Interim Saints - March 29th
JONAS and BARACHISIUS, martyrs (A.D. 327)
King Shapoor, or Sapor, of Persia, raised a savage persecution against
the Christians in his realm, believing them to be in league with the
Roman emperor. Amongst those who suffered were Jonas and Barachisius,
because they refused to adore the sun and fire. Melted lead was poured
down the nostrils of Jonas, and red-hot plates were placed under his
arms, and he was hung up by one foot in his dungeon till he fainted.
His hands and feet were cut off, his tongue torn out, and he was
pressed to death in a grape-crusher. Barachisius was treated with
equal barbarity. Sharp splinters of reed were thrust into his flesh,
all over his body, so that he resembled a porcupine, and he was then
rolled on the ground to drive the spikes in.
MARK, bishop and confessor, and CYRIL, deacon and martyr (A.D. 362)
Mark, bishop of Arethusa, on Mount Lebanon, was present at the council
of Sirmium (A.D. 351) which met to depose Photinus, the bishop of
Sirmius . . . This Mark was hung up, scourged, plucked by the beard,
and bore all with constancy . . . the constancy of Mark converted the
people of Arethusa . . .
In Heliopolis, a city near Lebanon, dwelt Cyril, a deacon. Acting on
the impulse of ardent zeal, he had there, during the reign of
Constantius, destroyed many idols. These impious men not only killed
him in revenge for this act, but after having ripped up his stomach,
ate his liver.
ARMOGASTES and companions, martyrs (about A.D. 463)
He was tortured with cords bound round his forehead and legs,
compressing the flesh painfully. But he looked up to heaven, made the
sign of the cross, and the cords broke like a spider's web . . . He was
next suspended by one foot, with his head downwards. His master,
Theodoric, wished to cut off his head, but his hand was arrested by an
Arian priest present, named Jucundus, who said, "If thou strikest off
his head, the Romans will honour him as a martyr; therefore make him
languish to death in other ways" . . .
EUSTACE, abbot of Luxeuil (A.D. 625)
During the ten years of his rule, a worthy successor of Columbanus, he
succeeded in securing the energetic support of the Frank nobility, as
well as the favour of Clothaire II. Under his active and intelligent
administration, the abbey founded by S. Columbanus attained its highest
pitch of splendour . . .
HUGO, monk of Vaucelles (A.D. 1236)
One of the most fervent and exemplary religious of the abbey of
Vaucelles in the early part of the 13th century was Hugo de Villa,
formerly dean of the church of Cambrai.
Oriens.
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