Tortures
and Torments of the Christian Martyrs
The Tortures and Torments
of the Christian Martyrs
(a Modern Edition)
De
SS. Martyrum Cruciatibus
by Reverend Father Antonio Gallonio,
translated from the Latin by A.R. Allison, 1591
Revised and Edited
into Contemporary English
by Geoffrey K. Mondello
for the
Boston Catholic Journal
"Father Gallonio's
work was intended for the edification of the Faithful, and was issued
with the full authority and approbation of the Church."
A. R. Allison
Note: This translation
by the Boston Catholic Journal has been edited for abstruse and confusing archaisms, needless redundancies,
and rendered into Modern (American) English. It is our goal to render this important, historical
document into an easily readable format. However, we encourage the reader
to consult the following important link:
Acta Martyrum
for a necessary perspective on the important distinction between authentic
Acta Matyrum, scholarly hagiography, and edifying historical
literature. This does not pretend to be a scholarly edition, replete
with footnotes and historical references. Indeed, the original vexes
us with its inconsistent references, and the absence of any
methodical attribution to the works or authors cited. However, it
must be remembered that the present work is not offered to us as a
compendium, or even a work of scholarship. That was not its intended
purpose. For us, however, it is intended to
accompany the
Roman Martyrology which we bring you each day, in the way of
supplementing the often abbreviated account of the Catholic Martyrs
with an historical perspective and a deeper understanding of the
suffering they endured for the sake of Christ, His Holy Catholic
Church, and the Faith of our fathers which, in our own times, sadly,
recedes from memory for the sake of temporizing our own Catholic
Faith to accommodate the world at the cost of Christ.
If wish to download the entire book,
simply click on the appropriate link for the file type you prefer:
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Of the Cross, of Stakes, and Other Means
by which the bodies of Christians remaining steadfast in their Confession
of Christ were suspended
CHAPTER II
Of the Wheel, the Pulley, and the Press
as instruments of torture
CHAPTER III
Of the Wooden Horse as an instrument of Martyrdom;
also of many different types of Bonds
CHAPTER IV
Of different instruments employed for Scourging the
Blessed Martyrs
CHAPTER V
Of instruments the Heathen used to Tear the Flesh of
Christ's Faithful; to wit, Iron Claws and Currycombs
CHAPTER VI
Of Red-Hot Plates, Torches, and Blazing Brands
CHAPTER VII
Of the Brazen Bull, Frying-Pan, Pot,
Caldron, Gridiron, and Bedstead; likewise of the
Chair, Helmet, and Tunic, and other instruments
of Martyrdom using Red-Hot Iron
CHAPTER VIII
Of other methods by which Christ's Holy Martyrs were Tortured
with Fire
CHAPTER IX
Of other instruments of torture and methods employed for the
tormenting of Christian Martyrs, such as School-Boy's Iron Styles,
Nails, Saws, Spears, Swords, and Arrows; Tearing out the Inwards, Cutting
the Throat, Beheading, Branding and Marking, Pounding with Axes and
Clubs
CHAPTER X
Of yet other instruments and methods of torture for afflicting
Christian Martyrs, such as Amputating Women's Bosoms, Cutting out
the Tongue, and Lopping-off the Hands and Feet, Pulling
out the Teeth, Flaying Alive, Transfixing, and
Exposing to Wild Beasts
CHAPTER XI
Of still other tortures and methods of Martyrdom: Burying
Alive, Throwing into Rivers, Wells, or Lime-Kilns; Cutting open the
Stomach, and the Like
CHAPTER XII
Of Martyrs driven into Exile, and condemned to Hard
Labor or the Mines
CHAPTER I
Of the Cross, of Stakes, and other Means by which
the Bodies of the Christians Remaining Steadfast in their Faith were
Suspended
Since
we propose in this book to discuss
the many instruments of Martyrdom and the countless methods by which
the most glorious and unconquered soldiers of our Lord Jesus Christ
underwent death with a brave heart for His honor, it is entirely proper
that we begin our task with the blessed and holy Sign of the Cross.
For it was this upon which the Savior of the World, bursting the
bonds of death, vanquished that cunning serpent, the Devil, and by
His sufferings earned for His servants such tremendous fortitude that they were happy to
endure the most arduous hardships of every sort, even, if need be, to
the shedding of their blood and the cruel dismemberment of all their
limbs. If, that is to say, the Martyrs won from the Cross the
strength which they displayed in tortures and torments, it seems to
us all the more appropriate to discuss the Cross first, as an instrument
of torture and martyrdom in this book.
Since, however, stakes set up in the ground
were included in antiquity under the common term of crosses,
we must also examine these in this chapter, as well as
other means by which the bodies of the Blessed Martyrs were suspended
as punishment for defending of the Faith of Christ; for, indeed, whether
nailed to the cross or bound to wooden poles, they may equally be said
in a sense to have hung suspended.
In beginning our discussion of the Cross, it is important for us to
understand that not only were the Jews accustomed to nail condemned
criminals to the cross [Deut 21:22-23], but the Gentiles as well. This is expressly
stated by many of their own authors — by Cicero in several places (especially
in the Philippics and De Finibus), no less than by Valerius
Maximus, Livy, Curtius, Suetonius (Galba), and Seneca (De
Consolatione). This last passage shows that crosses were of more
than one kind, as we see from the words quoted below:
"From this I gather that crosses were
not all of one kind, but differently made by different people.
Some hang the criminal head downwards, while others drive
a stake through his entrails, and others again stretched out his
arms on a forked gallows ..."
What Seneca says here, to wit, that
"others drive a stake through his entrails," he explains elsewhere,
for he calls this kind of cross, in his indictment of the Mecaenas,
a sharp-pointed cross. From this we may readily understand that, while
one form of cross was of the type most commonly associated with the
word, another resembled the sharp stakes which the Turks now employ
for executing criminals, driving them through the victims' middle up
to the head. We may also find this in Procopius's, Vandal War.
Upon the first kind of Cross (as Seneca states above, and as we find
in numerous Acts of the Saints) [Acta
Martyrum] some were fixed with their heads toward the ground, while
others with them raised to heaven. Christian martyrs were, in fact,
crucified in both ways by the worshippers of idols. Among others who
won the crown of martyrdom by crucifixion head downwards was
the chief of the Apostles himself, St. Peter, concerning whom Origen
writes:
"When Peter was come to the outskirts of
Rome, with head placed downwards (for so he desired himself to suffer),
he was nailed to the Cross."
St. Augustine writes that:
"So both (Peter and Paul) hasten to attain
to the palm of martyrdom, and win the crown thereof." And elsewhere:
"Peter for Christ's sake is suspended on the tree head downward;
Paul slain with the sword. The Apostle went with his own feet to
meet Christ, and looking upward with his eyes to Heaven, sent forth
his blessed spirit to the Heavens above."
This is also described by St. John Chrysostom
in his Homily on the Chief of the Apostles:
"Rejoice, Peter, to whom has been
granted
to enjoy Christ on the tree, and who was happy to be crucified as
thy Master was, yet not with form upright like Christ the Lord,
but with head turned to the ground, as one journeying from earth
to heaven. Blessed the nails which did pierce those holy limbs."
To this most holy Apostle of Christ may be
further added St. Calliopus, who died the same death for guarding
the Christian Faith, bravely and signally triumphing over the World and
the Devil. We clearly see, then, that some Martyrs were crucified with
feet upward towards the sky.
As to those who suffered with feet pointing to the ground, we find
many outspoken champions of the Christian Law: St. Philip and St. Andrew, Apostles; Nestor, a Bishop; Timon, a Deacon, and
many others. The Roman Martyrology
itself speaks of ten thousand Martyrs so crucified, including
Simeon, a Bishop, who at the date of his Martyrdom was in the one
hundred and twentieth year of his age. Concerning the ten thousand who
were lifted up on the Cross (22 June), we read:
"On Mount Ararat the passion of ten thousand
blessed Martyrs who were crucified."
Concerning St. Simeon (20
April) we read:
"At Jerusalem anniversary of the Blessed Simeon, Bishop
and Martyr, who is said to have been the son of Cleophas and a kinsman
of the Savior according to the flesh. Ordained Bishop of Jerusalem
next after James, brother of Our Lord, after suffering in the persecution
of Trajan many tortures, he died a Martyr, and all present,
including the very
Judge himself, marveled how an old man of one hundred and twenty
years should have endured the punishment of the Cross bravely and
unflinchingly."
The Method Employed by the Heathen
for Crucifying Christians
In the first place, the ministers of cruelty
would make ready (as many passages from the Acts of the Saints
above refer to, particularly concerning St. Pionius) mallet, iron
nails, and a cross made of wood, which they then set on the ground,
sometimes attaching ropes to it for fastening to the hands and feet
of those to be crucified. Then laying the holy Martyrs — or it may be
others of their own vain religion who had been condemned for some crime
—
on the wood, after stripping them of their clothes, they hung them upon
it by means of four nails (this appears most probably to have been
the number). This done, they raised the cross along with the victim
fixed to it, and set it in a hole in the ground dug out for the purpose,
and left them
to the bitter agony of a lingering death — hanging there until they
rotted away, as Valerius Maximus in several passages clearly implies.
From this we gather that the Jews differed from the Gentiles with
regard to removing the bodies of those crucified from the cross. The
latter, as we have just noted, left them to hang on the gibbet until
they rotted; but the Jews, in accordance with the Law declared
in Deuteronomy 21, took them down the same day and
buried them in a convenient place.
As for the other sort of Cross mentioned on Seneca's authority
at the beginning of this chapter — that is, to its having
been a sharp stake — we have been unable to find mention of it in the
Histories of the ancient Martyrs unless we choose to include
under this heading the torture inflicted on certain most glorious athletes
of Christ by having pointed sticks driven through their inwards. But
we shall discuss this, as God wills, in the last chapter of the book.
Another similar punishment is described by Theodoret (Ecclesiastical
History) in the following words:
"But when he beheld him (St. Benjamin)
mocking this torture, he commanded yet another reed to be
pushed, this time into his genital member, which, being drawn
out and pushed in again, caused him inexpressible torments.
Afterward the savage tyrant ordered a stout rod, thick and
extremely rough with branches that stuck out all over it, to be inserted up his rectum
..."
We also know that the Turks impaled Hadrian of the Order of St. Dominic and twenty-six others,
his companions, on stakes; and the same punishment is spoken of by Procopius
in his Vandal
War.
Stakes, in fact, were employed in many ways by the heathen
Devil-worshippers for the tormenting of Christians. Fastening the
blessed Martyrs to a stake after stripping their bodies as near
naked as possible, either by means of iron nails or with ropes, they
would then tear their flesh mercilessly with claws of iron or with hooks or currycombs, transfix them
with arrows, beat them with cudgels, scourges, and the like, expose
them to the bites of wild beasts, pull out their teeth, cut out their
tongues, in the case of women amputate their bosoms, in a word, torture
them in every horrible manner possible after first attaching them to
stakes or poles set in the ground. This is confirmed by numerous
Acts of the Holy Martyrs, such as those of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Polycarp,
Gaiana, and Febronia, Virgins, and a nearly countless host of others
of either sex. The same method is also mentioned by Classical
authors, such as Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and Suetonius.
It should be noted here that the Martyrs who were fastened to stakes
with iron nails and so tortured, were sometimes also bound with ropes,
possibly for their yet greater torment.
Of Pillars and Trees Employed for
the Same Purpose
Although the Worshippers of Devils most
often punished those condemned to death after binding them to stakes
or crosses, it is sometimes recorded that the Martyrs were tied to
pillars or trees, or fastened to them with nails at the command of
their tormentors, and then tortured.
Eusebius tells us of pillars used in this way, as do the Acts of different Martyrs. There is also the famous Pillar religiously
preserved in the Basilica of St. Sebastian outside the Walls, which,
according to ancient Christian tradition, is believed to be the very
same to which this Blessed Martyr was bound and shot to death with
arrows for confessing his faith in Christ. We also have record of trees used
for this purpose in the Acts of many Martyrs, such as those of St.
Zoe and of St. Paphnutius.
Of Different
Methods of Suspending from the Cross
Having explained the use of the Cross and of Stakes
used for crucifixion, let us now
examine the methods of suspension that were used; that is to say,
the ways the Blessed
Martyrs and champions of the Holy Gospel were hung upon crosses and
stakes by the Heathen. The methods of hanging in which we find them
suffering at the caprice of their tormentors are both horrible and cruel.
Of some we read that they were suspended by one foot only, others by
both feet, or else (as Nicephorus describes in his History) by
one foot drawn up to the level of the head, with a slow fire kindled
underneath in such a way as to suffocate them with the smoke coming
from the burning fuel. Yet others were suspended by the arms, both or
only one, or else by the tips of the thumbs, while heavy weights were
attached at the same time to their feet. Of others again we find it
recorded that they were suspended hanging from a high wall, stones being
fastened to neck and feet, or ropes bound to their bodies, their shoulders
loaded with great lumps of salt, and for their greater torment wooden
gags being placed in their mouths.
Others were smeared with honey and attached
to upright stakes under a blazing sun to be tortured by the stings
of flies and bees. Still others are said to have been suspended from
iron hooks, or from a noose, until they were dead. Last of all, some
were tied to pillars, their faces turned toward each other, with their
feet not quite reaching the ground, or else hung up by the hair, as
was often done to women contending for the Faith of Christ. The Acts
of the Blessed Martyrs make frequent mention of these methods — and
of the first especially in the Acts of St. Gregory, Bishop of
Armenia.
Christian women, likewise, were often hung up by one foot the whole
day long (as Eusebius's, Ecclesiastical History bears
witness), in such a way that not even their private parts were
covered, in order to show the greatest possible scorn for Christ's holy Religion.
The Methods, however, through which the Martyrs were tortured
by suspension, were themselves many and varied. Sometimes the Martyrs
were simply hung up by one foot, while at other times smoke from damp
and evil-smelling fuel, such as the dung of animals, was added to increase
the agony — while a dozen executioners thrashed the victim at the same
time with rods. In other instances they were suspended by one foot,
the leg being bent at the knee and an iron band fixed around that joint,
and then an iron weight fastened to the other foot in such a way that
the helpless victims were miserably strained asunder. Thus in the
Acts of St. Samona we find written:
"But the Magistrate at once ordered Samona
to have one leg bent at the knee and an iron band put around the
joint. This done, he hung him head down by the foot of the bent
leg, at the same time dragging the other downwards by means of an
iron weight."
Of Martyrs who suffered by the first of these
Methods of torment, we read, among others, the names of those most noble
soldiers of Christ mentioned above: St. Gregory of Armenia and St. Samona.
As to the second method — in which the victims were hung up by both feet
— we have ample testimony in the Acts of the Saints;
for example, those of St. Venantius, of the holy Virgins Euphemia and
her sisters, of Bishop Acepsima and his companions, as well as the Cappadocian
Martyrs, a great host commemorated in the Roman Martyrology,
on May 23rd, where it is written:
"In Cappadocia, commemoration of the
Blessed Martyrs who in the persecution of Maximianus were slain
and their limbs broken; likewise of those who at the same date in Mesopotamia
[the geographic area north of the Persian Gulf, including present-day
Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey] were hung aloft by the feet head
down, suffocated with smoke, and consumed over a slow fire, and
so fulfilled their Martyrdom."
Actually it was not in one way only, but in
many and various, that the Martyrs were suspended by these Servants
of the Devil (as we gather from the Acts quoted above) and tormented.
For sometimes they were suffocated with smoke; sometimes their heads
pounded with hammers by their executioners; sometimes great stones fastened
round their necks; and sometimes they were cruelly burned with blazing torches.
In the first of these ways many Christians are known to have suffered
in the region of Mesopotamia; in the second, Euphemia, Thecla, Erasma,
and Dorothea, most noble Virgins and Martyrs of Christ; in the third,
Saints Theopompus, Mercurius and the already mentioned Venantius.
Of the Third
Method of Suspending, that is, Martyrs Hung up by One Arm
This third Method of suspending, that is to say,
hanging up by one arm, is often mentioned in the Acts of the
Blessed Martyrs, among which are St. Samona just cited, and St.
Antonia, that most noble-hearted martyr, of whom it is recorded on May 4th in the Roman Martyrology:
"At Nicomedia, the anniversary of St. Antonia,
Martyr, who, after being savagely racked and tortured, was suspended three days by one arm, kept imprisoned two
years in a dungeon, and was finally burned at the stake by the Governor Priscillianus, confessing the Lord Jesus."
It should also be noted that sometimes the
executioners of Martyrs suspended in this way fastened stones of
great weight to their feet, so that all the
joints of their bodies might be drawn asunder. We find clear
testimony to this in the Histories of various
Saints, especially that of St. Samona of whom we spoke
earlier.
Of Weights by which the Martyrs of
Our Lord Jesus were Tortured
We read again and again in the Histories
of the Martyrs how, after being suspended aloft, they were, among other
torments, loaded with weights, sometimes lead or iron (which we will
describe elsewhere), others again of stone. Of the latter we have evidence
preserved to this day in Rome in the Churches of the Holy Apostles,
as also in those of St. Apollinaris and St. Anastasius not far from
the City. They were stones of great weight, black in color, round or
oval in shape, having an iron ring imbedded in the stone through which
a rope for binding and hanging could be passed and so attached to the
feet or hands of those suspended.
Certain authorities have erroneously maintained that these
stone balls, called by Josephus in his Maccabees "Orbicularia",
or Round Stones, were not designed specially for purposes of inflicting
torture, but for weighing. This is not so. Stones of this latter kind always
had (as Isidore and Alciatus, On Weights, state) the figure
of the weight inscribed on them, while those used to torture the Martyrs
did not.
These weights were also entirely different from those to which
debtors were condemned in Law XII of the "Twelve Tables," for these
were
nothing more than fetters. Of them Aulus Gellius says, "Bind him
either with a thong, or else with fetters of not less than fifteen
pounds weight; or if a greater weight is desired, with heavier still."
Of the Fourth Method of Suspending,
that is, Hanging by Both Arms
This fourth method of suspending is mentioned
in the Acts of Saints Procopius, Andochius, Thyrsus and Felix,
and their companions.
Much as we had seen above, it was occasionally the custom of the Heathen to either attach
heavy weights to the feet of those suffering this method of hanging, or
else, after twisting their arms behind their backs, to haul the weights
aloft and then release them. Thus in the Roman Martyrology, on
September 24th, we read of those blessed Confessors of Christ, St. Andochius
and his Companions:
"At Augustodunun (Autun), the anniversary
of the Holy Martyrs Andochius, Priest, Thyrsus, Deacon, and Felix,
who being sent by the Blessed Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, from the
East to teach Gaul Christianity, were there cruelly scourged,
and suspended all day with hands tied behind their backs and thrown
into the fire, but not consumed. Finally their necks were struck
with heavy bars, and they thus won the crown of martyrdom."
Of the Fifth Method of Suspending: Hanging up by the Thumbs
This fifth method is described in the Acts
of Saints Jacob and Marianus, in which the following narrative is written
concerning Marianus, servant of Christ:
"Marianus was condemned to torture
because he confessed himself a reader only, as indeed he was. And
what torments were these, how new and strange, how imbued with the
poisoned ingenuity of the Devil, how cunningly contrived to break
the spirit! Marianus was hung up to be tortured; and what grace
the Martyr showed even in the midst of his sufferings, the very
torment and punishment merely serving to increase his courage! Now
the cord which kept him suspended was attached not to his hands
but to the tips of his thumbs, in such a way that the slenderness
of those parts added to the agony endured in supporting the weight
of the rest of the body. Moreover, unconscionably great weights
were further attached to his feet, so that the whole framework
of his body should hang suspended, torn asunder by pain and agonizing
internal convulsions."
Of the Sixth Method of Suspending:
Hanging up with Weights Fastened Around the Neck and to the Feet
The History of the
most Blessed Martyr St. Severianus details this method:
"The Prefect, taking Severianus'
silence for contempt, as indeed it was, devised a yet more terrible
punishment for him; and after removing him from the rack, had
him taken to a wall. Then after attaching two enormous and very
heavy stones, one to his neck, the other to his feet, and tying
a rope round the Martyr's middle, he left him hanging in the air from
the wall, so that his members, being dragged apart by the
weights, may be separated in this violent fashion."
Of the Seventh: When the Sufferers
'Bodies are Suspended by Ropes, their Shoulders at the same Time being
Loaded with Heavy Lumps of Salt and the like
This seventh kind is mentioned in the Acts
of St. Gregory of Armenia, where we read:
"When St. Gregory had ended discoursing
at length on these matters, Tyridates was filled with anger above
all measure, and was furiously stirred up against him. As a
result, the
most noble hero was immediately bound. After inserting
a wooden gag into his mouth, parting the upper and lower jaws as
widely as possible, they loaded his shoulders with lumps of salt,
that is dug up in Armenia. Then binding his holy body with ropes,
they suspended the Saint aloft, prolonging this bitter torment for
seven entire days."
Of the Eighth Method: Suspending Victims
from Upright Stakes after Smearing them with Honey so that they should
be Tortured by the Bites of Flies and Bees
This form of torture is spoke of in the
Histories of St. Maurice and his companions, and of St. Mark of
Arethusa.
Three Methods are recorded in the Histories of the
Martyrs in which Christians were exposed to the rays of the sun with
this end in view. Sometimes they were merely bound to stakes, as was
done with St. Maurice and his companions; sometimes they were raised
aloft in baskets made of rushes as we find in the account of St. Mark
of Arethusa mentioned above; and sometimes (as St. Jerome records in
the History of Paul, the first Eremite), they were laid on the
ground with hands tied behind their backs.
Coelius Rhodiginus states that there existed in antiquity a form of
punishment known as "Cyphonismus" so named from the word Cyphon,
"from which also Cyphon is so called in Aristophanes' play of
Plutus," writes Rhodiginus:
"because it was a sort of fetter
of wood or, as in the present day, of iron, commonly called a pillory,
to which the prisoner was ignominiously fastened and detained, smeared
with honey and exposed to the bites of the flies." Hence it came
about, adds the same author, "that this title of 'Cyphon'
was given to scamps, and the punishment was called 'Cyphonismus.'
Then adding a little later: "I note among certain people a regulation
to the following effect — that any man who insolently demonstrates
contempt for the decrees of the law, shall be kept in fetters at
the public place of execution for twenty days, naked and smeared
over with honey and milk, to be food for bees and flies; and when
these have done their work, he shall be dressed in women's clothes
and cast headlong down a cliff."
The Persians employed a similar Method of punishment
for criminals condemned to death which they themselves called Scaphismus.
Plutarch in his Artaxerxes speaks of it in these terms:
"Accordingly he ordered Mithridates to
be put to death by the punishment of the boats (scaphae)
The nature of this form of death and punishment is as follows: Two
boats are built of the same size and shape. In the one they lay
the man destined for the torture, and putting the other boat on top of
him, joined the two together in such a way that the man's hands and feet
were left outside, while the remainder of his body (except the head)
was imprisoned. They supplied the man with food, and by prodding his
eyes with sharp points forced him to eat, even against his will.
But on his eating, they poured a mixture of milk and honey into his mouth, and smeared his face with
it. Turning
the boat, they so arranged it that his eyes always faced the
sun, his head and face being covered every day with a host
of flies that settled upon him.
Moreover, being compelled to defecate
and urinate inside the closed boats, the resulting corruption and putrefaction give birth
to swarms of worms of many sorts which penetrate his clothes,
and eat away his flesh. Indeed, after the man is dead, and the upper
boat is removed, his body is seen to be gnawed away, and all about
his viscera is found a multitude of these and similar insects, that
grows denser every day. Subjected to this form of torture, Mithridates
actually endured the agonizing existence to the seventeenth day,
before finally dying."
Plutarch's account differs little from that
given by [the Byzantine historian] Zonaras who, in his Annals,
states that:
"The Persians outdo all other
Barbarians in the horrid cruelty of their punishments, employing
tortures that are peculiarly terrible and long-drawn, namely the
'boats' and sewing men up in raw hides.
But what is meant by the 'boats' I must
now explain. To wit, two boats are joined together, one
on top of the other, with holes cut in them in such a way that the victim's
head, hands, and feet only are left outside. Within these boats the
man to be punished is placed lying on his back, and the boats are then
bolted together. Next they pour a mixture of milk and honey into the
unfortunate man's mouth until he is filled to the point of nausea, smearing
his face, feet, and arms with the same mixture, and then leave him exposed
to the sun. This is repeated every day to the effect that the flies,
wasps, and bees, attracted by the sweetness, settle on his face and
all the parts of his body that project outside the boats, miserably
tormenting and stinging the wretched man.
Moreover his stomach, distended as it is with
milk and honey, throws off liquid excrements, and these, putrefying,
breed swarms of worms, intestinal and of other sorts. Thus the victim
lying in the boats, his flesh rotting away in his own filth and being
devoured by worms, dies a lingering and horrible death. By this punishment
Parysatis, mother of Artaxerxes and Cyrus is said to have executed the
man who boasted of having slain Cyrus when contending with his brother
for the Kingship; he endured the torment fourteen days before he died.
Such, then, is the nature of "Scaphismus, or the boat-torture."
Something similar awaited those who were sewn up in an ox-hide. In this
case the head alone was left outside, while the rest of the body was
stripped naked and sewn up inside the hide. So we read in the Acts
of St. Chrysanthus:
"Carrying him from that place, they proceeded to
flay a calf, and to wrap him up naked in the fresh hide, placing him
so as to face the sun; nevertheless, despite being exposed all day long
to the excessive heat of a blazing sun, he felt no excessive warmth
and remained unaffected in any way, for the hide could in no way hurt
God's servant. So afterward they laid on him fetters and the like."
From this it is plainly evident how this punishment of the raw hide
was distinct from that just described under the name "Scaphismus".
Similar forms of torture may be found abundantly described in Lucian's
Dialogue [actually Apuleius's Asinus Aureus, or the 'Golden
Ass'], Lucius or the Ass, in which the following story is
related:
"We must discover," he then said, "some
sort of death through which this maiden may endure long-drawn and
bitter torment ... So let us kill this ass, and afterwards cut open
its stomach and after removing the inwards, shut up the girl inside
in such a way that only her head would be left outside (this, of
course, to prevent her being suffocated altogether), while the rest
of her body is hidden within the carcass. Then, when this has been
sewn up, let us expose them both to the vultures — a strange meal
prepared in a new and strange fashion. Now just consider the nature
of this torture, I beg you. To begin with, a living woman will be
shut up inside a dead ass; then by reason of the heat of the sun
will she be roasted within its stomach; further, she will be tormented
with mortal hunger, yet entirely unable to destroy herself. The
other gruesome aspects of her agony, both from the stench of the
dead body as it rots, and the swarm of writhing worms, I say nothing
of. Lastly, the vultures that feed on the carcass will rend in pieces
the living woman at the same time. All shouted assent to this monstrous
proposal, and unanimously approved its being put in execution."
To the same effect Apuleius in his Golden
Ass, writes:
"Let us decide to cut this ass's throat
tomorrow, and when it has been cleared of all the entrails, sew
the virgin naked into the middle of its stomach so that only the
girl's face projects while all the rest of her remains imprisoned
within the animal, and this done, let us expose the ass with its
contents on some craggy height to the exhalations of the blazing
sun."
Of the Ninth and Tenth Methods of
Hanging:
Suspending from a Hook and Putting to Death with a Noose
These two Methods of Martyrdom are amply attested
to in various Acts of the Blessed Martyrs — in the first
instance especially
by those of St. Nicetus, as also of Saints Gorgonius and Dorotheus,
whose deaths are likewise recorded by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical
History.
Of the Eleventh Method: Binding Victims
to Pillars with Feet not Touching the Ground
This method is spoken of by Bishop Philreas,
and quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History as follows:
"Others again were bound facing each other,
suspended from pillars with their feet not reaching the ground,
in such a way that the greater the strain put upon the ropes and
the tighter these were drawn, the more cruelly did the victims feel
the agony caused by the dragging weight of their own bodies. Nor
was it for a short while only — that is to say, just while the Magistrate was putting
them to cross-examination, and was at liberty to question them —
but throughout the entire day that they endured this kind of torment.
Moreover when, as he went on from them to others, he left subordinate
officers to carefully watch the first group in the event that any
of them should appear in imminent danger of dying from the torture,
giving orders that they be racked by means of the ropes without
an instant's respite, and finally, when at the point of dying, that
they be let down again to the ground and dragged unmercifully to
and fro."
The same writer earlier states that:
"Others
were suspended from the portico or arch, attached by one arm, and endured
the stretching and straining of all their limbs and joints — a bitter
torment surpassing almost every other in severity. Others again were
bound to pillars, their faces turned inward toward one another, with
nothing for their feet to rest upon."
The Martyrs were lashed to the pillars in the following way: fastened
to the upper portions of these pillars were either iron rings or, more
likely still, various pulleys, over which ropes were led. By means of
these ropes the Blessed Martyrs were then, with arms tied behind their
backs and faces turned toward the pillars, all day long first hoisted
up by the tormentors, and afterward let down again with a rush, but
in such a way that they never quite touched the ground in order that
they might suffer the more agonizing pain. Finally, when they were at
the point of dying, the executioners, at a sign from the Judge, would
lower them to the earth and cruelly drag them around.
Of the Last Method: Hanging Christian
Women by their Hair
Evidence of this manner of torture is found
in many Histories of the Holy Martyrs; we encounter it
in the account of the passion of St. Eulampia, St. Juliana, virgin and
martyr, as well as Saints Theonilla, Euphemia, and lastly, St. Symphorosa.
So much for the various methods of suspension used by the Heathen against
Christian men and women. If the reader wishes to learn more about this,
he should consult the various authorities and the Acts of the
Blessed Martyrs already cited. Yet before leaving the subject altogether
we will quote one other passage, from St. Gregory Nazianzen, in which
he writes, speaking of St. Mark of Arethusa:
"From one crowd of lads to the other he
was tossed to and fro, swinging as it were suspended, the boys alternately
catching that gallant body on their penknives, and in this tragic
way doing the holy man to death, as it had been some sort of game
..." that is to say, the martyr in question was thrown backward
and forward between two sets of schoolboys.
Many other instances of the same or similar
Methods of martyrdom could be provided, but which we must omit for the
sake of brevity.
Illustrations for Chapter I:
CHAPTER II
Chapters:
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 -
9 -
10 -
11 -
12
Redaction with annotation by:
Geoffrey K. Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
www.boston-catholic-journal.com
2012 + Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
Copyright
© 2016 Boston Catholic Journal. All rights reserved for this
revised edition by Geoffrey K. Mondello. Contact the Boston Catholic Journal for permission
to reprint, in any format, or upon any media, digital or otherwise,
any part of this book revised by the Boston Catholic Journal , the original
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