The Latin Martyrdom of *Seven Monastic Brothers (martyrs of Carthage under the Vandals in 484, S02936) recounts how seven monks refused the order of the Vandal King Huneric to accept Arian baptism, how an attempt to burn them at sea failed but they were then beaten to death, and how their bodies were miraculously recovered after they had been thrown into the sea. Written probably in Carthage, probably in the 6th c.
E08279
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Passio beatissimorum martyrum qui apud Carthaginem passi sunt sub impio rege Hunirico die VI Non Iul
‘The account of martyrdom of the most blessed martyrs who died in Carthage under the impious King Huneric on the 6th day before the Nones of July [2 July]’
1.The author asks for divine help in narrating the triumph of the martyrs.
2–6. In the seventh year of his reign, King Huneric began the persecution of the Catholics. Firstly, all the priests and clerics were expelled to remote regions. Then the king ordered that all the male and female members of the monasteries should be sent to the Moors. Men, women and children embraced the possibility of martyrdom with enthusiasm.
7. Seven brothers who lived together in a monastery near Capsa were apprehended. The author describes them as ‘brothers in what refers to the unity coming from serving the Lord together’ (quantum continet ad concordiam dominicae seruitutis). Their names were: Deacon Bonifatius, Subdeacon Servus, Subdeacon Rusticus, Abba Liberatus, and monks: Rogatus, Septimus and Maximus. Their number recalled that of the Maccabean martyrs, and they also had one mother: the Catholic Church.
8. The brothers were led to Carthage, where neither threats nor promises could convince them to accept the Arian baptism.
9. The martyrs were thrown into prison, but the faithful bribed the guards and had access to the martyrs day and night.
10. When Huneric learnt about it, he ordered heavier chains to be placed on the martyrs, and them to be put to sea on a boat filled with wood, which was to be set on fire.
11. The martyrs went with joy towards their death.
12–13. The persecutors tried to convince the youngest of the martyrs, Maximus, to save his life, but he was adamant in his refusal.
14. The martyrs were conducted to the boat. When the wood gathered on it was set on fire, it was miraculously extinguished. The king ordered the martyrs to be beaten to death with oars. They were happy to be killed by wood, since they had always put their trust in wood [of the Cross].
15. Sed cum in mari uenerabilia corpora iactarentur, illico, quod contra naturam est aequoris, eadem hora inlaesa corpora pelagus litori reddere maturauit nec ausus fuit, ut moris est, triduana dilatione in profundo retinere, ne praecepto dominico minime paruisset. Ad quod miraculi genus et ipse tyrannus, licet inpaenitens, ut fertur, expauit. Gaudens autem quae aderat multitudo corpora sanctorum martyrum diligenti tradidit sepulturae, praeeunte clero uenerabili Carthaginiensis ecclesiae; ubi etiam et praedicandi diacones, tertio iam confessores effecti, Salutaris et Muritta, geruli reliquiarum adfuerunt.
16. Humatae sunt igitur cum hymnis sollemnibus lypsanae beatae sanctorum in monasterio Biguae continguo basilicae quod dicitur Celerinae. Et sic in confessione trinitatis beatissimi martyres passi sunt et speciosum cursum certaminis sui coronante domino perfecerunt: cui est honor et gloria in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
‘15. When the venerable bodies were thrown into the sea, it returned them intact to the shore immediately, although it is against the nature of water. The sea did not dare to keep the bodies in its depth for three days, as usually happens, because it feared to disobey the commandment of the Lord even in a minimal way. It is said that even the tyrant himself, although impenitent, became frightened. The crowd which gathered buried the bodies with joy, directed by the venerable clergy of the Carthaginian Church; among them were the famous deacons Salutaris and Muritta, who had already been three times confessors.
16. The blessed relics of the saints were buried with solemn hymns in the monastery of Bigua, adjacent to the basilica called 'of Celerina'. And thus the most blessed martyrs died for the confession of the Trinity, completed their combat in a handsome way and were given their crowns by the Lord, to whom is honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.’
Text: Lancel 2002, 219-220.
Summary and translation: Stanisław Adamiak.
Saint’s feast
MiraclesMiracle after death
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Source
This text was for a long time considered to be by Victor of Vita, and in the majority of manuscripts, it follows immediately Victor’s History of the Vandal Persecution. However, scholars nowadays agree that it was in fact written by an anonymous author in the 6th century, elaborating on Victor's brief account of the death of these seven monks (E08290).Discussion
As noted above, these martyrs’ deaths (with their names) are recorded in the History of the Vandal Persecution by Victor of Vita (E08290); the confessors and deacons of Carthage, Salutaris and Muritta, are also named in Victor's work (E08295, 3.34-37).‘The seventh year of the reign of Huneric’, mentioned in the text, is the year 483, which is probably wrong, given that the events clearly take place after the edict of Huneric against Catholicism, issued on 24 February 484. The death penalty was not invoked in the edict, hence the supposition of Sabine Fialon (Fialon 2018, 200) that the martyrs died because of injuries caused by their being whipped.
Liliane Ennabli argues that a mosaic medallion found in 1957 near Tunis (E07372) is evidence for the cult of our Seven Martyrs, with whom the cult of the Maccabean martyrs was associated, as indeed we see from the Martyrdom. The influence in the text of 2 Maccabees (the account of the death of the Seven Maccabean Brothers, S00303) is clear, especially in the passage regarding the persecutors tempting the martyrs to transgress religious law: to eat pork in the case of the Maccabees, and to accept second baptism in the case of the martyrs of Carthage, and in the attempt to detach the youngest one from the group.
The word ‘lypsanae’ (clearly from the Greek leipsana) is not used in the sense of ‘relics’ in any other Latin text, apart from one by Pseudo-Hilarius (Lancel 2002, 220).
Bibliography
Edition:Lancel, S., Histoire de la persécution vandale en Afrique suivie de la passion des sept martyrs et du Registre des provinces et des cités d'Afrique (Paris: Belle Lettres, 2002), 214-220.
Further reading:
Courtois, C., Victor de Vita et son oeuvre. Étude critique (Alger, 1954).
Ennabli, L., La Basilique de Carthagenna et le locus des sept moines de Gafsa. Nouveaux édifices chrétiens de Carthage (Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 2000), 83-87; 122-124.
Fialon, S., Mens immobilis. Recherches sur le corpus latin des actes et des passions d'Afrique romaine (IIe-VIe siècles) (Collection des Études Augustiniennes. Série Antiquité 203; Paris: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 2018), 197-201.
Petschenig, M., "Die handschriftliche Ueberliefung des Victor von Vita," in: Sitzungsberichte der Philosphisch-historischen Klasse der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Wien, 1880), 637-732.
Pitkäranta, R., "Stilistischer Kommentar zur Passio septem martyrum," Arctos 8 (1974), 127-137.
Stanisław Adamiak
23/06/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00303 | Maccabean Martyrs, pre-Christian Jewish martyrs of Antioch | Certain | S02936 | Seven monastic brothers, martyrs of Carthage under the Vandals in 484. | Bonifatius; Servus; Rusticus; Liberatus; Rogatus; Septimus; Maximus | Certain |
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Stanisław Adamiak, Cult of Saints, E08279 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08279