Thus far the words of the martyr Phileas, which he wrote in a letter to the brethren of the church of Thumis, of which he was pastor, while he was still in prison, and before he had received his sentence of death; by which letter he wished to inform his church of his condition in prison, as well as to admonish them in the true godliness in Christ, and that they should steadfastly continue therein after his death, which was soon to follow. Compare _Eusebius_, concerning the death of Phileas, with _A. Mellinus, 1st book, fol. 101, col. 2, 3_.
CASSIAN, A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL-TEACHER, BY THE ORDER OF THE MAGISTRATE PUT TO DEATH BY HIS HEATHEN SCHOLARS, FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, AT FORUM CORNELII, A. D. 302.
It is stated that in this persecution Cassian, Bishop of the church at Brescia, in Italy, being compelled to flee on account of the violent persecution, settled in the city of Forum Cornelii (at present called Imola), where he established a school for children. However, the persecution, which also there broke forth, did not spare him; for shortly afterwards he was denounced as a Christian, and apprehended. When the Judges asked him what profession or trade he had, he replied that he was a schoolteacher, and taught children to read and write. He was also examined concerning his faith, and as he would not abandon it, or sacrifice to the gods, the Judges sentenced him to a very unusual death, for this was his sentence: “Let the scourger, that is, the school-teacher, be pricked, cut, and stabbed to death by his own scholars, with styles, awls, pens, penknives, and other sharp instruments such as children make use of in school.”
Thereupon Cassian was stripped naked; his hands were tied behind his back, and he was thus delivered unto his scholars, to be maltreated by them in the aforesaid manner. Some of these then stoned him, some beat him with school-boards and wax-tablets, others stabbed him with styles, pens, penknives, and other sharp school utensils, till after unspeakable torments, death ensued, and he, having commended his soul unto God was thus released from this vale of sorrows. Compare _A. Mell., 1st book, fol. 104, col. 3, 4_, with _J. Gys., fol. 24, col. 1, ex Prudent., in Hymno, Steph. Hym., 9. Petr. de Nat., lib. 7_.
EULALIA, A CHRISTIAN MAIDEN, BURNED WITH LAMPS AND TORCHES, AND SUFFOCATED THEREBY, FOR THE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, AT EMERITA IN LUSITANIA, A. D. 302.
[Illustration: EULALIA REFUSING THE IDOL WORSHIP.]
At this time there was a Christian maiden, called Eulalia, not more than twelve or thirteen years old, who was filled with such a desire and ardor of the spirit, to die for the name of Christ, that her parents had to take her out of the city of Merida, to some distant country-seat, and closely confine her there. But this place could not extinguish the fire of her spirit, or long confine her body; for, having escaped on a certain night, she went very early the following day before the tribunal, and with a loud voice said to the Judge and the whole magistracy: “Are you not ashamed to cast your own souls and those of others at once into eternal perdition by denying the only true God, the Father of us all, and the Creator of all things? O ye wretched men! do you seek the Christians, that you may put them to death? Behold, here am I, an adversary of your satanical sacrifices. I confess with heart and mouth God alone; but Isis, Apollo, and Venus are vain idols.”
The Judge before whose tribunal Eulalia spoke thus boldly, was filled with rage, and called the executioner, commanding him to take her away speedily, strip her, and inflict various punishments on her; so that she, said he, may feel the gods of our fathers, through the punishment, and may learn that it will be hard for her, to despise the command of our Prince (that is, of Maximian).