The Lives of the Saints, Volume II (of 16): February

Teriadeven received baptism solemnly with two hundred of his court. This was in the beginning of 1693. Immediately after the ceremony he returned to Mouni, where a great multitude awaited baptism. The joy of the Church was raised to its highest pitch by these glorious conversions, and by the prospect of greater still, when suddenly there burst out the most terrible persecution that had yet fallen upon them. It confounded in its fury the whole of that infant society, and tore from them their sole support, the holy father, to whom they owed their birth unto Jesus Christ, and whose hour of martyrdom had at length arrived.

In every one of the four wives put away by Prince Teriadeven, Father de Britto had raised up an enemy, who would be satisfied with no sacrifice short of his life. But among them all the youngest, who happened to be the usurper's niece, was the most furious. In a transport of rage she ran to her uncle and told him of the outrage she had suffered from the European. Then she appealed to the Brahmins, who hated him too bitterly to remain deaf to her cries. They had long nourished their thirst for revenge, and now they saw an opportunity of slaking it. A consultation was held as to the best course to be pursued, and it was decided that they should go in a body to the king, and make a formal complaint against Father de Britto. They selected Pomparanam to be their spokesman, an old man, and very spiteful, who pronounced a set speech on the occasion.

The king saw perfectly well through the motives of the Brahmins in thus taking up the woman's cause; but as the honour of his own family was concerned in the person of his niece, he acceded to their request. He ordered the Christians to be fined, and their houses to be burnt. The father had foreseen the storm that was gathering, and had warned his flock of the danger, but they all refused to fly. They determined to stand by their dear master, upon whom they knew the great fury of the persecution would fall, and if God required it, die with him. The king despatched four companies of soldiers to seize the missionary. Three of them advanced to the chapels which he had built in the woods, where they arrested the catechists who were in charge of them. The fourth hastened to Mouni, and there they found the holy father. It was the morning of the 8th of January, and he was offering, as was his wont, the Holy Sacrifice, when God revealed to him what was coming; and after Mass he addressed the people, and said that those who had not courage to give up their lives in testimony to the faith of Jesus Christ, had better depart at once and hide themselves. He pronounced these words in so decided and significant a manner, that they all perceived he had received some definite intelligence, and, seized with a sudden panic, they all dispersed except one Brahmin, a convert, and two children, who preferred remaining with him. In the evening, warning came of the approach of a troop of mounted soldiery. He knew their errand, and raising his eyes towards heaven, he offered up his life as a sacrifice to God, and went forth to meet them. They seized him violently, and led him off with his three companions.

In a neighbouring village, there was being celebrated at that time a grand festival to one of their gods. Thither on their arrival they drew the Christian victims, and harnessed them to the triumphal car of the idol, and exposed them to the jeers of the multitude. Next day they were taken to the royal city of Ramanadabouram, and there the saint was incarcerated in a filthy hovel, and with him the three catechists who had been arrested in the forest chapels. The holy father embraced them, and exhorted them to continue firm to the end. The heroism of the two children is especially recorded. They animated each other to suffer for Jesus Christ.

The imprisonment lasted for several days. Teriadeven only heard of their captivity when it was too late to avert it; but he gave orders that they should be treated with kindness till the king's wishes should be known. Those orders, however, were not attended to, and the brutal jailors amused themselves with the sufferings of the martyrs, and fed them with food which the soldiers rejected.

At last the prisoners were brought before the chief minister of state. A small crucifix had been found upon De Britto, and the judge asked him what that image represented. "It is the image of my God," said the father, "who being immortal and impassible in his own nature, was made man, and died upon a cross to rescue us from the slavery of the devil." At these words the impious wretch threw it down upon the ground in contempt, and stamped upon it with his feet. The holy man, although chained and bound, fell upon his knees, and crawling with difficulty to the crucifix, pressed it to his breast, and watered it with tears, in reparation of the insult. There was a great crowd of spectators present, who regarded this action as a contempt of court, and loudly demanded sentence. But the judge, not knowing what to say, ordered the confessors back to prison, and there they remained for a month.

Prince Teriadeven boldly pleaded their cause before the king, in face of the personal danger he incurred by his advocacy of the Christians. Ranganadeven, in a rage, ordered him at once to adore the gods. The prince refused, and said he would rather die than again offer the worship to idols which was due only to Jesus Christ. The tyrant answered that he would soon show which religion was the most powerful, and forthwith gave orders to the magicians to prepare a certain incantation considered infallible in its operation, to cause the death of the missionary. The incantation failed, to the shame of the king, and the discomfiture of his priests; and Father de Britto was sent for, and asked whether the failure of the sorcerers was owing to the enchanted book, meaning the Breviary, which he was still allowed to retain in his possession. The missionary replied that that book was devoted to the praise of God, and to nothing so hateful as sorcery. The tyrant ordered the book to be hung round his neck, and the executioners to shoot at him in the market-place: "And we shall see," said he "whether your God can deliver you." He was led away, and the soldiers were taking aim, when Teriadeven broke through their ranks, and ordered them to desist. They obeyed, knowing him to be the true owner of the crown; and as he was very popular, the tyrant feared a revolt if he should persist in the execution. De Britto's death was accordingly again deferred; and the tyrant ordered him to be sent to Oureiadeven, his brother, who lived at Orejour, a distance of two days' journey from the court, with instructions that he should be put to death on his arrival.

The father rejoiced when he heard whither he was going, for he knew that it was to die; but he wept at leaving his dear companions; they separated, never more to meet again in this world. He had to travel barefoot, tightly bound, and surrounded by guards, who hurried him over rocks and briers, through sand and brushwood. The blood gushed from the wounds he had received in prison, and from his torn and blistered feet; but instead of receiving pity from these wretches, they heaped abuse upon him. On his journey, the Christians assembled to see him pass, and receive his blessing.

He arrived at Orejour on the last day of January, and was immediately taken before Oureiadeven, the king's brother. This prince laboured under an incurable leprosy. Having heard of the missionary's gift of miracles, he doubted not that he would gladly purchase his life by exerting it for his cure. The father replied, that it appertained to God alone to cure disease; all that he could do was to apply the remedies, and entreat Almighty God to bless them; and he added, that if the prince desired to be made whole of his bodily disease, he must first heal the sickness of his soul, by accepting the true faith. When the prince saw that nothing would move the holy man, he turned to one of his suite named Margharittei, and bade him cut off his head upon the spot. Margharittei answered, that he was a Christian himself, and nothing would induce him to imbrue his hands in innocent blood. Then the prince's own wife rushed in, and threatened her husband with the judgments of heaven if he dared to execute the sentence of the king. Moved by these remonstrances, he ordered the servant of God to be carried back to his dungeon.

As soon as this got abroad, the Brahmins, fearing that their prey might escape their hands, went to the governor of the town, who was a bitter enemy of the Christians, and represented the case to him. Mourougapapoullei, for that was his name, instantly demanded an audience of the prince, and in the strongest terms reproached him for not obeying the commands of the king. The cowardly prince yielded through fear of the king's displeasure, and granted the governor leave to execute the sentence of death. It was on the morning of the 4th of February, being Ash-Wednesday, that the servant of God was apprised of his final sentence. At the joyful news, his countenance lighted up; he fell on his knees, and returned thanks to God. Then rising up, he said to the executioners, "I am ready." He walked to the place of execution without restraint, and with his Breviary hanging from his neck, his eyes fixed on heaven, and his steps so rapid that his guards were compelled to restrain him. Along the road a multitude of the faithful were waiting to see him pass.

The spot which had been selected for the martyrdom was a little hill by the bank of the river, not far from the city. On arriving there he was allowed by the guards to retire for a short time to pray. The executioner who at that moment came up, seeing the servant of God absorbed in prayer, was afraid to disturb him. More than a quarter of an hour had elapsed, when the son of the prince ran up and reprimanded the executioner for his delay in executing the sentence. Then the holy man approached the side of the river, and, after embracing the executioner, knelt down, and holding out his head, said, "I am ready; do as you are commanded." The executioner drew his scymitar, and raising his arm, was about to give the fatal blow, when he perceived the martyr's reliquary hanging by a cord from his neck. Taking it for granted that it was some charm which would ward off the stroke, he had first to remove it; but he durst not take it away with his hand, lest he should be bewitched. He therefore severed the string with the scymitar, and made a frightful gash on the breast and shoulder. The holy martyr offered to God the first fruits of his sacrifice; and then the executioner, no longer fearing any amulet to turn the edge of his weapon, raised the scymitar and hewed off his head.

This glorious triumph of the faith of Jesus Christ took place at Marava, on the 4th of February, 1693.

After Father de Britto's death the executioner drove a stake into the ground, on which he impaled the body; and having cut off the hands and feet, he hung them, along with the head, from the waist. The faithful tried hard to obtain possession of the relics, but in vain; they were too well guarded by the soldiers. His crucifix the martyr had given to a faithful convert, who transmitted it to Father Laine, and from his hands it reached his house of profession in Paris. And all that could be collected of the clothing, writing, objects of devotion, and instruments of penance were forwarded to the same father, by whom they were laid up in the Jesuit Church at Pondicherry, and thence they found their way to Goa. But it was some time before any fragments of the body fell into the hands of the Christians. The soldiers kept guard over the body while it remained impaled on the stake; but at last a violent storm came on, and the cord which supported the head and hands broke; the head rolled into the river, and was saved; but wild beasts preyed upon the body. When the soldiers had retired, the catechists came and gathered up all they could find of the body. In the river they discovered the head; they bought the stake, on which his limbs had been impaled, of the soldiers, and the scymitar of the executioner; this scymitar Father John de Corte brought with him to Europe a few years afterwards, and presented it to the king of Portugal, Pedro II. And these are all the relics that remain of the blessed Father John de Britto.

February 5

S. Agatha, V. M. at Catania, a. d. 251.

S. Agricolaus, B. of Utrecht, beginning of 5th cent.

S. Avitus, B. of Vienne, in France, circ. a. d. 524.

S. Genuine, B. of Savio, circ. a. d. 640.

S. Bertulf, Ab. at Ghent; beginning of 8th cent.

SS. Indract, Dominica and Companions, MM. at Glastonbury, beginning of 8th cent.

S. Vodal, Mk. at Soissons, beginning of 8th cent.

SS. Domitian, Duke of Carinthia, and Mary, his wife, beginning of 9th cent.

S. Polyeuctus, Patr. of Constantinople, a. d. 970.

S. Adelheid, V. Abss. at Villich; circ. a. d. 1015.

SS. Japanese Martyrs, at Nangasaki, a. d. 1592-1642.

S. AGATHA, V. M(A.D. 251.)

[Roman Martyrology and all others. Famous also among the Greeks. There are various editions of the Acts of her Martyrdom in Latin and in Greek. The latter are not as trustworthy as the former, which are very ancient, and though apparently tampered with by copyists, are on the whole to be relied upon. The Latin Acts were written by eye-witnesses, as appears from a passage in them, "From this we supposed he was her angel." There is an older version of the Greek Acts than that given by Metaphrastes (fl. 867), and there is a sermon on S. Agatha by S. Methodius. The name of S. Agatha occurs in the Canon of the Roman Mass; among the first five Virgin Saints enumerated in Nobis quoque peccatoribus.]

THE honour of being the birth-place of S. Agatha is claimed by Catania and Palermo, in Sicily. The probabilities in favour of either are nearly equally divided, though there seems to be a slight superiority in the claims of Catania. It certainly was the scene of her martyrdom, which took place during the persecution of Decius in a. d. 251, as all her acts testify. If these are not in all particulars to be relied on, their main facts seem to be pretty well established. According to these, S. Agatha was the daughter of an illustrious and wealthy house in Sicily, and was famed for her beauty and her gentle and amiable manners. But her love was consecrated to God from her very earliest youth. Quintianus the Consular of Sicily, as the Governor was then called, admired her exceedingly, and the holy virgin retired to Palermo to avoid his importunities. As often happened in those days of heathen cruelty, his love was turned into hatred when he discovered that she was a Christian. She was seized and brought to Catania; and all the way thither she could only weep and pray to the Lord to strengthen her for the conflict which awaited her. Every means was tried during the space of a month to prevail on her to forget her vow; but she was supported by continual prayer, and at last came off victorious from this lingering martyrdom. She was privately examined before Quintianus as to her faith, and confessed Christ with undaunted firmness, declaring the service of the Lord Jesus to be the highest nobility and the truest freedom: she was then sent to prison, to which she went joyfully, recommending herself to God, and entreating His aid. The day after she was tortured on the rack, and suffered with calmness and constancy. And, when she was put to the cruel torment of having her breasts cut off, she mildly reproached the inhuman Quintianus with the remembrance of his own infancy, and with the tenderness of his mother. She was then led again to prison, and all sustenance and medical aid were denied her. Four days afterwards she was put to still further tortures, and then, being taken back to prison, sweetly fell asleep in the Lord, and was buried by the people with great honour.

Relics in Catania, and some in the Church of S. Méry, at Paris.

Patroness of Catania, La Mirandola, and the Order of Malta.

In Art S. Agatha is represented as a majestic virgin wearing a long veil, and over this, in early figures, a crown, the symbol of her victory over death; she usually holds a clasped book in her left hand, and a palm branch in the right; occasionally the place of this latter emblem is supplied by a pair of pincers, having a nipple between the teeth, in allusion to the fearful torture to which she was subjected. Sometimes she carries both her breasts cut off in a dish, or a sword is passed through them.

S. AVITUS, B. OF VIENNE, C(ABOUT 524.)

[Not to be confounded with S. Avitus, P. of Orleans, commemorated on June 27th. Roman Martyrology, Usuardus, Gallican, German, and others. Commemorated at Vienne on August 20th. Authorities: – S. Gregory of Tours, Hist. lib. i. c. 2; and his successor Ennodius.]

S. Avitus was the son of S. Hesychius, archbishop of Vienne after S. Mammertus, who baptized him. He succeeded his father in the archiepiscopal throne in 490. Ennodius, his successor, says that he was a treasure of learning and piety; and adds that the Burgundians having crossed the Alps, and carried off a large number of captives, this holy prelate spent all his revenue in redeeming as many as he could. Clovis, king of France, though still a pagan, and Gundebald, king of Burgundy, though an Arian, held him in high veneration. The latter, for fear of offending his subjects, durst not embrace the Catholic faith, he nevertheless did all in his power to advance the cause of Catholicism, and in a public conference at Lyons, in his presence, S. Avitus boldly proclaimed the divinity of Christ and reduced the Arian bishops to silence. Gundebald died in 516. His successor Sigismond was brought over by S. Avitus to the true faith. When this king had executed his son Sigeric on a false charge, brought against him by his stepmother, S. Avitus wrought by his exhortations so great a change in the passionate prince, that he retired to Agaunum, now S. Maurice, in the Valais, where he lived the life of a recluse in a cell on the face of the precipice above the monastery he had built at its foot.

Most of the works of S. Avitus have been lost, but a poem by him in praise of virginity, some epistles, and fragments of homilies remain. It is a blot on the memory of the saint, that with fulsome flattery he excused the murder of his brothers by Gundebald. See June 3, p. 26.

S. BERTULF, AB(BEGINNING OF 8TH CENT.)

[Additions to Usuardus and some editions of the Martyrology of Bede. No authentic account of S. Bertulf exists. All known of him is from a life written in 1703, from old materials, but of what authority it is impossible to decide.]

S. Bertulf is said to have been an abbot at Renescure, where the church is dedicated to him. He is regarded also as the patron of Harlebeke, near Courtrai. Renescure is a village on the canal between Aire and S. Omer. His body was taken to Ghent, where it was enshrined in an iron coffin, and for many centuries it was believed that on the approach of danger to the city, the dead abbot knocked against the side of his iron shrine. His bones were scattered by the Calvinists in 1578. S. Bertulf is represented in art in monastic habit distributing alms, with an eagle over his head with wings expanded, a legend relating that he was thus protected from rain in a heavy shower.

SS. INDRACT AND COMPANIONS, MM(BEGINNING OF 8TH CENT.)

[Ancient English Martyrologies. Authority: – William of Malmesbury, and Capgrave.]

Of old, on the 5th of February, were commemorated in the famous monastery of Glastonbury, S. Indract, S. Dominica, and nine companions, martyrs. He was of royal extraction, son of one of the kings of Ireland; but quitted all this world could give for the love of God. He left his country, with his sister Dominica or Drusa, and seven, or according to another account nine, companions, and settled at Skipwith near Glastonbury, in Somersetshire, where they lived a retired and eremitical life. At length, some wicked men, thinking to meet with great booty, murdered them at night; and to conceal their villainy, cast the bodies into a deep pit. But a column of light standing over the place warned the neighbours that some sacred bodies lay there, and the relics were removed to Glastonbury, in the reign of king Ina.

S. ADELHEID, V. ABSS. OF VILLICH(ABOUT A.D. 1015.)

[Cologne Kalendar, and additions to Usuardus. Commemorated with special office at Villich on the Rhine, opposite Bonn. She is variously called Adelheid, Alkeid, Adelaide, Alheidis, and Aleidis. Her local name at Villich is S. Alen. Her life was written by a contemporary, one Bertha, a nun in her convent.]

This holy virgin was the daughter of a Count Megingand of Gueldres, and became abbess of the convent of Villich, founded by her father and mother. Her piety, charity, and gravity are celebrated by Bertha, the nun who wrote her life. She died in 1015. The church and nunnery were burnt in the war between Truchsess Gerhard, the apostate archbishop of Cologne, and the archduke Ernest of Bavaria, and again by the Swedes in the Thirty years' war. It is not known what has become of her relics.

THE MARTYRS OF JAPAN(A.D. 1597.)

[Roman Martyrology. Pope Urban VIII beatified 26 of these martyrs in 1627. On June 8, 1862, the twenty-six were canonized as Saints. These were Peter Baptist, Martin d'Aguera, Francis Blanco, Philip de Las Casas, Gonzalez Garcia, Francis de S. Miguel, all of the Order of S. Francis; Cosmo Tachegia, Michael Cozaki, Paul Ibarki, Leo Carasumo, Louis, a child, Antony, a child, Thomas Cozaki, also a child; Matthias, Ventura, Joachim Saccakibara, Francis Miaco, Thomas Dauki, John Kimoi, Gabriel Duisco, Paul Suzuki, Francis and Paul Sukegiro, all these Japanese; also Paul Miki, John de Gota, and James Quigai, Japanese Jesuits. Authorities: Numerous contemporary accounts. The following account is epitomised from the history of the Japanese missions by Miss Cecilia M. Caddell. In the brief space accorded us it is impossible to give anything like a full account of this wonderful history. We refer our readers to Miss Caddell's most interesting account.]

The history of the brief existence of Christianity in Japan and of the terrible persecution by which it was utterly extirpated in that island, is at once a melancholy and a glorious episode in the annals of the Church. In the Japanese we behold the most highly-gifted of the Asiatic races of modern times receiving the Gospel with a joy and a fervour which remind us of primitive ages, when thousands in one single day would run at the divine call to fill the apostolic net, and when the multitude of the faithful, serving God with one heart and one soul, resembled rather the chosen few who in later days have left the crowd to follow the higher path of evangelical perfection, than the mass of ordinary believers. But if the Japanese excite our admiration in their willing reception of gospel-truth, and their fervour in obeying its precepts and counsels, no less, or rather still more exalted are the feelings with which we must regard the spirit in which they met the fiery trial which came upon them. Never in the times of the old pagan persecutions was a more glorious spectacle exhibited of men, women, and children, rushing to claim the martyr's palm, and seeking sufferings and torments as others seek honours and pleasures.

Wonderful are the ways of the Almighty, and inscrutable as wonderful! The conversion of China, for which S. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, had long and ardently sighed, was denied to his prayers; while that of Japan, of which apparently he had never even dreamed, was given to him unasked. China was the object of all his wishes and aspirations, – the promised land of his spiritual ambition. It was in his dreams by night and his thoughts by day, – the subject alike of his penance and of his prayers; when a young Japanese, tormented by remorse of conscience for a crime committed years ago, and forgotten probably by everybody but himself, arrived at Malacca, where the Saint then was, and throwing himself at his feet, besought of him that peace and pardon which his native bonzes had been unable to bestow. The great heart of Francis exulted at the prospect of winning another empire to the banner of his Divine Lord; while his vivid faith saw in the sinner who had thus sought him from afar a direct ambassador from Heaven, which had doubtless pursued this youth with the fear of retribution, not for his sake alone, but also to effect the conversion of the idolatrous nation represented in his person. Two years afterwards, on the Feast of the Assumption (1549), he and his chosen companion, Father Cosmas de Torres, landed at Kagoxima, the birthplace of the youth who had come to Francis, and who, under his new name of Paul, accompanied the fathers as their guide and interpreter to the nations of Japan.