apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

512 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
trusted friend of M. Aurelius, under his very eyes, and the martyrdoms of Vienne and
515 sq),
Lyons, for which M. Aurelius made himself directly responsible (see below, p.
show how little the Christians could hope from the tender mercies of this otherwise
humane and philosophic emperor. But the procedure, which refers them to other
judges after they have been tried and have confessed their guilt before the City
Prefect, is unintelligible ; and the childishness which adopts this course, that different
judges may inflict different punishments, condemns itself by its absurdity.
Is there then no foundation of truth in this story The answer to this question
must be sought in the early records and monuments, which are independent of the
Acts. In the Bucherian Calendar, which in its present form belongs to the age of
Liberius (A.D. 354), but was compiled some twenty years earlier, among the depositions
of the saints under 'vi Id. Jul.' we have the entry ;
'Felicis et Philippi in Priscillae ;
et in Jordanorum, Martialis, Vitalis, Alexandri ; et in Maximi, Silani (hunc Silanum
martyrem Novati furati sunt) et in
; Pretextati, Januarii ' (Ruinart p. 632). This
loth of July is accordingly designated '
the day of the Martyrs' elsewhere in an early
sepulchral inscription, in which we read vii IDVS JVL . . . DP . postera . die .
MARTYRORVM (Corsini Append, ad Notas Graecomm p. 12; comp. Bull, di Archeol.
Crist. 1874, p. 149).
Of the four cemeteries named in the Bucherian list the first three
were on the Salarian, the fourth on the Appian way. On the Cemetery of Priscilla
see De Rossi Bull, di Archeol. Crist. 1880, p. 5 sq; and on the memorial of Felix
and Philippus erected there comp. especially pp. 5 sq, 25, 43 sq, 47 sq. The
epitaph on these two persons ascribed to Damasus has been preserved (see p. 44).
It speaks of them as martyrs, but says nothing of their being brothers or sons of
Felicitas. The Cemetery of the Jordan!,
in which Martialis, Vitalis, and Alexander
were laid, was ravaged by the Goths a.d. 537, when the inscription placed in their
honour by Damasus was destroyed (see Doulcet p. 206). But it is related of Pope
— Symmachus (a.d. 498 514) that he renovated this cemetery 'propter corpus sancti
Alexandri ' and a
; fragment of an inscription has been restored so as to refer to this
septem . de .
[fratribvs vni] . (see Bull, di
event, [reddit alexand]ro . .
Arch. Crist. 1873, pp. 17, 46). If this restoration be correct, the story of the seven
brothers had already taken shape, but it cannot command entire confidence, where so
much is conjecture. The Seven Virgins likewise were buried in this cemetery, and
the reference may be to these. On the Cemetery of Maximus, where the bones of
Silanus lay, until according to the story they were removed by the Novatians, see
Bull, di Arch. Crist. 1863, p. 41 sq, 1884, 1885, p. 149 sq. In this cemetery was
buried also the body of S, Felicitas. Of Pope Boniface who was residing here at the
time of his election (a.d. 418, Dec. 29), it is stated in the Liber Pontificalis, that he
fecit oratorium in coemeterio sanctae Felicitatis juxta corpus et ornavit sepulchrum
'
sanctae martyris Felicitatis et S. Livanii (Silvani)' ;
and on this building was an inscription
containing the verse
Insontes pueros sequitur [parens] per amoena vireta.
Pope Damasus also wrote an inscription for her tomb, in which was the line
Femina non timuit gladium, cum natis obivit.
Hitherto we have not found the actual tombs of any of these martyrs ;
but the case
is different with Januarius the remaining one of the seven. For a description of the
Cemetery of Praetextatus on the Appian way, see Bull, di Arch. Crist. 1863, p. i sq,
1872, p. 45 sq.
Here the tomb of Januarius was found in 1858 with the inscription
by Damasus beat[issimo . martyri] . jan[vario . da]masvs . e[piscop] . fe-