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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this important, historical document into an easily readable format.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with footnotes and historical references.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
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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 Christian
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
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opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti verbum
Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power, and
yet you have kept My word, and have not denied My Name.”
(Apocalypse
3.8)
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