From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE Apostle of the Gentiles, explaining the mystery of the Pasch, tells us that baptism is the sepulcher of our sins, and that we rise from it together with our Redeemer, having our souls radiant with the life of grace.[1] Our holy faith teaches us that he who gives his life for Christ or his Church washes away in his own blood every stain from his soul, and rises to life everlasting: it is as though he received a second baptism, which reproduces all the effects belonging to the great sacrament of regeneration. We have to-day a sinner, who being purified by martyrdom and rebaptized in his own blood, is numbered among the privileged ones who share in the glory of our Risen Jesus. Boniface, by his immoralities, had scandalized the city where he lived; but his repentance was most complete. He longed to suffer the most cruel tortures for the love of the God he had offended, and thus make atonement for the sinful pleasures in which he had indulged. His wish was granted; suffering transformed him into the Saint whose feast is kept on this day, and whose virtues are a homage to the divine conqueror of sin and death.

Holy Church thus commemorates, in her Office, the bravery of this generous-hearted martyr:

Bonifacius, civis romanus, quod cum Aglae nobili matrona impudice versatus esset, tanto illius intemperantiae dolore captus est, ut poenitentiœcausa se ad conquirenda et sepelienda martyrum corpora contulerit. Itaque relictis peregrinationis sociis, quum Tarsi multos propter Christianae fidei professionem variis tormentis cruciatos vidisset, illorum vincula osculatus, eos vehementer hortabatur ut constanter supplicia perferrent, quod brevem laborem sempiterna requies consecutura sit. Comprehensus igitur, ferreis ungulis excarnificatus est: cui etiam inter manuum ungues et carnem acuti calami sunt infixi, plumbumque liquefactum in os ejus infusum. Quibus in cruciatibus ea vox tantum Bonifacii audiebatur: Gratias tibi ago, Domine Jesu Christe, Fili Dei. Mox in ollam ferventis picis demisso capite conjectus est: unde quum inviolatus exisset, ira incensus judex eum securi percuti jubet. Quo tempore magnus terrae motus factus est, ita ut multi infideles ad Christi Domini fidem converterentur. Eum sequenti die quærentes socii, quum martyrio affectum cognovissent, quingentis solidis ejus corpus redemerunt, et conditum unguentis, linteisque involutum, Romam portandum curarunt. Quod factum quum ab angelo Aglae matrona, quæ et ipsa pœnitens se piis operibus addixerat, cognovisset; prodiens obviam sancto corpori, Ecclesiam ejus nomine aedificavit, in qua corpus sepultum est nonis Junii, quum ejus anima pridie Idus Maii apud Tarsum Ciliciae urbem migrasset in coelum, Diocle tiano et Maximiano Imperatoribus.

Boniface was a citizen of Rome, and had held criminal intercourse with a rich lady, by name Aglae. He was filled with such shame on account of this immoral conduct, that by way of penance he devoted himself to searching out and burying the bodies of martyrs. In one of his travels he left his companions; and finding, on arriving at Tarsus, that many were being put to divers tortures for the Christian faith, he approached them, kissed their chains and did all in his power to urge them to bear patiently the short labour of sufferings which were to be followed by eternal rest. For this he was seized, and his flesh was torn by iron hooks. Sharp reeds were also thrust up his finger-nails, and melted lead was poured into his mouth. His only exclamation, in the midst of these tortures, was: ' I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God!' He was then put, head foremost, into a cauldron of boiling pitch; and when he was taken out, and found to be unhurt, the judge, in a fit of anger, ordered him to be beheaded. During his execution a great earthquake was felt; whereupon many of the pagans were converted to the faith of Christ our Lord. On the day following, his companions, who were in search of him, were told that he had suffered martyrdom. They bought his body for five hundred pieces of silver; and having embalmed and shrouded it, they had it taken to Rome. All this was made known by an angel to Aglae, who had also devoted herself to penance and good works. She, therefore, went to meet the martyr's relics. She built a church, which was named after the Saint, and in which he was buried on the Nones of June (June 5). The martyr’s soul passed into heaven on the day before the Ides of May (May 14) at Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

The angels rejoiced more at thy conversion, O Boniface, than at the fidelity of the ninety-nine just; but their joy was redoubled when they found that heaven gained in thee not only a penitent, but a martyr too. Receive also the congratulations of holy Church, which celebrates the memory of thy victory. Rome is still in possession of thy holy relics, which repose in the Church on Mount Aventine, where once stood the house of her that imitated thy repentance. In both her and thee, we have a proof of the infinite mercy of our Risen Jesus, who called the two sinners from spiritual death to the life of grace. Have compassion, O holy martyr, on those poor sinners whom this Easter has not yet brought back to their Redeemer. The Alleluia has resounded through the whole universe, and yet it has failed to rouse them from their sleep of sin. Pray for their resurrection. Their days are numbered; and perhaps they are not to see another Easter. Yet do we hope in the divine mercy, which has shown us its power by making thee and Aglaé to be vessels of election. We therefore unite our prayers with thine, O Boniface, that our Lord may grant a resurrection to our brethren. Hope is our armour in this peaceful contest with divine justice, which delights in being vanquished by prayer. Present our prayer before the throne of God; and many of those that are now spiritually dead will rise again, and their conversion will cause joy to the angels, as thine did.

[1] Rom. vi.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

SO far in our Paschal season, the choir of Virgin martyrs has not yet offered to Jesus its crown of roses and lilies. It does so to-day, by presenting to him the noble Flavia Domitilla, the fairest flower of Rome, that was cut down by the sword of martyrdom in the first age of the Christian faith. It was under the persecution of Domitian—during which John the Evangelist was condemned to be burned alive in the cauldron of boiling oil—that Flavia Domitilla was honoured with banishment and death for the sake of our Redeemer, whom she had chosen for her Spouse. She was of the imperial family, being a niece of Flavius Clemens, who adorned the consular dignity by martyrdom. She was one of the Christians belonging to the court of the Emperor Domitian, who show us how rapidly the religion of the poor and humble made its way to the highest classes of Roman life. A few years previous to this, St Paul sent to the Christians of Philippi the greetings of the Christians of Nero's palace.[1] There is still extant, not far from Rome, on the Ardeatine Way, the magnificent subterranean cemetery which Flavia Domitilla ordered to be dug on her prædium, and in which were buried the two martyrs, Nereus and Achilleus, whom the Church honours to-day together with the noble virgin who owes her crown to them.

Nereus and Achilleus were in Domitilla’s service.[2] Hearing them one day speaking of the merit of virginity, she there and then bade farewell to all worldly pleasures, and aspired to the honour of being the Spouse of Christ. She received the veil of consecrated virgins from the hands of Pope St Clement: Nereus and Achilleus had been baptized by St Peter himself. What glorious reminiscences for one day!

The bodies of these three Saints reposed, for several centuries, in the Basilica, called the Fasciola, on the Appian Way; and we have a Homily which St Gregory the Great preached in this Church on their feast. The holy Pontiff dwelt on the vanity of the earth’s goods; he encouraged his audience to despise them by the example of the three martyrs whose relics lay under the very altar around which they were that day assembled.

These Saints, [said he] before whose tomb we are now standing, trampled with contempt of soul on the world and its flowers. Life was then long, health was uninterrupted, riches were abundant, parents were blessed with many children; and yet, though the world was so flourishing in itself, it had long been a withered thing in their hearts.[3]

Later on, in the thirteenth century, the Fasciola having been almost reduced to ruins by the disasters that had befallen Rome, the bodies of the three Saints were translated to the Church of St Adrian, in the Forum. There they remained till the close of the sixteenth century, when the great Baronius, who had been raised to the Cardinalate, with the title of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, resolved to repair the Church that was thus entrusted to his care. Through his munificence, the naves were restored; the history of the three martyrs was painted on the walls; the marble pulpit, from which St Gregory preached the Homily, was brought back, and the Homily itself was graven, from beginning to end, on the back; and the Confession was enriched with mosaics and precious marbles, preparatory to its receiving the sacred relics, of which it had been deprived for three hundred years.

Baronius felt that it was high time to put an end to the long exile of the holy martyrs, whose honour was now so specially dear to him. He organized a formal triumph for their return. Christian Rome excels in the art of blending together the forms of classic antiquity and the sentiments inspired by faith. The chariot, bearing a superb canopy, under which lay the relics of the three martyrs, was first led to the Capitol. On reaching the top of the clivus Capitolinus, the eye met two inscriptions, placed parallel with each other. On one were these words: ' To Saint Fla via Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, the Capitol, purified from the wicked worship of demons, and restored more perfectly than by Flavius Vespasian and Domitian, Emperors, kinsmen of the Christian Virgin.' On the other: ‘The Senate and People of Rome to Saint Flavia Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, who, by allowing herself to be put to death by fire for the faith of Christ, brought greater glory to Rome than did her kinsmen, the Emperors Flavius Vespasian and Domitian, when, at their own expense, they restored the Capitol, that had twice suffered from fire.'

The reliquaries of the martyrs were then placed on an altar that had been erected near the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. After being venerated by the faithful, they were replaced on the chariot, which descended by the opposite side of the Capitol. The procession soon reached the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, on which were hung these two inscriptions:

To the holy Martyrs Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the best of citizens, the Senate and People of Rome, for their having honoured the Roman name by their glorious death, and won peace for the Roman commonwealth by shedding their blood.

To Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the invincible Martyrs of Christ Jesus, the Senate and People of Rome, for their having honoured the City by the noble testimony they bore to the Christian Faith.

Following the Via Sacra, the procession was soon in front of the triumphal arch of Titus, the monument of God’s victory over the deicide nation. On one side were inscribed these words: 'This triumphal arch, formerly dedicated and raised to the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, for having brought the rebellious Judea under the yoke of the Roman people, is now, by the Senate and People of Rome, more auspiciously dedicated and consecrated to Flavia Domitilla, kinswoman of the same Titus, for having, by her death, increased and furthered the Christian Religion.'

On the other side of the arch was the following inscription: ‘To Flavia Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, kinswoman of the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, the Senate and People of Rome, for her having, by shedding her blood and laying down her life for the Faith, rendered a more glorious homage to the death of Christ than did the said Titus, when by divine inspiration he destroyed Jerusalem, to avenge that same death.'

Leaving on the left the Coliseum, the hallowed ground whereon so many martyrs had fought the battle of faith, they passed under the triumphal arch of Constantine, which so eloquently speaks of the victory of Christianity, both in Rome and the Empire, and which still bears on it the name of the Gens Flavia, of which the first Christian Emperor was a member. The two following inscriptions were attached to the arch:

To Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the Senate and People of Rome. On this sacred way, whereon so many Roman Emperors received triumphal honours for having brought various provinces into subjection to the Roman People, these martyrs receive to-day a more glorious triumph, for that they con quered, by a greater courage, the conquerors themselves.

To Flavia Domitilla, the Senate and People of Rome. Twelve Emperors, her kinsmen, conferred honour on the Gens Flavia and on Rome herself by their deeds of fame; but she, by sacrificing all human honours and life itself for Christ's sake, rendered greater service to both family and City than they.

The procession then continued its route along the Appian Way, and at length reached the Basilica. Baronius, assisted by a great number of Cardinals, received the precious relics, and took them with great respect to the Confession of the High Altar. Meanwhile the choir sang this Antiphon of the Pontifical: * Enter, ye Saints of God! for a dwelling hath been prepared for you by the Lord. The faithful people have followed you on your way, that ye may intercede for them with the majesty of the Lord. Alleluia!'

The following is the account of our three martyrs as given in the Liturgy:

Nereus et Achilleus fratres, eunuchi Flaviae Domitillœ, a beato Petro una cum ipsa ej usque matre Plautilla baptizati, quum Domitillœ persuasissent ut virginitatem suam Deo consecraret, ab ejus sponso Aureliano tamquam Christiani accusati, ob praeclaram fidei confessionem in Pontiam insulam relegantur: ubi ad quæstionem iterum vocati, et verberibus caesi, mox Tarracinam perducti, a Minutio Rufo, equuleo et flammis cruciati, quum constanter negarent, se a sancto Petro Apostolo baptizatos, ullis tormentis cogi posse ut idolis immolarent, securi percussi sunt: quorum corpora ab Auspicio eorum discipulo, et Domitillœ educatore, Romam delata. Via Ardeatina sepulta sunt.

The brothers Nereus and Achilleus were in the service of Flavia Domitilla, and were baptized, together with her and her mother Plautilla, by St Peter. They persuaded Domitilla to consecrate her virginity to God: in consequence of which they were accused of being Christians by Aurelian, to whom she was betrothed. They made an admirable confession of their faith, and were banished to the isle of Pontia. There they were again examined and were condemned to be flogged. They were shortly afterwards taken to Terracina; and, by order of Minucius Rufus, were placed on the rack and tormented with burning torches. On their resolutely declaring that they had been baptized by blessed Peter the Apostle, and no tortures should ever induce them to offer sacrifice to idols, they were beheaded. Their bodies were taken to Rome by their disciple Auspicius, Domitilla’s tutor, and were buried on the Ardeatine Way.

Flavia Domitilla, virgo Romana, Titi et Domitiani Imperatorum neptis, quum sacrum virginitatis velamen a beato Clemente Papa accepisset, ab Aureliano sponso Titi Aurelii consulis filio delata quod Christiana esset, a Domitiano Imperatore in insulam Pontiam est deportata, ubi in carcere longum martyrium duxit. Demum Tarracinam deducta, iterum Christum confessa: quum semper constantior appareret, sub Trajano imperatore, judicis jussu incenso ejus cubiculo una cum Theodora et Euphrosyna virginibus, et collactaneis suis, gloriosi martyrii cursum confecit nonis Maii: quarum corpora integra inventa, a Cœesario diacono sepulta sunt. Hac vero die duorum fratrum ac Domitillae corpora ex Diaconia sancti Adriani simul translata in ipsorum Martyrum basilicam, tituli Fasciolae, restituta sunt.

Flavia Domitilla, a Roman lady, and niece of the Emperors Titus and Domitian, received the holy veil of virginity from the blessed Pope Clement. She was accused of being a Christian by Aurelian, son of the Consul Titus Aurelius, to whom she had been promised in marriage. The Emperor Domitian banished her to the isle of Pontia, where she suffered a long martyrdom in prison. She was finally taken to Terracina, where she again confessed Christ. Finding that her constancy was not to be shaken, the judge ordered the house where she lodged to be set on fire; and thus, together with two virgins, her foster-sisters Theodora and Euphrosyna, she completed her glorious martyrdom on the ninth of the Nones of May (May 7), during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. Their bodies were found entire, and were buried by a deacon named Cæsarius. On this day the bodies of the two brothers and that of Domitilla were translated from the Church of Saint Adrian to the Basilica called Fasciola.

How grand was the triumph which Rome gave to you, O holy martyrs, so many centuries after your glorious deaths! How true it is that there is no glory here on earth which can bear comparison with that of the saints! Where are now those twelve Emperors, thy kinsmen, O Domitilla? Who cares for their remains? Who even cherishes their memory? One of them was sur~ named ‘the delight of mankind '; and now how many there are who have never heard of his existence! Another, the last of the twelve, had the glory of proclaiming the victory won by the Cross over the Roman Empire; Christian Rome honours and loves his name; but the homage of religious devotion is not given to him, but to thee, O Domitilla, and to the two martyrs whose names are now associated with thine.

Who does not recognize the power of Jesus' Resurrection in the love and enthusiasm wherewith a whole people welcome your holy relics, O martyrs of the living God? Fifteen hundred years had elapsed; and yet your lifeless remains were greeted with a transport of joy, as though you yourselves were there, and living. It was because we Christians know that Jesus, who is the first-born of the dead,[4] has risen from the grave; and that you, like him, are one day to rise in glory. Therefore do the faithful honour by anticipation the immortality which, at a future period, is to be given to your bodies, once slain for Jesus' sake; they already see by faith the future brightness which is to be imparted to your flesh; and thus they proclaim the dignity which the Redemption has given to man, to whom death is now but a transition to true life, and the tomb but a resting-place where the body is consigned, as seed to the earth, to be restored in a hundredfold of richer beauty.

Happy they who, as the prophecy says, have washed their robes and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb![5] But happier they, says Holy Church, who, after being thus purified, have mingled their own blood with that of the divine Victim! for by so doing they have filled up in their flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ.[6] Hence, their intercession is powerful, and we should address our prayers to them with love and confidence. Befriend us, then, O holy martyrs Nereus, Achilleus, and Domitilla! Obtain for us an ardent love for our Risen Jesus; perseverance in the new life which he has conferred upon us; detachment from the things of this world, and a determined resolution to trample them beneath our feet, should they become a danger to our eternal salvation. Pray for us, that we may be courageous in resisting our spiritual enemies, ever ready to defend our holy faith, and earnest in our endeavours to gain that kingdom which is to be borne away by violence.[7] Be the defenders of the holy Roman Church, which fervently celebrates your memory each year. You, Nereus and Achilleus, were converts of Peter; and thou, Domitilla, wast the spiritual daughter of Clement, Peter's successor; protect the Pontiff who now governs the Church—the Pontiff, in whom Peter still lives—the Pontiff, the successor of Clement. Dispel the storms which are threatening the Cross on the Capitol, and pray for the inhabitants of Rome, that they may be staunch to the faith.

[1] Phil, iv 22.
[2] The Acts of these two Saints—which were drawn up long after their martyrdom, and on which were formed the Lessons of to-day’s Office—call them “eunuchs”: but it is a mistake of the compiler, who belongs to the fifth or sixth century. The introduction of eunuchs into the Imperial Court, and into the Roman families, is of a later date than the reign of Domitian.
[3] Homil. xxviii in Evang.
[4] Apoc. i 5.
[5] Ibid. vii 14.
[6] Coloss. i 24.
[7] St Matt. xi 12.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

A FOURTH martyr claims our veneration on this twelfth day of May. Like the three others, he culled his palm at Rome. But whilst they died for the faith at the very commencement of the Christian era, Pancras was not called to the glorious combat till the persecution under Diocletian—the last and greatest effort of pagan Rome against the Church. Our young hero was only fourteen years of age; but he was old enough to be a brave martyr, and he has been honoured by a commemoration in Paschal Time. The venerable Church in the Holy City which is dedicated to him, and which gives a title to one of the Cardinals, was built on the site of the cemetery where his body was buried. The following commemoration is made of him in the Matins of this feast:

Pancratius in Phrygia nobili genere natus, puer quatuordecim annorum Romam venit, Diocletiano et Maximiano imperatoribus: ubi a Pontifice Romano baptizatus, et in fide Christiana eruditus, ob eamdem paulo post comprehensus, quam diis sacrificare constanter renuisset, virili fortitudine datis cervicibus, illustrem martyrii coronam consecutus est: cujus corpus Octavilla matrona noctu sustulit, et unguentis delibutum via Aurelia sepelivit.

Pancras was bom in Phrygia, of a noble family. When but a boy of fourteen, he went to Rome, in the reign of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. He there received baptism from the Roman Pontiff, and was instructed in the Christian faith. Shortly afterwards he was seized, as being a Christian; but upon his firmly refusing to offer sacrifice to the gods, he was condemned to be beheaded. He suffered death with manly courage, and obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom. During the night a matron, by name Octavilla, took away his body, and had it buried, after embalming it, on the Aurelian Way.

Divine grace, which called thee to the crown of martyrdom, selected thee, O Pancras, from the distant land of Phrygia, and led thee to the capital of the empire—the centre of every vice and every error of paganism. Thy name, like those of millions of others who were better known to the world, had else been quite forgotten. But now, though thy earthly career was soon ended, the name of Pancras is loved and venerated throughout the whole earth: it is breathed at the altar, in the prayers which accompany the sacrifice of the Lamb. How camest thou, dear youthful martyr, by this celebrity, which will last to the end of the world? It was because, having imitated Jesus' Death by suffering and shedding thy blood for his name, thou hast been made a sharer in the glory of his immortality. In return for the honour we pay thee, deign to aid us by thy protection. Speak of us to Jesus, who is our divine Master, as he was thine. In this vale of our exile, we sing our Alleluia for his Resurrection, which has filled us with hope; obtain for us, by thy prayers, that we may sing Alleluia with thee in heaven, where it will be eternal, and be prompted, not by the gladness of hope, but by the bliss of possession.

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

TWO more martyrs ascend from our earth on this day and are admitted to share in Jesus’ glory. Again it is Rome that deputes them to bear her homage to the Conqueror of Death. Gordian was one of the magistrates who were commissioned, under Julian the Apostate, to persecute the Christians. One day, whilst exercising his office, he suddenly descended from the tribunal and took his place among the criminals. He was soon called upon to shed his blood for the faith. His martyrdom, together with that of the illustrious brothers, John and Paul, whose feast we shall keep in June, closes the period of the pagan persecutions in the West. The fact of his being buried in the crypts on the Latin Way awakened the memory of another martyr, whose relics, half consumed by fire, had long before been brought thither from Alexandria. His name was Epimachus; and on this day the two martyrs were inseparably united in the devotion of the faithful. Neither the place nor the period of their combat was the same; but both of them fought for the one cause and won the same victory. The two conquerors are buried in peace in the Eternal City; but he, for whose name they delivered their bodies to death, is mindful of their precious remains. Yet a little while, and he will fulfil, in their regard, the promise he made when he said: I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in me, although he he dead, shall live.[1]

Gordianus judex, quum ad eum Januarius presbyter, ut condemnaretur, sub Juliano Apostata ductus esset, ab eodem in Christiana fide instructs, cum uxore et quinquaginta tribus aliis ex eadem familia, Romæ baptizatur. Quare Præfectus, relegato Januario, Gordianum a Clementiano vicario includi jubet in carcerem: qui postea eumdem Gordianum vinctum catenis ad se accersitum, cum a fidei proposito deterrere non posset, plumbatis diu cæsum capite plecti imperat. Cujus corpus ante Apollinis templum canibus objectum, noctu a Christianis via Latina sepelitur in eadem crypta, in quam reliquiae beati Epimachi Martyris translatæ fuerant ab Alexandria: ubi is diu propter Christi confessionem constrictus in carcere, postremo combustus, martyrio coronats est.

During the reign of Julian the Apostate, Januarius, a priest, was brought before the judge, Gordian, that he might be condemned; but Gordian, after being instructed in the Christian faith by this same priest, was baptized by him at Rome, together with his wife and fiftythree other members of his house. Whereupon the Prefect, having sent Januarius into exile, ordered his deputy Clementianus to imprison Gordian. The deputy, after some time, had Gordian led in chains before his tribunal, and sought to induce him to deny the faith: but, failing in the attempt, he ordered him to be first scourged with whips laden with plummets of lead, and then beheaded. His body was exposed before the temple of Apollo, that it might be devoured by dogs; but during the night the Christians took it, and buried it on the Latin Way, in the same crypt wherein had previously been laid the relics of the holy martyr Epimachus, brought from Alexandria, in which city he had endured a long imprisonment for the Christian faith, and was finally crowned with martyrdom by being burned to death.

Sleep your sleep of peace, O holy martyrs! Rest yet a little time, till your fellow-servants and brethren, who are to be slain even as you, shall be filled up.[2] The number has been added to in every century; but the world is now near its end, and its last period is to be rich in martyrdom. When the reign of the man of sin[3] begins its course, and the final tempest rages against the bark of holy Church, then, O martyrs of Christ, protect the Christian people, in return for the yearly tribute of honour that it has paid to your venerable names. Pray also for those living during these sad times, whose miseries seem like the distant howling of the storm that is to precede the end of the world. Strengthen our hearts, O holy martyrs! and whatever may be the lot prepared for us by Providence, obtain for us that we may be faithful to him, who would be to us what he has been to you—the Resurrection and the Life.[4]

[1] St John xi 25.
[2] Apoc. vi 11.
[3] 2 Thess. ii 3.
[4] St John xi 25.