Acts of the Martyrs
Encyclopedia
Acts of the Martyrs are accounts of the suffering and death of a Christian martyr or group of martyrs. These accounts were collected and used in church liturgies from early times, as attested by Saint Augustine
.
These accounts vary in authenticity. The most reliable follow accounts from trials. Very few of these have survived. Perhaps the most perfect of these is the account of Saint Cyprian.
The account of Scillitan Martyrs
is also based on trial records, though it has been embellished with miraculous and apocryphal material.
A second category, the "Passiones," are based on eyewitness accounts. These include the martyrdoms of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Saint Polycarp
, the Martyrs of Lyons, the famous Acts of Perpetua and Felicitias
, and the Passion of Saint Irenaeus. In these accounts, miraculous elements are restricted, a feature that proved unpopular. These accounts were often later embellished with legendary material.
A third category is accounts that are purely legendary, probably without even a kernel of historical information. The Acts of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and those of Saint George fall into this category.
Eusebius of Caesarea was likely the first Christian author to produce a collection of acts of the martyrs.
Besides these, there are romances
, either written around a few real facts which have been preserved in popular or literary tradition, or else pure works of the imagination, containing no real facts whatever. Still, as they were written with the intention of edifying and not deceiving the reader, a special class must be reserved for hagiographical forgeries. To this must be relegated all those Acts, Passions, Lives, Legends, and Translations which have been written with the express purpose of perverting history, such, for instance, as the legends and translations falsely attaching a saint's name to some special church or city.
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
.
These accounts vary in authenticity. The most reliable follow accounts from trials. Very few of these have survived. Perhaps the most perfect of these is the account of Saint Cyprian.
The account of Scillitan Martyrs
Scillitan Martyrs
The Scillitan Martyrs were a company of twelve North African Christians who were executed for their beliefs on July 17, 180. The martyrs take their name from Scilla , a town in Numidia...
is also based on trial records, though it has been embellished with miraculous and apocryphal material.
A second category, the "Passiones," are based on eyewitness accounts. These include the martyrdoms of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Saint Polycarp
Martyrdom of Polycarp
The Martyrdom of Polycarp is one of the works of the Apostolic Fathers, and as such is one of the very few eyewitness writings from the actual age of the persecutions. The work details Polycarp's death at the age of 86 years old, at the hands of the Romans, in the 2nd century AD...
, the Martyrs of Lyons, the famous Acts of Perpetua and Felicitias
Saints Perpetua and Felicitas
Perpetua and Felicity are Christian martyrs of the 3rd century. Perpetua was a 22-year old married noble, and a nursing mother. Her co-martyr Felicity, an expectant mother, was her slave. They suffered together at Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.The Passion of St. Perpetua, St...
, and the Passion of Saint Irenaeus. In these accounts, miraculous elements are restricted, a feature that proved unpopular. These accounts were often later embellished with legendary material.
A third category is accounts that are purely legendary, probably without even a kernel of historical information. The Acts of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and those of Saint George fall into this category.
Eusebius of Caesarea was likely the first Christian author to produce a collection of acts of the martyrs.
Besides these, there are romances
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
, either written around a few real facts which have been preserved in popular or literary tradition, or else pure works of the imagination, containing no real facts whatever. Still, as they were written with the intention of edifying and not deceiving the reader, a special class must be reserved for hagiographical forgeries. To this must be relegated all those Acts, Passions, Lives, Legends, and Translations which have been written with the express purpose of perverting history, such, for instance, as the legends and translations falsely attaching a saint's name to some special church or city.