Saturday, January 3, 2015

Sabinus and his Companions

Today, the Primitive Catholic Community celebrates the memorial of Sabinus and his Companions, martyrs for the faith in the early fourth century.

Sabinus was a bishop. Together with his deacons, they resisted the edict of sacrifice during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian in the year 304.

Diocletian’s order required all Christians to sacrifice to the gods or be put to death, with their estates seized for the state. The local governor, Venustian, mocked Sabinus’s faith, accusing him of leading the people to the worship of a dead man. When Sabinus said that Christ rose on the third day, Venustian invited him to do the same thing. He had Sabinus’s hands cut off. The deacons were in great fear, but Sabinus encouraged them to hold to their faith, and they died after being torn apart by iron hooks. In prison after the martyrdom of his deacons, he was tended by a woman named Serena. He healed a man born blind in prison. Venustian heard of the cure and sought a cure for his own eyes from Sabinus. Sabinus healed the governor and converted him to Christianity. Venustian then sheltered Sabinus. Maximianus Herculius, hearing of this, ordered the tribune Lucius to address the matter. Lucius had Venustian, his wife, and his two sons beheaded at Assisi, and he had Sabinus beaten to death at Spoleto.