The Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs (A Modern Edition) De SS. Martyrum Cruciatibus by Reverend Father Antonio Gallonio, translated from the Latin by A.R. Allison, 1591 Revised and Edited into Contemporary English by Geoffrey K. Mondello, Boston Catholic Journal. Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved. "Father Gallonio's work was intended for the edification of the Faithful, and was issued with the full authority and approbation of the Church." A. R. Allison Note: This translation by the Boston Catholic Journal has been edited for abstruse and confusing archaisms, needless redundancies, and rendered into Modern (American) English. It is our goal to render this important, historical document into an easily readable format. However, we encourage the reader to consult the following important link: Acta Martyrum for a necessary perspective on the important distinction between authentic Acta Matyrum, scholarly hagiography, and edifying historical literature. This does not pretend to be a scholarly edition, replete with footnotes and historical references. Indeed, the original vexes us with its inconsistent references, and the absence of any methodical attribution to the works or authors cited. However, it must be remembered that the present work is not offered to us as a compendium, or even a 1 work of scholarship. That is not its intended purpose. It is, however, intended to accompany the Roman Martyrology which the Boston Catholic Journal brings to you each day, in the way of supplementing the often abbreviated account of the Catholic Martyrs with an historical perspective and a deeper understanding of the suffering they endured for the sake of Christ, His Holy Catholic Church, and the Faith of our fathers which, in our own times, sadly, recedes from memory for the sake of temporizing our own Catholic Faith to accommodate the world at the cost of Christ. CONTENTS CHAPTER I Of the Cross, of Stakes, and Other Means by which the bodies of Christians remaining steadfast in their Confession of Christ were suspended CHAPTER II Of the Wheel, the Pulley, and the Press as instruments of torture CHAPTER III Of the Wooden Horse as an instrument of Martyrdom; also of many different types of Bonds CHAPTER IV Of different instruments employed for Scourging the Blessed Martyrs CHAPTER V Of instruments the Heathen used to Tear the Flesh of Christ's Faithful; to wit, Iron Claws and Currycombs CHAPTER VI Of Red-Hot Plates, Torches, and Blazing Brands CHAPTER VII 2 Of the Brazen Bull, Frying-Pan, Pot, Caldron, Gridiron, and Bedstead; likewise of the Chair, Helmet, and Tunic, and other instruments of Martyrdom using Red-Hot Iron CHAPTER VIII Of other methods by which Christ's Holy Martyrs were Tortured with Fire CHAPTER IX Of other instruments of torture and methods employed for the tormenting of Christian Martyrs, such as School-Boy's Iron Styles, Nails, Saws, Spears, Swords, and Arrows; Tearing out the Inwards, Cutting the Throat, Beheading, Branding and Marking, Pounding with Axes and Clubs CHAPTER X Of yet other instruments and methods of torture for afflicting Christian Martyrs, such as Amputating Women's Bosoms, Cutting out the Tongue, and Lopping-off the Hands and Feet, Pulling out the Teeth, Flaying Alive, Transfixing, and Exposing to Wild Beasts CHAPTER XI Of still other tortures and methods of Martyrdom: Burying Alive, Throwing into Rivers, Wells, or Lime-Kilns; Cutting open the Stomach, and the Like CHAPTER XII Of Martyrs driven into Exile, and condemned to Hard Labor or the Mines Redaction with annotation by: Geoffrey K. Mondello for the Boston Catholic Journal www.boston-catholic-journal.com 2012 + Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order Copyright © 2012 Boston Catholic Journal. All rights reserved for this revised edition by Geoffrey K. Mondello. Contact the Boston Catholic Journal for permission to reprint, in any format, or upon any media, digital or otherwise, any part of this book revised by the Boston Catholic Journal , the original of which is in public domain. 3 CHAPTER I Of the Cross, of Stakes, and other Means by which the Bodies of the Christians Remaining Steadfast in their Faith were Suspended Since we propose in this book to discuss the many instruments of Martyrdom and the countless methods by which the most glorious and unconquered soldiers of our Lord Jesus Christ underwent death with a brave heart for His honor, it is entirely proper that we begin our task with the blessed and holy Sign of the Cross. For it was this upon which the Savior of the World, bursting the bonds of death, vanquished that cunning serpent, the Devil, and by His sufferings earned for His servants such tremendous fortitude that they were happy to endure the most arduous hardships of every sort, even, if need be, to the shedding of their blood and the cruel dismemberment of all their limbs. If, that is to say, the Martyrs won from the Cross the strength which they displayed in tortures and torments, it seems to us all the more appropriate to discuss the Cross first, as an instrument of torture and martyrdom in this book. Since, however, stakes set up in the ground were included in antiquity under the common term of crosses, we must also examine these in this chapter, as well as other means by which the bodies of the Blessed Martyrs were suspended as punishment for defending of the Faith of Christ; for, indeed, whether nailed to the cross or bound to wooden poles, they may equally be said in a sense to have hung suspended. In beginning our discussion of the Cross, it is important for us to understand that not only were the Jews accustomed to nail condemned criminals to the cross [Deut 21:22-23], but the Gentiles as well. This is expressly stated by many of their own authors — by Cicero in several places (especially in the Philippics and De Finibus), no less than by Valerius Maximus, Livy, Curtius, Suetonius (Galba), and Seneca (De Consolatione). This last passage shows that crosses were of more than one kind, as we see from the words quoted below: "From this I gather that crosses were not all of one kind, but differently made by different people. Some hang the criminal head downwards, while others drive a stake through his entrails, and others again stretched out his arms on a forked gallows ..." What Seneca says here, to wit, that "others drive a stake through his entrails," he explains elsewhere, for he calls this kind of cross, in his indictment of the Mecaenas, a sharp-pointed cross. From this we may readily understand that, while one form of cross was of the type most commonly associated with the word, another resembled the sharp stakes which the Turks now employ for executing criminals, driving them through the victims' middle up to the head. We may also find this in Procopius's, Vandal War. Upon the first kind of Cross (as Seneca states above, and as we find in numerous Acts of the Saints) [Acta Martyrum] some were fixed with their heads toward the ground, while others with them raised to heaven. Christian martyrs were, in fact, crucified in both ways by the worshippers of idols. Among others who won the crown of martyrdom by crucifixion head downwards was the chief of the Apostles himself, St. Peter, concerning whom Origen writes: 4 "When Peter was come to the outskirts of Rome, with head placed downwards (for so he desired himself to suffer), he was nailed to the Cross." St. Augustine writes that: "So both (Peter and Paul) hasten to attain to the palm of martyrdom, and win the crown thereof." And elsewhere: "Peter for Christ's sake is suspended on the tree head downward; Paul slain with the sword. The Apostle went with his own feet to meet Christ, and looking upward with his eyes to Heaven, sent forth his blessed spirit to the Heavens above." This is also described by St. John Chrysostom in his Homily on the Chief of the Apostles: "Rejoice, Peter, to whom has been granted to enjoy Christ on the tree, and who was happy to be crucified as thy Master was, yet not with form upright like Christ the Lord, but with head turned to the ground, as one journeying from earth to heaven. Blessed the nails which did pierce those holy limbs." To this most holy Apostle of Christ may be further added St. Calliopus, who died the same death for guarding the Christian Faith, bravely and signally triumphing over the World and the Devil. We clearly see, then, that some Martyrs were crucified with feet upward towards the sky. As to those who suffered with feet pointing to the ground, we find many outspoken champions of the Christian Law: St. Philip and St. Andrew, Apostles; Nestor, a Bishop; Timon, a Deacon, and many others. The Roman Martyrology itself speaks of ten thousand Martyrs so crucified, including Simeon, a Bishop, who at the date of his Martyrdom was in the one hundred and twentieth year of his age. Concerning the ten thousand who were lifted up on the Cross (22 June), we read: "On Mount Ararat the passion of ten thousand blessed Martyrs who were crucified." Concerning St. Simeon (20 April) we read: "At Jerusalem anniversary of the Blessed Simeon, Bishop and Martyr, who is said to have been the son of Cleophas and a kinsman of the Savior according to the flesh. Ordained Bishop of Jerusalem next after James, brother of Our Lord, after suffering in the persecution of Trajan many tortures, he died a Martyr, and all present, including the very Judge himself, marveled how an old man of one hundred and twenty years should have endured the punishment of the Cross bravely and unflinchingly." The Method Employed by the Heathen for Crucifying Christians In the first place, the ministers of cruelty would make ready (as many passages from the Acts of the Saints above refer to, particularly concerning St.