Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman and many ancient Latin Martyrologies. Authority: — Their Acts in the History of the Vandal Persecution by Victor of Utica, a contemporary and sufferer in it.] About two years before the general persecution of the Catholics broke out under Huneric, the Vandal king in North Africa, many had previsions of what would take place. One saw the church of S. Faustus at Carthage adorned with tapestry, and illumined with countless lamps and tapers, as for a great festival, when suddenly the lights were extinguished, and instead of the fragrance of incense rose the stench of a charnel-house. He who saw this vision came to Eugenius the bishop and related to him what he had seen, in the presence of Victor, Bishop of Utica, who records it Another saw a great heap of wheat mingled with chaff, and a mighty wind arose and sifted the grain from the husk; then appeared a man with shining face and robes, and he went over the grain with his hand and sorted the good from the bad and mouldy and black, and reduced the heap considerably in size thereby. Bishop Quintian dreamed that he saw a beautiful flock being slain by butchers and cast into caldrons till all were consumed.
The first sign of the breaking of the storm was the command issued by Huneric that none should serve in his palace, or execute public functions who were not Arians [followers of Arius, who taught that the Son is a created being, not fully God]. Many renounced their charges, and were thereupon driven from their houses, despoiled of their property, and banished to Sicily and Sardinia. He next ordered that no Catholic bishop was to be consecrated till he had paid to the treasury five hundred pieces of gold. But when he was told that if this was insisted on, the orthodox emperor would impose the same tax on the Arians in Thrace and elsewhere, he revoked the edict. He next assembled the consecrated virgins, and used every means in his power to bribe or terrify them into bringing false accusations against the bishops, which might serve as an excuse for him to depose and banish them. To force them to give false evidence he had recourse to torture. They were hung up by the hands, and weights attached to their feet; red-hot plates of iron were applied to their backs, breasts, and sides. Many died under these tortures, others were so mutilated that they were left permanently crippled: but not one was found who would give the evidence sought Huneric, after this, exiled the bishops, priests, and deacons, and other influential Catholics, to the number of four thousand nine hundred and seventy-six; they were banished to the Libyan desert. Among them were the old, the gouty, and the sick. Felix, Bishop of Abbirita, who had occupied the see forty years, was paralysed, and had lost both the power to walk and to speak. The Catholic bishops, not knowing how to lead him along with them, begged the king to allow the poor old man to remain and die in peace in Carthage. But Huneric ordered, “ If he cannot sit on horseback, let him be attached by cords to a couple of oxen, and be drawn thus to his place of banishment.” He was conveyed on a mule, tied across it, like a sack of flour. All the confessors were assembled in the towns of Sicca and Laraea, whence the Moors [the Muslims of North Africa and Spain] were to conduct them to the desert. They were provisionally enclosed in a prison, to which their fellowCatholics were permitted access, to encourage them, give them the Divine Mysteries. Among them were several young children; and their mothers, yielding to their parental love, begged them to allow themselves to be re -baptized by the Arians, so as to obtain their freedom. But the children remained as firm as their fellow-captives. The prisoners were then thrust into a smaller place, where there was not room for them; they were crowded so densely that they were nearly suffocated, nor was any provision made for their cleanliness. The filth and stench became so horrible, that it was the worst of all their sufferings. Victor of Utica, who describes all this, succeeded in penetrating into this horrible den; he had to wade up to his knees in ordure. When the Moors received instructions to drive the captives forward, the Catholics issued from their prison in a condition of indescribable filth. It was on a Sunday when they emerged from this pestilential den into the glaring sunlight. They burst forth into a chant of triumph, the 149th Psalm, “ Such honour have all His saints.”
Cyprian, bishop of Uniziba, consoled them, and gave them everything he had. Shortly afterwards he was also arrested, imprisoned, and exiled.
As the long, foul, but joyous procession wound over the sand-hills it was followed by crowds. The roads were too narrow to contain the throng; they covered the hill sides, holding tapers in their hands, in token of their burning faith. Women cast their children at the feet of the confessors, imploring from them a blessing. “ Who,” sobbed they, “ will baptize our little ones ? Who will give us absolution ? Who will bury us ? Who will offer the divine sacrifice ? May we follow you !” Among the crowd was noticed an old woman carrying a sack over her shoulder, and leading a child. She persistently followed the confessors, and would not leave them. When the child lagged, she urged him forwards with, " Run, my boy 1 do you not see these saints, how eager they VOL. XI l 9 are to win their crown ?” Those who attended the prisoners advised her to return home. “ Pray for me, and for this child,” she answered; “ I am the daughter of the late bishop of Zurita, and this is my grandson. I lead him along with me lest the enemy should find him alone, and take him to death.” The bishops, bathed in tears, said, “The will of God be done.”
They travelled by night rather than by day, because of the heat of the sun, and lodged in caves, or under such rough shelter as had been extemporized for their reception. During the march, when the old men and children could walk no more, they were goaded on with the points of the spears, or stones were cast at them to stimulate them. When they fell, unable to proceed, the Moors tied their feet, and they were drawn along like dead beasts. The stones tore their garments and skin. One had his head broken, the side of another was ripped open, and many died, and were given hasty burial all along the way. The food provided for those who walked was uncrushed barley. When they reached their destination they found a desolate, sandy waste, full of venomous beasts, and there they lingered out a miserable existence, till death ended their sorrows, and translated them to a glorious immortality.