Spanish
knights in battle brave,
Southern
fathers to them glory gave.
Deacon
Vincent martyr-victor,
At
the head of that host yonder.
Pray
for Spain and for us sinners at the South, Holy Vincent!
A
hymn in honor of St Vincent (+304, commemorated 22 Jan. and 11 Nov.), by
Prudentius:
The
Passion of St. Vincent the Martyr.
Blessed
martyr, prosper the day of thy victory, the
day
which marks the giving of the crown to thee,
Vincent,
in recompense for thy blood. This day, when
thou
hadst overcome torturer and judge, raised thee
out
of this world's darkness up to heaven and delivered
thee
in triumph to Christ. Now in company with the
angels
thou shinest bright in the glorious robe which
as
an invincible witness thou didst wash in streams
of
blood, when the minister of idolatry, armed with
malignant
laws, sought to compel thee with steel and
chains
to offer sacrifice to the pagans' gods. First
he
had uttered smooth, soft words of exhortation,
like
a wolf on the hunt which first is pleasant with
the
calf it means to ravish. " The mighty sovereign
of
the world," says he, " who bears the sceptre of
Rome,
has ordained that all the world shall be
subject
to the ancient forms of religion. Ye Naza-
renes,
attend, and put away your crude observance.
These
stones which the emperor worships you must
propitiate
with the smoke of sacrifice." Hereupon
Vincent,
a Levite" of the sacred tribe and servant of
the
altar of God, one of the seven milk-white pillars,
cries
aloud : " Let these powers be your masters ;
you
may worship stones and wood and become the
dead
priest of dead gods. As for us, we shall confess
the
Father who is the author of light, and Christ his
Son;
He is the true and only God, O Datianus." *
On
this the other grows warmer. " Dare you, un-
happy
man," he says, " with rude speech outrage
this
authority of gods and emperors, authority at
once
religious and political, to which mankind gives
way,
and does not the peril that threatens you in the
heat
of your youth alarm you ? For truly this is the
order
you must accept : either must you here and now
make
supplication at the altar with incense and turf,
or
pay the penalty of a bloody death." Vincent for
his
part answered : " Come then, put forth all your
strength
and all your authority; I openly resist it.
Hear
what it is we say : Christ and the Father are
God
; his servants and witnesses we are. Rob us of
our
faith if you can. Torture, imprisonment, the
claws,
the hissing red-hot plate, even the final
suffering
of death, are all mere sport to Christians.
How
vain and futile are you rulers ! How senseless
Caesar's
decree ! You bid us worship deities that
match
your own minds, deities hewn out by a work-
man's
hand, or cast with the help of the hollow
bellows,
devoid of speech and motion, standing still,
blind
and dumb. It is to these that costly shrines of
gleaming
marble rise, for these that lowing bulls are
struck
on the throat and fall. You will tell me there
are
spirits there too. Yes, but spirits that are
teachers
of sin, that lay traps for your lives, roaming,
violent,
filthy spirits that privily push and drive you
into
every kind of wickedness, to ravage the righteous
with
slaughter and destroy the people of the godly.
Even
they know and are conscious that Christ has
power
and lives and that his kingdom, which the
faithless
must dread, will presently come ; and they
cry
out in confession when they are driven from their
hiding
in the flesh by the power and name of Christ.
Your
gods are devils too."
Out
of all patience with these thunders of the
martyr,
the heathen judge cries : " Stop his mouth,
let
the scoundrel say no more. Imprison his speech.
Quick
! Put the executioners on him, those gods of
death
for criminals, who feed on the flesh they cut
off.
Now I shall make this railer feel the authority
of
a governor ; he shall not get off with pulling down
our
gods for his amusement. Have you then the
insolence
to claim that you alone must be allowed to
tread
the Tarpeian rites under foot, and you alone
to
trample on Rome, the senate, Caesar? Tie him
with
his arms behind and rack him upwards and
downwards
till the joints of his bones in every limb
are
rent asunder with a crack. Then with cleaving
strokes
lay bare his ribs of their covering, so that his
organs
shall be exposed as they throb in the recesses
of
the wounds." But the soldier of God laughed at
these
commands, rebuking the blood-stained hands
because
the claw thrust into him did not enter more
deeply
into his body. And now the strong men had
used
up all their powers in tearing him to pieces,
their
panting exertion had tired and relaxed the
muscles
of their arms ; but Vincent was only the more
cheerful,
his countenance all unclouded and bright,
being
lit up with the sight of thy presence, O Christ.
"
What look is this ? Oh shame ! " cried Datianus in
a
passion. " He is joyful and smiling ! It is a chal-
lenge
! The tortured is bolder than the torturer !
The
energy so practised in the death of malefactors
makes
no headway in this contest, its skill to hurt
is
being beaten. But, you foster-sons of the prison,
a
pair I have ever found invincible, hold your hands
awhile
that your wearied vigour may revive. When
the
wounds are quite dry and the congealed blood is
gathering
in a scar, your hand will plough them up
again
and tear them open."
To
this the deacon retorts : "If now you see the
powers
of your dogs grow feeble, come (for you are
yourself
the superior executioner), show them how
they
can cleave me to my lowest depths ; put in your
own
hands and drink the hot streams. You mistake,
bloody
man, if you think you are exacting punishment
from
me when you mangle and kill a body which is
naturally
subject to death. There is another, within
the
body, whom no man is able to outrage, who is
unconfined,
undisturbed, unharmed, exempt from
all
your grievous pains. This that you struggle to
destroy
with such vehement passion is but a frail
vessel
of clay, doomed to be broken in one way or
another.
But try now rather to cut and beat the
being
who stands fast within, who tramples on your
madness,
persecutor! This, this is he you must
attack
and destroy, a being who is invincible, un-
conquerable,
subject to no storms, and under God
alone."
At these words he is once more torn with
the
creaking hooks, and the governor with crafty lips
hisses
out at him a serpent's words : " If your stub-
born
spirit makes your breast so thick-skinned and
hard
that you abhor to touch our sacred couch " with
your
hand, at least disclose your secret writings, your
hidden
books, that the teaching which sows the
vicious
seed may be burned with the fire it merits."
But
on hearing this the martyr replies: " In your
spite
you threaten our mystic writings with fire, but
you
yourself will burn with fire more merited, for the
sword
of God will avenge our heaven-inspired books,
consuming
with its lightning-flash the tongue that
gives
expression to such venom. You see the glow-
ing
embers that tell of Gomorrah's sins, and the
ashes
of Sodom are a plain witness of everlasting
death.
This is the pattern of you, serpent ; one day
sulphurous
soot and mingled bitumen and pitch will
enwrap
you deep in hell." Stricken with these
words
the persecutor turns first pale, then red, and in
the
heat of his passion rolls his eyes frantically this
way
and that, gnashing his teeth and foaming at the
mouth.
Then after hesitating long he gives com-
mand
: " Let the last degree of torture be applied,
with
fire and bed « and plates."
To
these tasks Vincent hurries with quick step.
Joy
gives him speed and he outstrips the very
ministers
of torture. Now they have reached the
wrestling-ground
where the prize is glory, where
hope
contends with cruelty, and martyr and torturer
face
each other and join in the critical struggle. A
spiked
grid, its teeth wide-spaced, makes a cruel
bed,
and on to it a great mass of coals exhales its
burning
breath. Of his own accord the holy man
mounts
this pyre with no fear in his look, just as if he
felt
the crown already on his head and were going up
on
to the judgment-seat on high. Salt sprinkled on
the
fire crackles under him and darts out in hot sparks
which
fasten themselves in hissing punctures here or
there
over his body. Next a piece of fat is laid on a
glowing
iron and runs melting over it so that the
potent
liquid, smoking hot, falls drop by drop on his
frame.
Amid all this he remains unmoved as if
feeling
no pain, and lifts his eyes to heaven (for his
hands
were kept down by the bonds). Then with
courage
heightened he is taken up from the grid and
thrust
into a doleful dungeon so that the free enjoy-
ment
of light may not quicken his noble spirit.
Deep
down within the prison is a place of blacker
darkness
; the narrow stonework of a subterranean
vault
keeps it close-throttled, and there hidden
away
lies everlasting night, never seeing the star
of
day ; men say this gruesome prison has a Hades
of
its own. Into this pit his fierce foe hurls the
martyr
and sets his feet in the stocks with his legs
stretched
wide apart. And being a skilled master
of
the art of torture he adds a new kind of suffering,
not
known to any oppressor before nor ever heard
of
in time past : he gives order to strew broken pots,
rough,
shapeless bits with jagged corners and sharp
points,
for his back to lie on. Galling pains arm the
whole
bed with pricks to keep striking on the body
from
below with sharp points ever in the way, and give
it
no repose. These devices the clever Datianus had
contrived
with thought and cunning skill, but Christ
brings
Beelzebub's artful inventions to naught. For
the
blind darkness of the prison flashes with a
brilliant
light and the two clamps of the stocks fly
apart,
breaking the holes open. Hereupon Vincent
apprehends
that the hoped-for prize of all his toil,
Christ
the giver of light, is here with him. Then he
sees
the bits of broken pottery clothe themselves
with
tender flowers, while the prison exhales the
scent
of nectar. And a great number of angels stand
and
speak with him face to face, of whom one with
more
majestic mien addresses him in these words:
"
Arise, martyr renowned; arise, and have no con-
cern
for thyself; arise and join our beneficent
companies
as our fellow. To the full now hast thou
done
thy part in enduring the menace of suffering,
and
with a noble death to end it thy passion is all
finished.
Most invincible of soldiers, bravest of the
brave,
now the savage, cruel torments themselves
tremble
before thee their conqueror. God the
Christ,
who watched thee, makes up for them with
endless
life, and with generous hand crowns thee as
the
partner of his cross. Lay aside this mortal
vessel,
a fabric of earthen structure which dissolves
and
falls to pieces, and come in freedom to the skies."
So
speaks the angel, and thereupon the splendour
within
breaks through the closed doors, the piercing
brightness
of the hidden light reveals itself through
the
chinks. Amazed and frightened at this the
keeper
of the dismal doorway, on whom was laid
the
night-long task of watching that house of death,
hears
also the passing-sweet song the martyr is
singing,
while the hollow chamber returns an echo
like
another voice singing in emulation. Then
tremblingly
he looks within, as well as his eyes,
planted
by the door-post, can penetrate through the
narrow
slits where door and pivot join. He sees the
bed
of potsherds blooming with many a flower, and
the
martyr himself, his bonds torn away, walking
about
as he sings. The news of this marvel rings in
the
governor's ear and infuriates him. He weeps at
his
defeat and with groans of vexation turns over
angry,
resentful thoughts of his ignominy. " Take
him
out of prison," he says, " and let him be restored
a
little with beneficent applications, so that being
revived
he may furnish food for suffering anew."
From
the whole town a throng of the faithful might
be
seen gathering, making a soft bed furnished with
supports,
and wiping dry the bleeding wounds.
One
covers with kisses the double cuts made by the
claws,
another eagerly licks the red gore on the body.
Many
wet a linen garment with the drops of blood, to
lay
it up at home as a holy safeguard for their
descendants.
Then even the jailer, the door-keeper
of
the prison, as tells the old tradition of the time
which
witnessed it, suddenly believed in Christ;
for
while the bolts were shot he had seen the pitch-
dark
dungeon flash with the brightness of the light
which,
closed though it was, had entered into it.
But
when the martyr found rest on his couch, being
weary
at heart of the tedious delays and burning with
desire
to die, — if we should think it death, which sets
the
soul free from the prison of the body and restores
it
to God its creator, the soul that has been purified
with
blood and cleansed with the washing of death
and
has given itself and its life as a sacrifice to Christ,
—
as soon, then, as he has laid his head back on the
soft
coverings of the bed, his victorious spirit leaves
the
body behind and seeks the skies, and along the
heavenly
path there is opened for it the straight
way
to the Father, which the blessed Abel, when he
was
slain by his unnatural brother, ascended before.
White-robed
companies of the saints press round him
on
his way, and John the Baptist calls one who has
been
released from prison like himself.
But
as for the enemy of the Christian name, the
poisons
of his gall, having failed of their purpose,
were
tormenting him, and their fury had burned up
his
malignant heart. It was like the raging of a
serpent
disarmed by the breaking of its fangs. " He
has
escaped in triumph," he cries ; " refusing to
submit,
he has carried off the victory. But still the
last
resource remains, to punish him even in death,
to
deliver his body to the wild beasts or give it to the
dogs
to tear. Forthwith I shall utterly destroy even
his
bones, so that his corpse shall have no grave for
the
common herd to venerate and set on it a martyr's
epitaph."
Thus raging he impiously exposed the
sacred
body amid the sedge, — O frightful wicked-
ness
! — all covering for its nakedness denied. But
neither
fell beast nor bird dared in its hunger to
pollute
the memorial of glorious victory with its
unclean
touch. And whenever one with ruthless
malice
flew noisily round at a distance, it was driven
off
by the attack of a fierce bird and fled away. For a
raven,
the bird once assigned to Elijah to carry his
food,
fulfilled this duty assiduously, keeping watch
and
never leaving its post. From some bushes near
by
it drove away a savage wolf, attacking it with noisy
wings
and beating its eyes with its pinions. Who
of
the infidels would make bold to believe that a
ravenous
beast which would readily engage with
bulls
gave ground before soft feathers ? It went off
growling
spitefully, frightened away by the bird's
nimble
flight, running from the prey before its eyes
under
the menaces of an unwarlike guardian. What
were
your feelings then, Datianus, when you heard
such
news ? How sore were the piercing pricks of
hidden
pain under which you groaned, when you saw
yourself
beaten by the virtue that was in the body you
did
to death, and were no match even for the bones,
and
inferior to a frame now lifeless ? But, obstinate
oppressor,
what issue will put an end to this un-
governed
wrath ? Will no limit break you ? "None.
I
shall never give up. For if savage beasts grow
tame
and devouring ravens soft and gentle, I shall
plunge
the corpse into the sea. The raging wave
never
has mercy on the shipwrecked, the foaming
deep
knows no forbearance. Either the wandering
winds
will make it their random plaything there and
drive
it about forever on the move and feeding the
scaly
shoals, or at the foot of some rugged cliffs the
sharp,
scurfy points of rock will rend and tear his
flesh
on the stony beach of some inlet. Some man
of
you who knows how to drive a boat briskly on
with
oar and rope and canvas and can plough the
sea,
take the body from the swampy grass where it
lies
untouched, and in a swift wherry carry it away
over
the wide waters ! But let the corpse be doubled
up
and enclosed in a rope-bag with a stone tied to it
to
sink it straight into the depths. Do you shoot out
swiftly
over the waves with dripping oar-blade, till
the
more distant view hide the land you have left
behind."
These
behests one of the soldiers lays hold of with a
burning
passion, his name Eumorphio, a wild,
audacious,
savage man. He constructs a fabric of
rope
and sews the body up in it, and after covering a
long
course out to sea pitches it out amid the storms.
How
exceeding mighty is the power of God, the
power
that created all things and that once laid the
swelling
sea while Christ walked on it, so that tread-
ing
on the surface of the waters He went dry-foot
and
did not wet his soles in the waves as He passed
over
the monstrous deep ! It was this same power
that
at an earlier time commanded the Red Sea to
part
while the people fearlessly trod a dry path over
its
exposed bed. And now too it bids the sea do
service
to the holy body by gliding down with gentle
flow
towards the curving shore. The stone as heavy
as
a mill-stone floats as lightly as the white spray,
and
the net-bag which keeps the precious pledge
rides
on the waves. The boatmen in amazement see
it
carried back over the sea, floating gently back-
wards
with favouring tide and wind. They exert
themselves
to speed the boat and cleave the water,
but
the body flies far ahead of them towards the
gentle
bosom of the land ; and so the peaceful earth
receives
it back into its care before the vessel, though
driven
with all their efforts, can reach its port.
Happy
that pleasant-shored bay which cherished the
sacred
flesh in its sands and served the turn of a
burial
place, till the pious care of the saints with
many
tears provided a mounded grave and com-
mitted
the body thereto to keep it for the life to
come
! But later, when their enemies were subdued
and
peace given back to the righteous, an altar
ensured
to the blessed bones the rest that was their
due
; for laid under the sanctuary, buried at the foot
of
the altar, they drink in the aura of the heavenly
offering,
which is shed on them there below. Thus
the
body ; but the martyr himself was received into
the
dwelling-place of God, which holds him in com-
pany
with the Maccabean brothers and beside
Esaias
who was cut asunder.
Yet
these won but a single crown for their suffer-
ings,
since death brought their sorrows to a close
and
ended all. Did he who cut Esaias asunder dare
any
deed like this ? Did he throw the sections of
the
body to the wild beasts after they were cut off
with
the saw, or give them to the waves ? Did the
oppressor
offer the Maccabean martyr's tongue to
bloodthirsty
birds after it was plucked out, or the
skin
of the head when it was torn off? Thou alone,
O
twice renowned, thou alone hast won the glory of a
double
prize, thou hast gained two laurels together.
Victorious
in a cruel death, thou dost then after
death
in like triumph trample victoriously on the
devil
merely with thy body. Be with us now and
give
ear to the voice of our entreaty as we pray, and
plead
effectually for our sins before the Father's
throne.
By thyself, by that prison which brought
enlargement
of thy honour, by the bonds and flames
and
claws, by the stocks in the prison, by the broken
pots
which made greater still the glory thou hadst
gained,
and the bed which we of later times kiss
fondly
in awe, have pity on our prayers, so that
Christ
being propitiated may incline a favourable
ear
to his people and not lay all our sins to our charge.
If
we duly reverence the day of thy festival with lips
and
heart, if we bow down before thy relics rejoicing
in
them, come down to us here for a little while
bringing
the favour of Christ, that our burdened
souls
may feel the relief of forgiveness. So may
there
remain no long time ere thy noble spirit put on
again
in resurrection the body which did deeds as
valorous
as its own, that the body which shared the
struggles
and bore the hazard in common may with it
inherit
the glory too through all ages for ever and
ever.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England,
South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð,
unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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