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The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons

Julius Africanus

IV.—The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.

About this work

Author: Julius Africanus

IV.—The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.

The text is given from the edition of

Ruinart

.

His

preface

,

which

Migne

also

cites

,

is

as

follows

:

“

The

narrative

of

the

martyrdom

of

St

.

Symphorosa

and

her

seven

sons

,

which

we

here

publish

,

is

ascribed

in

the

mss

.

to

Julius

Africanus

,

a

writer

of

the

highest

repute

.

And

it

may

perhaps

have

been

inserted

in

his

books

on

Chronography

,

—

a

work

which

Eusebius

(

Hist

.

Eccles

.

,

vi

.

31

)

testifies

to

have

been

written

with

the

greatest

care

,

since

in

these

he

detailed

the

chief

events

in

history

from

the

foundation

of

the

world

to

the

times

of

the

Emperor

Heliogabalus

.

As

that

work

,

however

,

is

lost

,

that

this

narrative

is

really

to

be

ascribed

to

Africanus

,

I

would

not

venture

positively

to

assert

,

although

at

the

same

time

there

seems

no

ground

for

doubting

its

genuineness

.

We

print

it

,

moreover

,

from

the

editions

of

Mombritius

,

Surius

,

and

Cardulus

,

collated

with

two

Colbert

mss

.

and

one

in

the

library

of

the

Sorbonne

.

The

occasion

for

the

death

of

these

saints

was

found

in

the

vicinity

of

that

most

famous

palace

which

was

built

by

Adrian

at

his

country

seat

at

Tiber

,

according

to

Spartianus

.

For

when

the

emperor

gave

orders

that

this

palace

,

which

he

had

built

for

his

pleasure

,

should

be

purified

by

some

piacular

ceremonies

,

the

priests

seized

this

opportunity

for

accusing

Symphorosa

,

alleging

that

the

gods

would

not

be

satisfied

until

Symphorosa

should

either

sacrifice

to

them

or

be

herself

sacrificed

;

which

last

thing

was

done

by

Hadrian

,

whom

,

from

many

others

of

his

deeds

,

we

know

to

have

been

exceedingly

superstitious

,

about

the

year

of

Christ

120

,

that

is

,

about

the

beginning

of

his

reign

,

at

which

period

indeed

,

as

Dio

Cassius

observes

,

that

emperor

put

a

great

number

to

death

.

The

memory

of

these

martyrs

,

moreover

,

is

celebrated

in

all

the

most

ancient

martyrologies

,

although

they

assign

different

days

for

it

.

The

Roman

,

along

with

Notker

,

fixes

their

festival

for

the

18th

July

,

Rabanus

for

the

21st

of

the

same

month

,

Usuardus

and

Ado

for

the

21st

June

.

In

the

Tiburtine

road

there

still

exists

the

rubbish

of

an

old

church

,

as

Aringhi

states

(

Rom

.

Subter

.

,

iv

.

17

)

,

which

was

consecrated

to

God

under

their

name

,

and

which

still

retains

the

title

,

To

the

Seven

Brothers

.

I

have

no

doubt

that

it

was

built

in

that

place

to

which

the

pontiffs

in

the

Acta

,

sec

.

iv

.

,

gave

the

name

,

To

the

Seven

Biothanati

,

i

.

e

.

,

those

cut

off

by

a

violent

death

,

as

Baronius

remarks

,

at

the

year

138

.

”

So

far

Ruinart

:

see

also

Tillemont

,

Mém

.

Eccles

.

,

ii

.

pp

.

241

and

595

;

and

the

Bollandists

,

Act

.

S

.

S

.

Junii

,

vol

.

iv

.

p

.

350

.