Footnotes: 1. Gr. l. 2. Procop. l. 5 de ædif. Justin. 3. S. Jo. Clim. gr. 27, n. 67. 4. St. Greg. l. 11; Ep. 1, l. 12; Ep. 16, t. 2, p. 1091. 5. Gr. 4 and 5. 6. Gr. 1. 7. Gr. 7, 27, 30. 8. Grad. 30, n. 12. 9. Gr {} n. 14. 10. Ps. xxvii.
S. ZOZIMUS, BISHOP OF SYRACUSE,
WAS successor to the holy bishop Peter; and faithfully discharged all
the duties of a worthy pastor until his death, which happened in 660.
His, name is mentioned in the Roman and Sicilian Martyrologies. See the
Bollandists and Baillet.
ST. REGULUS, OR RIEUL,
WHO having converted the country of Senlis to the faith, about the same time that St. Dionysius preached in France, was made first bishop of Senlis, and died in peace in the midst of his flock. See the Bollandists and Tillem. t. 4, p. 719.
MARCH XXXI.
SAINT BENJAMIN, DEACON, M.
From Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. l. 5, c. 39, &c.
A.D. 429.
ISDEGERDES, son of Sapor III., put a stop to the crael persecutions against the Christians in Persia, which had been begun by Sapor II., and the Church had enjoyed twelve years' peace in that kingdom, when, in 420, it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of one Abdas, a Christian bishop, who burned down the Pyræum, or temple of fire, the great divinity of the Persians. King Isdegerdes threatened to demolish all the churches of the Christians, unless he would rebuild it. Abdas had done ill in destroying the temple, but did well in refusing to rebuild it; for nothing can make it lawful to contribute to any act of idolatry, or to the building a temple, as Theodoret observes. Isdegerdes therefore demolished all the Christian churches in Persia, put to death Abdas, and raised a general persecution against the Church, which continued forty years with great fury. Isdegerdes died the year following, in 421. But his son and successor, Varanes, carried on the persecution with greater inhumanity. The very description which Theodoret, a contemporary writer, and one that lived in the neighborhood gives of the cruelties he exercised on the Christians, strikes us with {682} horror: some were flayed alive in different parts of the body, and suffered all kinds of torture that could be invented: others, being stuck all over with sharp reeds, were hauled and rolled about in that condition; others were tormented divers other ways, such as nothing but the most hellish malice was capable of suggesting. Among these glorious champions of Christ was St. Benjamin, a deacon. The tyrant caused him to be beaten and imprisoned. He had lain a year in the dungeon, when an ambassador from the emperor obtained his enlargement, on condition he should never speak to any of the courtiers about religion. The ambassador passed his word in his behalf that he would not: but Benjamin, who was a minister of the gospel, declared that he could not detain the truth in captivity, conscious to himself of the condemnation of the slothful servant for having hid his talent. He therefore neglected no opportunity of announcing Christ. The king, being informed that he still preached the faith in his kingdom, ordered him to be apprehended; but the martyr made no other reply to his threats than by putting this question to the king: What opinion he would have of any of his subjects who should renounce his allegiance to him, and join in war against him. The enraged tyrant caused reeds to be run in between the nails and the flesh both of his hands and feet, and the same to be thrust into other most tender parts, and drawn out again, and this to be frequently repeated with violence. He lastly ordered a knotty stake to be thrust into his bowels to rend and tear them, in which torment he expired in the year 424. The Roman Martyrology places his name on the 31st of March.