ST. IRENAEUS, bishop of Sirmium, capital of part of Pannonia, (now
Sirmisch, a village in Hungary, twenty-two leagues from Buda to the
south,) in the persecution of Dioclesian was apprehended and conducted
before Probus, the governor of Pannonia, who said to him: "The divine
laws oblige all men to sacrifice to the gods." Irenaeus answered: "Into
hell fire shall be thrown, whoever shall sacrifice to the gods." PROBUS.
"The edicts of the most clement emperors ordain that all sacrifice to
the gods, or suffer according to law." IRENAEUS. "But the law of my God
commands me rather to suffer all torments than to sacrifice to the
gods." PROBU.. "Either sacrifice, or I will put you to the torture."
IRENAEUS. "You cannot do me a greater pleasure; for by that means you
will make the partake of the sufferings of my Saviour." The proconsul
commanded him to be put on the rack; and while he was tortured, he said
to him: "What do you say now, Irenaeus? Will you sacrifice?" IRENAEUS. "I
sacrifice to my God, by confessing his holy name, and so have I always
sacrificed to him." All Irenaeus's family was in the utmost concern for
him. His mother, his wife, and his children surrounded him. His children
embraced his feet, crying out: "Father, dear father, have pity on
yourself and on us." His wife, dissolved in tears, cast herself about
his neck, and, tenderly embracing him, conjured him to preserve himself
for her, and his innocent children, the pledges of their mutual love.
His mother, with a voice broken with sobs, sent forth lamentable cries
and sighs, which were accompanied with those of their servants,
neighbors, and friends; so that all round the rack on which the martyr
was hanging, nothing was heard but sobs, groans, and lamentations.
Irenaeus resisted all these violent assaults, opposing those words of our
Lord: _If any one renounce me before men, I will renounce him before my
Father who is to Heaven_. He made no answer to their pressing
solicitations, but raised his soul above all considerations of flesh and
blood to him who was looking down on his conflict from above, waiting to
crown his victory with immortal glory; and who seemed to cry out to him
from his lofty throne in heaven: "Come, make haste to enjoy me." The
governor said to him: "Will you be insensible to such marks of
tenderness and affection? can you see so many tears shed for you without
being moved? It is not beneath a great courage to be touched with
compassion. Sacrifice, and do not destroy yourself in the flower of your
age." Irenaeus said: "It is that I may not destroy myself that I refuse
to sacrifice." The governor sent him to prison, where he remained a long
time, suffering divers torments. At the second time of examination, the
governor, after having pressed him to sacrifice, asked him if he had a
wife, parents, or children, alive. The saint answered all these
questions in the negative. "Who then were those that wept for you at
your first examination?" Irenaeus made answer: "Our Lord Jesus Christ
hath said: _He that loveth father or mother, wife or children, brothers
or relations more than me, is not worthy of {652} me_. So, when I lift
up my eyes to contemplate that God whom I adore, and the joys he hath
promised to those who faithfully serve him, I forget that I am a father,
a husband, a son, a master, a friend." Probus said: "But you do not
therefore cease to be so. Sacrifice at least for their sakes." Irenmus
replied: "My children will not lose much by my death; for I leave them
for father that same God whom they adore with me; so let nothing hinder
you from executing the orders of your emperor upon me." PROBUS. "Throw
not yourself away. I cannot avoid condemning you." IRENAEUS. "You cannot
do me a greater favor, or give me a more agreeable pleasure." Then
Probus passed sentence after this manner: "I order that Irenaeus, for
disobeying the emperor's commands, be cast into the river."[1] Irenaeus
replied: "After so many threats, I expected something extraordinary, and
you content yourself with drowning me. How comes this? You do me an
injury; for you deprive me of the means of showing the world how much
Christians, who have a lively faith, despise death, though attended with
the most cruel torments." Probus, enraged at this, added to the sentence
that he should be first beheaded. Irenaeus returned thanks to God as for
a second victory. When arrived on the bridge of Diana, from which he was
to be thrown, stripping off his clothes, and lifting up his hands to
heaven, he prayed thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, who condescendedst to suffer
for the salvation of the world, command the heavens to open, that the
angels may receive the soul of thy servant Irenaeus, who suffers for thy
name, and for thy people of the Catholic church of Sirmium." Then, his
head being struck off, he was thrown into the river, on the 25th of
March, on which day his name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. He
suffered in the year 304. He was married before he was ordained bishop;
but lived continent from that time, as the laws of the church required.
The martyrs most perfectly accomplished the precept of renouncing all
things for Christ; but all who desire truly to become his disciples, are
bound to do it in spirit. Many aspire to perfection by austere practices
of exterior mortification and long exercises of devotion; yet make
little progress, and, after many years, remain always subject to many
imperfections and errors in a spiritual life. The reason is, because
they neglected to lay the foundation by renouncing themselves. This
requires constant watchfulness, courageous self-denial, a perfect spirit
of humility, meekness and obedience, and sincere compunction, in which a
soul examines and detects her vices, bewails her past sins and those of
the whole world, sighs at the consideration of its vanity and slavery,
and of her distance from heaven, labors daily to cleanse her mind from
all idle thoughts, and her heart from all sin, all irregular
attachments, and superfluous desires, flies the vain joys of the world,
and often entertains herself on the bloody passion of Christ. If the
affections are thus purified, and this cleanness of heart daily more and
more cultivated, the rest costs very little, and the soul makes quick
progress in the paths of holy love, by the assiduous exercises of
contemplation and prayer, a constant fidelity in all her actions, and
the most fervent and pure attention to the divine will and presence.
Voluntary imperfections and failings, especially if habitual, both blind
and defile the soul, disquiet her, extremely weaken her, and damp the
fervor of her good desires and resolutions. They must therefore be
retrenched with the utmost resolution and vigilance, especially those
which arise from any secret vanity, sensuality, or want of the most
perfect sincerity, candor, and simplicity. An habitual attachment to any
failing, how trifling soever it may appear, how subtle and secret {653}
soever it may be, and under whatever pretences it may be disguised,
exceedingly obstructs the operations of the Holy Ghost, and the effusion
of divine grace in a soul.
Footnotes:
1. Meaning the Boswethe, which runs through Sirmisch, and falls into
the sea five leagues lower.