Saint Prime et saint Félicien avec les
attributs de leur martyre, les lions et les ours.
Bréviaire à l'usage de Paris. XVe.
Saints
Prime et Félicien
Martyrs à Rome (+286)
Leur "Passion" les présente
comme deux frères, patriciens romains, qui furent mis à mort pour la foi
chrétienne au temps de la persécution de Dioclétien.
Sur la voie Nomentane, aux Arches, au quinzième mille de la ville de Rome, les saints martyrs Prime et Félicien.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE :
https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/9944/Saints-Prime-et-Felicien.html
Saint Primus et saint Felicianus, Mosaïque, vers 523–530,
Église Santo Stefano Rotondo, Rome. Photographie : Alekjds.
Frères, Martyrs
(v.286)
Saint Prime et saint Félicien, appelés, déjà vieux, du paganisme à la foi, se montrèrent dignes de cette grâce par une vie toute de zèle et de charité. Ils furent de ces chrétiens intrépides qui encourageaient les martyrs devant les tribunaux et dans les supplices, nourrissaient les pauvres, faisaient du bien à tous. Après les avoir longtemps préservés dans leurs saintes audaces, le Seigneur ne voulut pas les priver davantage de la gloire du martyre, objet de leurs aspirations. Sous l'empereur Dioclétien, la persécution devint plus générale et le paganisme fit un dernier effort pour étouffer la religion du Christ dans le sang et le carnage.
Il y avait trente ans que Prime et Félicien bravaient la cruauté des tyrans, quand les prêtres des idoles déclarèrent que leurs dieux irrités ne voulaient plus rendre d'oracles jusqu'à ce que les deux chrétiens Prime et Félicien eussent sacrifié, ou bien eussent reçu le châtiment qu'ils méritaient. Ils sont aussitôt arrêtés, chargés de fers et amenés devant l'empereur.
Prime avait quatre-vingt-dix ans; il répondit aux menaces du tyran, en lui déclarant qu'il n'y avait pas d'autre Dieu que le Dieu des chrétiens, ni d'autre religion que la leur, et que par conséquent ils étaient prêts à subir la mort plutôt que de trahir leur foi. On les frappa d'abord avec des fouets; puis bientôt on déchira leur corps par lambeaux avec des tenailles. Les affreuses plaies furent guéries miraculeusement par Jésus-Christ. Quelques jours après, nouvelles tortures et nouveau triomphe; on fit pleuvoir sur leur chair une grêle de coups de fouets armés de plomb; pendant ce supplice, ils chantaient les louanges du Seigneur.
Félicien, âgé lui-même de quatre-vingts ans, sut, comme son frère, résister à toutes les tentations et prêcha la foi et le salut à son cruel persécuteur; mais il fut cloué par les mains et les pieds à un poteau, où on le laissa trois jours entiers sans nourriture; au bout de ces trois jours, rafraîchi et nourri par les Anges, il parut aussi sain que s'il n'avait pas souffert.
Quant à Prime, on chercha à lui faire croire que son frère avait enfin sacrifié aux idoles: mais il se moqua du juge menteur et lui dit que Félicien était, en prison, heureux comme en Paradis. Cette réponse lui valut des coups de bâtons et le supplice des torches ardentes: "Grâces soient à Vous, ô Jésus-Christ, puisque, dans mes tourments, je ne ressens aucune douleur." Livrés ensuite aux lions et aux ours, les deux frères les virent venir se coucher à leurs pieds. Enfin le tyran leur fit trancher la tête, le 9 juin de l'an 280.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_prime_et_saint_felicien.html
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_prime_et_saint_felicien.html
SAINT PRIME ET SAINT FÉLICIEN *
Prime veut dire souverain et grand, Félicien, vieillard, comblé de félicité. Le premier est souverain et grand en dignité pour les souffrances de son martyre, en puissance pour ses miracles, en sainteté pour la perfection de sa vie, en félicité pour la gloire dont il jouit. Le second est appelé vieillard, non à cause du long temps qu'il a vécu, mais pour le respect qu'inspire sa dignité, pour la maturité de sa sagesse et pour la gravité de ses moeurs.
Prime et Félicien furent accusés auprès de Dioclétien et de Maximien par les prêtres des idoles qui prétendirent ne pouvoir obtenir aucun bienfait des dieux, si on ne forçait ces deux saints à sacrifier. Par l’ordre donc des empereurs, ils furent emprisonnés. Mais un ange les vint visiter, délia leurs chaînes; alors ils se promenèrent librement dans leur prison où ils louaient le Seigneur à haute voix. Peu de temps après on les amena de nouveau devant les empereurs; et là ayant persisté avec fermeté dans la foi, ils furent déchirés à coups de fouets, puis séparés l’un de, l’autre. Le président dit à Félicien de tenir compte de sa vieillesse et d'immoler aux dieux. Félicien lui répondit: « Me voici parvenu à l’âge de 80 ans, et il y en a 30 que je connais la vérité et que j'ai choisi de vivre pour Dieu : il peut me délivrer de tes mains. » Alors le président commanda de le lier et de l’attacher avec des clous par les mains et par les pieds: « Tu resteras ainsi, lui dit-il, jusqu'à ce que tu consentes' à nous obéir. » Comme le visage du martyr était toujours joyeux, le président ordonna qu'on le torturât sur place et qu'on ne lui servît aucun aliment. Après cela, il se fit amener saint Prime, et lui dit: « Eh bien! ton frère a consenti à obéir aux décrets des empereurs, en conséquence, il est vénéré comme un grand personnage dans un palais : fais donc comme lui. » « Quoique tu sois le fils du Diable, répondit Prime, tu as dit la vérité en un point, quand tu avançais que mon frère avait consenti à exécuter les ordres de l’empereur du ciel. » Aussitôt le président en colère lui fit brûler les côtés et verser du plomb fondu dans la bouche, sous les yeux de Félicien, afin que la terreur s'emparât de ce dernier mais Prime but le plomb avec autant de plaisir que de l’eau fraîche. Le président irrité fit alors lâcher deux lions contre eux; mais ces animaux vinrent se ;jeter aussitôt à leurs pieds, et restèrent à côté d'eux comme des agneaux pleins de douceur. Il lâche encore deus ours cruels qui deviennent doux comme les lions. Il y avait plus de douze mille hommes qui assistaient à ce spectacle. Cinq cents d'entre eux crurent au Seigneur. Le président fit alors décapiter les deux martyrs et jeter leurs corps aux chiens et aux oiseaux de proie qui les laissèrent intacts. Les chrétiens leur donnèrent alors une honorable sépulture. Ils souffrirent vers l’an du Seigneur 287.
* Bréviaire; — Martyrologe d'Adon.
La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdcccci
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/voragine/tome02/081.htmLa Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, rue de Seine, 76, Paris mdcccci
Saints Prime et Félicien, martyrs
Déposition pendant la persécution de Dioclétien. Translation dans la basilique de Saint-Etienne-le-Rond en 645. La translation des reliques équivaut dans l’antiquité à une canonisation.
Leçon des Matines avant 1960
Troisième leçon. Prime et Félicien étaient frères. Pendant la persécution de Dioclétien et de Maximien, ils furent accusés de professer la religion chrétienne et jetés dans les fers ; mais un Ange brisa leurs liens et les rendit à la liberté. On ne tarda pas à les amener devant le préteur, et là ils persévérèrent énergiquement dans la foi chrétienne ; alors on les sépara l’un de l’autre. La constance de Félicien fut d’abord mise à l’épreuve de diverses façons. Mais les conseillers d’impiété désespérant d’obtenir quoi que ce soit par leurs paroles, clouèrent ses pieds et ses mains à un tronc d’arbre, et le laissèrent ainsi suspendu pendant trois jours sans boire ni manger. Le lendemain, le préteur fit mander Prime et lui dit : « Vois combien ton frère est plus sage que toi : il a obéi aux empereurs, et ils l’ont comblé d’honneurs. Si tu veux l’imiter, tu partageras les mêmes faveurs et les mêmes grâces. Prime répondit : « J’ai appris par un Ange ce qu’on a fait à mon frère. Plaise à Dieu que je lui sois uni dans le martyre comme je lui suis uni par la volonté ! » A ces paroles le préteur s’emporta et, sans compter les tourments qu’il fit subir à Prime, cette fois sous les yeux de Félicien, il ordonna encore de lui verser du plomb fondu dans la bouche. Bientôt il les fit conduire tous deux à l’amphithéâtre, où deux lions furent lâchés sur eux ; mais ces animaux se couchèrent à leurs pieds et les caressèrent de la tête et de la queue. Sur plus de douze mille hommes venus à ce spectacle, cinq cents embrassèrent avec leurs familles la religion chrétienne. Le préteur troublé de ces faits, donna l’ordre de trancher la tête à Prime et à Félicien.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
Les roses et les lis alternent sans fin dans la couronne tressée, par les siècles à l’Épouse du Fils de Dieu. En ce monde qui le sait si peu, tout n’a qu’un but : donner dès ici-bas les attraits du ciel à l’Église, agencer sa parure pour l’éternité ; parure sublime, faite des vertus des saints, qui doit rendre l’élue du Verbe digne de s’asseoir à la droite de l’Époux au plus haut des cieux [1]. Le Cycle sacré, en sa révolution annuelle, nous donne l’image du travail incessant par lequel l’Esprit-Saint, diversifiant les mérites des serviteurs de Dieu, compose ainsi pour les noces éternelles l’admirable variété des ornements de l’Église dont ils sont les membres. Deux martyrs, empourprés de leur sang, viennent aujourd’hui relever la blancheur éclatante des œuvres de Norbert ; leur gloire est de celles que n’éclipse aucune autre ; mais ils n’en disposent pas moins nos yeux, par cette variété merveilleuse, à contempler délicieusement aussi la douce lumière que Marguerite, la perle de l’Écosse, projettera demain sur le monde.
Prime et Félicien, Romains opulents, étaient déjà parvenus à la maturité de l’âge, quand la voix du Seigneur se fit entendre à eux pour les retirer de la vanité des idoles. Frères par le sang, ils le devinrent plus encore par leur commune fidélité à l’appel de la grâce. Ensemble ils se montrèrent les intrépides soutiens des confesseurs du Christ, au milieu des atroces persécutions qui sévirent sur l’Église dans la seconde moitié du troisième siècle de notre ère. Un même combat devait aussi terminer leur vie ici-bas, et les engendrer le même jour au ciel. Ils méritèrent de devenir, dans leurs précieux restes, le trésor principal du célèbre sanctuaire consacré sur le mont Cœlius au premier des martyrs.
Vétérans des combats du Seigneur, apprenez-nous quelle force il convient d’apporter à tout âge au service de Dieu. Moins heureux que nous ne le sommes, vous connûtes tard l’Évangile et les richesses sans prix qu’il confère au chrétien. Mais votre jeunesse fut renouvelée comme celle de l’aigle au saint baptême [2], et durant trente années l’Esprit-Saint produisit en vous des fruits innombrables. Lorsqu’enfin, dans une extrême vieillesse, eut sonné l’heure du triomphe final, votre courage égala celui des plus valeureux combattants. C’était la prière alimentée par les paroles des psaumes qui soutenait en vous un tel héroïsme, ainsi qu’en témoignent les actes de votre martyre. Réveillez parmi nous la foi dans la parole de Dieu ; ses promesses nous feront, comme à vous, mépriser la vie présente. Rappelez la piété aux sources vraies qui fortifient rame, à la connaissance, à l’usage quotidien des formules sacrées qui rattachent si sûrement la terre au ciel d’où elles sont descendues.
[1] Apoc. XIX, 7-8 ; Psalm. XLIV, 10.
[2] Psalm. CII, 5.
Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Station à Saint-Etienne sur le mont Cœlius.
Ces deux martyrs appartiennent à l’Église de Nomentum. Mais quand celle-ci, au VIIe siècle, fut désolée par les Lombards, le pape Théodore transporta leurs corps dans la rotonde de Saint-Etienne sur le Cœlius, où il les déposa sous un autel orné de mosaïques. La calotte absidale subsiste encore intacte, et l’on y voit, à côté de la croix, Prime et Félicien nimbés, avec le rouleau de la divine Loi entre les mains.
Le Pape confia le souvenir de ces travaux à deux inscriptions dont voici le texte :
ASPICIS • AVRATVM • CÆLESTI • CVLMINE • TECTVM
ASTRIFERVMQVE • MICANS • PRÆCLARE • LVMINE • FVLTVM
Tu vois le toit doré qui s’élève au ciel,
Sur lequel se reflètent les rayons du soleil.
EXQVIRENS • PIETAS • TECTVM • DECORARE • SACRATVM PASTORIS • SVMMI • THEODORI • CORDEM • EREXIT QVI • STVDIO • MAGNO • SANCTORVM • CORPORA • CVLTV HOC • DEDICAVIT • NON • PATRIS • NEGLECTA • RELIQVIT
La divine bonté voulant décorer la voûte du lieu saint,
Excita le cœur du Pasteur suprême, Théodore,
Qui, avec grand soin, dédia cette tombe pour garder les corps des saints,
Ne les laissant pas dans l’abandon à Nomentum, leur patrie.
Prime et Félicien furent donc les premiers martyrs qui, des cimetières extra-muros, firent leur entrée dans la ville éternelle.
La liste de Würzbourg assigne à leur messe la péricope évangélique de saint Jean : Hoc est præceptum meum[Jn. 15, 12-16 : Le commandement que je vous donne…], qui ne se trouve plus dans le Missel actuel.
L’introït est celui-là même qui fut composé à Rome quand Félix IV dédia le templum sacræ Urbis aux Anargyres de Cyr, Côme et Damien. L’antienne entend donc exalter la science des deux médecins martyrs (Eccli., XLVI, 15 et 14) : « Les peuples narrent la science des saints, et l’Église annonce leurs louanges ; leurs noms vivront éternellement ». Suit le psaume 32 : « Exultez, ô justes, dans le Seigneur, car le cantique de louange sied bien à ceux qui sont purs ». — Durant le temps pascal, tous les chants de la messe sont les mêmes que pour la fête des martyrs Tiburce, Valérien et Maxime, le 14 avril, sauf les versets alléluiatiques après la première lecture, qui sont empruntés à la fête des saints Nérée et Achillée le 12 mai.
La première collecte est la suivante : « Faites, Seigneur, que nous célébrions fidèlement chaque année la fêté de vos saints martyrs Prime et Félicien, afin que, par leurs mérites, nous puissions obtenir votre don ».
Quel est ce don que demande ici l’Église ? Tout don est un gage et une conséquence de l’amour, c’est l’amour qui se donne ; c’est pourquoi le Saint-Esprit, qui est amour, est le premier de tous les dons : Altissimi donum Dei.
La lecture est tirée du Livre de la Sagesse (V, 16-20). Avec la mort des justes ne s’éteint pas leur vie, et la lutte du mal contre le bien ne se termine pas ici-bas dans le monde. Les martyrs obtiennent la gloire méritée au ciel, mais Dieu les venge même sur la terre ; il se servira des créatures et des éléments inanimés pour punir par les guerres, les épidémies, les tremblements de terre, les calamités de tout genre, les nations prévaricatrices. C’est l’histoire d’hier, celle de la Russie schismatique, de l’Allemagne luthérienne, de la France jacobine ; c’est l’histoire des siècles antiques, alors que, à la veille de l’effondrement de l’Empire romain, Lactance écrivait le De mortibus persecutorum [3]. Ce sera aussi l’histoire de demain.
Le répons est tiré du psaume 88 : « Les cieux louent, ô Seigneur, vos merveilles, et l’assemblée des saints célèbre votre vérité », « Je chanterai éternellement vos miséricordes, Seigneur, de génération en génération ».
Quelle est celle qui, tandis que les générations se succèdent et passent, se promet la fraîcheur d’une jeunesse impérissable, et veut maintenant s’exprimer non par des paroles mais par des chants ? C’est l’Église qui, comme le dit Hermas dans son Pastor, a été créée avant toute chose et ne périra jamais. Elle loue non seulement l’amour, mais la miséricorde qui est l’attitude spéciale de l’amour envers les pauvres et les malheureux.
Le verset alléluiatique est identique à celui du 12 mai : « C’est là vraiment la fraternité, qui méprise la méchanceté du monde, suit le Christ et arrive au royaume céleste ».
Bien qu’à l’origine il en ait été autrement (Ioan., XV, 12-16), la lecture évangélique est maintenant la même que pour la fête de saint Mathias, le 24-25 février. Dieu abandonne les riches, c’est-à-dire les orgueilleux, qui ne savent que faire de lui ; il se donne au contraire aux pauvres, aux affamés, c’est-à-dire aux humbles. Voici qu’en ce jour deux obscurs enfants de la bourgade de Nomentum obtiennent la gloire sublime des martyrs ; et tandis que les corps des Césars triomphants étaient brûlés et ensevelis hors des murs de la Ville, pour que les ombres des Mânes n’infestassent pas la Sacra Urbs, les saintes reliques de Prime et de Félicien gravissaient triomphalement, sur un char doré, le mont Cœlius, et étaient déposées dans le lieu le plus honorable du palais impérial.
L’antienne pour l’offertoire est la même que le 22 janvier.
Voici la belle prière avant l’anaphore consécratoire : « Que l’hostie qui vous est immolée en l’anniversaire solennel de cet insigne et précieux martyre, vous soit agréable, Seigneur, et serve à nous délivrer de nos péchés et à réaliser nos vœux ».
Souvent, dans l’ancien langage liturgique, on appelle précieux le sang des martyrs ; mot qui semble avoir déplu au correcteur de l’hymne des Vêpres des saints apôtres Pierre et Paul, car, dans l’apostrophe adressée à Rome, il a changé le verset :
Es purpurata pretioso sanguine
en : Es consecrata glorioso sanguine.
Seul le sang de Jésus-Christ est le prix du rachat universel. Le sang des martyrs est néanmoins qualifié de précieux, au sens où l’Écriture appelle précieuse devant le Seigneur la mort de ses saints. Tous les actes de vertu que, par les mérites du Christ, nous accomplissons en état de grâce, sont méritoires pour la vie éternelle, et, à ce titre, précieux, puisqu’ils en constituent comme le prix. Or, le martyre chrétien qui tire du Christ son principe et son mérite, est appelé par excellence précieux, parce que, en vertu de la promesse divine, il ouvre au martyr les portes du ciel.
L’antienne pour la Communion (Ioan., XV, 16) évoque la lecture évangélique assignée jadis à cette fête : « Je vous ai choisis du milieu du monde afin que vous alliez et portiez du fruit, et que celui-ci soit durable ». Saint Augustin explique que notre fruit est la charité, qui tire son origine et sa vigueur de notre forte et persévérante union à Jésus.
Voici la collecte eucharistique : « Nous vous en supplions, Seigneur ; que la solennité de vos martyrs Prime et Félicien que nous avons célébrée par le sacrifice festif nous obtienne la bénignité de votre pardon ».
Combien prudente est l’Église qui, pour se conformer au conseil du Sage : De propitiato peccato noli esse sine metu [4], nous entretient dans la sainte humilité et la défiance de nous-mêmes, quoique nous ayons reçu l’absolution de nos péchés et participé aux divins Sacrements, tant que nous portons encore sur nos membres la cicatrice de nos anciennes blessures, et que subsiste le péril de les voir se rouvrir. Humilité et défiance, telles sont les meilleures garanties pour ne plus jamais retomber dans le péché.
[3] De la Mort des persécuteurs.
[4] Eccli., V, 5 : Ne sois pas sans crainte au sujet de l’offense qui t’a été pardonnée, et n’ajoute pas péché sur péché.
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique
L’amour fraternel jusque dans la mort.
1. Les saints. Tombeau : Les martyrs reposèrent d’abord à Mentana (Italie). Le pape Théodore 1er (+649) les transféra dans l’église Saint-Étienne sur le mont Caelius (on peut y voir leurs images en mosaïque). Ces deux frères furent emprisonnés sous le règne de Dioclétien à cause de la foi. On les sépara. Félicien fut torturé le premier. Le juge fit amener ensuite Prime : « Vois comme ton frère, lui dit-il, a agi bien plus sagement que toi : il a obéi aux ordres des empereurs et il jouit maintenant, près d’eux des plus grands honneurs, Si tu imites maintenant son exemple, tu obtiendras la même faveur et les mêmes égards ». Prime répondit : « Ce qui est arrivé à mon frère, je le sais par son ange. O puissé-je ne faire qu’un cœur et qu’une volonté avec lui, et n’être pas séparé de lui dans la mort ! » Sur ce, ils furent tous les deux jetés aux lions dans l’amphithéâtre. Mais les lions se couchèrent à leurs pieds et les caressèrent de la tête et de la queue. Plus de 12.000 personnes étaient rassemblées pour ce spectacle. De ce nombre, 500, avec leur famille, décidèrent d’embrasser la foi chrétienne. Enfin les saints furent décapités (vers 303).
Pratique. — L’union avec le Christ par la grâce est le motif le plus profond de l’amour fraternel du prochain. C’est dans l’épreuve que notre amour fraternel doit se manifester avec le plus d’éclat.
2. La messe (Sapientiam). — La messe est composée de diverses messes du commun. L’Église célèbre la sagesse des saints qui s’est manifestée dans la vie et dans la mort. La leçon nous enseigne que les saints martyrs, malgré leurs souffrances, vivent éternellement et ont reçu au ciel la récompense méritée. Dans l’Évangile, le Christ remercie son Père de ce qu’il a caché les biens de son royaume aux grands de ce monde et les a révélés aux petits. Ceci s’est réalisé précédemment dans les premiers siècles de l’Église. Les fiers Césars sont oubliés, tandis que nos saints, amenés triomphalement à Rome, y sont honorés par le peuple. L’antienne de Communion nous indique que, primitivement, on récitait un autre Évangile (Jean XV, 12-16). Le fruit dont parle Jésus est le martyre et la couronne éternelle.
Sts. Primus and Felician
Suffered martyrdom about 304 in the Diocletian persecution. The "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (ed. De
Rossi-Duchesne,
77) gives under 9 June the names of Primus and Felician who were buried at the fourteenth
milestone of the Via Nomentana (near Nomentum, now Mentana). They were
evidently from Nomentum. This notice comes from the catalogue of Roman martyrs of the fourth century. In 648 Pope
Theodore translated the bones of the two saints to the Roman Church of San Stefano,
under an altar erected in their honour (Liber Pontificalis, I, 332), where they remain. Their feast is still observed on 9 June.
Sources
Acta SS., June, II, 152 sq.; DUFOURCQ, Les Gesta martyrum romains, I (Paris, 1900), 213; DE ROSSI, Inscriptiones christ., urbis Romae, II, 152; IDEM, I musaici delle chiese di Roma (Rome, 1899), plate XVII with text; MARUCCHI, Les basiliques et églises de Rome (2nd ed., Rome, 1909), 221 sq.
Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Sts. Primus and Felician." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1911. 10 Jun. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12427a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. O Saints Primus and Felician, and all ye holy martyrs, pray for
us.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of
New York.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12427a.htm
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-primus-9-june/
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-felicianus/
Mosaico absidale della
cappella dei ss. Primo e Feliciano, Roma. Photographie : Lalupa,
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-primus-and-felicianus-martyrs/
St. Primus and St. Felicianus, Martyrs
by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877
Primus and Felicianus, two holy martyrs, were brothers and natives of Rome. They were renowned on account of their birth and wealth, but still more on account of the blameless life they led and their determination to remain constant in the true faith, though they knew the suffering which was in store for them as well from their pagan parents, as from other persecutors of the Christian faith. At that period the emperors Dioclesian and Maximian reigned, and the Christians were most cruelly persecuted. Many of them were cast into prison, while others were put: to death by the most barbarous torments. The two zealous brothers visited the imprisoned Christians frequently, and sacrificed all their possessions to comfort them, while they cheered and encouraged those that were led to execution, exhorting them to remain faithful to Christ. The idolatrous priests could not endure this, and incited the people against the two holy brothers, as against two sworn enemies of the gods, and accused them before the Emperor, demanding their execution.
Both were brought before the Emperor and called upon to renounce their faith: they, however, said fearlessly, that they would rather die, than obey the Emperor in this point. They were cast into a dungeon and heavily chained. But in the first night an angel appeared to them, who loosed their fetters and set them free. They immediately returned to their former kind deeds not willing to save their lives by flight, as many advised them to do. The Emperor, being informed of this, summoned them into his presence, and endeavored more than before, by promises and menaces to persuade them to abjure their faith, and at last sent them to the temple of Hercules to offer incense to this idol. Both brothers refused to obey, and the Emperor gave orders that after having been scourged, they should be taken to the Governor of Momentum, a village about 12 miles from Rome, and very hostile to the Christians. Before they were led thither, an angel again appeared and healed their wounds. No sooner had the two Christian heroes appeared before Promotus, the cruel Governor of the town, than he ordered them to be beaten with clubs until they should change their minds. This was a punishment ordained by law only for slaves and other low people, and the tyrant had it executed upon the two noble brothers in derision of their faith.
It was a most painful punishment as the clubs were scourges twisted together of many cords, with leaden balls fastened at the end. With these the condemned were whipped on the bare back and neck. The two holy brothers had to endure this martyrdom, and were more cruelly whipped than the greatest criminals. They, however, manifested no sign of pain, but encouraging each other, they united in praising God, humbly begging His assistance: "Strengthen us, O God!" cried they; "be with us O God! Our only hope, strengthen us, that all may recognize Thee as the only true God." The torture was prolonged until the executioners, tired out with whipping, were no longer able to torment the Saints. The Governor wondered at the constancy, or, as he said, the obstinacy of the two brothers, and to cause them sooner to obey him, he separated them and had them confined in different prisons.
A few days later, he had Felicianus alone brought before him, to whom he said: "Is it not a contemptible blindness that you should persist in ending your days in agony," (Felicianus was 80 years old) "when, by obeying the Emperor, you have the opportunity of closing your life honored and favored by him?" The Saint replied: "Is it not a much more contemptible blindness that you, a man of so much mind and importance, should worship a piece of wood as God, and thus cast yourself, after the few short days of life, into never-ending pains and torments, while you have the opportunity, by receiving the true faith, to make yourself eternally happy with the true God? "These fearless words enraged the Governor beyond endurance, and he ordered the Saint to be fastened to a pole by an iron nail, and there to be left hanging. The Saint, casting his eyes towards heaven, said: "I have placed my trust in God; I shall not fear the hand of man."
Three days the hero had to remain on the pole, after which he was taken back to prison. Meanwhile Promotus had Primus brought before him and said to him that at last the eyes of his brother Felicianus had been opened, and that he had sacrificed to Jupiter, for which reason the Emperor had raised him to the highest dignities, and that Primus might expect the same favors if he followed his brother's example. But Primus knew the constancy of his brother, as an angel had revealed it to him. Hence he reproved Promotus with earnest words. Enraged at this, the governor said: "Either you will immediately sacrifice to Jupiter, or I shall deal with you more cruelly than with all the others." "I sacrifice to the true God only," replied Primus, "and fear not your cruelties." Hardly had these words passed his lips, when the tyrant gave orders to scourge him with hard thongs, until his whole body was one great wound. After this they burned him for a long time with torches. Primus's countenance was bright and cheerful during this inhuman torture. To prevent this, by command of the tyrant, they poured melted lead into his mouth. How terrible must have been this suffering is easily to be conceived. Constantine the Great had ordered this kind of punishment for those who by impure language had seduced others to unchastity. "Whoever with impure speeches seduces any one to unchastity," says the law, " shall have his mouth closed with melted lead." The tyrants had already in earlier times used this punishment to torture the Christians.
St. Primus was sentenced to this suffering in order that he might no longer praise the true God. He, however, swallowed the lead without the least sign of pain, and then turning to Promotus, said: " Acknowledge at length, unhappy man, the omnipotence of my God, and be converted to Him that you may not go to eternal damnation." Promotus, furious and unwilling to hear more, ordered the brothers to to be cast to the wild beasts. The order was obeyed, but neither the fiercely roaring lion, nor the cruel bear, which they let loose upon them, harmed either of them, but crouching at their feet, thus evinced their reverence for the holy men. Many of the heathens, who witnessed this spectacle, were so deeply touched by the miracle, that they cried: " Great is the God of the Christians, and He alone is the true God!" Promotus, fearing an insurrection, had both the valiant confessors decapitated without loss of time; and thus they, both, after many heroic battles, obtained the crown of immortality in heaven, in the year of our Lord 287.
Practical Consideration
Primus and Felicianus, the two holy brothers, encouraged each other to patience and constancy during their martyrdom. Thus one helped the other to gain heaven. Both manifested by this not only a truly Christian love to each other, but also a true love to God. Have you no sisters, no brothers, no friends or relatives, to whom you may sometimes say an encouraging word or whom you may exhort to piety? If not, then you have as many sisters and brothers in Christ as there are Christians. Among these there are surely some whom you can assist to gain heaven by encouraging them to lead a Christian life: by impressing upon them the duty of abstaining from lying, cursing, slandering and other vices; by exhorting them to pray, to assist at Holy Mass, to hear the word of God, to give alms, to go to confession and to do other good works. Endeavor to do this. In this manner you manifest true love to God and for your neighbor: to your neighbor, because you assist him to eternal happiness; and to God, because, according to St. Chrysostom, you can do nothing more agreeablee to God than to gain others to His service, and deter them from offending His majesty. "If you love God, rites St. Augustine, endeavor to induce those, who live in your house or with whom you are acquainted, to love Him also. Exhort them, beg them, persuade them as much as is in your power." If you do this, you may rest assured that God will richly recompense you and they whom you will thus lead to heaven, will thank you in the other world. If, however, you dare to deter any one from doing good or perhaps even entice him to evil, you assist him to enter hell, and the Almighty will terribly punish your wickedness. And they whom you have led to hell, will during all eternity, as I told you last month, curse and execrate you: yes they will war and rage against you more than the evil spirits.
St. Felicianus considered it contemptible blindness that the heathen governor, by the idolatry of a few days, should cast himself into eternal torments, when he had the opportunity, by receiving the true faith, to prepare himself for a happy eternity with the true God. Heaven and hell are open to you, my reader! There is eternity in heaven: there is also eternity in hell. But heaven can also be for ever closed to you and you may be cast into Hell. "God sets water and fire before thee. Stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. Before man are life and death, good and evil: that which he shall choose shall be given him."(Eccl. xv.) Thus speaks the Lord Himself. He gives grace, opportunity, and means to you to escape hell and gain heaven. Is it not then the most contemptible blindness, the most astonishing folly, if you do not use these gifts to secure your salvation, but, on account of frivolous pleasures, or temporal advantages, close heaven for ever against yourself, and cast yourself into hell, when you could have made yourself eternally happy? "Understand, ye senseless among the people: and you, fools, be wise at last." (Psalm 93.) A fool, and a great fool is he, who believes in heaven, believes that he can take possession of it, and yet does not earnestly strive to obtain it. A still greater fool, however, is he who believes that there is a hell and that he is in danger of falling into it, and yet does not use all his strength to avoid it. "If we believe in hell," says St. Peter Chrysologus," an eternally tormenting hell, why do we not endeavor to escape it; why do we not prevent being sentenced to such dreadful and eternal suffering?"
Saints Primus and Felician, Martyrs
(from the Liturgical Year, 1904)
Roses and lilies are exquisitely alternated in the wreath woven by centuries, for the Bride of the Son of God. Though the world be heedless of the fact, it is none the less true, that everything here below has but one object, namely to bedeck the Church with the attractive charms of heaven, to adjust her jewelled robes formed of the virtues of her saints, that she may be fitted to take her seat beside her Divine Spouse, in the highest heavens, for all eternity (Apoc. xix. 7-8; Ps. xliv. 10). The sacred cycle, in its yearly course, presents an image of those ceaseless labours whereby the Holy Ghost continues to form, up to the day of the eternal nuptials, that varied robe of holy Church, by diversifying the merits of God's servants, her members here below. Today, we have two Martyrs becrimsoned with their own blood, setting off the dazzling whiteness of Norbert's works, or of William's innocence ; and tomorrow we may contemplate with delighted gaze, the softer light beamed upon our earth, by Margaret, Scotland's Pearl. Primus and Felician, wealthy Romans, had already attained maturity of age, when our Lord made His voice heard inviting them to forsake their vain idols. Brothers, according to the flesh, they now became more really so, by fidelity to the same call of grace. Together, they proved themselves intrepid helpers of the confessors of Christ amidst the atrocious persecution which raged against the Church during the latter half of the Third Century. In the same combat were they to fall side by side, exchanging this frail life here below, for that into which, at one birth, they were to enter forever in heaven. They furthermore were honoured by having their precious relics, placed in the celebrated sanctuary consecrated to Saint Stephen, the Proto-Martyr, on Monte Caelio, and there form its richest treasure.
The holy Liturgy relates their triumph in these few lines:
Primus and Felician were brothers, and being accused of professing the Christian religion, during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, they were thrown into irons, which an Angel broke, and they were delivered. But being soon led again before the praetor, and as they most earnestly clung to the Christian faith, they were separated one from the other. The steadfastness of Felician was the first to be put to the test in divers ways. As they who strove to persuade him into impiety, found it hopeless to gain aught from him by words, he was fastened hand and foot to a stake and there left to hang three days, without either food or drink. The day after that, the praetor having called Primus before him, thus addressed him: "Seest thou how much wiser is thy brother, than thou art? He hath obeyed the Emperors, and they have made him honourable. Thou hast only to follow his example to be made partaker of his honours and favours."
Primus replied: "What hath befallen my brother, I know, for an angel hath told me. Would to God, that seeing I have the same will that he hath, I were not divided from him in the same martyrdom." These words raised the wrath of the praetor, and to the torments which he had already inflicted on Primus, he added this also, that he had boiling lead poured into his mouth, and this, in presence of Felician. After that, he had them both dragged into the amphitheatre, and two lions let loose upon them, in presence of about twelve thousand people, who were gathered together to see the show. The lions only fawned upon the knees of the saints, making friends with them, caressingly moving their heads and tails. This spectacle turned five hundred persons of the assembled crowd, together with their households, to the Christian religion. The praetor then, moved beyond all endurance, by what had passed, caused Primus and Felician to be beheaded with the axe.
Prayer :
O ye brave veterans of the Lord's battles, teach us what energy we must bring to the service of God, whatsoever be our age. Less favoured than we are, ye came late in life, to the knowledge of the Gospel and of those inestimable treasures promised to the Christian. But in holy Baptism your youth was renewed as that of the eagle (Ps. cii. 5), and for thirty years, the Holy Ghost continued to produce rich fruits in you. When, in extreme old age, the hour of final victory at last sounded, your courage was equal to that of the most vigorous warriors. You were nerved up to such heroism and sustained therein, through prayer constantly kept alive within you by the words of the Psalms, as your Acts attest. Revive then amongst us, faith in the word of God; His promises will make us despise, as ye did, this present life. Lead our piety back to those true sources which strengthen the soul, the knowledge and daily use of those sacred formulae, which bind our earth unfailingly to heaven whence they were brought down to us.
http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/
SOURCE : http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Sts.%20Primus%20and%20Felician.html
Primus and Felician MM (RM)
Died c. 297. The untrustworthy acta of Felician and his 80- year-old brother Primus relate that they were Roman patricians who had converted to Christianity. They devoted themselves to relieving the poor and visiting prisoners. They were arrested. Upon refusing to sacrifice to the public gods, the brothers were imprisoned and scourged. They were brought singly before the judge, Promotus, who tried to convince each that the other had apostatized. After they had been tortured, the brothers were beheaded under Diocletian at Nomentum (12 miles from Rome) A church was built over their tombs on the Via Nomentana. They are of particular interest because they are the first martyrs of whom it is recorded that their bodies were later reburied within the walls of Rome; in 640, Pope Theodore I had the relics taken to the church now called San Stefano Rotondo (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer). In art, these brothers are portrayed at their martyrdom. Felician is nailed to a tree and Primus is forced to swallow molten lead (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0609.shtml#feli
Saint Primus
Profile
Brother of Saint Felicianus.
With his brother he was tortured and martyred.
The two were the first martyrs whose
remains were transferred from a basilica outside
the walls of Rome, Italy.
- beheaded in 286 on
the Via Nomentana, Rome, Italy
- relics in
the church of Saint Stephen on Mount Celio
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-primus-9-june/
Saint Felicianus
Also known as
- Felician
- Feliciano
Profile
Brother of Saint Primus.
With his brother he was tortured and martyred in
the persecutions of Diocletian.
The two were the first martyrs whose
remains were transferred from a basilica outside
the walls of Rome, Italy.
- beheaded in 286 on
the Via Nomentana, Rome, Italy
- relics in
the church of Saint Stephen on Mount Celio
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-felicianus/
Santo Stefano Rotondo.
Mosaico absidale della
cappella dei ss. Primo e Feliciano, Roma. Photographie : Lalupa,
Pictorial Lives of the Saints – Saint Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs
Article
These two martyrs were brothers, and lived in Rome, toward
the latter part of the third century, for many years, mutually encouraging each
other in the practice of all good works. They seemed to possess nothing but for
the poor, and often spent both nights and days with the confessors in their
dungeons, or at the places of their torments and execution. Some they
encouraged to perseverance, others, who had fallen, they raised again, and they
made themselves the servants of all in Christ, that all might attain to
salvation through Him. Though their zeal was most remarkable, they had escaped
the dangers of many bloody persecutions, and were grown old in the heroic
exercises of virtue, when it pleased God to crown their labors with a glorious
martyrdom. The pagans raised so great an outcry against them that they were
both apprehended and put in chains. They were inhumanly scourged, and then sent
to a town twelve miles from Rome, to be farther chastised, as avowed enemies to
the gods. There they were cruelly tortured, first both together, afterward
separately. But the grace of God strengthened them, and they were at length
both beheaded on the 9th of June.
Reflection – A soul which truly loves God regards all the
things of this world as nothing. The loss of goods, the disgrace of the world,
torments, sickness, and other afflictions are bitter to the senses, but appear
light to him that loves. If we cannot bear our trials with patience and
silence, it is because we love God only in words. “One who is slothful and
lukewarm complains of every thing, and calls the lightest precepts hard,” says
Thomas a Kempis.
MLA Citation
- John
Dawson Gilmary Shea. “Saint Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs”. Pictorial Lives of the Saints, 1889. CatholicSaints.Info.
24 May 2014. Web. 13 June 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-primus-and-felicianus-martyrs/>
SOURCE :
https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-primus-and-felicianus-martyrs/
by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877
Primus and Felicianus, two holy martyrs, were brothers and natives of Rome. They were renowned on account of their birth and wealth, but still more on account of the blameless life they led and their determination to remain constant in the true faith, though they knew the suffering which was in store for them as well from their pagan parents, as from other persecutors of the Christian faith. At that period the emperors Dioclesian and Maximian reigned, and the Christians were most cruelly persecuted. Many of them were cast into prison, while others were put: to death by the most barbarous torments. The two zealous brothers visited the imprisoned Christians frequently, and sacrificed all their possessions to comfort them, while they cheered and encouraged those that were led to execution, exhorting them to remain faithful to Christ. The idolatrous priests could not endure this, and incited the people against the two holy brothers, as against two sworn enemies of the gods, and accused them before the Emperor, demanding their execution.
Both were brought before the Emperor and called upon to renounce their faith: they, however, said fearlessly, that they would rather die, than obey the Emperor in this point. They were cast into a dungeon and heavily chained. But in the first night an angel appeared to them, who loosed their fetters and set them free. They immediately returned to their former kind deeds not willing to save their lives by flight, as many advised them to do. The Emperor, being informed of this, summoned them into his presence, and endeavored more than before, by promises and menaces to persuade them to abjure their faith, and at last sent them to the temple of Hercules to offer incense to this idol. Both brothers refused to obey, and the Emperor gave orders that after having been scourged, they should be taken to the Governor of Momentum, a village about 12 miles from Rome, and very hostile to the Christians. Before they were led thither, an angel again appeared and healed their wounds. No sooner had the two Christian heroes appeared before Promotus, the cruel Governor of the town, than he ordered them to be beaten with clubs until they should change their minds. This was a punishment ordained by law only for slaves and other low people, and the tyrant had it executed upon the two noble brothers in derision of their faith.
It was a most painful punishment as the clubs were scourges twisted together of many cords, with leaden balls fastened at the end. With these the condemned were whipped on the bare back and neck. The two holy brothers had to endure this martyrdom, and were more cruelly whipped than the greatest criminals. They, however, manifested no sign of pain, but encouraging each other, they united in praising God, humbly begging His assistance: "Strengthen us, O God!" cried they; "be with us O God! Our only hope, strengthen us, that all may recognize Thee as the only true God." The torture was prolonged until the executioners, tired out with whipping, were no longer able to torment the Saints. The Governor wondered at the constancy, or, as he said, the obstinacy of the two brothers, and to cause them sooner to obey him, he separated them and had them confined in different prisons.
A few days later, he had Felicianus alone brought before him, to whom he said: "Is it not a contemptible blindness that you should persist in ending your days in agony," (Felicianus was 80 years old) "when, by obeying the Emperor, you have the opportunity of closing your life honored and favored by him?" The Saint replied: "Is it not a much more contemptible blindness that you, a man of so much mind and importance, should worship a piece of wood as God, and thus cast yourself, after the few short days of life, into never-ending pains and torments, while you have the opportunity, by receiving the true faith, to make yourself eternally happy with the true God? "These fearless words enraged the Governor beyond endurance, and he ordered the Saint to be fastened to a pole by an iron nail, and there to be left hanging. The Saint, casting his eyes towards heaven, said: "I have placed my trust in God; I shall not fear the hand of man."
Three days the hero had to remain on the pole, after which he was taken back to prison. Meanwhile Promotus had Primus brought before him and said to him that at last the eyes of his brother Felicianus had been opened, and that he had sacrificed to Jupiter, for which reason the Emperor had raised him to the highest dignities, and that Primus might expect the same favors if he followed his brother's example. But Primus knew the constancy of his brother, as an angel had revealed it to him. Hence he reproved Promotus with earnest words. Enraged at this, the governor said: "Either you will immediately sacrifice to Jupiter, or I shall deal with you more cruelly than with all the others." "I sacrifice to the true God only," replied Primus, "and fear not your cruelties." Hardly had these words passed his lips, when the tyrant gave orders to scourge him with hard thongs, until his whole body was one great wound. After this they burned him for a long time with torches. Primus's countenance was bright and cheerful during this inhuman torture. To prevent this, by command of the tyrant, they poured melted lead into his mouth. How terrible must have been this suffering is easily to be conceived. Constantine the Great had ordered this kind of punishment for those who by impure language had seduced others to unchastity. "Whoever with impure speeches seduces any one to unchastity," says the law, " shall have his mouth closed with melted lead." The tyrants had already in earlier times used this punishment to torture the Christians.
St. Primus was sentenced to this suffering in order that he might no longer praise the true God. He, however, swallowed the lead without the least sign of pain, and then turning to Promotus, said: " Acknowledge at length, unhappy man, the omnipotence of my God, and be converted to Him that you may not go to eternal damnation." Promotus, furious and unwilling to hear more, ordered the brothers to to be cast to the wild beasts. The order was obeyed, but neither the fiercely roaring lion, nor the cruel bear, which they let loose upon them, harmed either of them, but crouching at their feet, thus evinced their reverence for the holy men. Many of the heathens, who witnessed this spectacle, were so deeply touched by the miracle, that they cried: " Great is the God of the Christians, and He alone is the true God!" Promotus, fearing an insurrection, had both the valiant confessors decapitated without loss of time; and thus they, both, after many heroic battles, obtained the crown of immortality in heaven, in the year of our Lord 287.
Practical Consideration
Primus and Felicianus, the two holy brothers, encouraged each other to patience and constancy during their martyrdom. Thus one helped the other to gain heaven. Both manifested by this not only a truly Christian love to each other, but also a true love to God. Have you no sisters, no brothers, no friends or relatives, to whom you may sometimes say an encouraging word or whom you may exhort to piety? If not, then you have as many sisters and brothers in Christ as there are Christians. Among these there are surely some whom you can assist to gain heaven by encouraging them to lead a Christian life: by impressing upon them the duty of abstaining from lying, cursing, slandering and other vices; by exhorting them to pray, to assist at Holy Mass, to hear the word of God, to give alms, to go to confession and to do other good works. Endeavor to do this. In this manner you manifest true love to God and for your neighbor: to your neighbor, because you assist him to eternal happiness; and to God, because, according to St. Chrysostom, you can do nothing more agreeablee to God than to gain others to His service, and deter them from offending His majesty. "If you love God, rites St. Augustine, endeavor to induce those, who live in your house or with whom you are acquainted, to love Him also. Exhort them, beg them, persuade them as much as is in your power." If you do this, you may rest assured that God will richly recompense you and they whom you will thus lead to heaven, will thank you in the other world. If, however, you dare to deter any one from doing good or perhaps even entice him to evil, you assist him to enter hell, and the Almighty will terribly punish your wickedness. And they whom you have led to hell, will during all eternity, as I told you last month, curse and execrate you: yes they will war and rage against you more than the evil spirits.
St. Felicianus considered it contemptible blindness that the heathen governor, by the idolatry of a few days, should cast himself into eternal torments, when he had the opportunity, by receiving the true faith, to prepare himself for a happy eternity with the true God. Heaven and hell are open to you, my reader! There is eternity in heaven: there is also eternity in hell. But heaven can also be for ever closed to you and you may be cast into Hell. "God sets water and fire before thee. Stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. Before man are life and death, good and evil: that which he shall choose shall be given him."(Eccl. xv.) Thus speaks the Lord Himself. He gives grace, opportunity, and means to you to escape hell and gain heaven. Is it not then the most contemptible blindness, the most astonishing folly, if you do not use these gifts to secure your salvation, but, on account of frivolous pleasures, or temporal advantages, close heaven for ever against yourself, and cast yourself into hell, when you could have made yourself eternally happy? "Understand, ye senseless among the people: and you, fools, be wise at last." (Psalm 93.) A fool, and a great fool is he, who believes in heaven, believes that he can take possession of it, and yet does not earnestly strive to obtain it. A still greater fool, however, is he who believes that there is a hell and that he is in danger of falling into it, and yet does not use all his strength to avoid it. "If we believe in hell," says St. Peter Chrysologus," an eternally tormenting hell, why do we not endeavor to escape it; why do we not prevent being sentenced to such dreadful and eternal suffering?"
Dedica della cappella dei ss. Primo e Feliciano, santo Stefano Rotondo, Roma.
Saints Primus and Felician, Martyrs
(from the Liturgical Year, 1904)
Roses and lilies are exquisitely alternated in the wreath woven by centuries, for the Bride of the Son of God. Though the world be heedless of the fact, it is none the less true, that everything here below has but one object, namely to bedeck the Church with the attractive charms of heaven, to adjust her jewelled robes formed of the virtues of her saints, that she may be fitted to take her seat beside her Divine Spouse, in the highest heavens, for all eternity (Apoc. xix. 7-8; Ps. xliv. 10). The sacred cycle, in its yearly course, presents an image of those ceaseless labours whereby the Holy Ghost continues to form, up to the day of the eternal nuptials, that varied robe of holy Church, by diversifying the merits of God's servants, her members here below. Today, we have two Martyrs becrimsoned with their own blood, setting off the dazzling whiteness of Norbert's works, or of William's innocence ; and tomorrow we may contemplate with delighted gaze, the softer light beamed upon our earth, by Margaret, Scotland's Pearl. Primus and Felician, wealthy Romans, had already attained maturity of age, when our Lord made His voice heard inviting them to forsake their vain idols. Brothers, according to the flesh, they now became more really so, by fidelity to the same call of grace. Together, they proved themselves intrepid helpers of the confessors of Christ amidst the atrocious persecution which raged against the Church during the latter half of the Third Century. In the same combat were they to fall side by side, exchanging this frail life here below, for that into which, at one birth, they were to enter forever in heaven. They furthermore were honoured by having their precious relics, placed in the celebrated sanctuary consecrated to Saint Stephen, the Proto-Martyr, on Monte Caelio, and there form its richest treasure.
The holy Liturgy relates their triumph in these few lines:
Primus and Felician were brothers, and being accused of professing the Christian religion, during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, they were thrown into irons, which an Angel broke, and they were delivered. But being soon led again before the praetor, and as they most earnestly clung to the Christian faith, they were separated one from the other. The steadfastness of Felician was the first to be put to the test in divers ways. As they who strove to persuade him into impiety, found it hopeless to gain aught from him by words, he was fastened hand and foot to a stake and there left to hang three days, without either food or drink. The day after that, the praetor having called Primus before him, thus addressed him: "Seest thou how much wiser is thy brother, than thou art? He hath obeyed the Emperors, and they have made him honourable. Thou hast only to follow his example to be made partaker of his honours and favours."
Primus replied: "What hath befallen my brother, I know, for an angel hath told me. Would to God, that seeing I have the same will that he hath, I were not divided from him in the same martyrdom." These words raised the wrath of the praetor, and to the torments which he had already inflicted on Primus, he added this also, that he had boiling lead poured into his mouth, and this, in presence of Felician. After that, he had them both dragged into the amphitheatre, and two lions let loose upon them, in presence of about twelve thousand people, who were gathered together to see the show. The lions only fawned upon the knees of the saints, making friends with them, caressingly moving their heads and tails. This spectacle turned five hundred persons of the assembled crowd, together with their households, to the Christian religion. The praetor then, moved beyond all endurance, by what had passed, caused Primus and Felician to be beheaded with the axe.
Prayer :
O ye brave veterans of the Lord's battles, teach us what energy we must bring to the service of God, whatsoever be our age. Less favoured than we are, ye came late in life, to the knowledge of the Gospel and of those inestimable treasures promised to the Christian. But in holy Baptism your youth was renewed as that of the eagle (Ps. cii. 5), and for thirty years, the Holy Ghost continued to produce rich fruits in you. When, in extreme old age, the hour of final victory at last sounded, your courage was equal to that of the most vigorous warriors. You were nerved up to such heroism and sustained therein, through prayer constantly kept alive within you by the words of the Psalms, as your Acts attest. Revive then amongst us, faith in the word of God; His promises will make us despise, as ye did, this present life. Lead our piety back to those true sources which strengthen the soul, the knowledge and daily use of those sacred formulae, which bind our earth unfailingly to heaven whence they were brought down to us.
http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/
SOURCE : http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Sts.%20Primus%20and%20Felician.html
Primus and Felician MM (RM)
Died c. 297. The untrustworthy acta of Felician and his 80- year-old brother Primus relate that they were Roman patricians who had converted to Christianity. They devoted themselves to relieving the poor and visiting prisoners. They were arrested. Upon refusing to sacrifice to the public gods, the brothers were imprisoned and scourged. They were brought singly before the judge, Promotus, who tried to convince each that the other had apostatized. After they had been tortured, the brothers were beheaded under Diocletian at Nomentum (12 miles from Rome) A church was built over their tombs on the Via Nomentana. They are of particular interest because they are the first martyrs of whom it is recorded that their bodies were later reburied within the walls of Rome; in 640, Pope Theodore I had the relics taken to the church now called San Stefano Rotondo (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer). In art, these brothers are portrayed at their martyrdom. Felician is nailed to a tree and Primus is forced to swallow molten lead (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0609.shtml#feli
Dedica della cappella dei ss. Primo e Feliciano, santo Stefano Rotondo, Roma.
June 9
SS. Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs
This account is abridged from their acts in Surius,
and the continuators of Bollandus, with the Notes of Henschenius. Jun. t. 2, p.
149. See Tillemont, t. 4, p. 571.
A.D.
286.
THESE two martyrs were brothers, and lived in
Rome many years, mutually encouraging each other in the practice of all good
works. They seemed to possess nothing but for the poor, and often spent both
nights and days with the confessors in their dungeons, or at the places of
their torments and execution. Some they encouraged to perseverance, others who
had fallen they raised again, and they made themselves the servants of all in
Christ that all might attain to salvation through him. Though their zeal was
most remarkable, they had escaped the dangers of many bloody persecutions, and
were grown old in the heroic exercises of virtue when it pleased God to crown
their labours with a glorious martyrdom. The Pagans raised so great an outcry
against them, that by a joint order of Dioclesian and Maximian Herculius they
were both apprehended and put in chains. This must have happened in 286, soon
after Maximian was associated in the empire, for the two emperors never seem to
have met together in Rome after that year. These princes commanded them to be
inhumanly scourged, and then sent them to Promotus at Nomentum, a town twelve
miles from Rome, to be further chastised, as avowed enemies to the gods. This
judge caused them to be cruelly tortured, first both together, afterwards
separate from each other; and sought by various arts to cheat them into
compliance, as by telling Primus that Felician had offered sacrifice. But the
grace of God strengthened them, and they were at length both beheaded on the
9th of June. Their names occur on this day in the ancient western calendars,
and in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great. Their bodies were thrown into
the fields; but taken up by the Christians, and interred near Nomentum. They
were removed to Rome by Pope Theodorus, about the year 645, and deposited in
the church of St. Stephen on Mount Celio.
A soul which truly loves God regards all the
things of this world as dung, with St. Paul, that she may gain Christ. The loss
of goods, the disgrace of the world, torments, sickness, and other afflictions
are bitter to the senses; but appear light to him that loves. If we can bear
nothing with patience and silence, it is because we love God only in words.
“One who is slothful and lukewarm complains of everything, and calls the
lightest precepts hard,” says Thomas à Kempis; 1 “but a fervent soul finds everything easy
which can unite her more closely to God, and embraces his holy will in all
things with cheerfulness.”
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VI: June. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/6/091.html
Martyre de Saint Primus, Fresque, Santo Stefano
Rotondo, Roma
Martyre de Saint Primus, Fresque, Santo Stefano
Rotondo, Roma
Santi
Primo e Feliciano Martiri
Martirologio
Romano : A Roma al quindicesimo miglio della via Nomentana, santi Primo e
Feliciano, martiri.
La loro traslazione, effettuata da papa Teodoro I
(642-649), dal XV miglio della via Nomentana a S. Stefano Rotondo, è tra le
primissime operate in Roma. I corpi vennero trovati in un sarcofago l’8 gennaio
1625. Il papa allora fece erigere sul nuovo sepolcro un altare ornato da un
paliotto d’argento. Nel 1736, con la costruzione di una nuova ara, opera di
Filippo Barigoni, i resti, fino allora situati dinanzi l’altare, furono deposti
all’interno di esso.
Dice il Martirologio Romano al 9 giugno: A Nomentano, in Sabina, il natale dei santi Martiri Primo e Feliciano fratelli, sotto Diocleziano e Massimiano Imperatori. Questi gloriosi martiri, avendo condotto nel Signore una lunga vita, ed avendo sofferto tormenti, ora eguali insieme, ora diversi e spietati separatamente, alla fine ambedue percossi con la spada da Promoto, Preside di Momento, compirono il corso del felice combattimento. I loro corpi poi, trasportati a Roma, furono con onore sepolti nella chiesa di santo Stefano Protomartire, sul monte Celio.
Dice il Martirologio Romano al 9 giugno: A Nomentano, in Sabina, il natale dei santi Martiri Primo e Feliciano fratelli, sotto Diocleziano e Massimiano Imperatori. Questi gloriosi martiri, avendo condotto nel Signore una lunga vita, ed avendo sofferto tormenti, ora eguali insieme, ora diversi e spietati separatamente, alla fine ambedue percossi con la spada da Promoto, Preside di Momento, compirono il corso del felice combattimento. I loro corpi poi, trasportati a Roma, furono con onore sepolti nella chiesa di santo Stefano Protomartire, sul monte Celio.
Autore: Giovanni Sicari
