(A.D. 295.)
[Almost all Martyrologies. Authority:--The very ancient, but
fabulous Acts of S. Susanna, VM. See Aug. 11th.]
Claudius and Maximus were brothers of Pope S. Caius, and S. Gabinius,
priest in Rome. Maximus was count of the privy purse to Diocletian,
and Claudius also held a post of distinction about the person of the
emperor. Their family was one of the most noble in Rome, and when
Galerius Maximianus, the Cæsar, had lost his wife, Valeria, daughter
of Diocletian, the emperor resolved on finding for his son-in-law
another wife, of good repute and honourable birth. Hearing of the
beauty and modesty of Susanna, daughter of Gabinius, he sent Claudius
to the father, to ask the hand of Susanna for the young Cæsar. But
Susanna had resolved to love and devote herself to none, save Jesus
Christ. When she was brought into the room by her father to hear the
flattering announcement, her uncle Claudius would have kissed her, but
she gently withdrew her face, saying, "Pardon me, my uncle, but no man
has ever kissed me." Then she declared that she was resolved to
continue in celibacy, loving none save Jesus. Claudius was surprised
and alarmed, for the request of an emperor is the same as a command.
He had already received some Christian teaching from his brothers, the
bishop and the priest, and now was fully convinced of the power of
that religion which could make a young girl reject a princely lover
and the prospect of a throne, with every prospect of death as an
alternative. He consulted with his brother Maximus, and with his wife
Præpedigna, and they, together with his sons, Alexander and Cutias,
forseeing an explosion of imperial rage, which would sweep them all
away, hastened to receive the sacrament of regeneration, and then
Claudius and Maximus calmly informed the emperor that the maiden
preferred a heavenly to an earthly crown. Diocletian was furious, and
gave over Maximus, Claudius, and the whole family to be disposed of by
one Julian, a heathen favourite, and apparently personally hostile to
Maximus and Claudius. He hurried these brothers, with the wife and
sons of Claudius, to Cumæ, where they were burnt alive, and their
ashes cast into the river. Gabinius and his daughter Susanna were
reserved in prison to suffer later.