Baring-Gould’s sources: Almost all the ancient Roman and Latin Martyrologies. By the Greeks on Aug. 10. Authority: — The Acts of S. Laurence and the Martyrologies.] [[HERE is great difficulty about S. Hippolytus. Prudentius the Christian poet (born a.d. 338, d. circ. a.d. 405) says that S. Hippolytus was commemorated on this day at Rome, and that he suffered martyrdom at Ostia, and was tom to pieces by being attached to the tails of wild horses. Now on Aug. 22 S. Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, is commemorated, who suffered martyrdom by being attached to the tails of wild horses. Hippolytus the son of Theseus died a very similar death. Cursed by his father, because Phaedra out of unrequited love had hung herself, Neptune sends a wild bull out of the sea, as Hippolytus is ascending his chariot. “And straightway a dreadful fear falls on the steeds. But their master, conversant with the ways of horses, seized the reins in his hands, and pulled them as a sailor pulls his oar, leaning backwards. But they, champing with their jaws the forced bits, bare him on forcibly, heeding neither the steering hand, nor the traces, nor the compact chariot;.... the car was overthrown, the felly of the wheel dashed against the rock, and all was confusion: the naves of the wheels flew up, and the linchpins of the axles. But the unhappy man, himself entangled in the reins, is dragged along, bound in a tight bond, his head dashed against the rocks, his flesh torn, and he, with piteous voice crying, Stay, ye steeds, trained in my stalls, destroy me not ! O fatal imprecation of my father ! who will come and save me, virtuous ? But many of us, wishing to do so, were unable, not being fleet enough; at last he, I know not how, freed from the lacing of the reins, falls, having the breath of life in him, but only for a very short time.”1 The chaste Hippolytus, martyr to his virtue, was a favourite character in story; his death a subject for sculptors. His name may have suggested the story of his death. It has been thought that the tradition of the death of the son of Theseus, lingering on Roman tongues after the abolition of the old gods and their mythology, may have attached itself to Hippolytus the martyr. The ancient Martyrologies are at one in affirming the existence of such a martyr to the Christian faith. Had the story been that he suffered rather than lose his chastity, we might be sure that the story of the Hippolytus of the Martyrologies was a transformation of that of the son of Theseus and Phaedra. But such is not the case. The only features in common are the name Hippolytus, the mode ot death, and perhaps the introduction of the nurse — in the Martyrology called Concordia, in the play of Euripides unnamed. S. Hippolytus is said by the Acts and Martyrologies to have been a soldier converted by S. Laurence. No great 1 Euripides, Phaidra.

…reliance can be placed on the Acts. That there was a martyr in tire persecution in which S. Sixtus and S. Laurence suffered, named Hippolytus, may be admitted. That he suffered by being tom to pieces by wild horses is very questionable. There is, however, this to be said in favour of the martyrdom, that it may have presented itself to the mind of the magistrate to inflict on him a death suggested by the fate of the son of Theseus, his namesake. Baronius [Cardinal Baronius (d. 1607), church historian who edited the Roman Martyrology] thinks that three Hippolyti have been ran into one. Hippolytus, a soldier converted and baptized by S. Laurence; Hippolytus of Antioch, and Hippolytus Bishop of Portus. But there was probably a fourth Hippolytus, priest of Ostia. Prudentius, who lived a century later, made grievous confusion. He confounded him with S. Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, an ecclesiastical writer of the 3rd cent. The greatest difficulty exists in unravelling the perplexing histories of the saints of the same name. It is not even certain that the Hippolytus, author of the Paschal Canon, and regarded as a doctor of the Church, was Bishop of Portus. An Hippolytus, priest of Ostia, and a martyr, may have existed, and Prudentius may be correct. At any rate, he is more to be relied on than the Acts of S. Laurence. The story in the Acts is that Hippolytus was a soldier in charge of Laurence when he was in prison. He buried the body of S. Laurence, and was brought before Decius [Roman emperor 249–251, who ordered everyone to sacrifice to the gods] foi so doing, when he boldly professed his faith. The emperor ordered him to be arrayed in his military dress, and then asked him if he was not ashamed to dishonour his soldier’s name and livery by disobedience. Hippolytus answered that he had passed to a higher service. Among the servants of Hippolytus was an old nurse, Concordia, a Christian. She was beaten with leaded whips, and died under thelash. Hippolytus was tied to the tails of horses, and dashed over stones and through thickets of brambles, till he died. VOL. ix. 9 The relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] of S. Hippolytus at are Soissons, in the church of S. Ursula at Cologne, and in other places too numerous to mention.