Italy and Sicily. There were great colonies of Jews here, among whom, as usual, the Gospel would first be preached. At the Nicene Council (325) there was present a bishop, Mark of Calabria.[1] We have still earlier evidence of Christianity in Sicily. The Roman presbyters and deacons, during the vacancy of the See after the martyrdom of St Fabian (250), write to St Cyprian: "You will have received the letter we wrote to Sicily."[2] There are Christian catacombs in the island, which appear to date from the second century. At Naples, too, are catacombs of the same time.[3]
Then for Southern Italy and Sicily we have a number of acts of martyrs. There are the acts of St Euplius (Εὔπλος) at Catana[4] in the year 304. The "Acta S. Felicis" (Bishop of Tubuza in Africa, † 303) mention Christian communities in Agrigentum, Catana, Messana, and Tauromenium.[5] The "Acta Petri et Pauli" (second or third century) speak of Christians at Messana.[6] The book "Prœdestinatus" (fifth century) mentions the Bishops Eustachius of Lilybæum and Theodorus of Panormus,[7] from which Harnack concludes that it is probable that there were bishops in these cities about the year 300.[8] The most famous Sicilian saints of the Roman persecution are St Agatha at Catana,[9] who was martyred in 251 under Decius, and St Lucy of Syracuse[10] under Diocletian (284-305). On
- ↑ Hefele-Leclercq, "Hist. des Conciles," i, p. 411.
- ↑ Inter ep. Cypr. xxx, 5; ed. Hartel, ii, 553.
- ↑ Harnack, "Mission u. Ausbreitung," 501-502.
- ↑ In the "Acta Sanctorum," Aug., vol. ii, pp. 721-722; Ruinart, "Acta Martyrum" (Regensburg, 1859, pp. 437-439); L. di Brolo, "Storia d. Chiesa in Sicilia," i, 150-154.
- ↑ R. Knopf, "Ausgewählte Märtyreracten" (in Krüger's "Sammlung ausgew. Quellenschriften"), Tübingen and Leipzig, Mohr, 1901, pp. 85-86.
- ↑ Ed. R. A. Lipsius and M. Bonnet, "Acta Apost. apocr." (Leipzig, 1891), Pt. I, p. 182.
- ↑ "Prædestinatus," Lib. i, cap. 16 (P.L. liii, col. 592, B); cf. L. di Brolo, op.cit., i, 64-69.
- ↑ "Mission u. Ausbreitung des Christentums" (Leipzig, 1902), p. 503, n. 1.
- ↑ February 5, "Acta Sctor." February 1, pp. 621-629. There are three versions of the acts of St Agatha; the last is by Simeon Metaphrastes. L. di Brolo, op. cit., i, 89-95.
- ↑ Her acts are in Oct. Caietanus, S.J. "Vitæ Sanctorum Siculorum" (Palermo, 2 vols., fol. 1657), i, 116-118, and the "Animaduersiones," pp. 87-102. Here is the poem about her by Sigebert of Gembloux († 1112). The acts are not very authentic; so Ruinart did not include them in his collection. The prayers of her Mass and office (December 13) are in the Gregorian Sacramentary and Liber Responsalis (P.L., lxxvii, cols. 151-152; 819). See Ioh. de
