Sabine Baring-Gould - The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16) - March

"Mention is also made of the confidence of Asterius, a man of senatorial rank, in great favour with the emperors, and well known for his nobility and wealth. As he was present at the death of the above-mentioned martyr, taking up the corpse, he bore it on his shoulder in a splendid and costly dress, and covering it in a magnificent manner, gave it a decent burial."

Asterius is venerated by the Greeks on August 7th as a martyr, who suffered decollation, and Marinus is not mentioned by them. Eusebius says nothing of the martyrdom of Asterius, as he certainly would have done, had he died for Christ, for he says, "Many other facts are stated of this man by his friends, who are alive at present," and then he relates his counteracting by his prayers the drowning of a victim annually offered to the river Jordan. The Roman Martyrology, however, accepts the Greek tradition. "Asterius received the honour he rendered to the martyr, becoming himself a martyr;" but perhaps the word martyr is here to be taken in the sense frequently given to it anciently, of a confessor, or witness to Christ, not necessarily by losing his life for his testimony, but only by imperilling it.

[Commemorated in the Mozarabic Missal and Breviary; the Evora and Toledo Breviaries, and as a double at Burgos and Leon; Martyrology of S. Jerome, those of Usuardus, Ado, Notker, and the Roman Martyrology. Authority: – A hymn of Prudentius, and Acts of no great antiquity, printed by Tamayus Salazar, and an Elogium by Gregory of Tours.]

These martyrs were put to death with the sword at Calahorra, in Navarre, on the Ebro. According to the hymn of Prudentius, and the story of Gregory of Tours, on their execution, the ring of one martyr, and the stole (orarium) of the other, were caught up in a cloud, and ascended into Heaven. Probably this legend contains a reminiscence of an incident such as the wind wafting away some of the martyrs' garments during the execution.

Relics at Calahorra.

[By the Greeks on this day, but S. Basiliscus alone on May 22nd. Menologium of the Emperor Basil, Modern Roman Martyrology. Tamayus Salazar, trusting to the forged Flavius Dexter, claims them to be Spanish martyrs. This is a common trick of some Spanish hagiologists, who have appropriated all martyrs that are not, in Martyrologies, given a place of martyrdom, and the pseudo-Dexter simply mentioned these saints without saying that they were of Amasea and Comana; therefore Salazar audaciously says, "In Caspetana (Sierra di Guadalupe) in Spain, SS. Felix, Luciolus, … Cleontius, Eutropius, Basiliscus, who, in the persecution of Maximian, under Asclepiades, the Governor, endured torments, and the cross itself, and as martyrs ascended to Heaven." The forger of Flavius Dexter took the names from the modern Roman Martyrology, where the name of the place of martyrdom is not mentioned, and set them down as martyrs in some unknown city of Spain; Salazar improved on the Pseudo-Dexter by planting them in the Sierra di Guadalupe. The life of S. Basiliscus, if genuine, is by Eusignius, who knew the martyr, and was himself, probably, a martyr in the persecution afterwards, and is commemorated on August 5th. In the life are many passages which show that Eusignius was well acquainted with the facts he describes, such as "Christ accompanied His martyr, as Basiliscus afterwards told me, Eusignius." He was eye-witness of the events; he says, "As we approached the city, we heard, &c., … we tasted … and when we went in, we heard, … we, to whom it was granted to see this terrible mystery … we asked the speculator, and gave him thirty gold pieces, and he gave us the body, and we buried it, and we sowed vegetables … and we went to rest." The Acts, if they are genuine, and not an impudent forgery, have undergone much interpolation. Some of these additions are apparent from a change of the "we" to "they" in the account of the journey to Comana.]

In the reign of Maximian and Maximin, Agrippa was sent into Pontus, to be governor in the room of Asclepiades, with orders to constrain all Christians to sacrifice. Basiliscus, Eutropius, and Cleonicus, three Christians of Amasea, were seized and thrown into prison. And when Eutropius and Cleonicus had suffered, the blessed Basiliscus with many tears prayed, saying, "O Lord Jesus Christ, remember me, even unto the end, and make my calling manifest unto all, that I may not be separated from these holy men who have been taken with me, and who have suffered before me, and are crowned!" Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "I will not forget thee. Thy name is written with those who have been with thee. But be not downcast because thou art last; for thou shalt precede many. But go, bid farewell to thy mother and thy brethren, and when thou returnest, thou shalt receive thy crown. Fear not the torments prepared for thee, for I shall be at thy side."

Then Basiliscus asked, and prevailed on, the jailor to let him go to the village of Cumiala, near Amasea, where his mother lived, that he might say farewell to her. Now it fell out that early in the morning Agrippa unexpectedly sent for Basiliscus, and when he heard of the indulgence that had been granted him – though soldiers had been sent as guards with the prisoner – he was filled with rage, and threatened the jailor with capital punishment. Then he called to him a city officer named Magistrianus, a brutal fellow, implacable in his detestation of Christianity, and commissioned him to take a band of soldiers and convey Basiliscus to Comana, whither he himself was starting. Magistrianus mounted his ass, and ambled to Cumiala, and surrounded the doors of the house, as Basiliscus was parting with his mother and three brothers, before returning. Magistrianus ordered a pair of boots to be put on Basiliscus, with the nails in them protruding, and then bade him limp along among the guards back to Amasea. The nails made his feet bleed, and as he walked through the street of Amasea a crowd gathered, murmuring against the tyranny of the governor and his satellites. Magistrianus, in a rage, leaped off his ass, and cudgelled the mob with the stick he had used to make the ass go, and the soldiers assisted him to disperse the crowd. Basiliscus was then led along the road to Comana, singing, "Though an host of men be set against me, yet shall not my heart be afraid; for thou, O Christ, art with me!"

At mid-day the party, which consisted of fifteen, came to a little village, and a lady's villa. The lady very courteously invited the officer and his men into the house to refresh themselves, and they tied Basiliscus with his hands behind his back to a plane tree in the court yard. A number of the villagers came up to stare at the martyr, who stood under the dry tree, suffering intensely from the heat, and with blood dribbling from his wounded feet, "whilst Magistrianus and his folk were feasting in Trojana's house, on all kinds of delicacies, meats, and costly wines, served up in the cool summer dining hall," says Eusignius, bitterly.

But God did not forget the poor martyr under the blazing mid-day sun, for the plane tree put forth leaves, and overshadowed him, and a fountain bubbled at his feet, and cooled and laved his festering wounds.

On the party reaching Comana, Magistrianus led Basiliscus direct to the temple of Apollo, where was the governor at the moment.

The governor at once ordered him to be brought in. Basiliscus smilingly entered. "Why wilt thou not sacrifice, fellow?" asked the governor. "Who told thee that I will not sacrifice?" answered Basiliscus. "Ah! the gods be praised! thou wilt sacrifice then."

"I will offer to God the sacrifice of praise." "Offer to whom you please," said the governor, sharply, "only sacrifice and have done with this folly."