(AFTER A.D. 60.)
[Roman Martyrology, but in leap year on Feb. 25th. So all Latin
Martyrologies, with the exception of the ancient Roman one bearing
the name of S. Jerome, which does not include any mention of S.
Matthias, and the Church of Milan venerates S. Matthias on Feb. 7;
the Greeks commemorate him on August 9th. The election of this
Apostle is said to have taken place on May 12th. Authorities:--The
Acts of the Apostles, and various traditional notices concerning
him. The Apocryphal Syriac Acts of S. Matthias are extant.]
Saint Matthias not having been an Apostle of the first election,
immediately called and chosen by our Blessed Lord, particular remarks
concerning him are not to be expected in the narrative of the Holy
Gospels. He was, probably, one of the Seventy disciples who had
attended on Christ the whole time of his public ministry. A vacancy
having been made in the college of the Apostles by the suicide of the
traitor Judas, the first thing which they did after their return from
Mount Olivet--where Our Lord took leave of them on His Ascension--to
S. John's house on Mount Sion, was to fill up their number with a fit
person; for this purpose, S. Peter informed them that Judas, according
to the prophetic prediction, having fallen from his ministry, it was
necessary that another should be substituted in his room, one that had
been a constant companion and disciple of the Holy Jesus, and,
consequently, capable of bearing witness to His life, death, and
resurrection. Two were proposed as candidates--Joseph, called Barsabas
and Justus (whom some make the same with Joses, one of the brethren of
Our Lord), and Matthias--both duly qualified for the place. The way of
election was by lots, a way frequently used both among Jews and
Gentiles for the determination of doubtful and difficult cases, and
especially in the choosing judges and magistrates: and this course the
Apostles rather took because the Holy Ghost was not yet given, by
whose immediate dictates and inspiration they were chiefly guided
afterwards. The lots were put into the urn, and the name of Matthias
was drawn out, and thereby the Apostolate devolved upon him. Not long
after, the promised powers of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon the
Apostles, to fit them for that great and difficult employment upon
which they were sent; and, among the rest, S. Matthias betook himself
to his charge and province. The first period of his ministry he spent
in Judæa; whence, having reaped a considerable harvest, he betook
himself to other provinces. The Greeks, with some probability, report
him to have travelled eastwards into Cappadocia (which they
erroneously call Æthiopia). Here, meeting with a people of a fierce
and intractable temper, he was treated by them with great rudeness and
inhumanity; and from them, after all his labour and sufferings, and a
numerous conversion of men to Christianity, he obtained at last the
crown of martyrdom, about the year of Christ, 64. Little certain
information can be ascertained concerning the manner of his death; but
the Greek Menæa, which are corroborated by several ancient breviaries,
relate that he was crucified, and that as Judas was hanged upon a
tree, so Matthias suffered upon a cross. His body is said to have been
kept a long time at Jerusalem, thence thought to have been translated
to Rome by S. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, where some
supposed portions of it are shown with great veneration at this day;
though others contend that his relics were brought to and are still
preserved at Trèves. Among many apocryphal writings attributed to the
Apostles, there was a Gospel published under his name, mentioned by
the ancient ecclesiastical historians, and condemned with the rest by
Gelasius, Bishop of Rome, as it had been rejected by others before him.
[Illustration: BEHEADING OF S. MATTHIAS. From Cahier. Feb. 24.]
S. Matthias is seldom represented in works of art; when his figure
does occur, he generally carries an axe or halbert, sometimes a spear
or lance, occasionally a book and a stone. The Greeks represent S.
Matthias as an old man with a rounded beard.
SS. MONTANUS, LUCIUS, JULIAN, AND
COMP., MM.
(A.D. 259.)
[Roman and other Western Martyrologies. Authority:--The very
interesting letter written by these Martyrs, when in prison, to
their brethren, with the conclusion, relating their passion, by an
eye-witness.]
The persecution raised by Valerian had raged two years, during which,
many had received the crown of martyrdom, and amongst others, S.
Cyprian, in September, 258. The proconsul, Galerius Maximus, who had
pronounced sentence on that saint, dying soon after, the procurator,
Solon, continued the persecution, waiting for the arrival of a new
proconsul from Rome. After some days, a sedition was raised in
Carthage against him, in which many were killed. Solon, instead of
making search after the perpetrators of the riot, vented his fury upon
the Christians, knowing that this would be agreeable to the idolaters.
Accordingly, he caused eight Christians, all disciples of S. Cyprian,
and most of them of the clergy, to be apprehended. "As soon as we were
taken," say the martyrs, "we were given in custody to the officers of
the quarter. The governor's soldiers told us that we were to be
condemned to the flames; then we prayed to God, with great fervour, to
be delivered from that punishment, and he, in whose hands are the
hearts of men, was pleased to grant our request. The governor altered
his first intent, and ordered us into a very dark and incommodious
prison, where we found the priest Victor, and some others; but we were
not dismayed at the filth and darkness of the place, our faith and joy
in the Holy Ghost reconciled us to our sufferings in that place,
though they were such as it is not easy for words to describe; but the
greater our trials, the greater is He who overcomes them in us. Our
brother Rhenus in the meantime had a vision, in which he saw several
of the prisoners going out of the jail with a lighted lamp preceding
each of them, whilst others, who had no such lamp, stayed behind. He
discerned us in this vision, and assured us that we were of the number
of those who went forth with lamps. This gave us great joy, for we
understood that the lamp represented Christ, the true Light, and that
we were to follow Him by martyrdom.
"The next day we were sent for by the governor, to be examined. It was
a triumph to us to be conducted, as a spectacle, through the market
place and the streets, with our chains rattling. The soldiers, who
knew not where the governor would hear us, dragged us from place to
place till, at length, he ordered us to be brought into his closet. He
put several questions to us; our answers were modest, but firm: at
length we were remanded to prison; here we prepared ourselves for new
conflicts. The sharpest trial was that which we underwent through
hunger and thirst, the governor having commanded that we should be
kept without meat and drink for several days, insomuch that water was
refused us after our work; yet Flavian the deacon added great
voluntary austerities to these hardships, often bestowing on others
that little refreshment which was most sparingly allowed us at the
public charge.
"God was pleased himself to comfort us in this our extreme misery, by
a vision which he vouchsafed to the priest Victor, who suffered
martyrdom a few days after. 'I saw last night,' said he to us, 'a
child, whose countenance was of a wonderful brightness, enter the
prison. He took us to all parts to make us go out, but there was no
outlet; then he said to me,--Thou art still concerned at being
retained here, but be not discouraged, I am with thee: carry these
tidings to thy companions, and let them know that they shall have a
more glorious crown. I asked him where heaven was; the child replied,
Beyond the world.' Victor then desired to be shown the place of the
blessed, but the child in the vision reprimanded him gently, saying,
'Where then would be thy faith?' Victor said, 'I cannot retain what
thou dost command me: tell me a sign that I may give to my
companions.' He answered, 'Give them the sign of Jacob, that is, his
mystical ladder, reaching to the heavens.'" Soon after this vision
Victor was put to death. "This vision," continues the letter of the
martyrs, "filled us with joy."
"God gave us, the night following, another assurance of his mercy, by
a vision to our sister Quartillosia, a fellow-prisoner, whose husband
and son had suffered death for Christ three days before, and who
followed them by martyrdom a few days after. 'I saw,' says she, 'my
son, who suffered; he was in the prison sitting on a vessel of water,
and he said to me,--God has seen thy sufferings. Then entered a young
man, of a wonderful stature, and he said,--Be of good courage, God
hath remembered thee.'" The martyrs had received no nourishment the
preceding day, nor had they any on the day that followed this vision;
but, at length, Lucian, then priest, and afterward bishop of Carthage,
surmounting all obstacles, got food to be carried to them in abundance
by the subdeacon Herennian, and by Januarius, a catechumen. The Acts
say, they brought the never-failing Food,[65] that is, the blessed
Eucharist. They continue: "We have all one and the same spirit, which
unites and cements us together in prayer, in mutual conversation, and
in all our actions. These are the lovely bands which put the devil to
flight, are most agreeable to God, and obtain of Him, by joint prayer,
whatever they ask. These are the ties which link hearts together, and
which make men the children of God. To be heirs of His kingdom we must
be His children, and to be His children we must love one another. It
is impossible for us to attain to the inheritance of heavenly glory,
unless we keep that union and peace with all our brethren which our
heavenly Father has established amongst us. Nevertheless, this union
suffered some prejudice in our troop, but the breach was soon
repaired. It happened that Montanus had some words with Julian about a
person who was not of our communion, and who was got among us
(probably admitted by Julian). Montanus on this account rebuked
Julian, and they, for some time afterward, behaved towards each other
with coldness, which was, as it were, a seed of discord. Heaven had
pity on them both, and, to reunite them, admonished Montanus by a
dream, which he related to us, as follows:--'It appeared to me that
the centurions were come to us, and that they conducted us through a
long path into a spacious field, where we were met by Cyprian and
Lucius. After this, we came into a very luminous place, where our
garments became white, and our flesh whiter than our garments, and so
wonderfully transparent, that there was nothing in our hearts but what
was clearly exposed to view; but, in looking into myself, I could
discover some filth in my own bosom: and, meeting Lucian, I told him
what I had seen, adding, that what I had observed in my breast denoted
my coldness towards Julian. Wherefore, brethren, let us love, cherish,
and promote, with all our might, peace and concord. Let us be here
unanimous, in imitation of what we shall be hereafter. As we hope to
share in the rewards promised to the just, and to avoid the
punishments wherewith the wicked are threatened, as we desire to be,
and to reign with Christ, let us do those things which will lead us to
Him and to His heavenly kingdom.'"
Thus far, the martyrs wrote in prison what happened to them; the rest
was written by those persons who were present, according to the
recommendation of Flavian, one of the martyrs.
After suffering extreme hunger and thirst, with other hardships,
during an imprisonment of many months, the confessors were brought
before the president, and made a glorious confession. The edict of
Valerian condemned only bishops, priests, and deacons to death. The
false friends of Flavian maintained before the judge that he was not a
deacon, and, consequently, was not comprehended in the emperor's
decree; whereupon, though he protested that he was one, he was not
then condemned; but the rest were sentenced to death. They walked
cheerfully to the place of execution, and each of them gave
exhortations to the people. Lucius, who was naturally mild and modest,
was a little dejected on account of a sickness he had contracted in
prison; he, therefore, went before the rest, accompanied by only a few
persons, lest he should be oppressed by the crowd, and so not have the
honour of spilling his blood. Some cried out to him, "Remember us."
"Do you also," said he, "remember me." Julian and Victoricus exhorted
the brethren to peace, and recommended to their care the whole body of
the clergy, especially those who had undergone the hardships of
imprisonment. Montanus, who was endued with great strength, both of
body and mind, cried out, "He that sacrificeth to any God but the true
one shall be utterly destroyed." This he often repeated. He also
checked the pride and wicked obstinacy of the heretics, telling them
that they might discern the true Church by the multitude of its
martyrs. Like a true disciple of S. Cyprian, and a zealous lover of
discipline, he exhorted those that had fallen not to be over hasty,
but fully to accomplish their penance. He exhorted the virgins to
preserve their purity, and to honour the bishops, and all the bishops
to abide in concord. When the executioner was ready to give the
stroke, he prayed aloud to God that Flavian, who had been reprieved at
the people's request, might follow them on the third day. And, to
express his assurance that his prayer was heard, he rent in pieces the
handkerchief with which his eyes were to be covered, and ordered
one-half of it to be reserved for Flavian, and desired that a place
might be kept for him where he was to be buried, that they might not
be separated even in the grave. Flavian, seeing his crown delayed,
made it the object of his ardent desires and prayers. And as his
mother kept close by his side, with the constancy of the mother of the
holy Maccabees, and with longing desire to see him glorify God by
death, he said to her, "Thou knowest, mother, how much I have longed
to enjoy the happiness of dying by martyrdom." In one of the two
nights during which he survived, he was favoured with a vision, in
which one said to him, "Why dost thou grieve? Twice hast thou been a
confessor, and thou shalt suffer martyrdom by the sword." On the third
day he was ordered to be brought before the governor. Here it appeared
how much he was beloved by the people, for they endeavoured by all
means to save his life. They cried out to the judge that he was no
deacon; but he affirmed that he was. A centurion presented a billet,
which set forth that he was not. The judge accused him of lying, to
procure his own death. He answered, "Is that probable? are not they
rather guilty of an untruth who say the contrary?" The people demanded
that he might be tortured, in hopes he would recall his confession on
the rack; but the judge condemned him to be beheaded. The sentence
filled him with joy, and he was conducted to the place of execution,
accompanied by a great multitude, and by many priests. A shower
dispersed the infidels, and the martyr was led into a house till the
storm was passed, and there he had an opportunity of taking his last
leave of the faithful, without the presence of any heathen spectators.
He told them that in a vision he had asked Cyprian whether the stroke
of death is painful, and that the martyr answered, "The body feels no
pain when the soul gives itself entirely to God." At the place of
execution, he prayed for the peace of the Church and the union of the
brethren. Having done speaking, he bound his eyes with that half of
the handkerchief which Montanus had ordered to be kept for him, and,
kneeling in prayer, received the last stroke. Although he suffered two
days after the others, the whole glorious company receives
commemoration together on one day.