Descriptions of martyrdom
Descriptions of the martyrdom of Christians are of great importance for the history of persecution. Due to their historical value, these writings are divided into three groups:
1.Legends 2.Martyrdom – Passiones 3.Files of martyrs – Acta martyrum
This group includes edifying stories about martyrs, most often written many years after the events described. Among them, a distinction should be made between legends in which true facts are mixed with fictitious events, and stories that are a product of pure fantasy, devoid of any historical value. This does not exclude their positive teaching role that they may have played over the past centuries.
This group includes writings containing eyewitness accounts, often enriched with the writer’s commentary or autobiographical material, reliable and of great historical value.
1.Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp
2.Letters of the commune from Vienne and Lyon to the Christian communes in Asia and Phrygia
3.The martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity
They contain copies of documents from court proceedings. Court hearings and trials were public and were recorded in shorthand by official secretaries (or Christians present at the trials) and kept in court archives. These accounts were transcribed and kept by Christians who had direct access to the archives or by overpaid secretaries. Only some accounts have survived because the Roman authorities confiscated copies found during the search and destroyed them. The historicity of these documents is certain and unquestionable. The most valuable ones include:
Martyrdom records of St. Justin and companions (Martyrium s. Justini et sociorum), sentenced to death by order of the prefect of Rome, Rusticus, around the year 165, during the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
The Files of the Scilitan Martyrs are the official minutes of the trial that took place in Carthage on July 17, 180, against 12 Christians who were sentenced to death by beheading. The sentence was carried out the same day. It is the oldest Christian text written in Latin
Proconsular files of St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who was beheaded on September 14, 258 in Carthage