Saint Arcadius

The Saint, informed of the danger his relative was in, and burning moreover with the desire to give his life for Jesus Christ, leaves his retreat and goes himself to appear before the judge: "If it is because of me," he says to him upon approaching him and identifying himself, "that you keep my relative in chains, grant him his freedom; I come to inform you of the place of my retreat, which he never knew, and to answer the questions you may wish to ask me." — "I consent to pardon him," replies the governor, "but on the condition that this evening you will sacrifice to the gods." — "What do you dare propose to me?" replies Arcadius. "Do you know the Christians, and do you believe that the fear of death is capable of making them fail in their duty? Jesus Christ is my life, and death is a gain to me; invent whatever torture you please, never will I be unfaithful to my God."

These words inflamed th e judge le juge Roman official who ordered the torture of Arcadius. with fury. He sought unheard-of torments that the laws had never permitted for any criminal. Iron nails seemed too mild to him; it seemed to him that whips armed with lead only grazed the skin; he barely deigned to fix his thoughts on the rack; he finally found what his rage was seeking: "Seize this impious man," he said to his executioners, "make him see, make him desire death, without him being able to obtain it for a long time. Cut off all the joints of his limbs one after the other, as if you were stripping a tree of its branches; let only the trunk remain. But let all the operations be done slowly; make him suffer as much as you can, so that he may learn, the wretch, what it is to abandon the gods of his fathers to follow a strange and unknown God." The executioners, obeying these cruel orders, took Arcadius and led him to the place where many other victims like him had been slaughtered: a place chosen and ardently desired by those who sigh for eternal life. Having arrived there, Arcadius raised his eyes to heaven, prayed, and felt that his prayer had given him strength. He presented his neck to the executioner, thinking that the governor would be content with death; when he was ordered to give his hands, he gave them, and they successively cut off the joints of his fingers, arms, and shoulders. Then they laid him on his back and also cut off his toes, then his feet, legs, and thighs. The Saint gave his limbs one after the other with the same gentleness as if they had been asked of him by God Himself, from whom he had received them. During this long martyrdom, he did not cease to bless the Lord; they had forgotten to cut out his tongue, and he used it until the end to confess God, to proclaim that idols were nothing, and to proclaim Jesus Christ the victor over tyrants. The sight of his body, which was now nothing but a trunk bathed in blood, drew tears from the eyes of all the spectators; they admired this unprecedented constancy, and they confessed that there was something divine in it. As for the martyr, he offered his scattered limbs to God (and said: "O happy limbs, it is now that you are dear to me, since you have had the happiness of serving your God. It is advantageous for you to be separated here in order to be reunited later in glory. And you," he added, addressing the people, "you, spectators of such a bloody tragedy, learn that all torments are nothing to one who envisions blessed immortality. Believe a man who no longer clings to life; your gods are not gods; renounce their impious worship and you will finally recognize that there is no other God than the one who consoles and sustains me in the state in which you see me. To die for Him is to live, and to suffer for Him is to be in delight. In reward for the little I endure for His love, I am going to receive an immortal life that will unite me to Him forever.")

Saying this, he expired gently on January 12. The idolaters could not refuse their admiration for the inimitable constancy of this glorious martyr, and the Christians found themselves even more disposed to shed their blood for Jesus Christ. They gathered his relics and enclosed them all in the same tomb.

Saint Arcadius is the patr on sai Ossuna Spanish town of which Saint Arcadio is the patron saint. nt of Osuna, in the province of Seville in Spain: he is depicted deprived of all his limbs, which are scattered at his sides.

The martyrdom of Saint Arcadius is found i n Dom Ruina Dom Ruinart Benedictine hagiographer, editor of the Acts of the Saints. rt, translated into French by Manpertoy, Vol. II, edition of Hippolyte-Louis Gudrin (1732); it is from there that we have drawn what we have said about it; Father Giry did not record this life. See also Til Tillemont Ecclesiastical historian cited as a source. lemont in Volume V of his Ecclesiastical Memoirs.