Catholic Radio Dramas

Invincible faith

Saint Pontian was ordained bishop of Rome in 231. In 235 he was banished to Sardinia by the Emperor Maximinus, along with the priest Hippolytus. There he resigned from his office and later both died of inhumane treatment. His body was buried in the catacomb of Saint Callistus in Rome, while the body of Hippolytus was buried in a cemetery along the Via Tiburtina in Rome. The Roman Church sanctioned devotion to both martyrs at the beginning of the fourth century.

Saint Hippolytus, was a priest and martyr under the same persecution endured by Pope Pontian. Both were banished to the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy. Hippolytus was a severe critic of papal tolerance of penitents returning after having denied Christianity during the persecutions. He ultimately reconciled his position with the pope at the time of his exile. He is recognized as the most important theologian and prolific religious writer before the age of Constantine. He left many valuable works describing the structure of the early Church and Roman liturgy during the second and third centuries.

Invincible faith

With what praises can I extol you, most valiant brothers? What words can I find to proclaim and celebrate your brave hearts and your persevering faith? Examined under the fiercest torture, you held out until your ordeal was consummated in glory; it was not you who yielded to the torments but rather the torments that yielded to you. No respite from pain was allowed by the instruments of your torture, but your very crowning signaled the end of pain. The cruel butchery was permitted to last the longer, not so that it might overthrow the faith that stood so firm, but rather that it might dispatch you, men of God, more speedily to the Lord.

The crowd in wonder watched God’s heavenly contest, this spiritual battle that was Christ’s. They saw his servants standing firm, free in speech, undefiled in heart, endowed with supernatural courage, naked and bereft of the weapons of this world, but as believers equipped with the arms of faith. Tortured men stood there stronger than their torturers; battered and lacerated limbs triumphed over clubs and claws that tore them.

Savage and prolonged beating could not overcome such invincible faith, even when the bodies of God’s servants were so mangled that no whole members were left to suffer punishment, but only wounds remained. Enough blood flowed to quench the fire of persecution, a glorious river to cool even the burning heat of hell. What a divine display it was, how sublime and magnificent! How pleasing did the sworn allegiance and loyalty of his soldiers render the dead in God’s sight! In the psalms, where the Holy Spirit speaks to us and counsels us, it is written: Precious in the sight of God is the death of his holy ones. Rightly is that death called “precious,” for at the price of blood it purchased immortality and won God’s crown through the ultimate act of courage.

How happy Christ was to be there, how gladly he fought and conquered in such servants! He protects their faith and gives strength to believers in proportion to the trust that each man who receives that strength is willing to place in him. Christ was there to wage his own battle; he aroused the soldiers who fought for his name; he made them spirited and strong. And he who once for all has conquered death for us, now continually conquers in us.

How blessed is this Church of ours, so honored and illuminated by God and ennobled in these our days by the glorious blood of martyrs! In earlier times it shone white with the good deeds of our brethren, and now it is adorned with the red blood of martyrs. It counts both lilies and roses among its garlands. Let each of us, then, strive for the highest degree of glory, whichever be the honor for which he is destined; may all Christians be found worthy of either the pure white crown of a holy life or the royal red crown of martyrdom.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings

Saint Cyprian was born of pagan parents in Carthage around the year 210. He was converted to Christianity in 246 and became a profound scholar of the Bible and the great religious authors, especially Tertullian. He was ordained and in 248 and made bishop of Carthage.

Cyprian convened a council at Carthage in 251, which would settle serious pending matters including (the lapsi) the terms under which the faithful who had apostatized during the persecution of Decius could be received back into the Church; dealing with the excommunication of schismatic leaders, and asserting the supremacy of the Pope.

In 252-54 Carthage was stricken with a terrible plague. Christians were blamed for the plague, and hatred for Cyprian and the Christians intensified, paving the way for the terrible persecutions to follow under Valerian. During these difficult times, Cyprian wrote numerous theological treatises on the Church, ministry, the Bible, virginity, the lapsi, and other spiritual works making him a pioneer of Latin Christian literature.

In 258, an imperial decree from Valerian was issued forbidding any assemblage of Christians and requiring all bishops, priests, and deacons to participate in the official state religion ushered in the persecution of Christians. Cyprian was arrested, and when he refused to participate, he was exiled to a small town fifty miles from Carthage. But the following year another imperial decree ordered that all bishops, priests, and deacons were to be put to death. Cyprian was arraigned before a new proconsul, and when he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, he was beheaded on September 14, 258.