Victor of Vita, in his History of the Vandal Persecution (3.41) recounts the martyrdom by the Vandals of *Seven monastic brothers (S02936) in Carthage (central North Africa). Written in Latin, probably in Carthage, 484/489.
E08290
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal Persecution
Victor of Vita, Book III, chapter 41:
Illis diebus et duo negotiatores, Frumentius et alius Frumentius ipsiusdem urbis, egregio martyrio coronati sunt. Tunc et septem fratres, non natura, sed gratia, simul in monasterio commanentes, confessionis certamine expleto inmarcescibilem peruenerunt ad coronam, id est Liberatus abba, Bonifatius diaconus, Seruus subdiaconus, Rusticus subdiaconus, Rogatus monachus, Septimus monachus et Maximus monachus.
'In those days two merchants from the same town, Frumentius and another Frumentius, were crowned with an outstanding martyrdom. It was then too that seven men, brothers not by nature but by grace, who dwelt together in a monastery, finished their struggle as confessors and came to an unfading crown. They were abbot Liberatus, the deacon Bonifatius, the subdeacons Servus and Rusticus, and the monks Rogatus, Septimus and Maximus.'
Text: Lancel 2002, 196.
Translation: Moorhead 1992, 81.
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Merchants and artisans
Source
Victor was probably a presbyter at Carthage when he wrote the History of the Vandal Persecution, in 484 or shortly thereafter; he was certainly a churchman and he was very well informed of events and documents in the provincial capital.His work gives an account of the Vandal invasion of Africa (429-39) under king Geiseric, but focuses primarily on the sufferings of the Nicene church in Africa during the reign of Huneric (477-84). Victor was an eyewitness of some of the events which he describes (e.g. E01981).
The work is dedicated to an unnamed churchman, probably Bishop Eugenius of Carthage, who features prominently (and very favourably) in the work, even effecting, with due humility, the cure of a man's blindness (E08294, 2.47-51).
Victor names many martyrs and confessors who died or suffered under Vandal persecution. For a few of these, there is evidence from other sources that some cult developed around them, and these we have treated as individual 'saints': Eugenius of Carthage (S00034); Laetus, bishop and martyr of Nepte (S02837); Seven monastic brothers martyred at Carthage (S02936); and some confessors who had their tongues cut out but were still able to speak (S01481). The other martyrs and confessors we have grouped together on three evidence cards, covering: the reign of Geiseric (E08293; S03007); the reign of Huneric before 484 (E08294; S03008): and the persecution of 484 (E08295; S03009).
Discussion
The martyrdom of these seven monastic brothers was described in a separate account, sometimes attributed to Victor: E08279. See the further discussion there.Bibliography
Editions:Lancel, S. (ed.), 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).
Petschenig, M. (ed.), Victoris episcopi Vitensis Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 7; Wien 1881).
Halm, K. (ed.), Victor Vitensis. Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores antiquissimi 3,1; Hanover 1879), 1-58.
Translation:
Moorhead, J. (trans.), Victor of Vita: History of Vandal Persecution (Translated Texts for Historians 10; Liverpool: Liverpool Univeristy Press, 1992).
Stanisław Adamiak
26/05/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02936 | Seven monastic brothers, martyrs of Carthage under the Vandals in 484. | Liberatus; Bonifatius, Seruus, Rusticus; Rogatus; Septimus; Maximus | Certain |
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