martyrdom · 258 · Carthage
Valerian's first edict exiled him to Curubis; the second, in 258, ordered bishops, presbyters and deacons to be executed outright. He came back to Carthage of his own accord, to be arrested in his own city rather than somewhere else, was tried by the proconsul Galerius Maximus, and refused to sacrifice. When the sentence was read he answered Deo gratias. The account has him lay aside his outer garments, kneel, give the executioner twenty-five gold pieces, and bind his own eyes with the help of two of his clergy, while the brethren spread cloths and napkins in front of him to catch the blood. The persecution row already on this page could say he was beheaded. It could not say any of this, and the martyr flag it stood under had nothing recorded beneath it.
To make the bishop of Africa's chief city sacrifice, under an edict aimed specifically at the clergy.
A proconsular record so plain it reads like a transcript, and the pattern of the African martyr cult for two centuries after.