ST MARCUS, ST MARCIAN, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS - 4 OCTOBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER

Saints celebrated on the 4th of October

 Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST MARCUS, ST MARCIAN, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS 

The fourth edict of Diocletian produced in the years 304 and 305 a frightful slaughter of Christians in Egypt, particularly in Thebais. 

Eusebius says, that after suffering scourges, tearing with iron hooks, disjointing of limbs, and many unheard-of torments; some were beheaded, others thrown into the sea, others burnt, many crucified, several nailed to crosses with their heads downwards, and great numbers were hung on gibbets in all parts of Egypt. 

Marcus and Marcian are named among these holy champions; in ancient Martyrologies they are called brothers. The same historian describes the cruelties of which he was an eye-witness, being then in Thebais. 

The usual torments there exercised on the Christians were to tear the bodies with iron hooks and potsherds, to hang them up naked with their heads downwards, etc. Many were hung by their legs on two thick boughs of trees drawn together, which being let go, their bodies were torn asunder. 

Some of these barbarous executions were continued for years together, and sometimes ten, twenty, sixty or a hundred suffered in one day, in the same place. 

Eusebius saw the executioners wearied, and their swords or other instruments blunted or shivered to pieces with their butcheries, yet the Christians still courting racks and death at their hands. Some of these martyrs were persons eminent for their birth, reputation, or learning and skill in philosophy.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)