 St. Abdon
Name: St. Abdon
Date: 30 July
The emperor Decius, enemy of Christians, had defeated the king of Persia and become master ofseveral countries over which he reigned. He had already condemned to torture and death SaintPolychrome, with five members of his clergy. Saint Abdon and Saint Sennen, illustrious Persiandignitaries of the third century whom the king of Persia had highly honored, were secretlyChristian; it was they who had taken up the body of the martyred bishop, which had been castcontemptuously before a temple of Saturn, to bury it at night, with honor. The two royal officials,now fallen under the domination of Rome, were grieved to witness the emperor’s cruelty towardsthe faithful, and believed it their duty to make known their love for Jesus Christ; thus, without fearof their new sovereign, they undertook by all possible means to spread and fortify the faith, toencourage the confessors and bury the martyrs. Decius, learning of their dedication, was extremely irritated. He sent for the two brothers to appear before his tribunal, and attempted to win them over to sacrifice to the gods, by appealingto his recent victory as a sign of their favor. The Saints replied, however, that this victory wasnot at all a proof of such power, since the unique true God, Creator of heaven and earth with HisSon, Jesus Christ, gives victory to some and defeat to others, for reasons hidden in the designs ofHis providence. They said they could never adore any but Him, and Decius imprisoned them. Soon afterwards, when he learned of the death of the viceroy he had left to govern in his place atRome, he returned to Rome and took his two captives with him to serve as splendid trophies ofhis Persian victory. In effect, these magistrates were wearing jewels and rich fabrics under theirchains. He arraigned them before the Senate, in whose presence they again testified to the divinity of Christ, saying they could adore no other. The next day they were flogged in the amphitheater;then two lions and four bears were released to devour them. But the beasts lay down at their feetand became their guardians, and no one dared approach for a time. Finally the prefect sent outgladiators to slay them with the sword, which with the permission of God was done. Their bodiesremained three days without burial, but a subdeacon, who afterwards wrote their history, tookthem up and buried them on his own terrain. Under Constantine the Great, their tombs were discovered by divine revelation and their relics reburied in the Pontian cemetery, which afterwards was called by their names. We see them in apicture of the catacombs, crowned by Our Lord Himself. Their glorious martyrdom occurred inthe year 254. |
