The Seven Brothers, Martyrs, and St Felicitas, Their Mother

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:

From their genuine acts in Ruinart, and Tillemont, t. 2. See the remarks of Pinius the Bollandist, t. 3 Julij, p. 5.

IN THE SECOND CENTURY

THE illustrious martyrdom of these saints has been justly celebrated by the holy fathers. It happened in Rome under the emperor Antoninus, that is, according to several ancient copies of the acts, Antoninus Pius.* The seven brothers were the sons of St. Felicitas, a noble pious Christian widow in Rome, who brought them up in the most perfect sentiments and practice of heroic virtue. After the death of her husband she served God in a state of continency † and employed herself wholly in prayer, fasting, and works of charity. By the public and edifying example of this lady and her whole family, many idolators were moved to renounce the worship of their false gods, and to embrace the faith of Christ, which Christians were likewise encouraged by so illustrious a pattern openly to profess. This raised the spleen of the heathen priests, who complained to the emperor Antoninus that the boldness with which Felicitas publicly practiced the Christian religion, drew many from the worship of the immortal gods who were the guardians and protectors of the empire, and that it was to continually insult them; who, on that account, were extremely offended and angry with the city and the entire state. They added that in order to appease them, it was necessary to compel this lady and her children to sacrifice to them. Antoninus being himself superstitious was prevailed upon by this remonstrance to send an order to Publius the prefect of Rome, to take care that the priests should be satisfied, and the gods appeased in this matter. Publius caused her mother and her children to be apprehended and brought before him. When this was done he took Felicitas apart from her, and used her strongest inducements to bring her freely to sacrifice to the gods, that he might not be obliged to proceed with severity against her and her sons; but she returned him this answer: “Do not think to frighten me with threats, or to win me with fair speeches. The Spirit of God within me will not make me suffer to be overcome by Satan, and will make me victorious over all your assaults.” Publius said in a great rage: “Unhappy woman, is it possible that you should think death so desirable as not to permit even your children to live, but force me to destroy them by the most cruel torments?” “My children,” she said, “will live eternally with Christ if they are faithful to him; but must expect eternal death if they sacrifice to idols.” The next day the prefect, sitting in the square of Mars before her temple de ella, sent for Felicitas and her children de ella, and addressing his speech de ella to her de ella, said: “Take pity on your children, Felicitas ; “they are in the bloom of youth, and may aspire to the greatest honors and preferences.” The holy mother answered: “Your pity is truly impiety, and the compassion to which you exhort me would make me the most cruel of mothers.” Then turning herself towards her children, she said to them “My sons, look up to heaven where Jesus Christ with his saints expects you. Be faithful in his love for him,and fight courageously for your souls.” Publius, being exasperated at this behavior, ordered her to be cruelly buffeted, saying: “You are insolent indeed, to give them such advice as this in my presence, in contempt of the orders of our princes.”

The judge then called the children to him one after another, and used many artful speeches, mingling promises with threats to induce them to worship the gods. Januarius, the eldest, experienced his assaults first, but resolutely answered him: “You advise me to do a thing that is very foolish, and contrary to all reason; but I trust in my Lord Jesus Christ, that he will preserve me from such an impiety.” Publius ordered him to be stripped and cruelly scourged, after which he sent him back to prison. Felix, the second brother, was called next, and ordered to sacrifice. But the generous youth replied, “There is only one God. To him we offer the sacrifice of our hearts. We will never forsake the love which we owe to Jesus Christ. Employ all your artifices; exhaust all inventions of cruelty; “you will never be able to overcome our faith.” The other brothers made their answers separately, that they feared not a passing death, but everlasting torments; and having before their eyes the immortal rewards of the just, they despised the threats of men. Martialis, who spoke last, said: “All who do not confess Christ to be the true God, shall be cast into eternal flames.”* The brothers, after being whipped, were sent back to prison, and the prefect, despairing to be able to ever to overcome their resolution, laid the whole process before the emperor. Antoninus having read the interrogatory, gave an order that they should be sent to different judges, and be condemned to different deaths. Januarius was scourged to death with whips loaded with plummets of lead. The next two, Felix and Philip, were beaten with clubs until they expired. Sylvanus, the fourth, was thrown headlong down a steep precipice. The three youngest, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martialis, were beheaded, and the same sentence was executed upon the mother four months later. St. Felicitas is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 23d of November; the sons on the 10th of July, on which day their festival is marked in the old Roman Calendar, published by Bucherius.1

St. Gregory the Great delivered his third homily on the Gospels, on the festival of St. Felicitas, in the church built over her tomb on the Salarian road. In this speech he says that this saint “having seven children” was as afraid of leaving them behind her on earth as other mothers are of surviving their children. She was more than a martyr, for seeing her seven dear children martyred before her eyes, she was in some sort a martyr in each of them. She was the eighth in the order of time, but was from the first to the last in pain, and she began her martyrdom at her eldest, which she only finished in her own death. She received a crown not only for herself, but also for all her children. Seeing them in torments she remained constant, feeling their pains by nature as their mother, but rejoicing for them in her heart by hope. The same father takes notice how weak faith is in us: in her it was victorious over flesh and blood; but in us he is not able to check the salves of our passions, or wean our hearts from a wicked and deceitful world. “Let us be covered with shame and confusion,” he says, “that we should fall so far short of the virtue of this martyr, and should suffer our passions still to triumph over faith in our hearts. Often one word spoken against us disturbs our minds; at the least blast of contradiction we are discouraged or provoked; but neither torments nor death were able to shake her courageous soul from her. We weep without ceasing when God requires of us the children he has lent us; and she bewailed her children when they did not die for Christ, and rejoiced when she saw them die. ” What afflictions do parents face daily from the disorders into which their children fall through their own bad example or neglect! Let them imitate the earnestness of St. Felicitas in forming to perfect virtue the tender souls which God has committed to their charge, and with this saint they will have the greatest of all comforts in them; and by his grace he will count as many saints in their family as they are blessed with children.