Pope St. Sixtus by
Sandro Botticelli
LEGENDS OF
THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
FROM THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
LIVES OF THE SAINTS
MARTYRDOM OF ST.
SIXTUS II
It was the year 258. The Emperor Valerian, under the
pressure of the fanatical clamours against the Christians, which the
misfortunes of the empire had excited, had the year before renewed the
persecution of the Church with greater severity than had been exercised even by
Decius. For the first time the sanctity of the tomb was no refuge for the
persecuted followers of Jesus. The imperial decree of 257 forbade the
Christians to frequent ' what they called their cemeteries' But the apostolic
precept, ' not to forsake the assembly' (Heb. x. 25), was a law superior to the
Emperor's edict, and in the narrow subterranean chapels of the Catacombs the
faithful assisted at the Holy Sacrifice. The satellites of the Emperor
jealously watched the entrances to the principal cemeteries. The great cemetery
of St. Callixtus was naturally a special object of their attention;
consequently on the 6th of August the Holy Pontiff Sixtus II., selected the
cemetery of St. Praetextatus as the place where he would celebrate the Sacred
Mysteries. It was a spot consecrated already by more than one hundred years of
sacred associations. There had the tribune St. Quirinus, who suffered for the
Faith in the time of Adrian, been laid to rest. There had the noble matron
Marmenia built a vaulted chamber underground, in which she buried the sacred
remains of St. Januarius, the eldest of the seven martyred sons of St.
Felicitas, whose epitaph by Pope Damasus has been brought to light only of late
years. There had Valerian, the martyred spouse of St. Cecilia, with his brother
Tibertius, and Maximus their companion in martyrdom, been carried to the grave;
and the holy Bishop Urban, who had instructed them in the Faith in this very
Catacomb, was soon afterwards buried in one of its chapels. And now a
procession of future Martyrs passes along the unusually spacious corridor of
this ancient cemetery.
The Earliest
Representation of San Gennaro (St Januarius), Catacombs of San Gennaro
The most noted shrine in this cemetery was the tomb of
St. Januarius; and thither, we may well presume, the procession bent its way.
The deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus prepare the altar, while the archdeacon
Laurence attends closely upon the venerable Pontiff. Preeminent for his manly
beauty, ardently loved by all the poor and afflicted among the faithful, the
finely-cut features of the archdeacon glow with an unwonted halo of sanctity as
he assists the Pope to vest and to commence the Holy Sacrifice. The Mass
proceeds, the faithful have received from the hands of Sixtus the Bread of
Heaven, and the Pontiff, with his deacons around him, is seated in the stone
chair beside the altar, and begins to address the faithful. Suddenly a distant
scream of alarm is heard—the clatter of arms and the trampling of many feet
approach hastily along the corridor. Those who are unable to escape are
encouraged by the calm serenity of the sacred ministers, while their 'hearts
are strengthened by the almost inspired words of the Pope. A traitor has led
the myrmidons of Valerian into the recesses of the Catacomb; and now they seize
the seven deacons, and' lay their sacrilegious hands upon the sacred person of
the Vicar of Christ. He entreats them to take his life, but to spare his flock:
'If you seek me, let these go their way.'
When they
reached the city, the guards who held St. Lawrence proceeded to separate him from
the rest; and now, for the first time, a bitter cry of sorrow
burst from his heart. It seemed as though the glorious crown of
martyrdom were about to be snatched from his grasp, and he alone of the deacons
of Rome was not to share the honour of joining their beloved Pontiff in the
last great sacrifice.
St Lawrence
Receiving the Treasures of the Church from Pope St Sixtus II by Fra Angelico
'Father,' he cried
to St. Sixtus, whither are you going without your son? Whither are you going, O
priest, without your deacon? You were never wont to offer sacrifice without me
as your minister. Wherein have I displeased you? Have you found me wanting to
my duty? Try me now, and see whether you have made choice of an unfit minister
for dispensing the Blood of the Lord.' St. Sixtus, touched to the heart at the
appeal of the noble youth, consoled him in words that showed how thoroughly he
appreciated the character of his favourite deacon. 'I do not leave you, my
son,' he said; 'but a greater trial and a more glorious victory are reserved
for you, who are strong and in the vigour of youth. We are spared on account of
our weakness and age. In three days you shall follow me.' He then privately
gave the archdeacon a charge to distribute among the poor all the treasures of
the Church, and even the gold chalices and silver candlesticks, which had
excited the cupidity of the prefect.
Sixtus was then conducted before the judges, and
condemned to death for disobeying the edict of the Emperor. In order to give
greater emphasis to the prohibition against frequenting the Catacombs, Sixtus
and four of his deacons were condemned to be executed in the very chapel where
they had been apprehended.
Again the cemetery of Praetextatus echoed with the
tramp of armed men. Again did the faithful timidly throng the entrance to the
subterranean chapel, which remained just as it had been left when the sermon of
St. Sixtus had been so rudely interrupted. But St. Laurence was no longer by
the side of the Pope. He was preparing for his own glorious martyrdom. The
venerable Pontiff was thrust into his episcopal chair, and a soldier struck off
his head, so that the chair was stained by his blood. Felicissimus and Agapitus,
and two other deacons, received their crown at the same 'time, and were
afterwards buried by the faithful in the chapel of St. Januarius. The precious
remains of St. Sixtus were reverently conveyed in the darkness of the night to
the adjoining cemetery of St. Callixtus, and deposited in the most honourable
position in the crypt, where so many of the martyr-Popes already lay. The
chair, red with his blood, was either now, or at a later period, removed also;
and recent explorations have brought to light some fragments of the inscription
set up over it by Pope Damasus, of which the following is a translation:
'At the time when
the sword of persecution pierced the tender heart of our Mother the Church I,
the Pontiff hurried here, was teaching the heavenly precepts. All at once they
come; they seized me seated on my chair — the soldiers had been sent. Then did
the people give their necks to the slaughter. The old man soon perceived who
wish'd to bear away the palm, and was the first to offer himself and his own
life, that the impatient fury of the heathen might not injure any of his flock.
Christ, who gives the rewards of life, manifests the merit of the pastor; and
He Himself defends the multitude of the flock.'
St. Cyprian of Carthage, in a letter which he desired
to be circulated throughout Africa, describing this persecution of Valerian,
which he daily expected to foil upon himself, says: 'But know that Sixtus was
martyred in the cemetery on the eighth day of the Ides of August, and with him
four deacons. The plaster of the entrance to this Papal crypt is covered with
the graffiti of pilgrims of the third and fourth centuries, and no name is so
frequently invoked as that of St. Sixtus II. One example must suffice: 'Sancte
Sixte in mente habeas in orationes Aureliu Repentinu,—Holy Sixtus, bear in mind
in thy prayers Aurelius Repentinus.' On the plaster of a loculus cut in the
arch above the altar-slab in the chapel of St. Januarius, probably about the
time of St. Damasus, is still to be seen a rude inscription: 'Januarius
Felicissimus, Agapitus, refresh the soul of . . . —the unknown person buried
there; while more than one sepulchral stone in the same Catacomb of St. Praetextatus
bears the figure of an episcopal chair rudely engraven upon it, to show how
vividly the memory of the holy Pontiff martyred at his post was preserved on
the spot consecrated by his blood.
LEGEND OF ST. TARCISSUS
The day following the glorious martyrdom of the Holy
Father it was decided to send the Holy Eucharist to the faithful, who, in spite
of the persecution, remained in the city, in order to fit them for martyrdom.
Tarcissus, an acolyth, being invested with this high commission, wrapped the
Bread of Life in fair linen, and concealed it in his bosom. On arriving, however,
at the walls of the city, not far from the spot where the church * Domine quo
vadis' now stands, he was met by a party of soldiers, who seized him and demanded
of him what he carried. Tarcissus, in obedience to the command of secrecy, was
silent. At once he fell under a shower of stones and blows, dying a Martyr to
the honour of the Blessed Sacrament. The soldiers turned his body over and
over, searched through his garments, and found — nothing!! Seized with fear,
they fled towards the Cappena gate, where they met a number of Christians upon the
point of descending into the Catacomb in order to celebrate the funeral of
their murdered Pope. The soldiers then informed the Emperor of what they had
seen; and in consequence Valerian prohibited the Christians from entering into
the Catacombs.
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