ST. FRUCTUOSUS was the zealous and truly apostolical bishop of Tarragon,
then the capital city of Spain. The persecution of Valerian and Gallien
raging in the year 259, he was apprehended by an order of Emilian the
governor, who sent the soldiers, called Beneficiarii,[1] for that
purpose. They seized the good bishop in his lodgings, with two deacons,
Augurius and Eulogius, on Sunday the 16th of January. He was then laid
down on his bed, and only asked leave to put on his shoes; after which
he cheerfully followed the guards, who committed him and his two
companions to close prison, where he spent his time with them in fervent
prayer, full of joy at the prospect of the crown prepared for them. He
gave his benediction to the faithful who visited him, and recommended
themselves to his prayers. On Monday he baptized in jail a catechumen
named Rogatianus. On Wednesday he kept the usual fast of the stations[2]
till none, or three o'clock in {191} the afternoon. On Friday, the sixth
day after their commitment, the 21st of January, the governor ordered
them to be brought before him, and asked Fructuosus if he knew the
contents of the late edict of the emperors. The saint answered that he
did not, but that whatever they were, he was a Christian. "The
emperors," said Emilian, "command all to sacrifice to the gods."
Fructuosus answered, "I adore one God, who made heaven and earth and all
things therein." Emilian said, "Do you not know that there are gods?"
"No," replied the saint. The proconsul said, "I will make you know it
shortly." St. Fructuosus then lifted up his eyes to heaven, and began to
pray in private. The proconsul broke out into this exclamation: "What
will any man fear or adore on earth, if he contemns the worship of the
immortal gods, and of the emperors?" Then turning to the deacon
Angurius, he bade him not regard what Fructuosus had said: but he
satisfied him in a few words that he adored the same almighty God.
Emilian lastly addressed himself to the other deacon, Eulogius, asking
him if he did not adore Fructuosus. The holy man answered, "I adore not
Fructuosus, but the same God whom he adores." Emilian asked Fructuosus
if he was a bishop; and added, upon his confessing it, "say you have
been one;" meaning that he was going to lose his dignity with his life:
and immediately condemned them to be burnt alive.
The pagans themselves could not refrain from tears, on seeing them led
to the amphitheatre; for they loved Fructuosus on account of his rare
virtues. The Christians accompanied them with a sorrow mixed with joy.
The martyrs exulted to behold themselves on the verge of a glorious
eternity. The faithful offered St. Fructuosus a cup of wine, but he
would not taste it, saying, it was not yet the hour of breaking the
fast, which was observed on Fridays till three o'clock, and it was then
only ten in the morning. The holy man hoped to end the station, or fast
of that day, with the patriarchs and prophets in heaven. When they were
come into the amphitheatre, Augustalis, the bishop's lector, came to him
weeping, and begged he would permit him to pull off his shoes. The
martyr said he could easily put them off himself, which he did. Felix, a
Christian soldier, stepped in, and desired he would remember him in his
prayers. Fructuosus said aloud: "I am bound to pray for the whole
Catholic church spread over the world from the east to the west;" as if
he had said, as St. Austin observes, who much applauds this sentence:[3]
"Remain always in the bosom of the Catholic church, and you will have a
share in my prayers." Martial, one of his flock, desired him to speak
some words of comfort to his desolate church. The bishop, turning to the
Christians, said, "My brethren, the Lord will not leave you a flock
without a pastor. He is faithful to his promises. Do not grieve for me.
The hour of my suffering is short." The martyrs were fastened to wooden
stakes to be burnt; but the flame seemed at first to respect their
bodies, having consumed only the bands with which their hands were tied,
giving them liberty to stretch out their arms in the form of a cross in
prayer, in which posture they gave up their souls to God before the fire
had touched them. Babylas and Mygdone, two Christian servants of the
governor, saw the heavens open, and the saints carried up with crowns on
their heads. The faithful came in the night, extinguished the fire, and
took out the half-burnt bodies. Every one carried some part of their
remains home with them; but being admonished from heaven, brought them
back and laid them in the same monument. St. Austin has left us a
panegyric on St. Fructuosus, pronounced on the anniversary day of his
martyrdom, on which his name has been always famous in the western
church, especially in Spain and Africa.
Footnotes:
1. Beneficiarii were soldiers distinguished by certain privileges, and
who stood for promotion, as Vege{tius} informs us, l. 2, c. 7.
2. Wednesdays and Fridays were fast-days at that time; but only till
none, that is, three in the afternoon, and called the fast of the
stations.
3. Serm. 273.
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