CHAPTER
VIII
THE
TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS –
IN
HOC SIGNO VINCES – EDICT OF MILAN (313)
Edict of Toleration (311)
In spite of the ferocity of the long campaign and
with all the advantages apparently on the side of the civil power, Rome was
finally obliged to admit defeat. The
persecution was a total failure and by an imperial edict it came to an end on
April 30, 311. It was signed by Galerius
and his co-regent Constantine. The
Christian religion was allowed to be practiced by this Edict of Tolerance. It is no more than this, that is, an edict of
tolerance because there is a clause quite restrictive for Christianity:
Ut denuo sint
christiani et conventicula sua componant; ita ut ne quid contra disciplinam
agant.[1]
That they may be Christians again and build the houses in which they used to
gather, provided that they do nothing contrary to the discipline.
This is how Galerius’ Edict reads:
Since they (Christians)
still persist in their impious folly and are deprived of public exercise of
their religion, we are disposed to extend to these unhappy men the effects of
our accustomed mercy. We allow them,
consequently, to profess their private opinions and meet at their places of
worship without fear of disturbance, provided always that they respect the
existing laws. We hope that our clemency
will induce the Christians to offer prayers to the Deity whom they worship for
our safety and prosperity, for their own, and for that of the state.[2]
Soon after Galerius died eaten by worms and in a pitiful state. Eusebius, in his Ecc. Hist. says that
Galerius was punished by God.
Beginning with his very
flesh and proceeding to the soul. For an
abscess suddenly appeared in the center of his privy parts, then a deeply
perforated ulcer, incurable and feeling into the very depths of his
bowels. From these an innumerable
multitude of worms burst forth and gave out a deathly stench…
Wrestling with so many
evils, he felt conscious-stricken for the deed which he had brazenly committed
against the pious, and so reflecting within himself, he first openly confessed
to the God of the universe; then, summoning those about him, he commanded them
without delay to put an end to the persecution against the Christians.
In Hoc Signo Vinces
In
the meanwhile, the political situation in the West worsened to such an extent
that a decisive context between Constantine and Maxentius was rendered
inevitable. War broke out between Constantine
and Maxentius (306-312). When the war
began in 312, Constantine was not a Christian but possibly followed his
father’s religion, a form of that new moral monotheism, popular with the army,
whose symbol was the Sun – Sol Invictus.
By the time of the actual expedition against Maxentius, he has abandoned
also the cult of the sun and is much closer to Christianity, that is, to the
belief in one God. And just before the
decisive step, that is, the battle at the Milvian Bridge, when Constantine was
marching at the head of an army of 30 thousand men against the 100 thousand
strong army of Maxentius, a cross of light appeared in the heavens, with the
woven words: in hoc signo vinces (In This Sign You Shall
Conquer).” According to Eusebius, in his
Life of Constantine, immediately after the vision of the Cross, Christ appeared
to him and told him to adopt the Cross as his standard instead of the Roman
eagle. He did so. In the fight which followed he was victorious
and Maxentius was drowned in the Tiber as he fled from the field. Constantine entered Rome convinced now that
the one, supreme God was the God whom the Christians worshipped: Jesus Christ.
The
impression which this victory made on the pagan world was tremendous. The God of the Christians had proved his
superiority over the gods of the Capitol.
Constantine entered the city amid the rejoicings of the people. Upon the triumphal arch which the Senate and
people erected to him, and which is still standing among the ruins of the city
of the Caesars, his great victory is ascribed to the “decree of God.” Constantine himself caused his own statue to
be set up, holding in his hand the standard of the cross (labarum),
with the inscription: “through this saving sign, have I freed your city from
the tyrant’s yoke.”
The full
text on the triumphal arch reads like this:
To Emperor Caesar
Flavius Constantine the Great, Felix, Augustus, because inspired by the
Godhead, by the greatness of his spirit, at one stroke avenged the State upon
the tyrant and his entire faction by just a show of force together with his
army, the Senate and the People of Rome have dedicated this arch in token of
his triumph.
Elsewhere
on the Arch appears:
Liberator of the City.
Founder of Peace.[3]
This
is the original Latin:
Imp[eratori] Caesa[re]
Fl[avio] Constantino Maximo, P[ius], F[elix], Augusto S.[enatus] P.[opulus]
Q.[ue] R.[omanus] Quod Instinctu Divinitatis Mentis magnitudine cum exercitu
suo tam de Tyranno Quam De Eius Factione Uno Tempore Iustis Rempublicam Ultus
est Armis Arcum Triumphis insignem Dicavit.
Liberator
urbis. Fundatori Quietis.[4]
The Edict of Milan (313)
The
religious problem received Constantine’s immediate attention. Towards the end of 312, in a letter to
Maximinus Daia, he pleaded in favor of the Christians of the East. He freed the African clergy from public
duties. In a meeting with his
brother-in-law Licinius, held at Milan in February of 313, he gave to the
Christians throughout the Empire unrestricted freedom of worship. The two of them commanded to restore to the
Christians the property which had been confiscated during the
persecutions. The agreement is known as
the Edict of Milan, in the words of Eusebius “a very perfect and
comprehensive law in favor of Christians[5]
but more properly, a rescript or circular mandate to the governors of the
provinces.
With
this act, the exclusive union between the Roman State and the pagan cult was
broken, a new religious policy was opened.
The Edict inaugurates a memorable turn in the history of
Christianity. For the moment, the new
happy order of things had still an enemy in Maximinus Daia, who had renewed his
hostility against the Church. Maximinus
Daia took advantage of the absence of Licinius in the West and, despite the
difficulties of the winter, invaded his states, crossed into Europe, and with
his powerful army laid waste the rich provinces which are now the Balkans. There, at Nicopolis, he met, and was defeated
by Licinius, returned from Milan in haste; and with the defeat and death of
Maximinus Daia, the authors of the Edict of Milan were masters of the Roman
world. As Eusebius says:
From that time on a day
bright and radiant with no cloud overshadowing it, shone down with shafts of
heavenly light on the Churches of Christ throughout the world, nor was there
any reluctance to grant even those outside our community the enjoyment, if not
of equal blessings at least of an effluence from and a share in the things that
God has bestowed on us.[6]
The Vision of the Cross by
Constantine
We
have already seen Constantine’s triumph over Maxentius and his ‘coeleste
signum Dei’ as narrated by Eusebius in his “Vita Constantini,” (I,
28-31) written in 337. Are we to admit a
miraculous intervention by God in the way described by Eusebius? It is quite difficult to admit Eusebius’
description as it sounds, but we cannot reject it outright or take it as pure
illusion. There is a nucleus of truth in
it, which at a distance of so many years and under the impression of the happy
reign of Constantine, was transformed into a legend. It cannot be denied that the Emperor, who by
nature was inclined to dreams and visions, had a certain day a strong religious
commotion, which brought him closer to the Christian religion.
This
is how Lactantius in his book, On the Deaths of the Persecutors
described the vision of Constantine:
Already civil war had
broken out between Constantine and Maxentius.
Although Maxentius remained at Rome – an oracle had predicted that he
would die if he crossed the city gates – the war was conducted by his able
commanders. His forces were superior to
those of his adversary. For he not only
had his father’s army, which had deserted from Severus, but his own as well,
which he had just collected from Mauritania and from the country of the
Getulians. They clashed and Maxentius’
troops held the advantage, up until the time when Constantine, prepared either
to win or to die, brought all his forces close to Rome and encamped near the
Milvian Bridge. It was near the
twenty-eighth of October, the anniversary of his completion of five years of
reign.
During his sleep Constantine
was directed that God’s heavenly sign should be inscribed on the soldier’s
shields before they should begin the battle.
He did as he was commanded, and he had inscribed on the shields the name
of Christ by means of an “X” that was crossed by an “I” curved over the
top. Armed with this sign, his soldiers
stood to arms … And the hand of God was stretched over the fray.[7]
One thing is
certain, since the victory at the Milvian Bridge (312) Constantine, although
still a pagan in many practices, was not only favorable to Christianity but
also embraced Christianity himself.
Stages in Constantine’s
Conversion
We
must not absolutely reject a divine intervention in Constantine’s conversion. However, this seems to be the process of
events which led him on to embrace Christianity.
- From family tradition he was well disposed towards
the Christians. Possibly the
Christian religion was not unknown in his family because one of his
father’s daughters was called Anastasia, a name which appears
almost exclusively among Christians.
- From his aversion against Diocletian (284-305) and
Galerius (292-311), who excluded him from the imperial succession, he
leaned towards a different religious policy.
- The Church although materially and politically was
not strong, yet, morally and religiously excelled all other cults and had
a wonderful internal and external organization.
- The martyr’s strength and heroism, among the terrible
precedent persecutions, was something admirable and without as natural
explanation.
- Constantine knew a little about the dogma and
Christian moral precepts, but he conceived a high opinion of Christ’s
exceptional power.
During the war
against Maxentius, given the tremendous difficulties facing him, he asked
Christ’s help and experienced his power in battle.
- He had, then, possibly, that dream or admonition
related by Lactantius:
Commonitus est in quiete
Constantius ut coeleste signum Dei notaret in scutis atque proelium commiteret.
Fecit ut iussus est, et transversa X littera, summo capite circumflexo,
Christum in scutis notat. Quo signo armatus exercitus capit ferrum.[8]
He ordered to paint on the
shields of his soldiers the monogram of Christ and adopt a new standard (Labarum)
before the decisive battle.
After the great
Victory at the Milvian Bridge (312), because the god of the Christians had
shown his power and fulfilled His promise, Constantine embraced Christianity.
With Constantine
Christianity finally triumphed over paganism. This victory was “the purest ever
won.” For it was won by witnessing and enduring, by loving and suffering, by
pouring of innocent blood. It was won by
weak men and women, slaves often, opposed to the mightiest of governments and
all the social and intellectual pride and prejudice of the civilized world.
Chronological Note
305
1st of May, Diocletian (284-305) and
Maximian Herculean (286-305) leave the Empire; Galerius (292-311) and
Constantius Chlorus (292-306) become Emperors; Maximinus Daia (305-313) in the
East and Severus (305-307) in the West become Caesars.
306
25th of July, death of Constantius
Chlorus, father of Constantine.
Constantine is elected augustus by the soldiers.
27-28th
of October, Maxentius elected augustus by the Pretorian Guard.
307
February, Severus defeated by Maxentius
31st
of March, Constantine marries Fausta, sister of Licinius.
308
April, Maximian the Herculean expelled from Rome
by Maxentius, his own son, Maximian the Herculean goes to Constantine.
309
Autumn, Maximian plots against Constantine.
310
January, Maximian dies.
311
30th of April, Edict of Tolerance of
Galerius, Constantine and Licinius, Augusti.
312
Autumn, War between Constantine and Maxentius
28th
of Oct., Maxentius dies at the Battle of Milvian Bridge at the outskirts of
Rome
Nov-Dec,
Constantine in Rome
313
Jan-Feb, Meeting at Milan and so-called Edict of
Milan
April,
Maximinus Daia invades Licinius’ provinces
1st
of May, Licinius victory over Maximinus Daia at Hadrianapolis, in Thrace
13th
of June, Licinius publishes in Nicomedia the Edict of Milan
Aug-Sep,
Maximinus Daia dies
314
War between Licinius and Constantine. Constantine receives Illyricum.
324
War between Constantine and Licinius. Constantine Lord over the whole Empire
The Cult of Martyrs
The
etymological meaning of the word “martyr” is that of ‘witness’. The Christian martyr is the one who gives
testimony of Christ’s faith, faith in the resurrection of the Lord. The Church, however, has reserved the word
for those Christians who shed their blood for Christ. All the other Christians who suffered persecution
but did not lose their lives are known as confessors - martyrs without
blood. Martyrdom, that is the testimony
given with sufferings, with blood and with death in favor of the truth of a
fact and of the divinity of a doctrine, is a unique property of
Christianity. Neither philosophy, nor
paganism, not even Judaism had true martyrs.
Only the Christians had sacrificed their lives, and this en masse, to
affirm the fundamental facts and doctrine of their religion, whose witnesses
and testimonies they wanted to be.
“Nobody”, writes St. Justin, “believed in Socrates to the extent of
dying for the doctrine that he taught.”[9] There had never been in paganism a man who,
with his death, testified that his religion was true. This extraordinary testimony was part of the
plan of the Founder of Christianity as a proof of the Divinity of his origin
and of the transcendence of his doctrine.
The Christian suffers, with total freedom, a violent death and, in this
way, his voluntary condemnation becomes a resplendent triumph of the moral
freedom that Christianity brought to the world.
For
Christianity, this testimony of the martyrs has a priceless value, so great
that it is impossible to understand the deaths of so many Christians of all
regions, ages, sexes, and walks of life unless we have recourse to a
supernatural help and intervention. For
us, Christians, those brothers of Christ and ours were not fanatics, were no
people who despised life, but men and women like us, with the same hope and
faith of redemption whose love for Christ, their Savior and Redeemer, was so
great, so profound that they valued for nothing this temporal life if by it
they were to be cut off from Christ’s love and friendship and to lose their
eternal life. They are the warriors for
Christ’s kingdom, who, when the hour of trial comes, go happy into battle,
considering it a privilege to suffer for Him who first suffered for them. No doubt then, that they from the very
beginning of the Church, were held in great respect and their memory blessed
forever. The martyrs were the crown of
every Church.
At
the outset their relics were placed in the Catacombs or underground cemeteries
and their tombs served as altars to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries. These relics were the objects of a pious
cult from the part of the faithful and, at the same time, they celebrated
the martyr’s death as the day of triumph, the dies natalis – the natal
day of their martyrdom. A wonderful
illustration of this is found in Polycarp’s Passion:
But we taking up his bones,
valued more than precious stones, more tried than gold, deposited them in a
suitable place. There also, as far as we
can, we will celebrate the natal day of his martyrdom in joy and gladness, both
in commemoration of those who finished their contest before, and to prepare
those that shall finish hereafter.
The Number of Martyrs
The
aim of this question is not to arrive at knowing the exact number of martyrs,
something which will always be totally impossible. Only God knows. We will attempt to arrive at an approximate
number of martyrs, putting the figure at the millions. The admirers of the Roman empire, on the
other hand, defend that only a few thousand died before Constantine. And these were condemned because, as breakers
of Roman laws, they were criminals.
We
will not go into the intricate problem of finding the criteria how to judge the
number of martyrs, but only, following the latest research on the matter, give
you the approximate and prudent figure defended by Catholic scholars.
We
have two ways of knowing whether a Christian was a martyr or not:
a.
Direct Way, or the so-called Historico-Literary
Way: a way by which from the sources and writers of the time we have the
names of those who died for Christ.
Through this was we have around two to three hundred martyrs.
b.
Indirect Way or the so-called Archeological
Way, which tells us the number of martyrs by the cult they received, for
the Christians built an altar round the martyr’s sepulcher. Through this way, we know of 1,000
martyrs. But the question is this: did
all the martyrs receive cult? It was
quite impossible that all the martyrs received cult for it began sometimes,
especially in the Roman Church, in the middle of the 3rd
century. So, the precedent martyrs
during the persecution of Nero (54-68), Domitian (81-96), the Antonines
(98-181) never received a cult. But not
only this, not all the martyrs during Diocletian’s persecution received cults,
because this required a sepulcher and where are the sepulchers of those many
martyrs who died in the mines, in the sea, in the mountains, in the forests, in
exile? On the other hand, many churches
were happy with one martyr or one with a group who died with him. Except the most important churches of Rome,
Antioch, Alexandria, and Carthage, the other churches of the Empire had only
the cult of one martyr, although they had many more whose cult was never
celebrated, for it is ridiculous to believe that the Emperors took a great deal
of pain to have only one martyr for each Church. Later on, the bishops tried to have a
catalogue of the martyrs of all churches but the memory of many of them had
disappeared.
From this we can
conclude that the number of martyrs is much higher than the one thousand from
whom we have cult.
There are
testimonies of many writers for almost all the persecutions. For Nero (54-68)
Tacitus says: “Ingens multitudo”.[10]
For Domitian
(81-96) the Apocalypse 6.9:
…I saw under the altar
the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness
they had borne.
For Trajan
(98-117): Plinius the Younger (111): “If they still persevered, I ordered them
to be persecuted” who were many because he adds:
…considering the numbers
endangered, persons of all ranks and ages, and of both sexes…are involved.[11]
For the second
century the apologists Justin (ca. 100- ca. 168), Tertullian (ca. 155-228),
Minucius Felix testify of the many persecutions and the innumerable number of
Christians killed by the populace.
For Septimus
Severus (193-211): Clement of Alexandria (150-215) speaks of an “Infinite
multitude”[12]
St. Irenaeus
(ca. 140-202): “The Church offered in all places at all times a multitude of
martyrs to the Father.”[13]
These
testimonies refer only to the persecutions before the terrible ones of the 3rd
century and the impression the Christian writers give is that the number of
martyrs was exceptionally high.
For Decius
(249-251): St. Cyprian and Dionysius of Alexandria speak of great numbers
killed for the faith. Dionysius even
speaks:
A multitude of Christians”
who fled to avoid falling into the hands of the persecutors and died in the
mountains, in the deserts, killed by beasts, by robbers, etc.[14]
For Valerian
(253-260) we have, again, the testimonies of St. Cyprian and Dionysius of
Alexandria:
To give all the names of our
people, who are so numerous and quite unknown to you, would be a waste of time,
but I must tell you that men and women, youngsters and graybeards, girls and
old women, soldiers and civilians, every race and every age, some the victims
of scourges and the stake, others of the sword, came through their ordeal
triumphantly and have received their crowns.[15]
For Diocletian
we have many testimonies from Eusebius.
Speaking only of Nicomedia, he has this to say:
The spectacle of what
happened after this beggars descriptions: in every town great numbers were
locked up, and everywhere the gaols built long before the homicides and
grave-robbers were crowded with bishops, presbyters, and deacons, readers and
exorcists, so that now there was no room in them for those convicted of crimes.[16]
After the third
edict –
It was laid down that if the
prisoners offered sacrifice they should be allowed to go free, but if they
refused they should be mutilated by endless tortures.[17]
He again writes
this:
Now once more, how could one
count the number of martyrs in every province of the empire, especially those
in Africa and Mauritania, in the Thebais of Egypt?[18]
When he
describes the persecution in the Thebais, he is even more categorical about the
number:
In this way they carried on,
not for a few days or weeks, but year after year. Sometime ten or more, sometimes over twenty
were put to death, at other times at least thirty, and at yet others not far
short of sixty; and there were occasions when on a single day a hundred men as
well as women and little children were killed, and condemned to a succession of
ever-changing punishments.[19]
These are then,
the testimonies of pagan and Christian contemporaries for every
persecution. They describe quite vividly
the impressions about the persecutions, an impression that says that the number
of martyrs was indeed great. We have no reason to doubt their
truthfulness. So we can conclude that
the number of martyrs was, in fact, very high.
Naturally, it is quite difficult to put into figures those “great
multitudes”, “ingens multitudo”, “great numbers”, “infinite multitude”, etc…but
this way of writing makes us to believe that the number was really great.
According to the
latest research the number, then, could be put at one hundred thousand. Five
thousand for the first century; ten thousand for the second; twenty to thirty
thousand for the third and fifty thousand for Diocletian’s persecution.[20]
As a conclusion
we can ask ourselves this question: is this number 100,000 small or great?
Without any doubt it is a large number, because it refers to 100,000 martyrs
who were killed just for their faith, with no other crime but that of being
Christian. So, it is a very great
injustice.
On the other
hand, to have a clear idea of the persecutions we must talk not only of the
martyrs, but also of the many other kinds of punishments: prison; confiscation,
torments, difficulties, penalties of all kinds, which the Christians had to
suffer for the name of Jesus. For every
martyr some twenty or thirty other Christians suffered torments, prison, exile,
confiscation, etc. All the Christians,
on the other hand, lived in a continuous danger of losing their lives for three
centuries. So, in giving the number of
Christians who died as martyrs, we do not give the whole picture of the
persecutions.
[1]
Cf. Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum, 34; Eus. H. E., VIII,
17.
[2]
Lactantius, Persecutor’s Death, 34.
The following is the Text of the Edict of Toleration as recorded by
Eusebius, Ecclesiatical History, 8, 17.
“Among the measures which
we conceive for the good and profit of the people, we wished formerly to set
all aright in accord with the ancient laws and public discipline of the Romans,
and to make provision for the following: that the Christians, also, whoever had
left the religion of their ancestors, should return to a good attitude of mind,
since by some reasoning such arrogance had laid hold on them and such folly
seized them as to cause them not to follow what had been introduced of old by
their ancestors, which perhaps their own forefathers had formerly established,
but according to their attitude of mind and as each one wished, thus made laws
for themselves and observed these and assembled various multitudes in various
places. Therefore, when an order by us
soon followed to the intent that they transfer themselves to the institutions
established by the ancients, a great many gave in to danger, but a great many were
harassed and suffered all kinds of death; and since, when the majority
persisted in the same attitude of mind we say that they were carrying on the
worship due to the gods of heaven nor attending to Him of the Christians,
having regard for our humanity and our invariable custom by which we regularly
extended pardon to all men, we thought that in this case, also, we should most
eagerly accord our indulgence, that they may be Christians again and build the
houses in which they used to gather, provided that they do nothing contrary to
the discipline. In another letter we
shall show the judges what they shall have to observe. Therefore, according to this indulgence of
ours they should beseech their own God for our safety and that of the people
and that of themselves, in order that in every way both the welfare of the
people may be secured and they may be able to live free from care at their own
homes.”
[3]
Herbert Masurillo, SJ., The Fathers of the Primitive Church, Mentor
Book, p. 243.
[4]
Conradus Kirsch, SJ. Enchiridion Fontium Historiae Ecclesiasticae
Antiquae, Herder, Barcelona, 1964, pp. 227-228.
[5]
Eus., H.E., IX, 9, 12.
[6]
Eus. Ecc. Hist., X, 1.
[7]
Herbert Masurillo, SJ., The Fathers of the Primitive Church, A
Mentor-Omega Book, p. 242.
[8]
Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum, 44,5.
[9]
St. Justin, Apol. II, 10
[10]
Cf. Conradus Kirsch, Enchiridion Fontium Historiae Ecclesiaticae Antiquae,
p. 25, no. 34.
[11]
Cf. Colman J. Barry, Readings in Church History, I, p. 75-76.
[12]
Cf. Migne, p. 8, 1070.
[13]
Cf. Adv. Haer. H, 33.
[14]
Cf. Eus. H.E., VI, 42.
[15]
Eus. H.E., VII, II.
[16]
Eus. H.E., V, III, 6.
[17]
Eus. H.E., VIII, 6.
[18]
Eus. H.E., VIII, 6.
[19]
Eus. H.E., VII, 9.
[20]
Cf. L. Hertling, Die Zahl der Christen zu Beginn des 4 in Jahrhundertes
ZKT 58 (1934), p. 243-253.
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