|
Symphorosa ((イタリア語:Sinforosa); died ca. 138 AD) is venerated as a Christian saint. According to tradition, she was martyred with her seven sons at Tibur (modern Tivoli, Italy) towards the end of the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian (117–138). The story of their martyrdom is told in an old ''Passio'', the reliability of which is seriously questioned by many modern hagiologists. According to this ''Passio'', Symphorosa was a Tiburtine matron, the widow of the tribune Getulius, who had previously been martyred under Emperor Hadrian at Gabii (now Torri), a town of the Sabines. When Hadrian had completed his costly palace at Tibur and began its dedication by offering sacrifices, he received the following response from the gods: "The widow Symphorosa and her sons torment us daily by invoking their God. If she and her sons offer sacrifice, we promise to give you all that you ask for." When all the emperor's attempts to induce Symphorosa and her sons to sacrifice to the Roman gods were unsuccessful, he ordered her to be brought to the Temple of Hercules, where, after various tortures, she was thrown into the river Anio with a heavy rock fastened to her neck. Her brother Eugenius, who was a member of the council of Tibur, buried her in the outskirts of the city. ==Her seven sons== The next day, the emperor summoned Symphorosa's seven sons, and being equally unsuccessful in his attempts to make them sacrifice to the gods, he ordered them to be tied to seven stakes erected for the purpose round the Temple of Hercules. Their members were disjointed with windlasses. Then, each of them suffered a different kind of martyrdom. Crescens was pierced through the throat, Julian through the breast, Nemesius through the heart, Primitivus was wounded at the navel, Justinus was pierced through the back, Stracteus (Stacteus, Estacteus) was wounded at the side, and Eugenius was cleft in two parts from top to bottom. Their bodies were thrown en masse into a deep ditch at a place the pagan priests afterwards called ''Ad septem Biothanatos'' (the Greek word ''biodanatos'', or rather ''biaiodanatos'', was employed for self-murderers and, by the pagans, applied to Christians who suffered martyrdom). Hereupon the persecution ceased for one year and six months, during which period the bodies of the martyrs were buried on the Via Tiburtina, eight or nine miles (14 km) from Rome. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Symphorosa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|