(ABOUT A.D. 308.)
[By the Greeks on this day, but S. Basiliscus alone on May 22nd.
Menologium of the Emperor Basil, Modern Roman Martyrology. Tamayus
Salazar, trusting to the forged Flavius Dexter, claims them to be
Spanish martyrs. This is a common trick of some Spanish hagiologists,
who have appropriated all martyrs that are not, in Martyrologies,
given a place of martyrdom, and the pseudo-Dexter simply mentioned
these saints without saying that they were of Amasea and Comana;
therefore Salazar audaciously says, "In Caspetana (Sierra di
Guadalupe) in Spain, SS. Felix, Luciolus, ... Cleontius, Eutropius,
Basiliscus, who, in the persecution of Maximian, under Asclepiades,
the Governor, endured torments, and the cross itself, and as martyrs
ascended to Heaven." The forger of Flavius Dexter took the names from
the modern Roman Martyrology, where the name of the place of martyrdom
is not mentioned, and set them down as martyrs in some unknown city
of Spain; Salazar improved on the Pseudo-Dexter by planting them in
the Sierra di Guadalupe. The life of S. Basiliscus, if genuine, is by
Eusignius, who knew the martyr, and was himself, probably, a martyr in
the persecution afterwards, and is commemorated on August 5th. In the
life are many passages which show that Eusignius was well acquainted
with the facts he describes, such as "Christ accompanied His martyr,
as Basiliscus afterwards told me, Eusignius." He was eye-witness of
the events; he says, "As we approached the city, we heard, &c., ...
we tasted ... and when we went in, we heard, ... we, to whom it was
granted to see this terrible mystery ... we asked the speculator, and
gave him thirty gold pieces, and he gave us the body, and we buried
it, and we sowed vegetables ... and we went to rest." The Acts, if
they are genuine, and not an impudent forgery, have undergone much
interpolation. Some of these additions are apparent from a change of
the "we" to "they" in the account of the journey to Comana.]
In the reign of Maximian and Maximin, Agrippa was sent into Pontus, to
be governor in the room of Asclepiades, with orders to constrain all
Christians to sacrifice. Basiliscus, Eutropius, and Cleonicus, three
Christians of Amasea, were seized and thrown into prison. And when
Eutropius and Cleonicus had suffered, the blessed Basiliscus with many
tears prayed, saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ, remember me, even unto the
end, and make my calling manifest unto all, that I may not be separated
from these holy men who have been taken with me, and who have suffered
before me, and are crowned!" Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "I
will not forget thee. Thy name is written with those who have been with
thee. But be not downcast because thou art last; for thou shalt precede
many. But go, bid farewell to thy mother and thy brethren, and when
thou returnest, thou shalt receive thy crown. Fear not the torments
prepared for thee, for I shall be at thy side."
Then Basiliscus asked, and prevailed on, the jailor to let him go to
the village of Cumiala, near Amasea, where his mother lived, that he
might say farewell to her. Now it fell out that early in the morning
Agrippa unexpectedly sent for Basiliscus, and when he heard of the
indulgence that had been granted him--though soldiers had been sent as
guards with the prisoner--he was filled with rage, and threatened the
jailor with capital punishment. Then he called to him a city officer
named Magistrianus, a brutal fellow, implacable in his detestation
of Christianity, and commissioned him to take a band of soldiers
and convey Basiliscus to Comana, whither he himself was starting.
Magistrianus mounted his ass, and ambled to Cumiala, and surrounded the
doors of the house, as Basiliscus was parting with his mother and three
brothers, before returning. Magistrianus ordered a pair of boots to be
put on Basiliscus, with the nails in them protruding, and then bade him
limp along among the guards back to Amasea. The nails made his feet
bleed, and as he walked through the street of Amasea a crowd gathered,
murmuring against the tyranny of the governor and his satellites.
Magistrianus, in a rage, leaped off his ass, and cudgelled the mob with
the stick he had used to make the ass go, and the soldiers assisted
him to disperse the crowd. Basiliscus was then led along the road to
Comana, singing, "Though an host of men be set against me, yet shall
not my heart be afraid; for thou, O Christ, art with me!"
At mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little
village, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the
officer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they
tied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the
court yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr,
who stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and
with blood dribbling from his wounded feet, "whilst Magistrianus and
his folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies,
meats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall,"
says Eusignius, bitterly.
But God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun,
for the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a
fountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.
On the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the
temple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.
The governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly
entered. "Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?" asked the governor.
"Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?" answered Basiliscus. "Ah!
the gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then."
"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise." "Offer to whom you
please," said the governor, sharply, "only sacrifice and have done with
this folly."
"Who is that?" asked Basiliscus, pointing to the image of Apollo.
"That is the god Apollo," answered Agrippa. "The name is appropriate
enough," said Basiliscus, "for he brings to destruction all who trust
in him."[6] Then he cried aloud to all in the temple, "Hearken, all
men, to my prayer, to the Lord of Heaven and earth." And he prayed,
"God, who art alone and true, with thine only-begotten Son, and the
Holy Spirit; who art invisible, incomprehensible, whom none can
describe and include, who art good and merciful, and acceptest not the
person of man, who createst the things that are out of that which is
not, and enlightenest us who sat in darkness, and gavest us the bright
knowledge of Thy deity: Thou art the helper of all them that trust in
Thee. God, who art alone holy, and dwellest in Thy saints, in me, thy
humble servant, exhibit Thy mercy, and confirm my prayer, for I pray
to Thee of Thy great goodness, Thou who spreadest out the heavens as a
curtain, and by Thy command makest them fast, and adornest them with
the bright shining stars, and with the glory of the sun, and the moon
walking in brightness, and givest us the hours of day; Thou didst make
Thy sun a chamber, and gavest him everlasting limits, and didst set
the moon to rule the course of time, and didst divide the hours and
days and months; Thou didst found the earth by Thy command, that it
should be an habitation for man, and didst give to it an everlasting
bound, and didst clothe it with trees and flowers; Thou didst lay the
sea and bound it by Thy precept, and madest a way over it; and didst
fashion man with Thine own holy hands after Thine image, and didst give
him wisdom and reason, and didst breathe into his face the breath of
life. Lord, who didst create the whole world, who from Adam till this
present, and hereafter till endless ages, keepest those that love Thee,
and glorifiest those that fear Thee! Lord Jesus Christ! hear the prayer
of Thy servant, and be present with me at this hour, and destroy this
deaf, and dumb, and blind, and senseless idol; break and dissolve this
god made with hands, and shew to these heathen the madness of their
worship, and Whom we worship and adore as God. Why do the heathen rage,
and the people imagine a vain thing against Thy saints? Look, O Lord,
and keep not still silence, for thus behoves all honour and glory and
magnificence to Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, through ages of
ages. Amen."
[6] A pun in the Greek, impossible to translate.
And when he had said Amen, there was an earthquake, and a thunder
underground, and the temple shook to its foundations, and the image
of Apollo fell and was broken. Then all who were in the temple fled,
leaving Basiliscus alone with the broken idol at his feet. And when
the earthquake was past, the governor sent, and brought Basiliscus
forth, and his head was struck off with the sword. The governor ordered
the body to be thrown into the river, but Eusignius bribed the soldier
who was carrying it away to let him have it, and he buried it in a
field, and sowed herbs over it. S. Basiliscus died on July 21st. He
appeared in vision to S. Chrysostom the night before that aged saint
died; (see Jan 27th, p. 412.)