Interim Saints - July 21st
PRAXEDES, virgin (2nd cent.)
S. Praxedes is said to have ministered to the martyrs in prison, and to
have been diligent in collecting their relics.
JULIA, virgin and martyr, and CLAUDIUS, martyr (circ. A.D. 275)
This is a Gallican localization of the legend of SS. Luceja and
Aucejas, given in the June volume of "Lives of the Saints," p. 342.
The story is the same exactly in both cases, only the names and
localities are altered.
VICTOR and companions, martyrs (A.D. 304)
In the year 304, the Emperor Maximian was at Marseillles, and his
presence filled the Christians there with alarm. S. victor, a
Christian officer in the army, went about by night from house to house,
encouraging their hearts, and bidding them play the man for Christ . .
. He was denounced to the emperor . . . degraded from his rank, his
hands and feet to be bound, and that he should be thus dragged through
the streets . . . After being further tortured . . . S. Victor was hung
up by the wrists, beaten and torn . . . head smitten off . . .
BARHADBESCIABAS, deacon and martyr (A.D. 354)
In the fifteenth year of the great persecution raised in Persia by king
Sapor II, Barhadbesciabas, the zealous deacon of the city of Arbela,
was apprehended and put on the rack . . . [The executioner] struck
seven times at the martyrs neck, and not being able to sever his head
from his body, ran his sword into his bowels . . .
[It seems in fact to require considerable strength and skill to cut
through a neck with one blow, and a clean decapitation seems to be
rather the exception than the rule. I believe that Henry VIII,
soft-hearted old gentleman that he was, employed for the execution of
Ann Boleyn a Frenchman with the enviable skill of being able to remove
a head with one stroke of his sword. It was the French, always very
considerate in these matters, who solved the problem with the invention
of the Guillotine.]
ZOTICUS, bishop and martyr (date uncertain)
In the Roman Martyrology Baronius inserted "at Cumana in Armenia, S.
Zoticus, bishop and martyr, who suffered under Severus." But it is
impossible to find his authority.
ARBOGAST, bishop of Strasburg (A.D. 678)
S. Arbogast was bishop of Strasburg in the reign of Dagobert II, king
of Austrasia. One day as the king's son, Sigebert, then a boy, was out
boar-hunting, his horse . . . threw the lad, and drew him clinging to
the rein some way. He was taken up insensible from contusion of the
brain . . . The bishop hurried to the palace, wept and prayed all
night, and in the morning the boy opened his eyes, and gradually
recovered. The king, attributing this restoration to the prayers of
the bishop, gave him the town and lordship of Ruffeih, near Colmar.
Saint Christina the wonderful is coming! Don't miss July 24th's
enthralling instalment.
Oriens.
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