Martyrdom of the Scillitan Martyrs

martyrdom · 180 · Carthage

Twelve Christians from Scilli were tried at Carthage on 17 July 180, in the second consulship of Praesens with Claudianus, before the proconsul Saturninus. He offered them the emperor's pardon if they would return to a sound mind, and thirty days to think; Speratus answered that in a matter so straightforward there is nothing to consider. Asked what was in their chest, he said: books, and epistles of Paul, a just man. The proconsul read the sentence from a tablet and the herald named all twelve - Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata and Secunda - and they answered together, thanks be to God. The record is question and answer as a clerk took it down, and it is the oldest dated document of the Latin church.