E02503: The Martyrdom of *Pigmenius, *Bibiana and Companions (martyrs of Rome under the emperor Julian, S00728 and S01445), is written in Latin, presumably in Rome, at an uncertain date, probably in the 6th or 7th c. It narrates Pigmenius' teaching and ordination of *Donatus (bishop and martyr of Arezzo, S01527) and the future emperor Julian; the apostasy of Julian and the persecutions he carries out as emperor. Other martyrs of Rome under Julian are worked into the story: *Priscus, Priscillianus and Benedicta (S01516), *Iohannes and Paulus (brothers and eunuchs, S00384), *Iohannes (martyr buried on the via Salaria, S00514), and, above all, the young girl Bibiana - before the martyrdom and burial of Pigmenius himself. An appendix narrates Julian's death, skinned alive in Persia.

Martyrdom of Pigmenius, Bibiana and Companions (BHL 6849-6849a)

Summary:

§ 1: When Constantine was emperor and founded the city of Constantinople, there was in Rome a learned priest named Pigmenius (Pygmenius) in the titulus Pastoris. Many come to be instructed by him in the liberal arts and are converted to Christianity. Julian, the son of Constantius, Constantine’s brother, is one of them: he is instructed and baptised by Pigmenius. Julian’s fame and support grows as a result. He is sent to Nicomedia and avoids the imperial city.

§ 2: Pigmenius takes care of a boy named Donatus, of noble origin, instructs him, baptises him, and ordains him a cleric together with Julian. Donatus becomes a reader and Julian a subdeacon. Much later, Julian is elected emperor by the people. He lives a wretched life and forgets the wisdom he received since childhood. He persecutes thousands of Christians throughout the provinces. Christians flee the cities and hide. As Julian seeks to torture Pigmenius and Donatus, Pigmenius leaves for Persia and Donatus for Arezzo (Aritium) in Tuscia. Now we will tell what happened.

§ 3: At that time there is a vir illustris in the urban prefecture [of Rome] called Flavianus, who is secretly Christian with all his household; his wife is named Dafrosa, and his daughters Demetria (Dimitria) and Bibiana (Biviana) are educated in chastity and faith. He frequently collects with Christians the bodies of saints at night and buries them; Julian learns that Flavianus is seeking the bodies of the priest Priscus, the cleric Priscillianus and the religious woman Benedicta, and making it known that Iohannes and Paulus were killed in their own house at night. Flavianus also begins to speak openly against Julian, as a man who was once a Christian but has since become an apostate and a persecutor. Julian orders Flavianus to be sent into exile to Aquae Taurinae, at the 60th milestone from the city on the via Claudia. He orders his wife and daughters to be left to die of hunger if they refuse to sacrifice to the gods. They are given over to a pagan relative called Faustus, who however is converted by Flavianus’ wife and then baptised. When Julian hears of this, he has Faustus presented to him. Julian thinks that Faustus has been seduced through magic and tries to convince him to abandon Christianity as he did. Faustus rejoins that he was not seduced, but was set free by angels, just as Julian was taken by demons. Faustus challenges Julian: he will pray to God and Julian to his demons and they will see whose prayers will be granted. Then Faustus kneels in prayer and dies in front of the emperor.

§ 4: Julian orders Faustus’ body to be thrown out and left to the dogs. Dafrosa, however, collects the body that night and buries it in her own house next to the house of the saints Iohannes and Paulus. Five days later, while praying, she gives up her spirit. Hearing that Dafrosa has died without being tortured, Julian orders that her two daughters be presented to him. Terror struck, Demetria gives up her spirit forthwith. Julian says that he wants the surviving sister instructed about the ancestral gods. Thus Bibiana is given over to a certain heathen, Rufina. After six months, as Bibiana is urged by Rufina to sacrifice to idols and take her (Rufina’s) son as her husband while Bibiana perseveres and derides Rufina, the latter informs on Bibiana to Julian. The same day, the emperor orders her to be beaten with lead-weighted scourges (plumbatae). Four days later, with blood gushing from her mouth, the blessed Bibiana gives up her spirit. Her body is left in the forum Tauri by Julian’s order for two days. But at night the priest Iohannes collects her body and buries it near her mother and her sister at her home in Rome, at the caput Tauri, near the palace of Lucianus [variant: Licinianus] at the forma Claudia, where Iohannes and Pigmenius frequently gather.

§ 5: Hearing this, Julian orders Pigmenius to go wherever he wants, sparing his life, for it was Pigmenius who had made Julian a Christian and educated him in letters (grammar, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, philosophy) and Christianity, and had ordained him a subdeacon. Julian then orders the priest Iohannes to be seized; he is brought before the statue of Sol on the via Salaria at the Clivus Cucumeris and beheaded without first being tried. The priest Concordius collects his body and buries it, singing hymns and giving praise, in a sarcophagus in a crypt in the same place, near the assembly of the martyrs (concilium martyrum). Under this persecution, Pigmenius leaves the titulus Pastoris and goes to Persia, where he lives for four years and becomes blind. After these four years, Christ appears to him in a dream, commanding him to return to Rome and regain his sight. Fearless, he sets off immediately by sea and, four months later, enters Rome along the clivus of the via Salaria. There Julian, in golden attire, recognises him and has him summoned. Julian gives praise to the gods that he sees Pigmenius again, but Pigmenius rejoins that he praises Christ that he cannot see Julian. Angered by this, Julian orders that Pigmenius be thrown from a bridge into the Tiber river. His body is collected by the matron Candida, who buries it in a crypt in the cemetery of Pontianus at Ursus Pileatus, on the 12th day before the Calends of May [= 20 April].

The text ends with the following appendix:

§ 6: We have narrated the saints’ triumph, but we think it not incongruous to tell how God avenged the martyrs, Julian losing both the empire and his life, as we found in written accounts (gesta). Around the time of Pigmenius’ death, Julian leads an expedition to Persia, during which he is seized and skinned alive from head to toenails. His skin is dyed red and seven Persian kings sit on it. Thus Pigmenius and Julian both died but met opposite ends, Pigmenius going to heaven and Julian to hell.

Text: Delehaye 1936, 259-263. Summary: M. Humphries, The Roman Martyrs Project, Manchester University, revised and expanded by M. Pignot.