Subj : February 16th - Martyrs of Cilicia
To   : All
From : rich
Date : Mon Feb 15 2021 09:08:11

From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

February 16th - Martyrs of Cilicia 

IN the year 309, when the Emperors Galerius Maximian and Maximus were
continuing the persecution begun by Diocletian, five Egyptians went to
visit the confessors condemned to the mines in Cilicia, and on their
return journey were stopped by the guards of the gates of Caesarea in
Palestine. They readily declared themselves to be Christians and
acknowledged the motive of their journey. There-upon they were
arrested, and on the following day, together with St. Pamphilus and
others, were brought before Firmilian the governor. The judge, as was
his custom, ordered the five Egyptians to be stretched on the rack
before beginning his examination. After they had suffered all manner
of torture, he addressed the one who appeared to be their chief and
asked him his name and his country. The martyr, using the names which
they had taken upon their conversion, said that he was called Elias
and that his companions were Jeremy, Isaias, Samuel and Daniel.
Firmilian asked him their country, and Elias answered that it was
Jerusalem--meaning the heavenly Jerusalem, the true country of all
Christians. Elias was then tortured again, his body being scourged
whilst his hands were tied behind him, and his feet squeezed into
wooden stocks. The judge then commanded that they should be beheaded,
and his order was immediately carried out.

Porphyry, a youth who was a servant of St. Pamphilus and who heard the
sentence passed, exclaimed that they ought not to be denied burial.
Firmilian, angry at this boldness, ordered him to be apprehended, and,
finding that he was a Christian and that he refused to sacrifice,
ordered his sides to be so cruelly torn that his very bones and bowels
were exposed. He underwent this without a sigh or a groan. The tyrant
then gave orders that a great fire should be kindled with a vacant
space in the middle in which the martyr should be placed when removed
from the rack. This was accordingly done, and he lay there a
considerable time, surrounded by the flames, singing the praises of
God and invoking the name of Jesus until at length he achieved a slow
but glorious martyrdom. Seleucus, an eyewitness of this victory, was
heard by the soldiers applauding the martyr's constancy. They who
without more ado ordered his head to be struck off.

This story is one of overwhelming interest for all who are concerned
with Christian hagiography, for it is the account given by Eusebius,
the father of Church history, who was not only living in Caesarea at
the time, but was the intimate friend of the St. Pamphilus here named,
the principal martyr who suffered on the same occasion. To mark his
devotion to his friend, the historian loved to call himself "Eusebius
(the disciple) of Pamphilus". St. Pamphilus, however, is commemorated
separately on June 1, and will come before us again on that date. The
Greek text of Eusebius, with a French translation en face, may
conveniently be consulted in the edition of E. Grapin (vol. iii, pp.
259-283), forming part of the series of Textes et documents pour
l'=C3=A9tude historique die Christianisme. It forms the eleventh chapter of
the Book on the Martyrs of Palestine, of which there is an English
version, with the Ecclesiastical History, by H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L.
Oulton (1929).


Saint Quote:
Dismiss all anger, and look a little into yourself. Remember that he
of whom you are speaking is your brother, and, as he is in the way of
salvation, God can make him a Saint, notwithstanding his present
weaknesses. You may fall into the same faults or perhaps into a worse
fault. But supposing that you remain upright, to whom are you indebted
for it, if not to the pure mercy of God?
-- St. Thomas of Villanova

Bible Quote:
And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up: and he went into the
synagogue, according to his custom, on the sabbath day: and he rose up
to read. And the book of Isaias the prophet was delivered unto him.
And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of
heart, To preach deliverance to the captives and sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord and the day of reward.=C2  (Luke 4:16-19) DRB


<><><><>
"He that keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from distress."
=C2 (Proverbs 21:23)

"To restrain the tongue is therefore a great good, and on the other
hand, not to restrain it, a poisonous evil"

"Behold also ships, whereas they are great, and are driven by strong
winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the
force of the governor willeth. Even so the tongue is indeed a little
member, and boasteth great things.

"Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood. And the tongue is a
fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue ... defileth the whole body, and
inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell. For
every nature of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of the
rest, is tamed, and hath been tamed, by the nature of man.

"But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly
poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who
are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." -
James 3:4-10

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