanus, the cruel governor of Palestine, caused him to be apprehended, and after hearing an essay of his eloquence and erudition, commanded him to be most inhumanly tormented. But the iron hooks which tore the martyr’s sides, served only to cover the judge with confusion. After this the saint remained almost two years in prison, with several fellow-confessors, of whom two, who were only catechumens, were at the same time purified and crowned by the baptism of fire. Soon after the torturing of St. Pamphilus, Urbanus the governor was himself beheaded by an order of the emperor Maximinus; but was succeeded by Firmilian, a man not less barbarous than bigoted and superstitious. After several butcheries, he caused St. Pamphilus and Valens, deacon of the church of Jerusalem, a venerable old man, who could repeat the whole Bible by heart, and Paul of Jamnia, a man of extraordinary zeal and fervor, to be brought before him; and finding them still firm in their faith, without putting them again to the rack, passed sentence of death upon them; yet several others suffered before them. For one Porphyrius, a virtuous slave of St. Pamphilus, whom the saint had always treated as a son, and who, out of humility, concealed his abilities, and his skill in writing, asked the judge’s leave to bury their bodies when they should have undergone their punishment. Firmilian, more like a tiger than a man, inquired if he was a Christian, and upon his confessing it, ordered the executioners to torment him with their utmost strength. But though his flesh was torn off to the very bones, and his naked bowels exposed to view, and the torments were continued a long time without intermission, he never once opened his mouth so much as to fetch one groan. He finished his martyrdom by a slow fire, and died invoking Jesus the Son of God. Thus, though he entered the lists after the rest, he arrived first at the crown. Seleucus, a Cappadocian, for carrying the news of the triumph of Porphyrius to St. Pamphilus, and for applauding the martyr’s constancy, was condemned to be beheaded with the rest. He had formerly borne several employments in the army, and had been scourged for the faith in 298; after which time he had lived a father and protector of the poor. Firmilian had in his family a servant, named Theodulus, whom he loved above all the rest of his domestics, for his probity and virtue; but being informed that he was a Christian, and had embraced one of the martyrs, he condemned him to be crucified on the same day. Julian, a zealous Cappadocian catechumen, for embracing the dead bodies of the martyrs in the evening, was burned at a slow fire, as Porphyrius had been. St. Pamphilus, with his companions above named, was beheaded on the 16th of February, 309; the others here mentioned all suffered on the same day. The bodies of these martyrs were left exposed to be devoured by wild beasts; but were not touched by them, and after four days, were taken away and decently buried. Eusebius of Cæsarea, the church historian, who had been fellow prisoner with St. Pamphilus, out of respect to his memory took the surname of Pamphili. Besides what he has said of this martyr in his history, he compiled three books of his life, which are much commended by St. Jerom, who calls them elegant, and says, that in them he excellently set forth the virtues, especially the extraordinary humility of St. Pamphilus. But this work is now lost, though Metaphrastes seems to have borrowed from it his account of this saint.

A cloud of witnesses, a noble army of martyrs, by which we are encompassed, teach us by their constancy to suffer wrong with patience, and strenuously to resist evil. Yet so far are we from bearing the crown which is purchased by patience and constancy, and so slothful in watching over ourselves, that we every day suffer the least dust or flies to ruffle our souls, and rob us of our treasure. The daily trials we meet with from others or from ourselves, are always sent us by God, who sometimes, like a tender parent, trains us up by strict discipline to virtue and glory; sometimes throws difficulties into our ways on purpose to reward our conquest; and sometimes, like a wise physician, restores us to our health by bitter potions. If he at any time punishes our contempt of his love and mercy by severity and chastisements, even these he inflicts in mercy to awake us from our dangerous spiritual lethargy, and to procure us many other spiritual advantages.

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ST. CAPRAIS, ABBOT

HE was the spiritual master and guide of St. Honoratus, and died soon after him in the isle of Lerins, in 430. His sanctity is much extolled by St. Hilary of Arles, who assisted at his death, and others, and his name is commemorated in the Roman and Gallicau Martyrologies on the 1st of June. See Berault’s Chronicle of Lerins, the life of St. Honoratus, Surius, and Giry.

ST. PETER OF PISA, FOUNDER OF THE HERMITS OF ST. JEROM

HE was born at Pisa in 1355, while his father, Peter Gambacorta, enjoyed the sovereign authority in that commonwealth. Being twenty-five years old, he privately left his father’s court, disguised in the habit of a poor penitent, and retired to Monte-bello, an agreeable solitude in Umbria. He begged his subsistence in the neighboring village, and, in 1380, found means to build a church, and twelve cells for so many companions who had joined him. He chose St. Jerom for the patron of his congregation, because that father having visited the hermitages of all Egypt and Syria, selected out of each what seemed to him the most perfect in every exercise. Peter prescribed to his monks four Lents in the year, and to fast on all Monday Wednesdays, and Fridays; to continue in prayer two hours after matins, at night. &c. As to himself, his whole time was devoted to the exercises of prayer, and his life was most austere. F. Sajanello relates many miracles performed by him, and gives an edifying account of his eminent virtues. His congregation was approved by Martin V. in 1421. His father and two brothers being assassinated by their secretary in 1393, he was tempted to leave his desert to do justice to his family and country: but by redoubling his fervor in his holy exercises, he overcame that suggestion of the devil He died in 1435, being eighty years old: was styled Blessed by Pius V. and Clement VIII., and a solemn decree of his beatification was published by Innocent XII. in 1693. His congregation is much spread in Italy. The order of St. Jerom of Fiesoli, instituted by the Ven. Charles of Montegraneli, a noble Florentine, was united to it by Clement IX. in 1668. There are also hermits of St. Jerom in Spain, of a like institute. They follow the rule of the hermits of St. Austin; but adopt certain constitutions gathered from the works of St. Jerom. See Helyot, and Historica Monumenta Ordinis S. Hieronymi Congr.; B. Petri de Pisis, auctore Jo. Baptista Sajanello, ej. Ordinis; Patavini Collegii Doctore Theologo., Venetiis. anno 1758, t. 1; also his life, written about the year 1500, published by the Bollandists on the 14th of June, and many other authors quoted by Benedict XIV.,1. 2, de Canoniz. c. 24, p. 239.

[Stone]

ST. WISTAN, PRINCE OF MERCIA, M.

WITLAS, king of Mercia, in England, from the year 826 to 839, had a son named Wimund, whom he survived. Both were buried in the abbey of Rependon, called Repton, in Derbyshire. Wimund left a son named Wistan; but on account of the Danish wars, this prince, being then a child, was set aside, and Bertulph, brother to Witlas, placed on the throne, by the consent of the Thanes or noblemen, and by the authority of Ethelwolph, king of the West-Saxons, to whom Mercia was then tributary. Wistan turned all his thoughts towards a heavenly kingdom which will have no end; but Bertulph, like another Herod, feared lest Wistan should be called to the crown at least at his death, and contrived to have him treacherously assassinated His son Berfert, or Brithfard, whom he designed to leave his heir, perpetrated the crime. Having invited the pious prince to meet him at a place called from that time to this day, says Capgrave, Wistanostowe, while the saint saluted him with a kiss of peace, he took out a sword which he carried secretly under his cloak, and with a violent blow cut off the upper part of his head. One of the assassin’s attendants dispatched the martyr, by stabbing him through the body. This happened on the 1st of June, 849. Before the end of that year Ethelwolph, alleging that Bertulph was not sufficiently accomplished in the art of war to defend the country against the infidels, deposed him, and bestowed the crown on Burrhed, the last king of Mercia. The body of St. Wistan was buried by the care of his mother Enfleda, daughter of Celwulph, at Repton, and honored with many miracles. It was some years after translated to the monastery of Evesham. See Ingulph, Malmesbury the monk of Westminster, and Brompton, by whose histories several circumstances of the legend of St. Wistan in Capgrave are to be corrected.