The Passion of Marian and James · §13 · Acts of the Martyrs

A Mother Rejoicing Over Her Son

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

The narrator closes the account after the beheading by the river outside the city, with the mother of Marian embracing his body.

When all this was finished, Marian's mother rejoiced with Maccabean joy. His passion was complete, and she was at peace about her son at last. She congratulated not only him but herself too, for bringing such a pledge into the world.

She embraced in her son's body the glory of her own womb, and religious devotion pressed kiss after kiss on the wounds of his neck. O you rightly Mary! O mother, blessed both in your son and in your name! Who could ever think the good fortune of so great a name had missed its mark in her, when she adorned the child of her womb like this?

Truly beyond reckoning is the mercy of almighty God and of his Christ toward his own. He strengthens those who trust in his name not only by gracious favor but also gives them life by redemption through blood. For who could measure his benefits with a worthy measure? With fatherly kindness he is always at work even in this, that what we believe we repay with our own blood is itself bestowed on us by almighty God. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Latin

His peractis Machabaico gaudio Mariani mater exultans et passione perfecta iam secura de filio, non illi tantum coeperat, sed et sibi, quae tale pignus ediderat, gratulari. Conplectebatur in filii corpore suorum uiscerum gloriam, et in ipsa ceruicis uulnera frequens osculum pietas religiosa figebat. O te merito Mariam! O te beatam et filio tuo, mater, et nomine! Quis in ea tanti uocabuli felicitatem aliquando credat errasse, quam sic uteri sui fetus ornauit? Inaestimabilis uere dei omnipotentis et Christi eius in suos misericordia, qui fidentes in suum nomen non solum gratiae dignatione confortat, sed et sanguinis redemptione uiuificat. Nam quis digna aestimatione possit eius beneficia metiri? Qui in hoc quoque paterna indulgentia semper operatur, ut in nos et hoc ipsum, quod in nostro sanguine rependi credimus, conferatur ab omnipotente deo; cui est gloria in saecula saeculorum, amen.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

A friend who shared their road tells how Marian, a reader, and James, a deacon, were arrested near Cirta in Numidia, tortured, strengthened by visions in prison at Lambaesis, and beheaded by a river with many others.

The writer, who does not give his name, was a close companion of the martyrs, arrested with them but later released, writing to Christian brethren as the fraternity and people of God during the persecution under Emperor Valerian in Numidia. At Marian and James's own request he records their contest not to boast of their crown on earth but so the people may be armed by their example for faith.

Bishops Agapius and Secundinus suffered first after calling at the writer's house, and Marian and James were then arrested near Cirta, confessed Christ and their offices, suffered hanging torture, and endured prison with prayer. In prison they and fellow prisoner Aemilianus report their own visions in their own quoted words, with a tribunal voice and Cyprian heard and seen in Marian's account, a shining youth in James's, a rose crowned boy promising a heavenly meal in another, and a pagan blood brother whose questions in Aemilianus's dream are quoted and answered. After delay while many lay Christians were executed, the clerics were condemned by the governor at Cirta and beheaded together by a river outside the city, with light, white horsemen, Marian prophesying coming judgments, and Marian's mother rejoicing over his body, alongside Tertulla and Antonia, Mary the mother, Secundinus, and a twin boy with his mother.

A reader needs only a few renderings used here. Governor is the Roman provincial governor, reader is the lower clerical office Marian avows and deacon is the office James avows, confession of faith is the open avowal I am a Christian, crown is heavenly reward, execution platform is the high stepped place of display and death, official report is the written charge and confession sent with prisoners, and love feast is the heavenly meal after death. Cyprian is the dead bishop martyred at Carthage who appears to welcome them, the Decian persecution is the earlier persecution James had already survived, the only formal scriptural sentence is the camel through the needle's eye cited as Matthew 19:24 with parallels in Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25, and the closing joy points to 2 Maccabees 7.

Printed text used

Translated from Oscar von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1902) (Latin)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake