St. Stephen, whose name signifies crowned, is generally supposed to have been of Greek origin, though some claim for him that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the stock of Abraham. The facts related of him in the Acts of the Apostles are few, but full of pregnant significance. He was the first of the seven deacons chosen to lighten the work of the Apostles, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, who, immediately after his ordination, did great wonders and miracles among the people. This success roused the anger of the heathen, especially of the so-called Libertines, or those who had been captives of war, but had obtained their freedom, and of the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and other sects of the Tews, each of which had a separate synagogue at Jerusalem. These suborned false witnesses to swear away the life of the young teacher; he was brought before the Sanhedrim, and there all who looked on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Asked by the high priest, as was customary at these solemn trials, whether the charges made against him were true, St. Stephen replied in the eloquent speech recorded in Acts vii., in which he in his turn brought a crushing indictment against his accusers, thus signing his own death-warrant. As the last sentences, ‘of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it,’ fell upon the ears of those present, their rage knew no bounds. Cut to the heart, they gnashed upon the bold young speaker with their teeth, whilst he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly into heaven and saw Jesus, for whom he was ready to die, standing on the right hand of God. As he testified to the vision, the fanatics, unchecked even by the presence of the high priest, fell upon him, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death in the presence of a crowd of spectators, amongst whom was the young man Saul, who was later to repent so bitterly of his share in the tragedy. Only two short sentences were spoken by the martyr before the end: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,’ and ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge but both these prayers were answered. The spirit of the sufferer passed away so peacefully that he seemed to those present to have fallen asleep, and the remembrance of the scene of his death was a chief factor in preparing the mind of the future Apostle of the Gentiles to receive the truth.
The body of the murdered deacon is said to have been left exposed to be eaten by wild beasts, who, however, would not touch it, and on the third day it was buried by order of St. Gamaliel about twenty miles from Jerusalem. There it remained forgotten until the year 415, when, according to a beautiful legend, its resting-place was revealed to a certain priest named Lucian, who had charge of a small church on a property which had once belonged to the teacher of St. Paul. The Hebrew doctor himself, clothed in white robes adorned with golden crosses, is said to have appeared to Lucian in a dream, called him three times by name, and when he answered to the third appeal, told him to go to the Bishop of Jerusalem and bid him come and dig op the body of St. Stephen. He added the most minute instructions as to where it would be found, but Lucian was afraid of being taken for an impostor, and would not go. It was not until St. Gamaliel had appeared three times that the priest was fully convinced, but at last he went to the Bishop, who, taking with him several other holy men, at once resorted to the spot. Under their auspices a search was made, and when the spades of the diggers struck the coffin of St. Stephen, the earth shook for miles around; from the disturbed soil a delicious odor arose, and all present who suffered from any weakness or disease were healed on the spot. When the coffin was opened the bones of the martyr were found intact; and they were re-interred with much pomp at Jerusalem, where a stately church was built above them by the Empress Eudoxia. Here they rested in peace till the Emperor Theodosius took them to Constantinople, and eventually they were removed by Pope Pelagius to Rome and placed in the Church of S. Lorenzo in the same tomb with St. Lawrence, who, it is said, moved on one side to make room for his new companion when the coffin was lowered. Many other churches, however, claim to own relics of St. Stephen, and it seems certain that, as was the custom in the Roman Catholic Church, portions of the bones were dispersed at each translation, to those whose claims for such an honor seemed well founded
The characteristics by which St. Stephen, who is generally represented as a young, beardless man, may be recognized in works of art are the deacon’s dalmatica, the martyr’s palm, a book, and a stone or stones, the last held sometimes in one hand, sometimes on the book, and sometimes in a fold of the robe. More rarely the instruments of his martyrdom are seen flying about his head, and in a few old illuminated MSS. one stone is actually wounding it. In some old calendars the 26th December, the day dedicated to St. Stephen, is marked by a little pile of stones between two horns, the meaning of which is obscure.
In devotional subjects St. Stephen often appears with St. Lawrence, as in a mosaic in the Cathedral of Monreale, and in one in S. Prassede, Rome, because, as related above, they were buried in one tomb; in a fresco by Brusaccorci in the Brera Gallery, Milan, he is presenting the Holy Innocents to Christ; in a fine painting by Fra Bartolommeo in the Cathedral of Lucca he is associated with St. John the Baptist; and in Luca Signorelli’s beautiful altar-piece in the Cathedral of Perugia he stands on the right of the enthroned Virgin. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen is, of course, a frequent subject in art. As a rule, the Saint is represented kneeling and looking up at the vision of Jesus in heaven; but in some old Greek MSS. and on the hilt of a crosier, reproduced by Pere Martin in his ‘Melanges d’Archtologie,’ the vision is replaced by a hand issuing from above, as if blessing the dying Saint.
Among noteworthy representations of the Martyrdom of St. Stephen are the bas-relief on the west front of Chartres Cathedral; the tapestry design by Raphael, now in the Vatican, in which the figures of the kneeling Saint and of Saul are especially beautiful; the fresco in the Chapel of Nicholas V. in the Vatican, one of a series of scenes from the life of St. Stephen by Fra Angelico, which includes, besides the ‘ Martyrdom,’ ‘St. Stephen receiving the Sacramental Cup from St. Paul,’ the charge of the altar, and all connected with it being part of the duty of a deacon; the Saint ‘Ministering to the Poor’; his ‘Preaching,’ and the Jews dragging him forth from the Sanhedrim.
Very beautiful also are the ‘Preaching of St. Stephen at Jerusalem’ in the Louvre, the ‘Ordination of St. Stephen’ in the Berlin Gallery, the ‘Dispute of St. Stephen with the Doctors’ in the Brera Gallery, Milan, and the ‘Stephen in Glory’ at Stuttgart, all by Carpaccio; the series of paintings by Vicente Joanes, in the Madrid Gallery, beginning with the ‘Ordination of St. Stephen’ and ending with the ‘Interment of the Martyred Body by the Disciples’; the frescoes by Filippo Lippi, considered that master’s finest works, in the choir of the Cathedral of Prato; the single figure of St. Stephen by Botticelli in the Florence Academy ; and the fine sculpture by Luca della Robbia in the South Kensington Museum.
St. Prisca, a Roman maiden, for whom is claimed in the Latin Church the honor of having been the first female martyr, was the daughter of a Roman Consul, and is supposed to have lived with her parents in a house where the church named after her now stands. Accused when a mere child of believing in Christ, she was taken, in spite of her noble birth, before the magistrate, who ordered that she should be compelled to offer sacrifice in the Temple of Apollo. She refused, and having been stripped naked, she was beaten with rods; but, says the legend, ‘He who clothes the meadows with flowers gave her dazzling robes, which blinded the executioner.’ Then she was steeped in rancid oil, but this only led to her exhaling a delicate perfume which delighted the bystanders. Still undaunted and unhurt, she was taken back to prison and given a chance of recantation. She remained steadfast, however, and was presently thrown to the wild beasts, but a lion came and crouched like a lamb at her feet, driving off all who would harm her. Then she was tied to a stake to be burnt alive, but the flames would not touch her; and at last, her head was cut off outside the Ostian Gate.
The attributes of St. Prisca, who is a favorite Saint in England as well as in Italy, are an eagle defending her remains from other birds of prey, a lion crouching at her feet, an overturned idol, and a sword held in her hand as the instrument of her martyrdom. She is said to have been baptized by St. Peter, and the ceremony is represented above the altar in the church named after her at Rome.
According to a Greek tradition, St. Theckla of Iconium, not St. Prisca, was the first woman to suffer martyrdom for the truth, but though she underwent terrible tortures, she did not succumb to them. She is said to have been converted by St. Paul, to have listened unseen to his preaching in the house of Onesiphorus, for from a window in her house she could look into that where the Christians met for worship. She was already betrothed to a young Greek named Thamyris, who, finding her so absorbed in her new fancy for St. Paul’s teaching, did all he could to win her away from it, accusing her of neglecting him. She was, however, obstinate, and would not leave her window when there was a chance of hearing the beloved teacher. Then Thamyris became very angry, and in his jealous rage he betrayed her whom he loved above all things to the Governor, who at once sent soldiers to arrest not only the maiden, but the Apostle. St. Paul was thrown into one prison and St. Theckla into another, and Theckla grieved more over the fate of the great Preacher than over her own. She bribed her gaoler with her golden earrings to let her out; then with the gift of a looking-glass to the soldier who guarded St. Paul, she obtained access to the cell of the Apostle, sat down at his feet, and bade him teach her the things of God.
Hearing of the escape of his betrothed and of her having been found with St. Paul, Thamyris became yet more incensed against her, and when she was condemned to be burnt alive, he made no effort to save her. She was bound to the stake clothed, says the legend, with her beauty alone, but the flames only made a glory about her, leaving her unharmed. This so impressed the Governor that he let her go free, and St. Paul having been meanwhile driven out of the city, she fled to him. Together the two made their way to Antioch, where Theckla was soon accused once more of being a Christian, and condemned to be flung to the beasts in the amphitheater. Although, as a rule, the people delighted in seeing the victims devoured, the beauty of the young girl was such that a clamor was raised against the authorities, and one woman named Trissina wept aloud, whilst others cried that the judgment of Heaven would fall upon the city if Theckla were destroyed. The wild beasts were, however, let loose, but instead of hurting the Saint, they all came and crouched about her. The Governor, astonished at the sight, called to the maiden to come forth from amongst them and explain the marvel. So Theckla walked to the front of the arena, and in a loud voice exclaimed: ‘I am a servant of the Living God, and I believe in Jesus Christ His Son.’ On hearing this, the Governor ordered that she should be released, for in Antioch there was not as yet the same fury against the Christians as in Rome.
At the gate of the amphitheater Theckla was joined by Trissina, who took her home with her; but the Roman maiden could not be happy there, and soon set forth to follow St. Paul, who had left the city. She found him preaching the word of God in Lycia, and after working with him for some years, she went back to her native city, where she taught the people until she felt that she could better serve the Lord in solitude. She then withdrew to a cave in a mountain near Seleucia and dwelt there alone, healing all who came to her, so that the mountainside was constantly crowded by suffering folk on their way to her retreat. The doctors of Seleucia lost all their patients and determined to destroy their rival, so they hired some wicked men to go and kill her. When the would-be murderers arrived at the entrance to her cave, St. Theckla came forth fearlessly to meet them, but as they were about to lay hands upon her, the rock behind her opened; she took refuge in the cavity thus formed, it closed upon her, and she was seen no more. According to another account, she died a natural death in her cave at the great age of ninety, and was buried with much pomp at Seleucia, where a church was built in her honor. She was much venerated in the Greek and Latin churches; the Cathedral of Milan, and many other churches in Italy, including two at Bologna, were dedicated to her, and she enjoys the exceptional honor of being mentioned in the commendatory prayer in the following terms: ‘Sicut beatissimam Theclam virginem et martyrem tuam de tribus atrocissimis tormentis liberasti, sic liberare digneris animam hujus servi tui, et tecum facias in bonis conraudere coelestibus.’(Even as Thou did preserve the most blessed Theckla from three cruel torments, so mayest Thou deign to set free the soul of Thy servant.”
To the legend related above popular imagination has added various details embodied in representations of the Saint, who, in addition to her martyr’s palm and the little Greek cross which is the symbol of her conversion, sometimes has a globe of fire in her hand or at her feet, in allusion to the tradition that when she was flung into a ditch full of venomous snakes, a ball of fire fell from heaven and consumed them. St. Theckla is often introduced in devotional pictures, as in one by Lorenzo Costa, now in the Bologna Gallery, and in old miniatures and illuminated MSS. She appears sometimes with the head of a lion or writhing serpents at her feet, surrounded by various instruments of torture, bound to a stake, the flames shrinking away from her, or tied to two bulls, the cords which bind her being about to break, in allusion to yet another frustrated attempt to kill her ; preaching to prisoners in memory of her visit to St. Paul in prison ; and seated or kneeling in the amphitheatre with the wild beasts about her.
Another virgin martyr much honored in the Greek Church is St. Irene of Constantinople or of Thessalonica, who was converted by St. Timothy, and is said to have been denounced as a Christian by her own father. She, too, overturned the idols she was ordered to worship, and when condemned to death was several times miraculously rescued from torture. Flung at the feet of a wild horse, the animal refused to hurt her, but turned upon her father and bit his hand; and other efforts to harm her having been frustrated, she was finally beheaded. She may be identified in Greek pictures by the horse at her feet or beside her, and she sometimes also has a tower in her hand, probably in allusion to her supposed destruction of a temple.
With the virgin martyr St. Irene may be ranked the Roman matron St. Anastasia, who appears in some old pictures, notably in a Greek triptych from Malta, carrying a phial in her hand, in allusion to the legend that she spent her life visiting the martyrs in prison and burying their bodies after their cruel deaths. Detected by some heathen engaged in her pious work, she was denounced as a Christian, and after enduring terrible tortures was beheaded. According to one account, her husband was her accuser, and he was led to the crime of betraying her by his jealousy of a certain Chrysogonus, who had converted her, and shared her fate. A Christian woman named Apollina reverently buried the body of St. Anastasia in her garden beneath the Palatine Hill, where a church named after the martyr still stands. The body of St. Chrysogonus, for he, too, is now canonized, was flung into the sea after his death, but a church was later built in Trastevere, Rome, in his honor, for which a fine fresco, now in the Duke of Sutherland’s collection, representing his Apotheosis, was painted by Guercino. In some old pictures St. Chrysogonus is represented in the robes of a Roman patrician of high rank, in allusion to a tradition that Diocletian offered him a post at court if he would deny Christ.
St. Valerie of Limoges, who is said by some writers to have lived in the third century, but who, if she were really, as is claimed, a convert of St. Martial, must have been con* temporary with him, is another female martyr round about whose memory many romantic legends have gathered. She was a lovely girl, dwelling in her own home at Limoges, then an important Roman city, and when she fell under the influence of St. Martial, she was betrothed to the Proconsul Julianus Silarius, or, according to a French form of the legend, she was worried by the attentions of the Duke of Guienne. Both stories agree, however, that it was her lover who turned against her, and either denounced her as a Christian, thus bringing about her martyrdom, or himself cut off her head in a fit of rage at her obstinacy. St. Martial, who knew the fiery trial through which his beloved young convert was passing, was at the moment of her death kneeling in prayer for her in the Church of St. Stephen. When, says the quaint old legend, the head of the martyr fell to the ground, she picked it up, walked with it in her hands all through the city till she reached the church, and passing straight up the aisle to St. Martial, laid her strange burden at his feet.
Some of the representations of this extraordinary episode have been referred to in connection with St. Martial. It has also formed the subject of much of the beautiful enamel work for which Limoges is celebrated, and is introduced on the covers of certain early MSS. preserved in that city. In some devotional pictures St. Valerie appears opposite St. Martial, holding her martyr’s palm, and with nothing to mark her tragic fate but a red line round her neck.
After the cruel death of St. Peter, his beloved disciple Linus was chosen to succeed him in what is generally called the See of Rome, although, of course, there was as yet no church in the heathen city in which the Christians dared worship openly, Linus had already done good work in Gaul, and was the great Apostle’s right band in the last troubled years of his life. A man of stern, inflexible character, he was well suited to be at the helm during the awful persecution under Nero. He was, it is said, especially severe with the female converts, not allowing them to enter a place of worship unveiled. The Roman Breviary dwells much on his faith and sanctity ; he is the reputed author of two books on Saints Peter and Paul ; and he was celebrated also for the power he had over evil spirits, for which reason he is generally represented casting out devils. He is said to have delivered the daughter of the Consul Saturninus from the power of the Evil One, and on more than one occasion to have raised the dead. He is supposed to have been martyred soon after the death of Nero, but how is not known, and he was buried on the Vatican Hill near Saints Peter and Paul. In 1636, when the so-called Confessio of St. Peter was being completed in the Basilica of the Vatican under Pope Urban VIII., a tomb was found bearing in unmistakable characters the name of Linus.
The next Pope of Rome to suffer martyrdom was the saintly Clement, a disciple of St Paul, who succeeded Anacletus in 79, and was the son of a Roman named Faustinus, who was, however, of Hebrew lineage. St. Clement is said to have been with his teacher in many of his missionary journeys, and he is alluded to in the Epistle to the Philippians as one of the Apostle’s fellow laborers, ‘whose names are in the book of life.’ St. Clement, who ranks as one of the Fathers of the Church, is the reputed author of a beautiful letter, written from Rome to the converts at Corinth, which was found in a very ancient Greek MS. copy of the Bible sent to King James I. of England by Cyril Lucaris. By the exercise of extraordinary tact, the new Pope of Rome managed to escape coming into conflict with the authorities during the reign of Domitian, even converting several members of the Imperil family to Christianity; but after the accession of Trajan he was less fortunate. During the absence of the Emperor he was accused by the Prefect, ordered to sacrifice to idols, and on his refusal was banished, as related in the Roman Breviary, to Chersonese, now the Crimea, to work with other convicts in the quarries there. Undaunted by this sudden interruption in his career of usefulness, he did his best to cheer his fellow prisoners, many of whom were Christians. On their complaining to him of their sufferings from thirst, he is said to have supplied their needs by a miracle. He prayed earnestly to the risen Lord for help, and lo, Christ Himself appeared to him in the form of a lamb, which with its hoof scratched upon the ground, to indicate where water would be found.
This beautiful legend is no doubt a poetic embodiment of the truth that the Redeemer is the only source of the water of life, for, as already stated in connection with the Evangelists, the four rivers flowing from the Lamb are types of the writers of the Gospels. In course of time, however, it was accepted in the popular belief as an actual fact, and the lamb became a constant symbol of St. Clement in early works of art. The heathen, continues the story, were so enraged against the new-comer on account of this miracle, that they bound him to an anchor and flung him into the sea, where he sank at once; and his enemies rejoiced, for they thought they had now got rid of him entirely. But no; some months later, in response to the earnest prayer of the Christians, the sea withdrew for three miles, leaving exposed to view the undecayed body of the Saint, still bound to the anchor. After this, the receding of the waves became an annual event. A little chapel, supposed to have been the work of angels, rose above the sacred remains, and to it an annual pilgrimage was made, all the suffering being healed directly they reached the submarine resting-place. It is related, further, that on one occasion when the crowds of pilgrims were hastening away from the incoming tide after their visit to the chapel, a baby was left behind and mourned for by his parents as lost to them for ever; but the next year, when they came to weep beside the tomb of St. Clement, they found the child fast asleep and quite uninjured. He opened his eyes and held out his arms to nis mother as if waking from an ordinary night’s rest
As a matter of course, the wonder-working relics of St Clement were not allowed to remain in their first tomb. They are said to have been removed to Rome and buried where the church named after the martyr now stands, having been built on the traditional site of the house he long lived in. St. Clement became, as time went on, a very popular Saint, especially in England, where many churches are dedicated to him, including one in the Strand, London, which has adopted the anchor as its distinguishing symbol, having one cut on the iron weathervane, whilst several similar emblems are introduced inside the building. The beadle has anchors on his buttons, and the Parish Magazine is called the Anchor. St. Clement is the patron Saint of the Crimea, of many towns, including Seville, which was taken by St. Ferdinand on his fete-day in 1648, and he is supposed to be the special protector of boat-builders and of little children.
In devotional pictures St. Clement often appears wearing the Papal robes and tiara, holding a book in one hand, resting the other on an anchor, and with a haloed lamb bearing a cross on a pedestal beside him. He is introduced with his cross and anchor in many rood-screens in England and on the Continent. In old calendars the 22nd of November, the day dedicated to him, is marked by an anchor. In the Cathedral of Chartres is a quaint statue of him in Bishop’s robes, the crosier in one hand, the other upheld in the act of benediction, whilst his feet rest on a little chapel with waves beating against it on either side.
In the mosaics of the Church of S. Clemente, Rome, the martyred Pope appears side by side with St. Peter, his anchor alone distinguishing him from the great Apostle; in the frescoes of the Lower Church, he stands on the left of Christ, opposite to St. Michael, and various scenes from his life are represented, including his Celebration of Mass and his Conversion of a Roman lady, with the miracle of the lost child at his tomb. In the Church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, he heads the great mosaic Procession of martyrs, and he is introduced in many fine devotional pictures, notably in the ^ Madonna, with Saints Peter, Paul, and Sebastian’ in the Cathedral of Lucca, and the ^ Madonna, with Saints Thomas Aquinas, Denis, and Dominic’ in the Florence Academy, both by Domenico Ghirlandajo.
St. Simeon, who was chosen to succeed the first Bishop of Jerusalem after his cruel martyrdom, is said to have been identical with the Simon mentioned in Matthew 13:55. If so, he was a near relation of Christ, one of those who received the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and he must have been the constant companion of the Apostles after the Ascension. He was already an elderly man when he was appointed to the arduous task of presiding over the infant Church, and he had not long been Bishop when he had to flee with the rest of the persecuted Christians to Pella. He is said to have returned to the ruined city after it had been burnt, and to have witnessed its yet more complete destruction by order of Hadrian. He escaped almost miraculously from condemnation under Vespasian and Domitian, who had ordered all of the race of David to be killed; but in the beginning of the reign of Trajan he was betrayed, as St. Clement had been, by an over-zealous underling to the Roman Governor of Palestine, and condemned to be crucified, after having been the head of the Church at Jerusalem for forty-three years. St. Simeon is said to have been considerably over loo years old when he died, but he met his fate with the greatest heroism. He appears in devotional pictures amongst the martyrs in his Bleep’s robes and mitre, with the cross as his chief symbol.
Another first century Bishop who suffered martyrdom, and about whose memory have gathered many legends embodied in art representations, was St. Apollinaris of Ravenna. He is said to have been a disciple of St. Peter, to have come from Antioch with him on his return to Rome, and to have been sent thence to preach the gospel in Northern Italy. In his missionary journeys he came in due course to Ravenna, where his eloquence drew such crowds, and so many were converted, that he was arrested by the Roman authorities and thrown into prison. There his gaoler fell under the spell of his personality, and, at the risk of his own life, let him go free. He escaped from the city, but outside the gates he was recognized, and either stoned or beaten by the heathen till he became unconscious. Left for dead on the ground, he succumbed to his injuries a few days later, and bis body was buried at Classis, four miles from Ravenna, where the fine basilica of S. Apollinare in Classis was built in bis honor in the sixth century. The early Christians used to swear on his tomb, as related in the fifth Book of St. Gregory, and an oath thus taken was considered especially sacred. The interior of the quaint old church is adorned with portraits in mosaic of all the Bishops of Ravenna, beginning with the first, who is represented preaching to his converts, who are symbolized by a flock of sheep. In the church now known as S. Apollinare Nuovo, originally dedicated to St. Martin, St. Apollinaris is introduced between St. Ursinus and St. Christopher in the series of sixth-century mosaics of the early martyrs, and he also appears in the grand modem fresco frieze by Flandrin in the Church of St. Vincent de Paul, Paris.
The special characteristics by which St. Apollinaris may be recognized in works of art are the club, in allusion to the supposed instrument of his martyrdom, the sword, which seems to have been given to him by mistake, and a raven standing beside him. The meaning of the last symbol is variously explained, some saying that it merely refers to the scene of the martyr’s labors — Ravenna signifying raven; others that it is an allusion to the fact that once a year, always on the same day, neat numbers of ravens flock to his tomb. It was indeed long customary to kill a horse for the special benefit of the wringed visitors.
St. Apollinaris is a very favorite Saint in Italy and in Germany. He is supposed to extend special protection to the pin-makers of Lidge, but why is unknown. Several modern churches have been dedicated to him, notably one at Remagau on the Rhine, the walls of which are adorned with fresco representations of scenes from his life by various modem German artists.
St. Eutrope, of Saintes, was another first-century Bishop who suffered martyrdom, though how is not certainly known. His story is a especially romantic one, and the representations which have been preserved of him are of special archaeological interest. He was, it is said, the son of a King of Persia, who was taken to the Court of Herod as a child. There he heard much talk about the wonder-working Jew called Jesus, and one day he went to see Him. He was received with the tenderness shown to all little ones by the Master, was blessed by Him, and when he went back to Persia was filled with a desire to teach the people at home about his new friend. Later St. Eutrope again visited Jerusalem, inquired about Christ, and heard of His crucifixion. He then went back to his father’s Court, and in a very un-Christian spirit of revenge persuaded the King to have all the Jews in Persia put to death. After this be joined St. Peter, who consecrated him priest and sent him to Gaul to preach. At Mediolanum Santonium, the modern Saintes, he bunded a church, but, with the restlessness so characteristic of many of the early missionaries, he could not stop in one place long. He thought he should serve God better as a hermit, and retired to a lonely cave in Guienne, only coming out now and then to preach.
On one occasion a young girl named Estelle, who was in the congregation listening to St. Eutrope, suddenly flung herself at his feet, asking to be baptized. Of course, he received her into the Church at once. She turned out to be the daughter of the Prefect, and her conversion caused an immense stir. All the other maidens of the neighborhood wished to follow her example, and her father sent a gang of assassins to kill St Eutrope and fetch back Estelle. The murderers obeyed, dispatched the teacher, whom they found at his devotions in his cave, but they forgot all about the maiden they were to rescue, and she, who had seen the horrible deed done, fetched some of her fellow converts to bury the beloved Bishop. This they did in the very cave in which he had breathed nis last. Estelle, brokenhearted at his loss, soon followed him, and was buried beside him.
According to another account St. Eutrope was hanged, and he is often represented in old French MSS. beside a tree. Others claim that the tree has reference to a tradition that the martyr was one of those who climbed into the trees outside Jerusalem to watch the entry into that city of Christ on Palm Sunday, or was perhaps even one of the children who strewed the branches in the way, for it was customary in medieval times to represent the Jewish boys clinging to trees, as they flung down their tribute to the Master. In some old representations of St. Eutrope, notably in a quaint leaden bas-relief found in the Seine, a hand is seen hovering above bis head in the manner described in connection with St. John the Evangelist, but it is the left, not the right, band, the result probably, as suggested by Pere Cahier, of the ignorance of the artist of the fact that an impression from metal would come out reversed. On the other side of this quaint relief a man is banging fi-om a tree, against which a ladder is placed. In the beautiful stained-glass windows of Sens Cathedral the whole legend of St. Eutrope is graphically told.
A Christian family much honored in Italy and in France, all of whom sealed their faith with their blood, were Vitalis and his wife Valeria, with their twin sons Gervasius and Protasius. The father is said to have been a Roman soldier of Ravenna, and to have been converted by St. Peter. He first drew the attention of the authorities to bis apostasy by the way in which he cheered and encouraged a martyr, whom he was aiding to escort to execution. After the death of the victim St. Vitalis buried the body, and on his return from doing so he was arrested^ tortured, and, according to some versions of the legend, entombed alive, whilst others say he was only buried up to the waist and then stoned to death. The beautiful church named after the martyr was erected above the traditional scene of his death, and in the sixth century mosaics of the apse he appears on the right hand of Christ receiving a crown of glory from an angel.
After the tragedy the wife and sons of St. Vitalis fled to Milan, but they were arrested there, and in their turn put to death. Of the last hours of the brothers nothing is known, but Gervasius is said to have been beaten to death with rods and Protasius beheaded. A Christian convert named Philip took the bodies to his own home and buried them in his garden, where they remained until they were discovered in the fourth century by St. Ambrose, to whom the fact of their existence was revealed in a dream when he had fallen asleep at his devotions in church. The martyrs appeared to him accompanied by Saints Peter and Paul, and it was explained to him that he was kneeling on the very spot where the bones of the twin brothers had been buried. When he awoke St. Ambrose at once sent for all his clergy, search was made, and, sure enough, beneath the church, which had been built on the site of the house of Philip, were found the bones of two young men, with a MS. giving their names and describing their deaths. Great were the marvels wrought by the miraculously discovered relics. They were carried in triumph to the Church of St. Ambrogio, there to be re-interred beneath the high altar, and on their way through the streets all who touched the bier were healed of their infirmities, including a blind man named Severus, who received his sight.
The four martyr-saints, Vitalis, Valeria, Gervasius, and Protasius, are often grouped together in works of art. The father wears the armor of a Roman soldier, the mother the dress of a Roman matron, and the sons sometimes appear in the dalmaticas of deacons, not because they were ordained, but because as preachers of the gospel and martyrs for the faith they really performed the office of deacons. In some old French engravings, a tree is introduced between the two brothers; why is not known, but it is suggested that it was of purely local origin, in allusion to the seignorial elm in Paris, beneath which it used to be the custom to hold the assizes, and which also marked the boundary of the parish of S. Gervais. St. Gervasius sometimes holds a hammer in his hand, a clumsy suggestion, probably, of the leaded ropes with which he is supposed to have been martyred, whilst for a similar reason his brother has the sword.
The twins are the patron Saints not only of Milan and Paris, but of no less than five cathedrals in France, and of a great number of parish churches. In the church at Ravenna dedicated to their father their heads appear in medallions with those of St. Vitalis and the twelve Apostles. The ‘ Martyrdom of St. Vitalis,’ painted for his church by Baroccio, is now in the Brera Gallery, Milan, and the various episodes from the lives of the brothers, with the Finding of their relics, are the subjects of various paintings by Le Sueur, Poussin, and Philippe de Champagne. In Paris is preserved a very quaint old picture of St. Ambrose digging out the bodies of the martyred twins, with a group of assistants looking on, and Saints Peter and Paul directing the work from above.
With the names of St. Gervasius and Protasius are often associated those of St. Nabor and St. Felix, of whom nothing is known except that they were martyred about the same time as the twin brothers and buried in the same garden. It was in a church dedicated to them that St. Ambrose received the revelation related above, and they are introduced wearing Roman armor amongst other Saints in some old mosaics and early paintings.
Better known than St. Nabor and St. Felix are two other martyrs of Milan, Saints Nazarius and Celsus, the former a Jew of noble birth, whose mother, Perpetua by name, was a Christian, the latter a mere child, who had attached himself to Nazarius and went with him everywhere. Perpetua had embued her son with all her own ardor for the Christian cause, and as soon as he was old enough he went forth to preach the gospel in Northern Italy, attended by his little lend. They won many converts, but at Genoa they got into their first difficulties with the heathen, who attempted to drown them. They were thrown into the sea, but were washed ashore unhurt. They then went to Milan, and there, the populace being still excited by the murder of their predecessors, they were soon accused of being Christians, condemned to death, and beheaded outside the Porta Romana. The old Church of S. Maria presso S. Celso is said to contain the relics of St. Celsus, and near to it is a comparatively modern building named after him. The best memorial of the young martyrs is, however, the Church of S. Nazaro e Celso at Ravenna, better known as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, in which there still remain some mosaic representations of them. In a church named after them at Brescia they are introduced on the left of the principal subject, in the great altar-piece by Titian, the ‘Resurrection of Christ,’ and they appear again in a ‘Nativity’ by Il Moretto in the same building.
Two young martyrs of the first century who were much venerated in Rome, though little known elsewhere, were the brothers Nereus and Achilleus. They were in the service of a niece of the Emperor Domitian, Flavia Domitilla, who, like themselves, had been converted to Christianity, some say by St. Peter himself, others by St. Clement. Their mistress was betrothed to a heathen, and the soldier brothers persuaded her to refuse to marry him, for which interference they were condemned to death. It is supposed that they were ^headed at Terracina at the same time as Domitilla and her two foster-sisters, Theodora and Euphrosyne. All five are said to be buried in the quaint old church in Rome named after the brothers. The learned Pere Pilon, in his Supplement to the ‘Petits Bollandistes’ of Pere Guerin, speaks of a column which has been preserved, though he does not say where, on which is represented the martyrdom of Saints Achilleus and Nereus, quoting it as a proof that martyrs were fastened nude to posts to be put to death, not only when they were to be devoured by wild beasts, but when they were to be burnt, strangled, or beheaded. A sword is the usual attribute of both brothers, but they also hold the palm, as in the altar-piece by Rubens in the Church of S. Maria in Vallicella, Rome, in which they appear on either side of S. Domitilla.
Four other first-century martyrs who appear in works of art with their various symbols are St. Romulus of Fiesole; St. Torpe, or Torpet, of Pisa; St. Victorin of Amitemo; and St. Urscinus of Ravenna. St. Romulus is said to have been one of the disciples of St. Peter, though certain modern writers assert that he lived three centuries after the great Apostle. In any case, he is generally supposed to have been the first Bishop of Fiesole, and to have been beheaded or stabbed to death. The old Cathedral of Fiesole was originally dedicated to St. Romulus, though this is now almost forgotten, and above the door is a terra-cotta statue of him by Luca della Robbia. He is also introduced in several churches of Florence wearing a Bishop’s robes and holding the martyr’s palm.
St. Torpet of Pisa, who under the name of St. Tropes is much honored in France, is said to have been one of those in Caesar’s household converted by St. Peter, to whom the Apostle sent the greeting in Philippians 4:22 from ‘all the saints.’ He was condemned to death in the amphitheater, but the wild beasts would not touch him, and he was therefore beheaded. His body was burned by his fellow Christians, and some centuries after, when the city where he died was afflicted with a terrible drought, his head was carried round in procession, with the unexpected result that a great flood descended from the mountains, sweeping all before it and carrying off the sacred trophy. The people were in despair at this double misfortune, but two angels suddenly swept down to the rescue from heaven, recovered the head, and gave it to the Archbishop of Pisa. The martyrdom of the Saint and the incident of the flood are both represented in the Cathedral at Pisa, and in some of the other churches near the scene of his sufferings the martyr is introduced holding the sword and palm and with a lion at his feet.
St. Victorin of Amiterno is said to have suffered martyrdom at the beginning of the reign of Trajan. According to tradition, a serpent suddenly appeared at his trial and bit the arm of his judge, an incident represented in an old painting reproduced in the original Latin edition of ‘The Acts of St. Victorin’ by Marangoni. In spite of this miracle in his favor, St. Victorin was condemned to be scalded to death, and was hung head foremost in a natural spring of boiling water. He remained unhurt, and was finally beheaded. In some quaint old pictures, he is seen with flames about his feet, but these may possibly be intended to represent the fumes of sulphur which led to suffocate him.
St. Ursinus of Ravenna is one of the Saints introduced in certain old pictures carrying his own head after decapitation. He is said to have been a doctor at Nero’s Court, who had effected several wonderful cures before he was condemned as a Christian, and on his way to death his courage failed him. Then St. Vitalis, who was one of his guards, cried aloud to him: ‘Doctor, who hast healed so many, yield not thyself to an evil for which there will be no remedy throughout eternity.’ At this St. Ursinus raised his head, and with a smile of fresh hope went forward to meet his fate as a Christian should.
Adapted from: The Saints in Christian Art: The Evangelists, Apostles, and Other Early Saints, By Mrs. Arthur Bell, (London: George Bell & Sons, 1901).