Saints Symphorian and Timotheus | |
---|---|
Martyrs | |
Died | August 22, 178 |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
Major shrine | Autun |
Feast | August 22; Hippolytus: now August 13 |
Attributes | Symphorian is depicted as a young man being dragged to martyrdom while his mother encourages him. |
Patronage | Symphorian is patron of Autun; children; students; against eye problems, against syphilis |
Symphorian (Symphorianus, Symphorien), Timotheus (Timothy), and Hippolytus of Rome are three Christian martyrs who, though they were unrelated and were killed in different places and at different times, shared a common feast day in the General Roman Calendar from at least the 1568 Tridentine calendar to the Mysterii Paschalis. While still a young man, Symphorian was either beheaded or beaten to death with clubs.
According to a legendary passio of St. Benignus of Dijon, Symphorian was a young nobleman who was converted by Benignus at Autun. Symphorian was beheaded, while still a young man, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. [1]
He was the son of a senator named Faustus. He studied at Autun and was brought before the provincial governor Heraclius for not worshipping the pagan goddess Cybele (Berecynthia), by failing to show due reverence when a procession during her festival was passing by. Symphorian is said to have asked for tools to destroy the statue. He was arrested and flogged and, because he was from a noble family, he was given a chance to recant but refused. [2]
His mother, the Blessed Augusta, encouraged him on his way to execution and was present at her son's death, which took place on 22 August 178. In the oldest redaction of manuscripts containing the saint's life is a Gaulish sentence recording that she allegedly yelled from the city wall: Nate, Nate, Symphoriane, mentobeto to Diuo which may be read as "gnate, gnate, mentobe to diwo" [3] ("Son, Son, O Symphorian, remember your God!"). [4] Symphorian was beaten to death with clubs.
Bishop Euphronius of Autun (died 490) built a handsome church over Symphorian's grave, connected with a monastery, the Abbey of St. Symphorian, which belonged to the Congregation of Sainte-Geneviève from 1656 until its suppression in 1791. Abbot Germanus later became Bishop of Paris, where he dedicated a chapel to the saint. [1] Genesius of Clermont built a church dedicated to him at Clermont.
Saint Symphorian is the patron saint of Autun. His veneration spread at an early date through the empire of the Franks. His cult was especially popular at Tours; Saint Gregory of Tours relates a miracle performed by the saint. [1]
There is a St. Symphorian's Church at Veryan, Cornwall, and another at Durrington in West Sussex, now a suburb of the town of Worthing.
During the pontificate of Melchiades (311–13), St. Timotheus came from Antioch to Rome, where he preached for fifteen months and lived with Sylvester, who later became pope. The prefect of the city, Tarquinus Perpenna, threw him into prison, tortured, and finally beheaded him at the Via Ostiense in 311. [5] A Christian woman named Theon buried him in her garden. This is related in the legend of Sylvester. The name of Timotheus occurs in the earliest martyrologies.
The 22 August feast of Saint Hippolytus of Rome was a duplicate of his 13 August feast and for that reason was deleted when the General Roman Calendar was revised in 1969. [6] Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology referred to the 22 August Hippolytus as Bishop of Porto. Johann Peter Kirsch, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, sees this as "connected with the confusion regarding the Roman presbyter resulting from the Acts of the Martyrs of Porto. It has not been ascertained whether the memory of the latter was localized at Porto merely in connection with the legend in Prudentius, without further foundation, or whether a person named Hippolytus was really martyred at Porto, and afterwards confounded in legend with Hippolytus of Rome." [7] This opinion is shared by a Benedictine source. [8]
Pope Pontian was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 230 to 28 September 235. In 235, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian was arrested and sent to the island of Sardinia.
Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia and other regions of the Middle East. The best historians of literature in the ancient church, including Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome, openly confess they cannot name where Hippolytus the biblical commentator and theologian served in leadership. They had read his works but did not possess evidence of his community. Photios I of Constantinople describes him in his Bibliotheca as a disciple of Irenaeus, who was said to be a disciple of Polycarp, and from the context of this passage it is supposed that he suggested that Hippolytus so styled himself. This assertion is doubtful. One older theory asserts he came into conflict with the popes of his time and seems to have headed a schismatic group as a rival to the bishop of Rome, thus becoming an antipope. In this view, he opposed the Roman Popes who softened the penitential system to accommodate the large number of new pagan converts. However, he was reconciled to the Church before he died as a martyr.
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Cyriacus, sometimes Anglicized as Cyriac, according to Christian tradition, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the Diocletianic Persecution. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them martyrs, who bear this name, of whom only seven are honoured by a specific mention of their names in the Roman Martyrology.
August 12 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 14
Saints Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix were siblings martyred in Rome during the Diocletian persecution.
Emerentiana was a Roman virgin and martyr, who lived around the start of the 4th century. Her feast day is 23 January.
Jovita and Faustinus were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia.
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Martinian and Processus were Christian martyrs of ancient Rome. Neither the years they lived nor the circumstances of their deaths are known. They are currently buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Saint Benignus of Dijon was a martyr honored as the patron saint and first herald of Christianity of Dijon, Burgundy. His feast falls, with All Saints, on November 1; his name stands under this date in the Martyrology of St. Jerome.
Nicomedes was a martyr of unknown era, whose feast is observed 15 September. He was buried in a catacomb on the Via Nomentana near the gate of that name.
Susanna of Rome was a Christian martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution. Her existing hagiography, written between about 450 and 500 AD, is of no historical value and the relations it attributes to Susanna are entirely fictitious. It is probable that a real martyr named Susanna lies behind the literary invention.
Saints Cyprian and Justina are honored in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy as Christians of Antioch, who in 304, during the Diocletianic Persecution, suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia on September 26. According to Roman Catholic sources, no Bishop of Antioch bore the name of Cyprian.
Saints Justa and Rufina (Ruffina) (Spanish: Santa Justa y Santa Rufina) are venerated as martyrs. They are said to have been martyred at Hispalis (Seville) during the 3rd century.
Tiburtius, according to Christian legend, was a Christian martyr and saint. His feast day is 11 August which is the same as Saint Susanna. The two were not related, but are sometimes associated because they are venerated on the same day.
Rufina and Secunda were Roman virgin-martyrs and Christian saints. Their feast day is celebrated on 10 July.
Andeolus or Andéol is an alleged Christian missionary martyred in Gaul.
August 21 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 23
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sts. Timotheus and Symphorian". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.