VICTORINUS, Victor, Nicephorus, Claudian, Dioscorus,[69] Serapion, and Papias, were citizens of Corinth, and had witnessed a good confession before Tertius, the proconsul, in 249. They then passed into Egypt, for what reason is not stated, and were again called upon to confess Christ, in the reign of Numerian, in Diospolis, capital of the Thebaid, in 284, under Sabinus, the governor. After the governor had tried the constancy of the martyrs with the rack and scourge, he caused Victorinus to be thrown into a great marble mortar. The executioners began by pounding his extremities, saying to him, at every stroke, "Spare thy life, Victorinus, by abjuring thy new God." But, as he continued to maintain his steadfastness, by order of Sabinus they crushed his head and chest. Victor was threatened with the same death. He pointed to the mortar, stained with the blood and brains of his companions, and said, calmly, "My salvation and my true joy await me there!" He was immediately cast into it, and pounded to death. Nicephorus was impatient of delay, and leaped of his own accord into the mortar. He met with the same fate. Sabinus caused Claudian, the fourth, to be chopped to pieces, and his bleeding joints to be thrown at the feet of the survivors. He expired, after his feet, hands, arms, legs, and thighs had been cut off. The governor then, pointing to the mangled limbs and bleeding trunk, said to the three who remained, "It concerns you to escape this punishment; I do not compel you to suffer." The martyrs replied, with one accord, "We desire of thee to bid us suffer by the most excruciating pains thou canst devise, for never will we break our fidelity to God, and deny Jesus Christ, our Saviour, for He is our God, from whom we have our being, and to whom alone we aspire."
The tyrant then condemned Dioscorus to be roasted to death; Serapion was suspended by his heels and decapitated; and Papias was cast into the sea with a stone attached to his neck, and drowned.
This happened on Feb. 25th, on which day these martyrs are commemorated in the Western Martyrologies; but the Greek Menæa and the Menology of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus honour them on January 31st, the day of their confession at Corinth.
SS. ANANIAS, P., AND COMP., MM.
(ABOUT A.D. 298.)
[Greek Menæa, on Feb. 26th; Martyrology of Ado on Feb. 25th. Inserted in many of the later Western Martyrologies, but in none of the earlier ones except that of Ado. Authority:—The notices in the Martyrologies, and an ancient MS. Acts of these saints found in the Monastery of Gladbach, which is, however, of very doubtful value.]
S. Ananias was a priest in Phœnicia, who was put to a terrible death by the governor for his testimony to the truth. After having been scourged till his back was a mass of wounds, salt and vinegar were rubbed into the exposed and bleeding flesh, and he was wrapped in a horse-hair garment so as still further to inflame and irritate the wounds. In prison he converted the gaoler, Peter. He was brought forth again, and slowly scorched on a grate over live coals; then salt was again applied to his sores, and the charred flesh was then cut off with a fish-slice. Peter was also exposed to a slow fire, and was then, with the priest, and seven believing soldiers, cast into the sea and drowned.
S. CÆSARIUS, C.
(ABOUT A.D. 369.)
[Roman Martyrology. Greek Menæa on March 9th. Authority:—His life, written by his brother, S. Gregory Nazianzen.]
S. Cæsarius was given by his parents an excellent education, and, being a man of great natural parts, he soon distinguished himself for his accomplishments in all the known sciences. He became one of the first physicians of his day, and was urged by the Emperor Constantius to reside in the imperial city, but declined to do so. Julian the Apostate nominated him his first physician, and loaded him with marks of favour, without, however, being able to shake his Christian constancy. Jovian, who succeeded Julian, also honoured him, and finding that, moved by the remonstrances of his father and brother, Cæsarius had thrown up his appointment at the court of the Apostate, he recalled him. Valens created him keeper of the privy purse, and treasurer of Bithynia. A narrow escape in an earthquake at Nicæa, in 368, when almost all the chief men of that city were killed, moved him to renounce the world. He died shortly after, and was buried with great solemnity, his parents assisting at the funeral with lighted tapers in their hands, and his brother, S. Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, preaching his funeral oration.