Subj : July 25th - Martyrs of Caesarea To : All From : rich Date : Wed Jul 24 2019 09:14:48 From: rich July 25th - Martyrs of Caesarea IN the year 308 there were at the same time six emperors, successors of Dioclesian, namely in the East Galerius, Licinius, and Maximinus; in the West Constantine, Maxentius, and his father, Maximian Herculeus, who had reassumed the purple. Firmillian, the successor of Urbanus in the government of Palestine, under Maximinus II., carried on the persecution with great cruelty. When fourscore and seventeen confessors, men, women, and children, out of an innumerable multitude of Christians who were banished a long while before to the porphyry quarries in Thebais, were brought before him, he commanded the sinews of the joint of their left feet to be burnt with a hot iron; and their right eyes to be put out, and the eye-holes burnt with a hot iron to the very bottom of the orb. In this condition he sent them to work at the mines in Palestine about mount Libanus. Many others were brought before this inhuman judge from different towns of Palestine, and were tormented in various ways. =C2 Among the Christians taken at Gaza, whilst they were assembled to hear the holy scriptures read, was a holy virgin named Thea, whom the judge threatened with the prostitution of her chastity in the public stews. She, to whom her virtue was most dear, reproached him for such infamous injustices. Firmilian, enraged at her liberty of speech, caused her to be inhumanly scourged, then stretched on the rack, and her sides torn with iron hooks till the bare ribs appeared. Valentina, a pious Christian virgin of C=C3=A6sarea, who had also by vow consecrated her chastity to God, being present at this spectacle, cried out to the judge from the midst of the crowd: =E2=80=9CHow long will you thus torment = my sister?=E2=80=9D She was immediately apprehended, and being dragged by forc= e to the altar, she threw herself upon it, and overturned it with her feet, together with the fire and sacrifice which stood ready upon it. Firmilian, provoked beyond bounds, commanded her sides to be more cruelly torn than any others. Being at length wearied with tormenting her, he ordered the two virgins to be tied together and burnt. This was executed on the 25th of July, 308. =C2 One Paul, an illustrious confessor, was beheaded for the faith on the same day, by an order of this judge. The fervour with which he prayed at the place of execution for the emperor, the judge who condemned him, and his executioner, drew tears from all that were present. Soon after one hundred and thirty Egyptian confessors, by an order of Maximinus, had one eye pulled out, and one foot maimed, and were sent, some to the mines in Palestine, others to those in Cilicia. See Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin=C3=A6, c. 8. Tillemont, t. 5. Fleury, l. ix. Orsi, t. 4. Saint Quote: If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. --St. Clement of Alexandria <><><><> Models of Humility: (2) The Blessed Virgin No one of all the children of Adam ever approached the Blessed Virgin Mary in humility. What had she to make her humble? No sin or imperfection for which to humble herself before God. Yet the greatest of sinners never humbled himself as did Mary. How was this? It was because no one save she ever recognized her own nothingness in God's sight. This is the surest basis for humility. It is because we do not recognize our utter insignificance and the absence of any good in us save what is the gift of God, that we are so wanting in humility. Thus it was that, because Mary had a right to the highest place, she always sought the lowest. This is the law that everywhere prevails. Those who deserve the lowest place seek the highest, and those who deserve the highest seek the lowest. It is the enemies of God who do not like to come down. His friends recognize the lowest place as the place most suitable for them. Am I in this respect one of God's friends or one of His enemies? Mary's humility was also the result of her desire to be like to her Divine Son in all things. When she saw Him stoop from the highest Heaven to earth, she longed to stoop to the very dust. She placed herself in spirit beneath the feet of all, and would have placed herself lower still if it had been possible. For what humiliation could even Mary endure that was in any way comparable to that of her Son? If Mary, then, is my Queen and Mother, I will seek to imitate her in this. If the Immaculate Mother of God loved to humble herself, how much more should I, who am but a miserable worm of earth? --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .