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Show ! MISERABLE EASLNRE 1 Eight General Persecutions Valerian at j First Well-Disposed Influenced by an Egyptian Magician Two Violent Edicts i Valerian's Object Cruel Martyrdom of Lawrence Cyprian Beheaded Galean- us Tolerant Ninth Persecution Aurel- ian Sounds Death Knell Tenth General Persecution All Fail. (Written for The Intermountain Catholic.) A c have been traveling with the early Chris-,; Chris-,; I X:tn in their persecutions from Nero to Decius, J f.iui 1 rive learned from the history of those times tJ.-it Cluist's promise, namely, "the pates of hell ,uiM not prevail against the church," was ful-tii.-.. That the new religion, bcrn in Nazareth, i : c i'i-;!n:ii;:ttrj in Calvary and confirmed on Easter f'i!".:'iay. would not be arrested in tis course. The IIj. .! of its martyred heroes became the seed of ('LH-tianity. The determination of Decius to ex-' tin ate Christianity from his dominions proved a nii-T.'jble failure. lilGHT GENERAL PERSECUTIONS. According to Diouysius of Alexandria, who was 8 c nvcit from paganism and flourished in the mid-ill" mid-ill" of the third century, Valerian (253-260) was, during tlie first years of his reign, favorable to - j tlie Christians. A. D. 257 he changed his policy. Influenced by Macrianus, an Egyptian magician, L" issued two edicts against the Christians. By the first all assemblies for religious worship were prohibited, and bishops and priests who refused in nff,-r sacrifice to the pagan deities were exiled. This did not retard the spread of the gospel, and another still more rigorous was issued, ''ordain-in? ''ordain-in? that bishops, priests and deacons should be b-hended; that senators and knghts should suffer x(, i0ES of their possessions, and even death," if they should persevere in their disobedience; that ffuinl-s of high rank should be banished; and that Christians in the court of the Emperor should be kund in chains and condemned to labor at his imperial pleasure." DolL History of the Church, 1, S3.' VaTeriirh's" object was to deprive the "pie-Hans "pie-Hans of religious teachers and recognized leaders, f that ultimately they would .adopt the religion of. the state. In this, however, he was disappointed, I'm: very many of the common people followed their spiritual guides into exile, helping by their example exam-ple to spread Christianity in strange countries. Dnrr.p this Eight General Persecutions, Pope Sixtus and the holy deacon Laurence were mar-tvp-d in Rome. The latter was placed in a gridiron grid-iron and slowly roasted to death. St. Cyprian was I .,-;. adr-d before the walls of Carthage. Fructuosus, Ei-hop of Tarragona, and his two deacons were put u death in Spain. According to the historical ic::ii!ony a great many were put to death in dif-frn dif-frn i.t parts of the Empire. St. Augustine, in his : wfthnr (Serin. 300), tells that one hundred and hrty-hrce martyrs were massacred together at I Tti.-n. When nr-ked to offer sacrifice to the gods I m they refused, they were cast into a pit filled ith (jnieklime. The persecution ended with the i,rh of Valerian, who was taken prisoner by the IVr-h-ns and put to death (2fi0). His son. Gal-j Gal-j !h: :- (210-20S), succeeded and proved very tol- i-r;-.:i towards the Christians. His first edict was j . j.rae in favor of the persecuted, who were rod a lawful society and entitled to the pro- I " ; !! of their civil and religious rights, aceord- h.u ilie laws of the Empire. NINTH GENERAL PERSECUTION. 'Vi.on Aunlian ascended the throne (270-27-"), I!'::- hie predecessor, he was at first favorably dis- I -.! towards the Christians. In the year 274, '.'.: u that his name should extend to posterity i: .u-'-.mpli'diinp what hi" predecessors failed to do, i : ..';"!;.. the annihilation of Christendom and the extirpation of Christianity from the Roman ! : ir-. Aurelian issued an edict that all pro-S pro-S Christians should be put to death. The I j vir for which he sighed was short lived, for in ' ,;;..tj1B after issuing his edict he was assassi-I assassi-I i.. '.:!. During this period of eight months many I v -r martyred, St. Felix, Bishop of Rome, being i !!:- 'Mr ill'-1 number. T 1 : NT J 1 G ENERAL PERSECUTION. W,. ,11JU- come to the tenth and last general per- I Hn-i,,ii u which the early Christian church was J Ki:, etod by pagan Rome. The first was about the j : of the first century, when Nero sat in the j tiir ,,f Caesars. The last was at the close of tL( third and commencement of the fourth cen-a:;d cen-a:;d in cruelty, malice and hatred was the "i' .t of all the persecutions. It began under I'h-'-h tiaii (24-305), and was in many parts of h" Ihupire after his reign. Diocletian, of plebian w- born at Salona, Dalmatia, A. D. 245. A- :-. -hlior in the field of battle, he won for liim-tlf liim-tlf frc;;t renown. After the murder of Numeria-who Numeria-who ruled the Empire jointly with Carus, 1,: -"lot ian vas proclaimed Emperor, A. D. 284. f !!owing year Carus was assassinated by his :.. ::icers. juid he became the sole ruler. ' In 286, 1! 't ..rial dread that the mpire would be invaded ' ') Northern barbarians, both in the east and h" appointed Afaximianus his colleague with ii;le. Augustus of the West. Diocletian's ob-i ob-i ' in dividing the Empire was his personal safety. vh...,. ,.. (ieath of Marcus Aurelius, 180, only on.p. rors died a natural death. Trembling " :!," thought of the assassin's dagger, he con-rd con-rd the best preventive of an untimely death to have associated with him. To give ''M-.itanee. to his person and dignity he claimed ;'" titlo ..f Divinity and Sacred Majesty. A -ooond division of the Empire was made in 2i2. when Constantius Clorus and Galcrius were Continued on Page 5. MISERABLE FAILURE. (Continued from page 1.) made Caesars. The former ruler over Gaul, Spain and Britain, having his seat of empire at Treves; the latter ruled Illyricum, which lay along the Danube Dan-ube river, making Sermium the capital of his empire. The fourteen years after the ascension of Diocletian to the. throne of the Caesars, the Christians were not disturbed. His wife, Prisca, was a Christian, as was also Valeria, the wife of Gaierius. The causes that led to this persecution, ac- co-ding to historians, come under live heads: (1st) Gaierius had inherited from his pagan mother an intense hatred against Christianity; (2d) the attacks at-tacks made by Porphyry in Word of Truth on the Christians influenced Diocletian; (3d) all prominent state officials consulted by the emperor em-peror were intolerant towards the Christians ; (4th) the god Apollo, when consulted, held that he was restrained by the presence of the Christians, and, lastly, on the examination of animals' entrals no signs were given, which the soothsayers attributed to the anger of the gods. The persecution commenced 298 by an edict commanding soldiers and officers of the state to offer sacrifice to the gods. Five years later it broke out with all the demoniac fury and rage of maniacs. ma-niacs. On the 23d of February, 303, by order of the Emperor, the Christian church at Antioch was destroyed. Next edict ordered the Scriptures and books of piety to be burned. Bishop Felix of the African church suffered rather than obey the tyrant's ty-rant's mandate. Three other edicts more drastic and cruel were issued. These prescribe certain tortures which should be inflicted before death. These edicts were enforced throughout the Empire. Under Gaierius, the severest cruelties and tortures were inflicted; . while Constantius Chlorus was inclined to be lenient, but he was subject sub-ject to the domineering spirit of Diocletian. Hence, in the provinces where he ruled, many were martyred, for example, St. Alban, the proto-martyr proto-martyr of Britain (303). In other parts of the Empire many freely 6heJ their blood for the faith. Of the learned and prominent persons who died martyrs may be mentioned Sebastian, prefect of the praetorian cohort; Peter, Patriarch of Alexandria; Alex-andria; Mauritius, commander of the Theban Legion; Le-gion; Januarius, Bishop of Naples; Marcellinus, Bishop of Rome. Accordng to early writers, during this persecution, perse-cution, thousands died for the faith. Rob. B. 1, 1, cap 7. Eusibius wrote: "The pagans, who witnessed wit-nessed their sufferings, were at length disgusted with such profusion of bloodshed and cruelty; the persecutors themselves became weary of slaying, and resorted to other punishments, such as mutilation mutila-tion of the limbs, plucking out the eyes, employing bishops and other eminent persons in degrading occupations, oc-cupations, and sending large numbers of all classes to labor in unwholesome mines. It raged furiously till 305, when Diocletian resigned. re-signed. Maximianus was forced to abdicate. The vacancies were filled by Gaierius and Constantius Chlorus in the persons of Maximin and Severus, whom they named Caesars. Severus, who wai to rule the province, was opposed by Maxintius, son of the deposed Maximianus. The latter was vic-torius, vic-torius, and continued to rule till defeated by Con-stantine Con-stantine the Great, in 312. After Diocletian's resignation, the persecutors subsided. Constantius befriended them. His son. Constantino the Great, pursued the policy of his father, issuing edicts of toleration. After the battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), an edict was issued giving all liberty to embrace Christianity and restoring all confiscated church property. In 319 Liciuius renewed the persecution, which continued till he was conquered by Constantine at Adriaople and Cbrysopolis (324). After the victories, vic-tories, Constantine embraced Christianity, which he made the religion of the state. Thus, after three centuries of the direst persecutions, when the Roman Empire was drenched with the blood of millions of Christian heroes, the banner of the Cross comes out victorious, pagan temples consecrated conse-crated by usage and covered with the dust of ages crumbled before the emblem of man's victory which appeared in the heavens with the inscription, inscrip-tion, "In hoc signo vinces" In this sign thou shalt conquer and prophecy of the God Man to his .postles was verified: "The gates of bell will not prevail against you." F. D. |