Chapter 2, Part 4 of Fox's Book of Martyrs, Volume 1. The Christians, about this time, upon mature consideration, sought it unlawful to bear arms under the heathen emperor. Maximilian, the son of Fabius Victor, was the first beheaded under this regulation. Vetus, a Sicilian of considerable family, was brought up a Christian. When his virtues increased with his years, his constancy supported him under all afflictions, and his faith was superior to the most dangerous perils. His father, Hylas, who was a pagan, finding that he had been instructed in the principles of Christianity by the nurse who brought him up, used all his endeavours to bring him back to paganism, and that Lang sacrificed his son to the idols, to June the 14th, Anodomene 303. Victor was a Christian of a good family at Marseilles, in France. He spent a great part of the night in visiting the afflicted, and confirming the week, which Pius' work he could not consistently with his own safety perform in the daytime, and his fortune he spent in relieving the distresses of poor Christians. He was at length, however, seized by the emperor Maximian's decree, who ordered him to be bound and dragged through the streets. During the execution of this order, he was treated with all manner of cruelties and indignities by the enraged populace. Remaining still inflexible, his courage was deemed obstinacy.  After the executioners were tired with inflicting torments on him, he was conveyed to a dungeon. With his confinement, he converted his jailers, named Alexander, Felician and Longinus. This affair coming to the ears of the emperor, he ordered them immediately to be put to death, and the jailers were accordingly beheaded. Victor was then again put to the rack, unmercifully beaten with batons, and again sent to prison. Being a third time examined concerning his religion, he persevered in his principles. A small altar was then brought, and he was commanded to offer incense upon it immediately. Fired with indignation at request, he boldly stepped forward, and with his foot overthrew Booth's altar and Idol. This so enraged the emperor Maximian, who was present, that he ordered the food with which he had kicked the altar to be immediately cut off, and Victor was thrown into a mill, and crushed the pieces with the stones, on a domini 303. Maximus, governor of Chilicia, being at Tarsus, three Christians were brought before him. Their names were Tarachus, an aged man, Probus and Andronikus. After repeated tortures and exhortations to recant, they at length were ordered for execution. Being brought to the amphitheater, several beasts were let loose upon them, but none of the animals, though hungry, would touch them. The keepers and brought out a large bear, that had that very day destroyed three men. But this voracious creature, and the fierce lioness, both refused to touch the prisoners. Finding the design of destroying them by the means of wild beasts ineffectual, Maximus ordered them to be slain by the sword, on October 11th, 103. Romanus, a native of Palestine, was Diocon of the church of Cassareia, at the time of the commencement of Diocletian's persecution. Being condemned for his faith at Antioch, he was scorched, put to the rack, his body torn with hooks, his flesh cut with knives, his face scarified, his teeth beaten from their sockets, and his hair plucked up by the roots. Soon after he was ordered to be strangled, November 17th, 103. Susanna, the niece of Caius, Bishop of Rome, was pressed by the emperor Diocletian to marry a noble pagan, who was nearly related to him, refusing the honor intended her, she was beheaded by the emperor's order. Dorotheos, the high chamberlain of the household to Diocletian, was a Christian, and took great pains to make converts. In his religious labors, he was joined by Gorgonius, another Christian, and one belonging to the palace. They were first tortured and then strangled. Peter and Oino, belonging to the emperor, was a Christian of singular modesty and humility. He was laid on a gridiron and brawled over a slow fire until he expired. Kiprian, known by the title of the magician, to distinguish him from Kiprian, Bishop of Carthage, was a native of Natioch. He received a liberal education in his youth, and particularly applied himself to astrology, after which he traveled for improvements through Greece, Egypt, India, etc. In the course of time he became acquainted with Justina, a young lady of Antioch, whose birth, beauty, and accomplishments rendered her the admiration of all who knew her. A pagan's gentleman applied to Kiprian to promote his suit with the beautiful Justina. This he undertook, but soon himself became converted, burned his books of astrology and magic, received baptism, and felt animated with a powerful spirit of grace. The conversion of Kiprian had a great effect on the pagan gentleman who paid his addresses to Justina, and he in a short time embraced Christianity. During the persecutions of Diocletian, Kiprian and Justina were seized upon as Christians. The former was torn with pincers, and the latter chastised, and after suffering other torments, both were beheaded. Eulalia, a Spanish lady of Christian family, was remarkable in her youth for sweetness of temper, and solidity of understanding seldom found in the capriciousness of juvenile years. Being apprehended as a Christian, the magistrate attempted by the mildest means to bring her over to paganism, but she ridiculed the pagan deities with such asperity that the judge, incensed at her behaviour, ordered her to be tortured. Her sides were accordingly torn by hooks, and her breasts burned in the most shocking manner, until she expired by the violence of the flames. December, 1903. In the year 304, when the persecution reached Spain, Dacian, the governor of Tarragona, ordered Valerius the bishop and Vincent the Diacon to be seized, loaded with irons, and imprisoned. The prisoners being firm in their resolution, Valerius was banished, and Vincent was wrecked, his limbs dislocated, his flesh torn with hooks, and he was laid on a gridiron, which had not only a fire placed up under it, but spikes at the top, which ran into his flesh. These torments neither destroying him, nor changing his resolutions. He was remanded to prison, and confined in a small, loathsome dark dungeon, strewed with sharp flints, and pieces of broken glass, where he died January 22, 304. His body was thrown into the river. The persecution of Diocletian began particularly to rage in Anodominus 304, when many Christians were put to cruel tortures, and the most painful and ignominous death, the most eminent and particular of whom we shall enumerate. Saturninus, a priest of Alpetina, a town of Africa, after being tortured, was remanded to prison, and there starved to death. His four children, after being variously tormented, shared the same fate with their father. That Divas, a noble Roman senator, Telico, a pious Christian, Victoria, a young lady of considerable family and fortune, with some others of less consideration, all auditors of Saturninus were tortured in a similar manner, and perished by the same means. Agrape, Cionia and Irenae, three sisters, were seized upon at Thessalonica, when Diocletian's persecution reached Greece. They were burned, and received the crown of martyrdom in the flames, March the 25th, Anodominus 304. The governor, finding that he could make no impression on Irene, ordered her to be exposed naked in the streets, which shameful order having been executed, a fire was kindled near the city wall, amidst whose flames her spirit ascended beyond the reach of man's cruelty. Agato, a man of pious turn of mind, Viscasica, Philippa and Oetitia, were martyred about the same time, but the particulars have not been transmitted to us. Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome, who succeeded Caius in that seat, having strongly opposed paying divine honors to Diocletian, suffered martyrdom by a variety of tortures in the year 324, comforting his soul until he expired with the prospect of these glorious rewards it would receive by the tortures suffered in the body. Victorius, Carpophorus, Severus and Severianus were brothers, and all four employed in places of great trust and honor in the city of Rome. Having exclaimed against the worship of idols, they were apprehended and scorched with a plumby tea, or scorches, to the end of which were fastened leaden balls. This punishment was exercised with such excess of cruelty that the pious brothers fell martyrs to its severity. Timothy, a diacon of Mauritania, and Mora, his wife, had not been united together by the bands of wedlock above three weeks when they were separated from each other by the persecution. Timothy, being apprehended as a Christian, was carried before Arionus, the governor of Thebis, who, knowing that he had the keeping of the holy scriptures, commanded him to deliver them up to be burned, to which he answered, Had I children, I would sooner deliver them up to be sacrificed, than part with the word of God. The governor, being much incensed at this reply, ordered his eyes to be put out with red-hot iron, saying, The book shall at least be useless to you, for you shall not see to read them. His patience under the operation was so great that the governor grew more exasperated. He therefore, in order, if possible, to overcome his fortitude, ordered him to be hung up by the feet with the weight tied about his neck and a gag in his mouth. In this state, Maura, his wife, tenderly urged him for her sake to recant. But when the gag was taken out of his mouth, instead of consenting to his wives and treaties, he greatly blamed her mistaken love and declared his resolution of dying for the faith. The consequence was that Maura resolved to imitate his courage and fidelity and either to co-company or follow him to glory. The governor, after trying in vain to alter her resolution, ordered her to be tortured, which was executed with great severity. After this, Timothy and Maura were crucified near each other, Anodominus 304. Sabinus, bishop of Asesium, refusing to sacrifice to Jupiter and pushing the idol from him, had his hand cut off by the order of the governor of Tuscany. While in prison, he converted the governor and his family, all of whom suffered martyrdom for the faith. Soon after their execution, Sabinus himself was scorched to death, December, Anodominus 304. Tired with the force of state and public business, the emperor Diocletian resigned the imperial diadem and was succeeded by Constantius and Galerius, the former apprentice of the most mild and humane disposition and the latter equally remarkable for his cruelty and tyranny. These divided the empire into two equal governments, Galerius ruling in the east and Constantinus in the west, and the people in the two governments felt the effects of the dispositions of the two emperors. For those in the west were governed in the mildest manner, but such as resided in the east fell all the miseries of oppression and lengthened tortures. Among the many martyred by the order of Galerius, we shall enumerate the most eminent. Ampheonus was a gentleman of eminence in Lucchia and a scholar of Ascibius. Giulita, a Lyconian royal descend, but more celebrated for her virtues than noble blood, while on the rack her child was killed before her face. Giulita of Cappadocia was a lady of distinguished capacity, great virtue and uncommon courage. To complete the execution, Giulita had boiling pitch poured on her feet, her sides torn with hooks, and received the conclusion of her martyrdom by being beheaded April the 16th, Anodominus 305. Hermolaus, a venerable and pious Christian, at a great age and an intimate acquaintance of Panteleons, suffered martyrdom for the face on the same day and is the same manner as Panteleon. Ostrotius, secretary to the governor of Armina, was thrown into fury furnace for exhorting some Christians who had been apprehended to persevere in their face. Nicander and Marcian, two eminent Roman military officers, were apprehended on account of their face, as they were both men of great abilities and their profession. The utmost means were used to induce them to renounce Christianity. But these endeavours being found ineffectual, they were beheaded. In the Kingdom of Naples several martyrdoms took place, in particular, Januaries, Bishop of Beneventum, Sosius, Diacon of Mycenae, Proculus, another Diacon, Oetohius and Acutius, Thulemen, Festus, a Diacon, Therius, a Reader, all on account of being Christians were condemned by the governor of Campania to be devoured by his wild beasts. The savage animals, however, would not touch them, and so they were beheaded. Quirinus, bishop of Siskia, being carried before Mathenius, the governor, was ordered to sacrifice to the pagan deities, agreeably to the edicts of various Roman emperors. The governor, perceiving his constancy, sent him to jail, and ordered him to be heavily ironed, flattering himself that the hardships of a jail, some occasional tortures, and the weight of chains might overcome his resolution. Being decided in his principles, he was sent to Amantius, the principal governor of Panonia, now Hungary, who loaded him with chains and carried him through the principal towns of Danube, exposing him to ridicule wherever he went. Arriving at lengths at Sabaria, and finding that Quirinus would not renounce his faith, he ordered him to be cast into a river with a stone fastened about his neck. The sentence being put into execution, Quirinus floated about for some time, and exhorting the people in the most pious terms, concluded his admonitions with this prayer. It is no new thing, O all-powerful Jesus, for thee to stop the course of rivers. For thee to stop the course of rivers, or to cause a man to walk upon the water, as though did the servant Peter. The people who have already seen the proof of thy power in me, grant me now to lay down my life for thy sake, O my God. On renouncing the lost words, he immediately sank and died, due in the force anodomony 308. His body was afterwards taken up and buried by some pious Christians. Pamphilus, a native of Phonichia, of a considerable family, was a man of such extensive learning that he was called a second origin. He was received into the body of the clergy at Caesarea, where he established a public library and spent his time in the practice of every Christian virtue. He copied the greatest part of the works of origin with his own hand, and assisted by Ousebius gave a correct copy of the Old Testament, which had suffered greatly by the ignorance or negligence of former transcribers. In the year 307 he was apprehended and suffered torture and martyrdom. Marcellus, bishop of Rome, being banished on account of his face, fell a martyr to the misery he suffered in exile January the 16th, anodomony 310. Peter, the 16th bishop of Alexandria, was martyred November 25th, anodomony 311 by order of Maximus Caesar, who reigned in the east. Agnes, a virgin of only 13 years of age, was beheaded for being a Christian, as was Serene, the empress of Dil-Pletian. Valentine, a priest, suffered the same fate at Rome and Erasmus, a bishop, was martyred in Campania. Soon after this the persecution abated in the middle parts of the empire as well as in the west and providence at length began to manifest vengeance on the persecutors. Maximian endeavored to corrupt his daughter Fausta to murder Constantine, her husband, which she discovered and Constantine forced him to choose his own death when he preferred the ignominious death of hanging after being an emperor near twenty years. Constantine was a good and virtuous child of a good and virtuous father born in Britain. His mother was named Helena, daughter of King Coelos. He was a most bountiful and gracious prince, having a desire to nourish learning and good arts and did often times use to read, write and study himself. He had marvelous good success and prosperous achieving of all things he took in hand, which then was supposed to proceed of this for that he was so great a favor of the Christian faith which faith when he had once embraced he did ever after most devoutly and religiously reverence. Thus Constantine sufficiently appointed with strength of men, but especially with strength of God, entered his journey coming towards Italy, which was about the last year of the persecution Anodominus 313. Maxentius understanding of the coming of Constantine entrusting more to his devilish art of magic than to the good will of his subjects, which he little deserved does not show himself after the city, nor encounter him in the open field. But this private garrison laid wait for him by the way in sundry straights as he should come, with whom Constantine had diverse skirmishes and by the power of the Lord did ever vangish them and put them to flight. Notwithstanding, Constantine yet was in no great comfort but in great care and dread in his mind approaching now nearer into Rome for the magical charms and sorceries of Maxentius wherewith he had vangished before Severus, sent by Galerius against him. Therefore, being in great doubt and perplexity in himself and revolving many things in his mind what help he might have against the operations of his charming Constantine in his journey drawing towards the city and casting up his eyes many times to heaven in the south part about the going down of the sun saw a great brightness in heaven appearing in the similitude of a cross giving this inscription in Hockvintse, that is in this hour-come. Oisapius Bonphilus does witness that he had heard the said Constantine himself often times report also to Sverus is to be true and certain which he did see with his own eyes in heaven and also his soldiers about him. At the site were off when he was greatly astonished and consulting with his men upon the meaning thereof behold, in the night season in his sleep Christ appeared to him with the sign of the same cross which he had seen before bidding him to make the figuration thereof and to carry it in his wars before him so should we have the victory. Constantine so established the peace of the church that for the space of a southern years we're rid of no set persecution against the Christians and to the time of John Wyclef. So happy, so glorious was this victory of Constantine, surname degrade. For the joy and gladness were all the citizens who had sent for him before with exceeding triumph brought him into the city of Rome where he was most honorably received and celebrated the space of seven days together having more hour in the marketplace his image set up holding in his right hand is the sign of the cross with this inscription with this wholesome sign the true token of fortitude I have rescued and delivered our city from the yoke of the tyrant we shall conclude our account of the tenth and last general persecution with the death of Saint George, the titular saint in Petromot, England Saint George was born in Cappadocia of Christian parents and giving proof of his courage was promoted in the army of the Emperor Diocletian. During the persecution Saint George threw up his command went boldly to the senate house and evoked his being a Christian taking occasion at the same time to demonstrate against paganism and point out the absurdity of worshiping idols this freedom so greatly provoked the senate that Saint George was ordered to be tortured and by the Emperor's orders was dragged through the streets and beheaded the next day the legend of the dragon which is associated with this martyr is usually illustrated by representing Saint George seated upon in charging horse and transfixing the monster with his spear this fiery dragon symbolizes the devil who was languished by Saint George's steadfast faith in Christ which remained unshaken in spite of torture and death End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Part 1 of Fox's Book of Martyrs Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jordan Fox's Book of Martyrs Volume 1 by John Fox edited by William Byron Forbush Chapter 3 Persecutions of the Christians in Persia Part 1 The Gospel having spread itself into Persia, the pagan priests who worshipped the sun were greatly alarmed and dreaded the loss of that influence they had hitherto maintained over the people's minds and properties Hence they thought it expedient to complain to the emperor that the Christians were enemies to the state and held a treasonable correspondence with the Romans the great enemies of Persia The emperor, Sopores being naturally averse to Christianity easily believed what was said against the Christians and gave orders to persecute them in all parts of his empire On account of this mandate many eminent persons in the church and state fell martyrs to the ignorance and ferocity of the pagans Constantine the Great being informed of the persecutions in Persia wrote a long letter to the Persian monarch in which he recounts the vengeance that had fallen on persecutors and the great success that had attended those who had refrained from persecuting the Christians Speaking of his victories over rival emperors of his own time he said Rejoiced should I be if the throne of Persia found glory also by embracing the Christians that so you with me and they with you may enjoy all happiness In consequence of this appeal the persecution ended for the time but it was renewed in later years when another king succeeded to the throne of Persia Persecution under the Aryan heretics and the throne of Persia and the throne of Persia The author of the Aryan heresy was Arius a native of Libya and a priest of Alexandria who in AD 318 began to publish his eras He was condemned by a council of Libyan and Egyptian bishops and that sentence was confirmed by the council of Nicaea AD 325 After the death of Constantine the Great the Aryans found means to ingratiate themselves into the favour of the emperor Constantinus his son and successor in the east and hence a persecution was raised against the orthodox bishops and clergy The celebrated Athanasius and other bishops were banished and their seas filled with Aryans In Egypt and Libya 30 bishops were martyred and many other Christians cruelly tormented In 1886 George the Aryan Bishop of Alexandria under the authority of the emperor began a persecution in that city and its environs and carried it on with the most infernal severity He was assisted in his diabolical malice by Caterphenius Governor of Egypt Sebastian, general of the Egyptian forces Forstinus, the treasurer and Heraclius, a Roman officer The persecutions now raged in such a manner that the clergy were driven from Alexandria their churches were shut and the severities practised by the Aryan heretics were as great as those that had been practised by the pagan idolaters If a man accused of being a Christian made his escape then his whole family were massacred and his effects confiscated Persecution under Julian the Apostate This emperor was the son of Julius Constantinus and the nephew of Constantine the Great He studied the rudiments of grammar under the inspection of Mardonius a eunuch and a heathen of Constantinople His father sent him some time after to Nicomedia to be instructed in the Christian religion by the bishop of Eusebius his kinsmen but his principles were corrupted by the pernicious doctrines of Ecobolius the Returician and Maximus the Magician Constantinus dying the year 361 Julian succeeded him and had no sooner attained the imperial dignity than he renounced Christianity and embraced paganism which had for some years fallen into great disrepute Though he restored the idolatrous worship he made no public edicts against Christianity he recalled all banished pagans allowed the free exercise of religion in every sect but deprived all Christians of officers at court in the magistracy or in the army he was chaste, temperate, vigilant laborious and pious yet he prohibited any Christian from keeping a school or public seminary of learning and deprived all the Christian clergy of the privileges granted them by Constantine the Great Bishop Basil made himself first famous by his opposition to Arianism upon him the vengeance of the Arian Bishop of Constantinople he equally opposed paganism the emperor's agents in vain tampered with Basil by means of promises threats and rags he was firm in the faith and remained in prison to undergo some other sufferings when the emperor came accidentally to Ancyra Julian determined to examine Basil himself when that holy man being brought before him the emperor did everything in his power to dissuade him from persevering in the faith Basil not only continued as firm as ever but with a prophetic spirit foretold the death of the emperor and that he should be tormented in the other life enraged at what he heard Julian commanded that the body of Basil should be torn every day in seven different parts until his skin and flesh were entirely mangled this inhuman sentence was executed with rigor and the martyr expired under its severities on June 28 AD 362 Donatus, Bishop of Arezzo and Hilarinus, a hermit suffered about the same time also Gordian a Roman magistrate Artemius, commander in chief of the Roman forces in Egypt being a Christian was deprived of his commission then of his estate of his head the persecution raged dreadfully about the latter end of the year 363 but as many of the particulars have not been handed down to us it is necessary to remark in general that in Palestine many were burnt alive others were dragged by their feet through the streets naked until they expired some were scalded to death many stoned and great numbers had their brains beaten out with clubs in Alexandria innumerable were the martyrs who suffered by the sword burning, crucifixion and stoning in Arathusa several were ripped open and corn being put into their bellies swine were brought to feed their inn which in devouring the grain likewise devoured the entrails of the martyrs and in Thrace Emilianus was burnt at a stake and Domitius murdered in a cave with a he had fled for refuge the emperor Julian the Apostate died of a wound which he received in his Persian expedition AD 363 and even while expiring uttered the most horrid blasphemies he was succeeded by Jovian who restored peace to the church after the decease of Jovian Valentinian succeeded to the empire and associated to himself Valens who had the command in the east and was an Aryan and of an unrelenting and persecuting disposition persecution of the Christians by the Goths and Vandals many Scythian Goths having embraced Christianity about the time of Constantine the Great the light of the gospel spread itself considerably in Scythia through the two kings who ruled that country and the majority of the people continued pagans Fritigone king of the west Goths was an ally to the Romans but Athenaric king of the east Goths was at war with them the Christians in the dominions of the former lived unmolested but the latter having been defeated by the Romans wreaked his vengeance on his Christian subjects commencing his pagan injunction in the year 370 in religion the Goths were Aryans and called themselves Christians therefore they destroyed all the statues and temples of the heathen gods but did no harm to the Orthodox Christian churches Alaric had all the qualities of a great general to the wild bravery of the Gothic barbarian he added the courage and skill of the Roman soldier he led his forces across the Alps into Italy and although driven back for the time returned afterward with an irresistible force the last Roman triumph after this fortunate victory over the Goths a triumph as it was called was celebrated at Rome for hundreds of years successful generals had been awarded this great honour on their return from a victorious campaign upon such occasions the city was given up for days to the marching of troops laden with spoils and who dragged after them prisoners of war among whom were often captive kings and conquered generals this was to be the last Roman triumph for it celebrated the last Roman victory although it had been won by Stilico the general it was the boy emperor Honorius who took the credit entering Rome in the car of victory and driving to the capital amid the shouts of the populace afterward as was customary on such occasions there were bloody combats in the Colosseum where gladiators armed with swords and spears fought as furiously as if they were on the field of battle the first part of the bloody entertainment was finished the bodies of the dead were dragged off with hooks and the red and sand covered with a fresh clean layer after this had been done the gates in the wall of the arena were thrown open and a number of tall, well formed men in the prime of youth and strength came forward some carried swords others three pronged spears and nets they marched once around the walls and stopping before the emperor held up their weapons at arms length and with one voice sounded out their greeting Ave Caesar Moreturi et salutant Hail Caesar those about to die salute thee the combats now began again the gladiators with nets tried to entangle those with swords and when they succeeded mercilessly stabbed their antagonists with their antagonists death with the three pronged spear when a gladiator had wounded his adversary and had him lying helpless at his feet he looked up at the eager faces of the spectators and cried out Hock Habet he has it and awaited the pleasure of the audience to kill or spare if the spectators held out their hands toward him with thumbs upward the defeated man was taken away to cover if possible from his wounds but if the fatal signal of thumbs down was given the conquered was to be slain and if he showed any reluctance to present his neck for the death blow there was a scornful shout from the galleries Raquipa Ferum received the steel privileged persons among the audience would even descend into the arena to better witness the death agonies of some unusually brave victim before his corpse was dragged out at the death gate the show went on many had been slain and the people madly excited by the desperate bravery of those who continued to fight shouted their applause but suddenly there was an interruption a rudely clad robed figure appeared for a moment among the audience and then boldly leaped down into the arena he was seen to be a man of rough living presence bareheaded and with sun brown face without hesitating an instant he advanced upon two gladiators engaged in a life and death struggle and laying his hand upon one of them sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood and then turning toward the thousands of angry faces ranged around him called upon them in a solemn deep toned voice which resounded through the deep enclosure these were his words do not requite God's mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other angry shouts and cries at once drowned his voice this is no place for preaching the old customs of Rome must be observed on gladiators thrusting aside the stranger the gladiators would have again attacked each other but the man stood between holding them apart trying in vain to be heard sedition sedition down with him was then the cry and the gladiators enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation at once stabbed him to death stones or whatever missiles came to hand also rained down upon him from the furious people and thus he perished in the midst of the arena his dress showed him to be one of the hermits who vowed themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial and who were reverenced by even combat-loving Romans the few who knew him told how he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage to visit the churches and keep his Christmas at Rome they knew he was a holy man that his name was Telemarkus no more his spirit had been stirred by the sight of thousands flocking to see men slaughter one another and in his simple-hearted zeal he had tried to convince them of the cruelty of their conduct he had died, but not in vain his work was accomplished at the moment he was struck down for the shock of such a death before their eyes turned the hearts of the people they saw the hideous aspects of the favourite vice to which they had blindly surrendered themselves and from the day Telemarkus fell dead in the Colosseum no other fight of gladiators was ever held there Chapter 3 Part 2 of Fox's Book of Martyrs Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Father Zyley of Detroit Fox's Book of Martyrs Volume 1 by John Fox edited by William Byron Forbush Chapter 3 Persecutions of the Christians in Persia Part 2 Persecutions from about the middle of the fifth to the conclusion of the seventh century Proterius was made a priest by Cyril Bishop of Alexandria who was acquainted with his virtues before he appointed him to preach On the death of Cyril the Sea of Alexandria was filled by Discorus an inveterate enemy to the memory and family of his predecessor being condemned by the Council of Calcedon for having embraced the errors of Utikis he was deposed and Proterius chosen to fill the vacant sea who was approved of by the Emperor this occasioned a dangerous insurrection for the city of Alexandria was divided into two factions the one to espouse the cause of the old and the other of the new prelate in one of the commotions the Utikians determined to wreak their vengeance on Proterius who fled to the church for sanctuary but on Good Friday 8457 a large body of them rushed into the church and barbarously murdered the prelate after which they dragged the body through the streets insulted it cut it to pieces burnt it and scattered the ashes in the air Hermena Gildus a Gothic prince was the eldest son of Leo Vigildus a king of the Goths in Spain this prince became a convert to the Orthodox faith by means of his wife Ingonda when the king heard that his son had changed his religious sentiments he stripped him of the commanded civil where he was governor and threatened to put him to death unless he renounced the faith he had newly embraced the prince in order to prevent the execution of his father's menaces began to put himself into a posture of defense many of the Orthodox persuasion in Spain declared for him the king exasperated at this act of rebellion began to punish all the Orthodox Christians who could be seized by his troops and thus a very severe persecution commenced he likewise marched against his son at the head of a very powerful army the prince took refuge in Seville from which he fled he was besieged and taken at Asiata loaded with chains he was sent to Seville and at the Feast of Easter refusing to receive the Eucharist from an Aryan bishop the enraged king ordered his guards to cut the prince to pieces which they punctually performed April 13th 8586 Martin, bishop of Rome was born at Totti in Italy naturally inclined to virtue and his parents bestowed on him an admirable education he opposed the heretics called monothelites who were patronized by the emperor Heraclius Martin was condemned at Constantinople where he was exposed in the most public places to the ridicule of the people divested of all episcopal marks of distinction and treated with the greatest scorn and severity after lying some months in prison Martin was sent to an island at some distance and there cut to pieces 8655 John, bishop of Bergamo in Lombardy was a learned man and a good Christian he did his utmost endeavors to clear the church from the errors of Aryanism and joining in this holy work with John, bishop of Milan he was very successful against the heretics on which account he was assassinated on July 11th AD 683 Kilian was born in Ireland and received from his parents a pious and Christian education he obtained the Roman Pontiff's license to preach to the Pagans in Franconia in Germany at Würzburg he converted Gosbert, the governor whose example was followed by the greater part of the people in two years after persuading Gosbert that his marriage with his brother's widow was sinful the latter had him beheaded AD 689 persecutions from the early part of the 8th to near the conclusion of the 10th century Boniface, Archbishop of Mence and father of the German church was an Englishman and is in ecclesiastical history looked upon as one of the brightest ornaments of this nation originally his name was Winifred or Winfrith and he was born at Curtin in Devonshire then part of the west Saxon kingdom when he was only about 6 years of age he began to discover a propensity to reflection and seemed solicitous to gain information on religious subjects so that he could find a strong inclination to study had him removed a seminary of learning in the diocese of Winchester where he would have a much greater opportunity of attaining improvements than at Exeter after due study the abbot seeing him qualified for the priesthood obliged him to receive that holy order when he was about 30 years old from which time he began to preach and labor for the salvation of his fellow creatures he was released to attend a synod of bishops in the kingdom of west Saxons he afterwards in 719 went to Rome where Gregory II who then sat in Peter's chair received him with great friendship and finding him full of all virtues that composed the character of an apostolic missionary he gave him without commission at large to preach the gospel to the pagans wherever he found them passing through Lombardy and Barbaria he came to Thuringia which country had before received the light of the gospel he next visited Utrecht and then proceeded to Saxony where he converted some thousands to Christianity during the ministry of this meek prelate Pepin was declared king of France it was that prince's ambition to be crowned by the most holy prelate he could find and Boniface was pitched on to perform that ceremony which he did at Soissons in 752 the next year his great age and many infirmities lay so heavy on him that with the consent of the new king and the bishops of his diocese he consecrated Lulus his countrymen and faithful disciple and placed him in the sea of ments when he had thus eased himself of his charge he recommended the church of ments to the care of the new bishop in very strong terms desired he would finish the church at Fould and see him buried in it for his end was near having left these orders he took boat to the Rhine and went to Friesland thousands of barbarous natives demolished the temples and raised churches on the ruins of those superstitious structures a day being appointed for confirming a great number of new converts he ordered them to assemble in a new open plain near the river board thither he repaired the day before and pitching a tent determined to remain on the spot all night in order to be ready early in the morning some pagans who were his inveterate enemies having intelligence of this poured down upon him and the companions of his mission in the night and killed him in 52 of his companions and attendants on June 5th A.D. 755 thus fell the great father of the Germanic church the honor of England and the glory of the age in which he lived 42 persons of Armorion in Upper Friesia were martyred in the year 845 by the Saracens the circumstances of which transactions are as follows in the reign of Theophilus the Saracens ravaged many parts of the eastern empire gained several considerable advantages over the Christians took the city of Armorion and numbers suffered martyrdom Flora and Mary, two ladies of distinction suffered martyrdom at the same time Perfectus was born at Corduba in Spain and brought up in the Christian faith having a quick genius he made himself master of all the useful and polite literature of that age and at the same time was not more celebrated for his abilities than admired for his piety at length he took priests' orders and performed the duties of his office with great assiduity and punctuality publicly declaring Mohammed an imposter he was sentenced to be beheaded and was accordingly executed AD 850 after which his body was honorably interred by the Christians Adalbert, Bishop of Prague a bohemian by birth after being involved in many troubles began to direct his thoughts to the conversion of the infidels to which end he repaired to Danzig where he converted and baptized many which so enraged the pagan priests that they fell upon him and dispatched him with darts on April 23, AD 997 Persecutions in the 11th century Alfage, Archbishop of Canterbury was descended from a considerable family in Gloucestershire and received an education suitable to his illustrious birth his parents were worthy Christians and Alfage seemed to inherit their virtues this sea of Winchester being vacant by the death of Ethelwald Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury as primate of all England consecrated Alfage to the vacant bishopric to the general satisfaction of all concerned in the diocese Dunstan had an extraordinary veneration for Alfage and when at the point of death made it his ardent request to God that he might succeed him in the sea of Canterbury which accordingly happened though not until about 18 years after Dunstan's death in 1006 after Alfage had governed the sea of Canterbury about four years with great reputation to himself and benefit to his people Danes made an incursion into England and laid siege to Canterbury when the design of attacking this city was known many of the principal people made a flight from it and would have persuaded Alfage to follow their example but he, like a good pastor would not listen to such a proposal while he was employed in assisting and encouraging the people Canterbury was taken by storm the enemy poured into the town and destroyed all that came in their way by fire and sword he had the courage to address the enemy and offer himself to their swords as more worthy of their rage than the people he begged they might be saved and that they would discharge their whole fury upon him they accordingly seized him tied his hands insulted and abused him in a rude and barbarous manner and obliged him to remain on the spot until his church was burnt and the monks massacred they then decimated all the inhabitants both Ecclesiastics and laymen leaving only every tenth person alive so that they put 7,236 persons to death and left only four monks and 800 laymen alive after which they confined the archbishop in a dungeon where they kept him close prisoner for several months during his confinement they proposed to him to redeem his liberty with the sum of 3,000 pounds and to persuade the king to purchase their departure out of the kingdom with a further sum of 10,000 pounds as Alfage's circumstances would not allow him to satisfy the exorbitant demand they bound him and put him to severe torments to oblige him to discover the treasure of the church upon which they assured him of his life and liberty but the prelate piously persisted in refusing to give the pagans any account of it they remanded him to prison again confined him six days longer and then taking him prisoner with them to Greenwich brought him to trial there he still remained inflexible with respect to the church treasure but exhorted them to forsake their idolatry and embrace Christianity this so greatly incensed the Danes that the soldiers dragged him out of the camp and beat him unmercifully one of the soldiers who had been converted by him knowing that his pains would be lingering as his death was determined on actuated by a kind of barbarous compassion cut off his head and thus put the finishing stroke to his martyrdom April 19 AD 1012 this transaction happened on the very spot where the church at Greenwich which is dedicated to him now stands after his death his body was thrown into the Thames but being found the next day it was buried in the Cathedral of St. Paul's by the bishops of London and Lincoln from whence it was in 1023 removed to Canterbury by Ethelmoth the Archbishop of that province Gerard of Anishin devoted himself to the service of God from his tender years entered into a religious house for some time and then determined to visit the Holy Land going into Hungary he became acquainted with Stephen the king of that country who made him bishop of Chonad Uvo and Peter, successors of Stephen being deposed Andrew, son of Ladislaus cousin German to Stephen had then a tender of the crown made him upon condition that he would employ his authority in extirpating the Christian religion out of Hungary the ambitious prince came into the proposal but Gerard being informed of his impious bargain thought it his duty to remonstrate against the enormity of Andrew's crime and persuade him to withdraw his promise in this view he undertook to go to that prince attended by three prelates full of like zeal for religion the new king was at Alba Regales but as the four bishops were going to cross the Danube they were stopped by a party of soldiers posted there they bore an attack of a shower of stones patiently when the soldiers beat them unmercifully and at length dispatched them with lances their martyrdoms happened in the year 1045 Stanislaus, bishop of Krakow was descended from an illustrious Polish family the piety of his parents was equal to their opulence and the latter they rendered subservient to all the purposes of charity and benevolence Stanislaus remained for some time undetermined whether he should embrace a monastic life or engage among the secular clergy he was at length persuaded to the latter by Lambert Zula, bishop of Krakow who gave him holy orders and made him a canon of his cathedral Lambert died on November 25, 1071 when all concerned in the choice of a successor declared for Stanislaus and he succeeded to the prelacy Boleslaus, the second king of Poland had by nature many good qualities but giving away to his passions he ran into many enormities and at length had the appellation of cruel bestowed upon him Stanislaus alone had the courage to tell him of his faults when taking a private opportunity he freely displayed to him the enormities of his crimes the king greatly exasperated at his repeated freedoms at length determined at any rate to get the better of a prelate who was so extremely faithful hearing one day that the bishop was by himself in the chapel of St. Michael at a small distance from the town he dispatched some soldiers to murder him the soldiers readily undertook the bloody task but when they came into the presence of Stanislaus the venerable aspect of the prelate struck them with such awe that they could not perform what they had promised on their return the king finding that they had not obeyed his orders stormed at them violently snatched a dagger from one of them and ran furiously to the chapel where, finding Stanislaus at the altar he plunged the weapon into his heart the prelate immediately expired on May 8, A.D. 1079 End of Chapter 3 Recording by Father Xyley Detroit, Michigan d-r-z-e-i-l-e dot net Chapter 4 Part 1 of Fox's Book of Martyrs, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Sean F. Sawyers Fox's Book of Martyrs, Volume 1 by John Fox edited by William Byron Forbush Chapter 4 Papal Persecutions, Part 1 Thus far our history of persecution has been confined principally to the pagan world We come now to a period when persecution under the guise of Christianity committed more enormities than ever disgraced the annals of paganism Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the gospel the papal church, arming herself with the power of the sword vexed the church of God and wasted it for several centuries a period most appropriately termed in history the Dark Ages The kings of the earth gave their power to the beast and submitted to be trodden on by the miserable vermin that often filled the papal chair as in the case of Henry, Emperor of Germany the storm of papal persecution first burst upon the Waldencies in France persecution of the Waldencies in France Popery having brought various innovations into the church and overspread the Christian world with darkness and superstition some few who plainly perceived the pernicious tendency of such errors determined to show the light of the gospel in its real purity and to disperse those clouds which artful priests had raised about it in order to blind the people and obscure its real brightness the principal among these was Baron Garius who about the year 1000 boldly preached gospel truths according to their primitive purity many from conviction sent it to his doctrine and were on that account called Baron Garians to Baron Garius succeeded Pierre Bruis who preached at Toulouse under the protection of an earl named Hildelphonsus and the whole tenets of the reformers with the reasons of their separation from the church of Rome were published in a book written by Bruis under the title of Antichrist by the year of Christ 1140 the number of the reformed was very great and the probability of its increasing alarmed the Pope who wrote to several princes to banish them from their dominions and employed many learned men to write against their doctrines in A.D. 1147 because of Henry of Toulouse deemed their most eminent preacher they were called Hinercians and as they would not admit of any proofs relative to religion that could be deduced from the scriptures themselves the Popish party gave them the name of apostolics at length Peter Waldo or Waldo a native of Lyon eminent for his piety and learning became a strenuous opposer of Popery and from him the reformed at that time received the appellation of Waldencies or Waldois Pope Alexander III being informed by the bishop of Lyon of these transactions excommunicated Waldo and his inherence and commanded the bishop to exterminate them if possible from the face of the earth hence began the papal persecutions against the Waldencies the proceedings of Waldo and the reformed occasioned the first rise of the inquisitors for Pope Innocent III authorized certain monks as inquisitors to inquire for and deliver over to the secular power the process was short as an accusation was deemed adequate to guilt and a candid trial was never granted to the accused the Pope finding that these cruel means had not the intended effect sent several learned monks to preach among the Waldencies and to endeavor to argue them out of their opinions among these monks was one Dominic who appeared extremely zealous in the cause of Popery this Dominic instituted an order which from him was called the Order of Dominican Friars and the members of this order have ever since been the principal inquisitors in the various inquisitions in the world the power of the inquisitors was unlimited they proceeded against whom they pleased without any consideration of age sex or rank let the accusers be ever so infamous the accusation was deemed valid and even anonymous informations sent by letter were thought sufficient evidence to be rich was a crime equal to heresy therefore many who had money were accused of heresy or of being favorers of heretics that they might be obliged to pay for their opinions the dearest friends or nearest kindred could not without danger serve anyone who was imprisoned on account of religion to convey to those who were confined a little straw or give them a cup of water was called favoring of the heretics and they were prosecuted accordingly no lawyer dared to plead for his own brother and their malice even extended beyond the grave hence the bones of many were dug up and burnt as examples to the living if a man on his deathbed was accused of being a follower of Waldo his estates were confiscated and the heir to them defrauded of his inheritance and some were sent to the holy land while the Dominicans took possession of their houses and properties and when the owners returned would often pretend not to know them these persecutions were continued for several centuries under different popes and other great dignitaries of the Catholic Church by John Fox edited by William Byron Forbush Chapter 4 Papal Persecutions Part 2 Persecutions of the Albigencies The Albigencies were a people of the Reformed religion who inhabited the country of Albion they were condemned on the score of religion in the Council of Lateran by order of Pope Alexander III nevertheless they increased so prodigiously that many cities were inhabited by persons only of their persuasion and several eminent noblemen embraced their doctrines among the latter were Raymond, Earl of Toulouse Raymond, Earl of Foix the Earl of Bazeers, etc a friar named Peter having been murdered in the Dominions of the Earl of Toulouse the Pope made the murder a pretense to persecute that noblemen and his subjects to effect this he sent persons throughout all Europe in order to raise forces to act coercively against the Albigencies and promised paradise to all that would come to this war which he termed a holy war and bear arms for forty days the same indulgences were likewise held out to all who entered themselves for the purpose as to such as engaged in crusades to the holy land the brave Earl defended Toulouse and other places with the most heroic bravery and various success against the Pope's legates and Simon, Earl of Montfort a bigoted Catholic noblemen unable to subdue the Earl of Toulouse openly the king of France and the queen mother and three archbishops raised another formidable army and had the art to persuade the Earl of Toulouse to come to a conference when he was treacherously seized upon made a prisoner forced to appear barefooted and bareheaded before his enemies and compelled to subscribe an abject recantation this was followed by a severe persecution against the Albigencies and express orders that the laity should not be permitted to read the sacred scriptures in the year 1620 also the persecution against the Albigencies was very severe in 1648 a heavy persecution raged throughout Lithuania and Poland the cruelty of the Cossacks was so excessive that the tartans themselves were ashamed of their barbarities among others who suffered was the Reverend Adrian Cholinsky who was roasted alive by a slow fire and whose sufferings and mode of death may depict the horrors which the professors of Christianity have endured from the enemies of the Redeemer the reformation of the Papistical error very early was projected in France from the third century a learned man named Almericus and six of his disciples were ordered to be burnt at Paris for asserting that God was no otherwise present in the sacramental bread than in any other bread that it was idolatry to build altars or shrines to saints and that it was ridiculous to offer incense to them the martyrdom of Almericus and his peoples did not however prevent many from acknowledging the justness of his notions and seeing the purity of the reformed religion so that the faith of Christ continually increased and in time not only spread itself over many parts of France but diffused the light of the Gospel over various other countries in the year 1524 at a town in France called Meldon one John Clark set up a bill on the church door wherein he called the Pope Antichrist for this offense he was repeatedly whipped and then branded on the forehead going afterward to Mintz in Lorraine he demolished some images for which he had his right hand and nose cut off and his arms and breasts torn with pincers he sustained these cruelties with amazing fortitude and was even sufficiently cool to sing the one hundredth and fifteenth psalm which expressly forbids idolatry after which he was thrown into the fire and burnt to ashes many persons of the reformed persuasion were about this time beaten, racked, scourged, and burnt to death in several parts of France but more particularly at Paris, Maldon, and Lemosin a native of Maldon was burnt by a slow fire for saying that mass was a plain denial of the death and passion of Christ at Lemosin, John de Cadyrco a clergyman of the reformed religion was apprehended and ordered to be burnt Francis Brevard, secretary to Cardinal de Palais for speaking in favor of the reformed had his tongue cut out and was then burnt AD 1545 James Cobard, a schoolmaster in the city of St. Michael was burnt AD 1545 for saying that, quote, the mass was useless and absurd and about the same time fourteen men were burnt at Maldon their wives being compelled to stand by and behold the execution AD 1546 Peter Chapot brought a number of Bibles in the French tongue to France and publicly sold them there for which he was brought to trial, sentenced and executed a few days afterwards soon after a cripple of Mel a schoolmaster of Pharaugh named Stephen Polat and a man named John English were burnt for the faith Montserre Blondel, a rich jeweler was in AD 1548 apprehended at Lyons and sent to Paris there he was burnt for the faith by order of the court AD 1549 Herbert, a youth of nineteen years of age was committed to the flames at Dijon as was also Florent Vennott in the same year in the year 1554 two men of the reformed religion with the son and daughter of one of them were apprehended and committed to the castle of Niverne on examination they confessed their faith and were ordered to execution being smeared with grease, brimstone and gunpowder they cried salt on, salt on this sinful and rotten flesh their tongues were then cut out and they were afterward committed to the flames which soon consumed them by means of the combustible matter with which they were besmeared the Bartholomew Massacure at Paris, etc on the 22nd day of August 1572 commenced this diabolical act of sanguinary brutality it was intended to destroy at one stroke the root of the Protestant tree which had only before partially suffered in its branches the king of France had artfully proposed a marriage between his sister and the prince of Navarre the captain and prince of the Protestants this imprudent marriage was publicly celebrated at Paris August 18 by the Cardinal of Bourbon upon a high stage erected for the purpose they dined in great pomp with the bishop and supped with the king at Paris four days after this the prince, Colligny, as he was coming from the council was shot in both arms he then said to Marre his deceased mother's minister oh my brother I do now perceive that I am indeed beloved of my god since for his most holy sake I am wounded although the vidum advised him to fly yet he abode in Paris and was soon after slain by Vemges who afterward declared he never saw a man meet death more valiantly than the admiral the soldiers were appointed at a certain signal to burst out instantly to the slaughter in all parts of the city when they had killed the admiral they threw him out at a window in the street where his head was cut off and sent to the pope the savage papists still raging against him cut off his arms and private members and after dragging him three days to the streets hung him by the heels without the city after him they slew many great and honorable persons who were Protestants as Count Rochefoucault the admiral's son-in-law Antonius Germontas Marquis of Ravley Luz Bussius Brandinius Puvlius Bruneius, etc. and falling upon the common people they continued the slaughter for many days in the three first they slew of all ranks and conditions to the number of ten thousand the bodies were thrown into the rivers and blood ran through the streets with a strong current and the river appeared presently like a stream of blood so furious was their hellish rage that they slew all papists whom they suspected to be not very staunch to their diabolical religion from Paris the destruction spread to all quarters of the realm at Orlins a thousand were slain of men, women, and children and six thousand at Ruin at Meldith two hundred were put into prison and later brought out by units and cruelly murdered at Lyons eight hundred were massacred here children hanging about their parents and parents affectionately embracing their children were pleasant food for the swords and bloodthirsty minds of those who call themselves the Catholic Church here three hundred were slain in the bishop's house and the empires monks would suffer none to be buried at Augustabana on the people hearing of the massacre at Paris they shut their gates that no protestants might escape and searching diligently for every individual of the reformed church imprisoned and then barbariously murdered them the same cruelty they practiced at Avarkum and Troy's at Toulouse, Ruin, and many other places running from city to city towns and villages through the kingdom as a cooperation of this horrid carnage the following interesting narrative written by a sensible and learned Roman Catholic appears in this place with peculiar propriety the nuptials says he of the young king of Navarre with the French king's sister was solemnized with pomp and all the endearments all the assurances of friendship all the oaths sacred among men were profusely lavished by Catherine the queen mother and by the king during which the rest of the court thought of nothing the festivities plays and masquerades at last at twelve o'clock at night on the eve of Saint Bartholomew the signal was given immediately all the houses of the protestants were forced open at once Admiral Culligny alarmed by the uproar jumped out of bed when a company of assassins rushed in his chamber they were headed by one Bessam who had been bred up as a domestic in the family of the geese this wretch thrust his sword into the animals breast and also cut him in the face Bessam was a German and being afterwards taken by the protestants the rochellers would have brought him in order to hang and quarter him but he was killed by one Bretonville Henry the young Duke of geese who afterwards went to the Catholic League and was murdered at Bloss standing at the door until the horrid butchery should be completed called aloud Bessam is it done immediately after this the Ruffians threw the body out of the window and Culligny expired at geese's feet Count de Tulligny also fell a sacrifice he had married about ten months before Culligny's daughter his countenance was so engaging that the Ruffians when they advanced in order to kill him were struck with compassion but others more barbarous rushing forward murdered him in the meantime all the friends of Culligny were assassinated throughout Paris men, women and children were promiscuously slaughtered and every street was strewed with expiring bodies some priests holding up a crucifix in one hand and a dagger in the other ran to the chiefs of the murderers Culligny exhorted them to spare neither relations nor friends Tavons, Marshal of France an ignorant superstitious soldier who joined the fury of religion to the rage of party rode on horseback through the streets of Paris crying to his men, let blood, let blood bleeding is as wholesome in August as in May in the memories of the life of this enthusiastic written by his son we are told that the father being on his deathbed and making a general confession of his actions the priest said to him with surprise what? no mention of Saint Bartholomew's massacre? to which Tavons replied I consider it as a notorious action that will wash away my sins such horrid sentiments can a false spirit of religion inspire the king's palace was one of the chief scenes of the butchery the king of Navarre had his lodgings in the Louvre and all his domestics were Protestants many of these were killed in bed with their wives others, running away naked were pursued by the soldiers through the several rooms of the palace even to the king's antechamber the young wife of Henry of Navarre awakened by the dreadful up-war being afraid for her consort and for her own life seized with horror and half dead flew from her bed in order to throw herself at the feet of the king, her brother but scarce had she opened her chamber door when some of her Protestant domestics rushed in for refuge the soldiers immediately followed pursued them in sight of the princess and killed one who crept under her bed two others being wounded with halberds fell at the queen's feet so that she was covered with blood Count de la Rochefacot a young nobleman greatly in the king's favor for his comely air, his politeness and a certain peculiar happiness in the turn of his conversation had spent the evening until eleven o'clock with the monarch in pleasant familiarity and had given a loose with the utmost mirth to the sallies of his imagination the monarch felt some remorse and being touched with a kind of compassion bid him two or three times not to go home but lie in the louvre the Count said he must go to his wife upon which the king pressed him no farther but said, let him go I see God has decreed his death and in two hours after he was murdered very few of the Protestants escaped the fury of their enthusiastic persecutors among these was young La Force afterwards the famous Marshal de la Force a child about ten years of age his deliverance was exceedingly remarkable his father, the elder brother and he himself were seized together by the Duke of Anjou's soldier these murderers flew at all three and struck them at random when they all fell and lay upon one another the youngest did not receive a single blow but appearing as if he was dead escaped the next day and his life thus wonderfully preserved lasted four score and five years many of the wretched victims fled to the water side and some swam over the sign to the suburbs of Saint Germain the king saw them from his window which looked upon the river and fired upon them with a carbine that had been loaded for that purpose by one of his pages while the queen mother undisturbed and serene in the midst of slaughter looking down from a balcony encouraged the murderers and laughed at the dying groans of the slaughtered this barbarous queen was fired with a restless ambition and she perpetually shifted her party in order to satiate it some days after this horrid transaction the French court endeavored to palitate it by forms of law they pretended to justify the massacre by a columnary and accused the admiral of a conspiracy which no one believed the parliament was commended to proceed against the memory of Colligny and his dead body was hanged in chains on Mofacan gallows the king himself went to view this shocking spectacle so one of his courtiers advised him to retire and complaining of the stench of the corpse he replied a dead enemy smells well the massacres on Saint Bartholomew's day are painted in the royal salon of the Vatican at Rome with the following inscription the young king of Navarre was spared through policy rather than from pity of the queen mother she keeping him prisoner until the king's death in order that he might be as a security and pledge for the submission of such protestants as might affect their escape this horrid butchery was not confined merely to the city of Paris the like orders were issued from court to the government and the court to the court and the court to the court the orders were issued from court to the governors of all the provinces in France so that in a week's time about 100,000 protestants were cut to pieces in different parts of the kingdom two or three governors only refused to obey the king's orders one of these named Montmoren governor of Avern wrote the king the following letter which deserves to be transmitted to the latest posterity Sire, I have received an order under your majesty's seal to put to death all the protestants in my province I have too much respect for your majesty not to believe the letter of forgery but if, which God forbid the order should be genuine I have too much respect for your majesty to obey it at Rome the horrid joy was so great that they appointed a day of high festival and a jubilee with great indulgence to all who kept it and showed every expression of gladness they could devise and the man who first carried the news received a thousand crowns of the cardinal of Lorraine for his ungodly message the king also commanded the day to be kept with every demonstration of joy concluding now that the whole race of Huguenots was extinct many who gave great sums of money for their ransom were immediately after slain and several towns which were under the king's promise of protection and safety were cut off as soon as they delivered themselves up on these promises to his generals or captains at Bordeaux at the instigation of a villainous monk who used to urge the papists to slaughter in his sermons 264 were cruelly murdered some of them senators another of the same pious fraternity produced a similar slaughter at Angénacum in Maine where the populace at the holy inquisitor's satanical suggestion ran upon the protestants slew them, plundered their houses and pulled down their church the duke of geese entered into Bloss suffered his soldiers to fly upon the spoil and slay or drown all the protestants they could find in this they spared neither age nor sex defiling the women and then murdering them from whence he went to mayor and committed the same outrages for many days together here they found a minister named Cassimonius and threw him into the river at Anjou they slew Albiacus a minister and many women were defiled and murdered there among whom were two sisters abused before their father whom the assassins bound to a wall to see them and then slew them and him the president of Turin after giving a large sum for his life was cruelly beaten with clubs stripped of his clothes and hung feet upwards with his head and breast in the river before he was dead they opened his belly plucked out his entrails and threw them into the river and then carried his heart about the city upon a spear which was used even to young children whom they cut open pulled out their entrails which through very rage they gnawed with their teeth those who had fled to the castle when they yielded were almost hanged thus they did at the city of Mastacon counting its sport to cut off their arms and legs and afterward kill them and for the entertainment of their visitors they often threw the protestants from a high bridge into the river saying, did you ever see men leap so well? At Pena, after promising them safety three hundred were inhumanely butchered and five and forty at Albia on the Lord's Day At Naan, though it yielded on conditions of safeguard, the most horrid spectacles were exhibited persons of both sexes and conditions were indiscriminately murdered, the streets ringing with doleful cries and flowing with blood and the houses flaming with fire which the abandoned soldiers had thrown in one woman being dragged from her hiding place with her husband was first abused by the brutal soldiers and them of the sword which they commanded her to draw, they forced it while in her hands into the bowels of her husband At Samarrow Bridge they murdered above one hundred protestants after promising them peace and at Ansador one hundred were killed and cast part into a jakes and part into a river one hundred put into a prison at Orlins were destroyed by the furious multitude the protestants at Rochelle who were such as had miraculously escaped the rage of hell and fled there seeing how ill they fared who submitted to those holy devils stood for their lives and some other cities encouraged thereby did the like against Rochelle the king sent almost the whole power of France which besieged it seven months though by their assaults they did very little execution on the inhabitants yet by famine they destroyed eighteen thousand out of two and twenty the dead being too numerous for the living to bury became food for vermin and carnivorous birds many took their coffins into the churchyard laying down in them and breathed their last their diet had long been with the minds of those in plenty shudder at even human flesh entrails, dung, and the most loathsome things became at last the only food of those champions for that truth and liberty of which the world was not worthy at every attack the siegeers met with such an intrepid reception that they left one hundred and thirty two captains with a proportionate number of men dead in the field the siege at last was broken up at the request of the Duke of Anjou the king's brother who was proclaimed king of Poland and the king being wearied out easily complied whereupon honorable conditions were granted them it is a remarkable interference of providence that in all this dreadful massacre not more than two ministers of the gospel were involved in it the tragical sufferings of the Protestants are too numerous to detail but the treatment of Philip of Doe will give an idea of the rest after the miscreants had slain this martyr in his bed they went to his wife who was then attended by the midwife expecting every moment to be delivered the midwife treated them to stay the murder at least till the child which was the twentieth should be born notwithstanding this they thrust a dagger up to the hilt into the poor woman anxious to be delivered she ran into a corn loft but hither they pursued her stabbed her in the belly and then threw her into the street by the fall the child came from the dying mother and being caught up by one of the Catholic he stabbed the infant and then threw it into the river from the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the French Revolution in 1789 the persecutions occasioned by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes took place under Louis the 14th this Edict was made by Henry the Great of France in 1598 and secured to the Protestants an equal right in every respect whether civil or religious with the other subjects of the realm all those privileges Louis the 14th confirmed to the Protestants by another statute called the Edict of Nismas and kept them enthrallably to the end of his reign on the accession of Louis the 14th the kingdom was almost ruined by civil wars at this critical juncture the Protestants, heedless of our lord's admonition they that take the sword and perish with the sword took such an active part in favor of the king that he was constrained to acknowledge himself indebted to their arms for his establishment on the throne instead of cherishing and rewarding that party who had fought for him he reasoned that the same power which had protected could overturn him and listening to the poppish machinations he began to issue out prescriptions and restrictions of final determination Rochelle was presently fettered with an incredible number of denunciations Montabon and Malau were sacked by soldiers poppish commissioners were appointed to preside over the affairs of the Protestants and there was no appeal from their ordinance except to the king's council this struck at the root of their civil and religious exercises and prevented them being Protestants from suing a Catholic in any court of law this was followed by another injunction to make an inquiry and all perishes into whatever the Protestants had said or done for twenty years past this filled the prisons with innocent victims and condemned others to the galleys or banishment Protestants were expelled from all offices trades privileges and employs thereby depriving them of the means of getting their bread such excesses in this brutality that they would not suffer even the midwives to officiate but compelled their women to submit themselves in that crisis of nature to their enemies the brutal Catholics their children were taken from them to be educated by the Catholics and at seven years of age made to embrace popery the reform were prohibited from relieving their own sick or poor from all private worship and divine service was to be performed in the presence of a poppish priest to prevent the unfortunate victims from leaving the kingdom all the passages on the frontiers were strictly guarded yet by the good hand of God about a hundred and fifty escaped their vigilance and immigrated to different countries to relate a dismal narrative all that has been related hitherto were only infringements on their established charter the edict of knots at length the diabolical revocation of that edict passed on the 18th of October 1685 and was registered the 22nd contrary to all form of law instantly the dragoons were quartered upon the protestors throughout the realm and filled all France with the like news that the king would no longer suffer any Huguenots in his kingdom and therefore they must resolve to change their religion hereupon the intendants in every parish which were poppish governors and spies set over the protestants assembled the reformed inhabitants and told them they must without delay turn Catholics either freely or by force the protestants replied that they were ready to sacrifice their lives and estates to the king but their consciences being gods they could not so dispose of them instantly the troops seized the gates and avenues of the cities and placing guards in all the passages entered with sword in hand crying die or be Catholics in short they practiced every wickedness and horror they could devise to force them to change their religion they hanged both men and women by their hair or their feet and smoked them with hay until they were nearly dead and if they still refused to sign a recantation they hung them up again and repeated their barbarities until wearied out with torments without death they forced many to yield to them others they plucked off all the hair of their heads and beards with pinchers others they threw on great fires and pulled them out again repeating it until they extorted a promise to recant some they stripped naked and after offering them the most infamous insults they ducked them with pins from head to foot and lanced them with pin knives and sometimes with red hot pinchers they dragged them by the nose until they promised to turn sometimes they tied fathers and husbands while they ravished their wives and daughters before their eyes multitudes they imprisoned in the most noisome dungeons where they practiced all sorts of torments in secret their wives and children they shut up in monasteries such as endeavored to escape by flight were pursued in the woods and hunted in the fields and shot at like wild beasts nor did any condition or quality scream them from the ferocity of these infernal dragoons even the members of parliament and military officers though on actual service were ordered to quit their posts and repair directly to their houses to suffer the like storm such as complained to the king were sent to the Bastille where they drank the same cup the bishops and the intendants marched at the head of the dragoons with a troop of missionaries monks and other ecclesiastics to animate the soldiers to an execution so agreeable to their holy church and so glorious to their demon god and their tyrant king informing the edict to repeal the edict of knots the council were divided some would have all the ministers detained and forced into popery as well as the laity others were for banishing them because their presence would strengthen the protestants and perseverance and if they were forced to turn they would ever be secret and powerful enemies in the bosom of the church by their great knowledge and experience and controversial matters this reason prevailing they were sentenced to banishment and only 15 days allowed them to depart the kingdom on the same day the edict for revoking the protestants charter was published they demolished their churches and banished their ministers whom they allowed but 24 hours to leave Paris the papists would not suffer them to dispose of their effects and through every obstacle in their way to delay their escape until the limited time was expired which subjected them to the condemnation for life to the galleys the guards were doubled at the seaports of the victims who endured torments and wants at which human nature must shudder the sufferings of the ministers and others who were sent to the galleys seemed to exceed all chained to the oar they were exposed to the open air night and day at all seasons and in all weathers and went through weakness of body they fainted under the oar instead of a cordial to revive them or vians to refresh them they received only the lashes of a scorch or the blows of a cane or rope's end for the want of sufficient clothing and necessary cleanliness they were most grievously tormented with vermin and cruelly pinched with the cold which removed by night the executioners who beat and tormented them by day instead of a bed they were allowed sick or well only a hard board 18 inches broad to sleep on without any covering but their wretched apparel which was a shirt of the coarsest canvas a little jerkin of red surge slit on each side up to the armholes with open sleeves that reached not to the elbow and once in three years they had a coarse frock and a little cap to cover their heads which were always kept close shaved as a mark of their infamy the allowance of provision was as narrow as the sentiments of those who condemn them to such miseries and their treatment when sick is too shocking to relate doomed to die upon the boards of a dark hold covered with vermin and without the least convenience for the calls of nature nor was it among the least of the horrors they endured that as ministers of Christ and honest men they were chained side by side to felons and the most excruble villains whose blasphemous tongues were never idle if they refused to hear mass they were sentenced to the bastonado of which dreadful punishment the following is a description preparatory to it the chains are taken off and the victims delivered into the hands of the Turks that preside at the oars who stripped them quite naked and stretching them upon a great gun they are held so that they cannot stir during which they arrange an awful silence throughout the galley the Turk who is appointed the executioner and who thanks the sacrifice acceptable to his prophet Muhammad most cruelly beats the wretched victim with the rough cudgel or naughty rope scent until the skin is flayed off his bones and he is near the point of expiring then they apply a most tormenting mixture of vinegar and salt and consign him to that most intolerable hospital where thousands under their cruelties have expired End of Chapter 4, Part 2 Recording by Sean F. Sawyers St. Louis, Missouri Chapter 4, Part 3 of Fox's Book of Martyrs, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Sean F. Sawyers Fox's Book of Martyrs, Volume 1 by John Fox edited by William Byron Forbush Chapter 4, Papal Persecutions, Part 3 Martyrdom of John Colas We pass over many other individual martyrdoms to insert that of John Colas which took place as recently as 1761 and is an indubitable proof of the bigotry of popery and shows that neither experience nor improvement can root out the inveterate prejudices of the Roman Catholics or render them less cruel or inexorable to Protestants John Colas was a merchant of the city of Toulouse where he had been settled and lived in good repute and had married an English woman of French extraction Colas and his wife were Protestants and had five sons but Louis, one of the sons became a Roman Catholic having been converted by a maid servant who had lived in the family about 30 years The father, however, did not express any resentment or ill will upon the occasion but kept the maid in the family and settled in annuity upon the son In October 1761 the family consisted of John Colas and his wife one woman servant Mark Antony Colas the eldest son and Peter Colas the second son Mark Antony was bred to the law but could not be admitted to practice on account of his being a Protestant Hence he grew melancholy read all the books he could procure relative to suicide and seemed determined to destroy himself To this may be added that he led a dissipated life was greatly addicted to gaming and constituted the character of a libertine on which account his father frequently reprehended him and sometimes in terms of severity which considerably added to the gloom that seemed to oppress him On the 13th of October 1761 Mr. Gauber Lafaisa a young gentleman about 19 years of age the son of Lafaisa a celebrated advocate of Toulouse about five o'clock in the evening was met by John Colas the father and the eldest son Mark Antony who was his friend Colas the father invited him to supper and the family and their guest sat down in a room up one pair of stairs the whole company consisted of Colas the father and his wife Antony and Peter Colas the sons and Lafaisa the guest no other person being in the house except the maid servant who has been already mentioned it was now about seven o'clock the supper was not long but before it was over Antony left the table and went into the kitchen which was on the same floor as he was accustomed to do the maid asked him if he was cold he answered quite the contrary I burn and then left her in the meantime his friend and family left the room they had sucked in and went into a bed chamber the father and Lafaisa the younger son Peter in an elbow chair and the mother in another chair and without making any inquiry after Antony continued in conversation together until between nine and ten o'clock when Lafaisa took his leave and Peter who had fallen asleep was awakened to attend him with a light on the ground floor of Colas's house was a shop and a warehouse the latter of which was divided from the shop by a pair of folding doors when Peter Colas and Lafaisa came downstairs into the shop they were extremely shocked to see Antony hanging in his shirt from a bar which he had laid across the top of the two folding doors having half opened them for that purpose on discovery of this horrid spectacle they shrieked out which brought down Colas the father the mother being seized with such terror as kept her trembling in the passage above when the maid discovered what had happened she continued below either because she feared to carry an account of it to her mistress or because she busied herself in doing some good office to her master who was embracing the body of his son and bathing it in his tears the mother therefore being thus left alone went down and mixed in the scene that has been already described with such emotions as it must naturally produce in the meantime Peter had been sent for La More by the sergeant in the neighborhood La More was not at home but his apprentice Mr. Grossel came instantly upon examination he found the body quite dead and by this time a papistical crowd of people were gathered about the house and having by some means heard that Antony Colas was suddenly dead and that the sergeant who had examined the body declared he had been strangled they took it into their heads he had been murdered and as the family was protestant he suddenly supposed that the young man was about to change his religion and had been put to death for that reason the poor father overwhelmed with grief for the loss of his child was advised by his friends to send for the officers of justice to prevent his being torn to pieces by the Catholic multitude who supposed he had murdered his son this was accordingly done and David the chief magistrate or capital took the father Peter the son the mother and the maid all into custody and set a guard over them he sent for a physician and surgeons who examined the body for marks of violence but found none except the mark of the ligature on the neck they found also the hair of the deceased done up in the usual manner perfectly smooth and without the least disorder he also regularly folded up and laid upon the counter nor was his shirt either torn or unbuttoned notwithstanding these innocent appearances the capital thought proper to agree with the opinion of the mob and took it into his head that old Colas had sent for Levisa telling him that he had a son to be hanged that Levisa had come to perform the office of executioner and that he had received assistance from the father and brother no proof of the supposed fact could be procured the capital had recourse to a monetary or general information in which the crime was taken for granted and persons were required to give such testimony against it as they were able this recites that Levisa was commissioned by the Protestants to be their executioner in ordinary when any of their children were to be hanged for changing their religion it recites also that when the Protestants and their children they compel them to kneel and one of the interrogatories was whether any person had seen Antony Colas kneel before his father when he strangled him it recites likewise that Antony died a Roman Catholic and requires evidence of his Catholicism but before this monetary was published the mob had got a notion that Antony Colas was the next day to have entered into the fraternity of the white penitents or caused his body to be buried in the middle of St. Stephen's church a few days after the internment of the deceased the white penitents performed a solemn service for him in their chapel the church was hung with white and a tomb was raised in the middle of it on the top of which was placed a human skeleton holding in one hand a paper on which was written abjuration of heresy and in the other a palm the emblem of martyrdom the next day the Franciscans performed a service of the same kind for him the capital continued the persecution with unrelenting severity and without the least proof coming in thought fit to condemn the unhappy father mother, brother, friend and servant to the torture and put them all into irons on the 18th of November from these dreadful proceedings the sufferers appealed to the parliament which immediately took cognizance of the affair and annulled the sentence of the capital as irregular but they continued the prosecution and upon the hangman deposing it was impossible Antony should hang himself as was pretended the majority of the parliament were of the opinion that the prisoners were guilty and therefore ordered them to be tried by the criminal court of Toulouse one voted him innocent but after long debates the majority was for the torture and wheel came to the father by way of experiment whether he was guilty or not hoping he would in the agony confess the crime and accuse the other prisoners whose fate therefore they suspended poor Calasse however an old man of 68 was condemned to this dreadful punishment alone he suffered the torture with great constancy and was led to execution in a frame of mind which excited the admiration of all that saw him two of the Dominicans father Borges and father Koldeguse who attended him in his last moments and declared that they thought him not only innocent of the crime laid to his charge but also an exemplary instance of true Christian patience fortitude and charity when he saw the executioner prepared to give him the last stroke he made a fresh declaration to father Borges but while the words were still in his mouth the capital the author of this catastrophe who came upon the scaffold merely to gratify his desire of being a witness of his punishment and death ran up to him and bawled out wretch there are faggots which are to reduce your body to ashes speak the truth Im Calasse made no reply but turned his head a little aside and that moment the executioner did his office the popular outcry against this family was so violent in Langdok that everybody expected to see the children of Calasse broke upon the wheel and the mother burnt alive young Donott Calasse was advised to fly into Switzerland he went and found a gentleman who at first could only pity and relieve him without daring to judge of the rigor exercise against the father mother and brothers soon after one of the brothers who was only banished likewise threw himself into the arms of the same person who for more than a month took every possible precaution to be assured of the innocence of the family once convinced he thought himself obliged in conscience to employ his friends, his purse his pen and his credit to repair the fatal mistake of the seven judges of Toulouse and to have the proceedings revised by the king's council this revision lasted three years and it is well known what honor missers de Grosna and Bacuancourt acquired by investigating this memorable cause 50 masters of the court of requests unanimously declared the whole family of Calasse innocent and recommended them to the benevolent justice of his majesty the Duke de Choiselle who never let slip an opportunity of signalizing the greatness of his character who only assisted this unfortunate family with money but obtained for them a gratuity of 36,000 livers from the king on the 9th of March 1765 the erect was signed which justified the family of Calasse and changed their fate the 9th of March 1762 was the very day on which the innocent and virtuous father of that family had been executed and the Empress ran in crowds to see them come out of prison and clap their hands for joy while the tears streamed from their eyes this dreadful example of bigotry employed the pen of Voltaire in deprecation of the horrors of superstition and though an infidel himself his essay on toleration does honor to his pen and has been a blessed means of abating the rigor of persecution gospel purity will equally shun superstition and cruelty as the mildness of Christ's tenets teaches only to comfort in this world and to procure salvation in the next to persecute for being of a different opinion is as absurd as to persecute for having a different countenance if we honor God keep sacred the pure doctrines of Christ put a full confidence in the promises contained in the Holy Scriptures and obey the political laws of the state in which we reside we have an undoubted right to protection instead of persecution and to serve heaven as our conscience regulated by the gospel rules may direct