Bithynia.
Asia citerior. Auctore Henrico Kiepert Berolinensi. Geographische
Verlagshandlung Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen) Berlin, Wilhemlstr. 29. (1903)
Saint Patrice
(4ème s.)
Évêque de Prousse, martyr
avec plusieurs chrétiens. Ils furent décapités en chantant une ultime prière
d'action de grâces.
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/7021/Saint-Patrice.html
Also
known as
Patricius
Patrick
Profile
Bishop. Martyr.
No other information has survived.
Prusa, Bithynia (in the
northwest of modern Turkey)
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
MLA
Citation
‘Saint Patritius of
Prusa‘. CatholicSaints.Info. 7 June 2020. Web. 8 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-patritius-of-prusa/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-patritius-of-prusa/
Book
of Saints – Patritius, Acatius, Menander and Polyaenus
Article
(Saints) Martyrs (April
28) (Date uncertain) A group of Martyrs of
Prusa (Broussa) in Bithynia in Asia Minor. They probably suffered in the second
century, but no reliable account of them exists.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Patritius, Acatius, Menander and Polyaenus”. Book
of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
19 August 2016. Web. 8 April 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-patritius-acatius-menander-and-polyaenus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-patritius-acatius-menander-and-polyaenus/
St. Patrick of Prusa
Feastday: April 28
Death: unknown
Martyr with Polyaenus and
Menander, put to death in Prusa, in the Roman province of Bithynia, in Asia Minor.
No date can be attached to the event, but The account of his death, the Acts of Patrick,
is considered by scholars to be authentic, although the names of the others
were probably added to the calendar over succeeding centuries.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5254
Patrick (Patricius),
Acatius,
Menander & Polyenus
MM (RM)
Date unknown (though it
is recorded on May 19, this second feast celebrated by the Greeks). The acta of
Prusa's (Broussa in Bithynia) second bishop, Patrick, are considered authentic.
The names of the others have been added in the early calendars. His acta say
that Proconsul Julius of Bithynia, having come to Prusa to bath in its famous
hot springs and sacrifice to the Esculapius and to Health, found himself
refreshed and invigorated. He attributed his renewed well-being to these
divinities and gratefully wanted to make a return by obliging Patrick to
sacrifice to them.
He had the bishop brought
before him and said, "You, who being led away by silly tales, are weak
enough to invoke Christ, deny if you can the power of our gods, and their
providential care over us. In granting us these mineral waters, endued by them
with salutary virtues. I therefore insist on your sacrificing to Esculapius, as
you hope to avoid being severely tormented for your non-compliance."
Patrick: "How many
wicked things are contained in the few words you have bean uttering!"
Julius: "What
wickedness can you discover in my discourse, who have advanced nothing in it
but what is plain matter of fact? Are not the daily cures, wrought by these
waters, clear and manifest? Don't we see and experience them?"
Patricius did not deny
the salutary effects of the waters, nor the cures wrought by them, but
endeavored to convince the governor and the listeners that these waters, and
all other things, had received their being and perfection from the one only
true God, and his Son Jesus Christ. And while he was endeavoring to account for
their heat and ebullition, from secondary causes, he was interrupted by the
proconsul's crying out: "You pretend, then, that Christ made these waters,
and gave them their virtue?"
Patrick: "Yes;
without all doubt he did."
Julius: "If I throw
you into these waters to punish you for your contempt of the gods, do you
imagine your Christ, whom you suppose the maker of them, will preserve your
life in the midst of them?"
Patrick: "I do not
contemn your gods, for no one can contemn what does not exist: I would have you
convinced that Jesus Christ can preserve my life, when I am thrown into these
waters, as easily as he can permit them to take it away: and that whatever
relates to me, or is to befall me, is perfectly known to him, as he is present
everywhere; for not a bird falls to the ground, nor a hair from our heads, but
by his good will and pleasure. This I would have all look upon as an oracle of
truth itself; and that an eternal punishment in hell awaits all such as, like
you, adore idols."
Enraged at these words,
the proconsul commanded that Patrick be stripped and cast into the scalding
water. As they carried out the order, he prayed: "Lord Jesus Christ,
assist Your servant."
Several of the guards
were scalded by the dashing of the water, which left Patrick untouched--much
like the three children in the Babylonian furnace. Julius grew more angry that
God protected the saint. He next ordered that Patrick be decapitated. The martyr,
having recommended his soul to God by a short prayer, knelt down, and had his
head struck off pursuant to the sentence. The faithful that were present at the
execution carried off his body, and gave it a decent interment near the high
road. Some name Constantinople as the chief place of his veneration and suggest
that he suffered there and that his relics were preserved in a famous church
which bore his name. Both the Greek and Roman calendars join him with Saint
Acacius, Menander, and Polyaenus, who were also beheaded for the faith
(Benedictines).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0428.shtml
St. Patricius, Bishop of Prusa, in Bithynia, Martyr
From his authentic acts in Ruinart. In the Chronicon of George Hamartolus, of which a MS. copy is extant in the Coislinian library at S. Germain-des-Prez in Paris, (Cod. 305,) is inserted fol. 200. Patricii Episcopi Prusæ responsio ad Judicem. See the acts of this holy martyr most accurately given by Mazochio, with five learned disquisitions on his see, age, &c., in the commentary which he published in Marmor Neapolitanum, seu Vetus Kalendarium SS. Neapolit. Ecclesiæ, t. 2, p. 301, ad 19 Maii.
THERE were anciently in
Bithynia, three cities known by the name of Prusa; that whereof St. Patricius
was bishop, was famous for its hot baths, near which stood a temple, wherein
sacrifices were offered to Esculapius and to Health: the latter being adored as
a goddess by the Romans, had a temple in Rome itself, as is mentioned by
Livy. 1 His
acts give the following account of his martyrdom. Julius, proconsul of
Bithynia, being at Prusa, after bathing in the hot baths and sacrificing to
Esculapius and Health, found himself fresh, vigorous, and in good health, for
which he imagined himself indebted to those divinities. With a view, therefore,
to make a grateful return to these imaginary deities, he was determined to
oblige Patricius to offer sacrifice to them. Wherefore, being seated on his
tribunal, and having caused Patricius to be brought before him, he said to him:
“You, who being led away by silly tales, are weak enough to invoke Christ, deny
if you can the power of our gods, and their providential care over us, in
granting us these mineral waters, endued by them with salutary virtues. I
therefore insist on your sacrificing to Esculapius, as you hope to avoid being
severely tormented for your non-compliance.” Patricius.—“How many wicked things
are contained in the few words you have been uttering!” Proconsul.—“What
wickedness can you discover in my discourse, who have advanced nothing in it
but what is plain matter of fact? Are not the daily cures, wrought by these
waters, clear and manifest? Don’t we see and experience them?” Patricius did
not deny the salutary virtues of the waters, nor the cures wrought by them upon
human bodies, but endeavoured to convince the governor, and a numerous
audience, that these waters, and all other things, had received their being and
perfections from the one only true God, and his Son Jesus Christ. 2 And
while he was endeavouring to account for their heat and ebullition, from
secondary causes, he was interrupted by the proconsul’s crying out: “You
pretend then that Christ made these waters, and gave them their virtue?”
Patricius.—“Yes; without all doubt he did.” Proconsul.—“If I throw you into
these waters to punish you for your contempt of the gods, do you imagine your
Christ, whom you suppose the maker of them, will preserve your life in the
midst of them?” Patricius.—“I do not contemn your gods, for no one can contemn
what does not exist: I would have you convinced that Jesus Christ can preserve
my life, when I am thrown into these waters, as easily as he can permit them to
take it away: and that whatever relates to me, or is to befal me, is perfectly
known to him, as he is present every where; for not a bird falls to the ground,
nor a hair from our heads, but by his good will and pleasure. This I would have
all look upon as an oracle of truth itself; and that an eternal punishment in
hell awaits all such as, like you, adore idols.” These words so enraged the proconsul,
that he commanded the holy bishop to be immediately stripped and cast into the
scalding water. While they were throwing him in, he prayed thus: “Lord Jesus
Christ, assist thy servant.” Several of the guards were scalded by the dashing
of the water. But it had no such effect upon the martyr, who, like the three
children in the Babylonian furnace, continued in it a considerable time without
hurt, being affected no more by it than if it had been an agreeable temperate
bath. The enraged proconsul ordered him thereupon to be taken out and beheaded.
The martyr, having recommended his soul to God by a short prayer, knelt down,
and had his head struck off pursuant to the sentence. The faithful who were
present at the execution carried off his body, and gave it a decent interment
near the high road. His martyrdom happened on the 19th of May. Thus his acts.
It does not appear in what persecution he suffered. He is commemorated in the
Greek Menæa on the 19th of May; in the Menology published by Canisius on the 28th
of April and on the 19th of May, and in the Roman Martyrology on the 28th of
April, probably the day of the translation of his relics. Both the Greek and
Roman calendars join SS. Acacius, Menander, and Polyænus, who were beheaded
with him for the faith. Le Quien 3 reckons
St. Alexander, who is honoured with the title of bishop of Prusa, and martyr on
the 10th of June, in the Greek Menæa, the first bishop of that city whose name
has reached us, and St. Patricius the second, George, who was present in the
council of Nice, the third, and St. Timothy the fourth, who was crowned with
martyrdom under Julian the Apostate, according to the several Greek calendars
both in their Menæa, Menologies, and Synaxeries, which mention him on the 10th
of June. Some name Constantinople as the chief place of his veneration. Perhaps
he suffered in that city: at least his relics were preserved there in a famous
church which bore his name: on which see Du Cange. 4
Note 1. L. 5. [back]
Note 2. The
discourse may be seen at length in his acts given in Ruinart, in which he
ascribes the heat of these and the like waters to subterraneous fires: and the
martyr takes occasion from thence to speak of hell and its never-ending
torments. Some philosophers, both ancient and modern, imagine a central fire in
the bowels of the earth: others more probably ascribe all subterraneous heat
and fire to fermenting or inflammable materials, which are found almost every
where in some degree, especially in great depths, in the earth. [back]
Note 3. Oriens
Christ. t. 1, p. 616. [back]
Note 4. Constantinopolis
Christiana, p. 140. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/285.html
Hieromartyr Patrick,
Bishop of Prusa, and his companions
Commemorated on May
19
Saint Patrick lived
during the first century and was bishop of the city of Prusa in Bythnia (Asia
Minor). He openly and boldly preached Christ the Savior, and denounced the
error of the pagans. Therefore, he and the priests, Acacius, Menander and
Polyainus were arrested, and brought to Julius, the prefect of the city for
interrogation.
Julius was going to the
hot springs for treatment, and he ordered that the Christian bishop and the
priests be brought along after him, bound in iron chains. After he washed in
the hot springs, Julius offered sacrifice to his gods. He had Saint Patrick and
the other prisoners brought before him, ordering them to offer sacrifice to the
pagan gods, threatening punishment if they refused.
Saint Patrick replied, “I
am a Christian and I worship the one true God, Jesus Christ, Who has created
the heavens and the earth, and these warm springs for the benefit of all
mankind.”
Julius had the saint
thrown into the hot spring, and with firm faith the martyr prayed, “Lord, Jesus
Christ, help Your servant,” and he remained unharmed.
In an impotent rage,
Julius ordered Saint Patrick and his three presbyters beheaded. They received
their crowns of unfading glory from Christ around the year 100.
Saint et glorieux martyr
PATRICE, évêque de PROUSSE, et de ses compagnons : ACACE, MÉNANDRE et POLYEN :
https://foi-orthodoxe.fr/vie-des-saints/juin/saint-et-glorieux-martyr-patrice-eveque-de-prousse-et-de-ses-compagnons-acace-menandre-et-polyen/
Holy Hieromartyr Patrick,
Bishop of Prusa and His Companions : https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/05/hieromartyr-patrick-of-prussa-bishop.html
