2. In those days, after the Savior’s coming in the flesh, the shedding of His blood for our redemption, His descent into the lower regions, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension into heaven, the teaching of the Gospel, through the doctrine of the Apostles, had gradually and little by little shone throughout the whole earth. At last, it became known in the regions of Spain, though late, and faith was rare, and therefore great because it was rare.
The shrines of the pagans everywhere smoked with the sacrilegious outpouring of the blood of bulls and goats. And because some cities, towns, villages, and fortresses had no images of temples and monstrous figures made of gold, silver, and every kind of metal, demons were also worshipped in effigy, and faith in Christ, springing up amid such great pagan fury, was beating.
The small gatherings of those bearing the name of Christ were entered in the most secret and remote places by a few who were perfect, to carry out what had to be done. And as the dignity of the name of Christ increased, so the accursed calamity diminished.
Thus it came about that in certain cities the fires of perfect faith blazed, so that the faithful no longer concealed themselves in hiding places but stood forth publicly, together with the priests of the Church and the entire clergy. This report spread not only throughout all Italy but also throughout Byzantium.
3. This was the reason why the emperors Diocletian and Maximian sent the most impious Governor Dacian to Spain, more to destroy it than to govern it. For he first entered Gaul like a bloodthirsty wolf. There, satiated with the blood of martyrs, gorged upon their corpses, and belching, he entered Spain.
By inflicting the most grievous tortures and killing Felix, Cucuphas, Eulalia, and others whose names would take too long to write, he consecrated their innocent souls to God. After this, he seized the most blessed Caesaraugusta like a roaring lion.
If the human tongue were silent about the outrages he committed there, the many beatings, the many crosses, and the countless outpourings of blood, the very earth, which had been polluted with the blood of Christians, would speak. For there was no place there that did not hold, in a funerary setting, the martyrs’ ashes, revived and most flourishing.¹
From there, proceeding eagerly, he entered the city of Complutum. Immediately, pouring milk instead of blood from their severed bodies, the merciful Lord received Justus and Pastor from earth into heaven, to be set as twin pearls in the diadem of our King and, through the dignity of their innocence, as though surrounded with gold.
4. Having released the virgin Leocadia from her chains at Toledo, he ascended to the palace at Elbora. He gave prior instructions to his entire staff that, after an investigation had been conducted, they should bring before his tribunal any Christians they found.
Immediately, a certain young man named Vincent, whose merit accompanied his name, was discovered, seized, and brought into his presence. One of the officials said:
“Behold the man whom reckless madness has driven to enter the church boldly. While he wished to pray according to custom, we seized him and brought him before your most sacred tribunal. Decide and declare what your clemency orders concerning him.”
Then Dacian said to Vincent: “What sect does he belong to?”
Vincent, whose spirit was already clinging to heaven, answered: “I worship Christ, from whose name I am called a Christian.”
Governor Dacian said: “Do you worship that Christ whom the Jews crucified for His crimes?”
Saint Vincent said: “Be silent, devil, and do not reproach Him whom you ought to have worshipped, if you were not insane.”
5. Wishing to deceive him through flattery, Dacian said: “I make allowance for your youth and flourishing age, since you have not yet attained the solid strength of prudence. Nevertheless, it will be advisable for you to listen to me as though I were your father and to sacrifice to the gods.”
Saint Vincent answered: “Those who abandon the true and ever-living God, who stretched out heaven with His powerful hand, founded the earth, penetrated the lower regions, and set a boundary for the sea, and worship stones and pieces of wood, lack their customary understanding.”
Dacian said: “And who is the God who made all these things, if not Jupiter?”
Saint Vincent answered: “Your books make quite clear how worthless Jupiter was and how many acts of sexual misconduct he committed. For our God is holy and immaculate: the Father, with the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, who covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the earth.”
6. Dacian said: “Since you have not obeyed my instructions, it is beneath me to contend with you in words. For whatever you may say about your God, I have already heard from your other companions, who were worthless and lost and were cruelly put to death. But consider your age, recall the example of the others for your own salvation, and sacrifice to the great god Jupiter.”
Saint Vincent said: “You sacrifice to the most worthless Jupiter, though you are destined to perish and to go with him into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his companions.”
Filled with indignation, Dacian shouted loudly to his officials: “Remove this most impious man from my sight!” Then he read the decree from the tablet:
“Either let him sacrifice to the god Jupiter, or, in the very place where he is unable to sacrifice, subject him to various punishments and condemn him to the most shameful death.”
7. As he was being led away to sacrifice to Jupiter, when he came to the lower part of the street, a stone beneath his foot was suddenly softened by divine power to such a degree that people thought it was dust. Just as the impression of any metal figure appears in wax, so that stone displayed the imprint of his foot. This marvel is preserved to this day.
Terrified by such a great miracle, the soldiers said: “The worshippers of our gods can do nothing like this. The true God is the One whom Vincent worships, by whose command stones lose their strength.”
For this reason, they took him back to be kept under guard at home. They said to Dacian: “My lord, Vincent asks for a respite of three days, in which he may consider whether he wishes of his own accord to die or to sacrifice.”
Dacian granted what they requested. During that period of days, through the preaching of Saint Vincent the Martyr, the Lord gained many souls for Himself.
8. Then, having somewhat consoled their weeping, Sabina and Cristeta, his sisters, entered the cell where he was imprisoned. They did so quietly, having found an opportunity when no one was present, and with tears they uttered these words:
“Spare us, lord, spare us, now that we have been orphaned of both father and mother. You are our lord; you were our father, you were like a mother to us. To whom are you leaving us, to perish? Who, do you think, will be our lord, or who will violate our virginity under barbarous law and, with unrestrained lust, defile our souls and bodies? After you have somewhat calmed your ear, listen to our lamentable plea, and let us flee together. Thus, if we are overtaken by our persecutors while fleeing, let us surrender our souls together to God the Trinity. But if we escape, to the extent that we spend a long life with you in honor and modesty, to that same extent holiness will be increased for us by God.”
9. At last, overcome by his sisters’ tears, Saint Vincent yielded. They took flight together and, proceeding eagerly on horseback, fled to Ávila.
Immediately, after someone informed on them, the bloodiest persecutors pursued them on faster horses, under a sacrilegious promise. They found them in the aforementioned city, stripped them of their possessions, led them out through the gate, and bound them cruelly. Outside, at the place now called Vestigios, they stretched each of them upon the rack, with their limbs spread apart and extended upward and downward, and inflicted various beatings upon them.
Confessing God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together, they placed their necks upon stones and struck their heads from above with a club. Brought to completion through this martyrdom, Vincent, Sabina, and Cristeta surrendered their souls together to the Lord.
10. The soldiers left their bodies unburied and threatened that they must not be buried. They returned to Dacian to announce their joy. Although they had left the bodies to be devoured by dogs, with no obstacle preventing anyone from covering them, even the Christian compassion that rejoiced that the martyrs had come forth did not guard the bodies.²
I believe this, and my faith is not in vain: no human service kept watch over them, lest it be thought that divine protection was absent from the honor due to the martyrs.
Suddenly, at God’s command, a serpent-like beast emerged from the hollows of the earth, a creature accustomed to devouring the living. Bending its body in sinuous coils and raising its head, it began to guard the dead martyrs of Christ.
O Christ, how worthy of praise You are in defending Your martyrs, because those whom You choose while they are alive, You do not abandon even when their bodies are dead. Everything You will, You will rightly, and by Your will all things in heaven and on earth are directed. You blunt the anger of wild beasts, restrain the hunger of dragons, You anticipate people who are unwilling, and follow after them so that they may not will in vain.
11. Curiosity impelled a certain Jew, who was passing along the road, to go and see the martyrs’ bodies. Immediately, that serpent raised its scaly neck, sprang forward, and, winding itself around the man, bound him with the coils of its body at the crown of his head, leaving only his head protruding above it. He remained motionless for almost an hour.
Then, inspired by God, he raised his eyes upward and uttered these words:
“Christ, defender of Your servants, deliver me from this evil beast, so that, believing in You, I may receive Your seal and honorably bury the bodies of my lords, Your friends, and build a basilica in their name at my own expense.”
As soon as he had spoken, the serpent gradually loosened its twisting coils. With a very swift movement it fled and suddenly disappeared, nowhere to be seen. The man stood there stunned and cold.
12. When an hour had passed, he began to ponder this great mystery within himself, wondering at it. He immediately entered the city, fell at the knees of the priests, and asked that he might be deemed worthy to become a Christian, and that no delay be made in his purification, so that, having become a Christian, he might be worthy to bury the bodies of the saints.
He obtained what he had faithfully requested. For, reborn through the womb of the font, he placed the bodies of the saints in new sarcophagi and built above them a basilica adorned with wondrous workmanship.
If anyone comes there with a pure heart, faithful devotion, and ready faith, and prays, the things requested immediately come of their own accord, and every illness is removed, through Him who crowned His Saints because of their good confession.
13. To Him be honor and glory, might and power, for ever and ever. Amen.
Translator’s Notes:
1. "eo quod nullus exceptus sit ibi qui bustuali situ non teneat redivivos florentissimosque cineres martyrum locus." The syntax is irregular. The words redivivos florentissimosque cineres martyrum mean literally “the martyrs’ ashes, revived and most flourishing.” The translation retains that wording rather than replacing it with an interpretation of the image. The edition’s apparatus records a variant et for eo, and notes bustali in the manuscripts against bustuali in the cited reading.
2. "et licet mandenda canibus corpora, nullo tegente obstaculo, reliquissent, et nec ipsa pia miseratio christiana, que provenisse sibi martyres gaudebant, corpora custodirent." The syntax is difficult, particularly the construction linking the bodies left for the dogs, the phrase nullo tegente obstaculo, and the Christian compassion that rejoiced in the martyrs’ coming forth. The English follows the sequence of the Latin without adding a narrative explanation of why the bodies were not guarded.
1. Passio sanctorum martyrum Vincentii, Sabine et Cristete, qui passi sunt in urbe Abela sub Datiano preside; die V kalendas novembres. Deo gratias.
2. In illis diebus, dum, post corporeum Salvatoris adventum, et, pro redemtione nostra, sanguinis eius effusionem, ab inferis descensionem, a mortuis resurrectionem, in celos ascensionem, evangelica eruditio sensim atque gradatim in omnem terram doctrina apostolorum refulsisset, sera tandem Spanie finibus innotuit, eratque rara fides, et ideo magna quia rara. Delubra vero gentilium in omni loco sacrilega effusione sanguinum, taurorum, hircorumque fumabant. Et quia nonnulle civitates, oppida, vicus, castella, sine fanorum monstrorumque imaginibus ex auro, argento et omni metallo erant, colebantur preterea in effigie demones, et fides in Christo, pullulans inter tantas rabies paganorum, palp itabat. Conventicula vero nominis Christi, secretissimis et abditissimis locis, a paucis et perfectis ingrediebantur peragenda; et quantum crescebat Christi nominis dignitas, tantum deficiebat execranda calamitas. Ita provenit, ut in nonnullas urbes perfecte fidei fraglarent incendia, ut iam non per latebras occulendo, sed publice Eclesie sacerdotibus et omni prepollerent clero. Que fama non solum totam Italiam, sed et Bizantium peragravit.
3. Que causa fecit ut impiissimum Datianum presidem Diocletianus et Maximianus imperatores, ad evertendam maxime quam ad gubernandam, destinarent Spaniam. Primum namque Galliam, ut lupus cruentus, intravit; ibique exsatiatus sanguine martyrum, cadavera crapulatus, ructans, Spaniam ingressus est. Felicem, Cucufatem, Eulaliam et alios, quorum nomina longum est scribere, gravissimis tormentis interficiens, Deo animas consecravit innocuas. Ac post inde felicissimam Cesaragustam, quasi leo frendens, arripuit. Quanta in ea ludibria, quantaque verbera, quot cruces, quotque effusiones sanguinum operatus fuerit, si humana lingua taceat, ipsa, que polluta est christianorum sanguinibus, terra loqueretur: eo quod nullus exceptus sit ibi qui bustuali situ non teneat redivivos florentissimosque cineres martyrum locus. Inde alacri profectu Complutensem ingreditur urbem; protinus pro cruore lac, truncatis corporibus, fundens, geminas margaritas in diademate nostri regis configendas, et innocentie dignitate, velut auro circumdatas, Iustum et Pastorem a terra celo per feralem impietatem pius Dominus suscepit.
4. Vinculis recludens Toleto Leocadiam virginem, Elbora conscendit in aula; officium omne premonet suum, ut, indagine premissa, christianos quoscumque invenissent, tribunali eius presentarent. Statimque conpertum adulescentem quemdam, nomine Vincentium, cuius meritum nomine comitabatur suo, conprehensum, eius conspectibus sistunt. Ex officio dictum est: Ecce quem temeraria impulit insania ut Eclesiam audacter intraret: dum orare ex more vellet, captum, huic sacratissimo tribunali adtraximus tuo; quid de eo vestra clementia iubeat, dictu decernite. Datianus vero Vincentio dixit: Cuius secte est? Vincentius, cuius iam spiritus celo herebat, respondens, dixit: Christum colo ex cuius nomine christianus vocor. Datianus preses dixit: Illum Christum colis, quem, pro facinoribus suis, iudei crucifixerunt? Sanctus autem Vincentius dixit: Obmutesce, diabole, et noli exprobrare quem colere debueras, si demens non esses.
5. Datianus blandiendo, eum decipere desiderans, dixit: Indulgeo iuventuti et florenti etati tue, quod nondum ad solidum prudentie robur perveneris; tamen consultum tibi erit, si me quasi patrem tuum audieris, et sacrificaveris diis. Vincentius sanctus respondens, dixit: Solito intellectu carent, qui, relicto Deo vero et semper vivo, qui celum potenti manu extendit, terram fundavit, tartara penetravit, mari terminum posuit, lapides et ligna colunt. Datianus dixit: Et quis est Deus, qui hec omnia fecit, nisi Iovis? Vincentius sanctus respondit: Iovis quam inutilis fuerit, et quanta strupra admiserit, libri vestri satis evidenter exponunt. Nam Deus noster sanctus atque immaculatus est: Pater cum Filio et Spiritu Sancto. Hii tres unus est Deus, qui tegit celum nubibus, et parat terre pluviam.
6. Datianus dixit: Quia non obaudisti monitis meis, indignum est mihi tecum verbis contendere; nam et quecumque de Deo tuo es dicturus, iam ab aliis indignis et perditis et crudeliter interemtis comitibus tuis audivi. Tu autem consule etati tue, et exemplum aliorum ad tuam salutem revoca, et sacrifica Deo magno Iovi. Vincentius sanctus ait: Tu sacrifica Iovi perditissimo, periturus, et cum eo in ignem eternum, qui preparatur diabolo et sociis eius. Repletus indignatione Datianus, cum ingenti voce officio dixit: Amovete ab oculis meis nefandissimum istum; et edictum ex tabula recitavit: Aut sacrificet Deo Iovi, aut in eodem loco ubi sacrificare nequiverit, diversis penis addictum, morte turpissima condemnate.
7. Quumque duceretur ut Iovi sacrificaret, veniente in imam platearum, subito lapis, qui plante subiacebat eius, ita divinitus mollitus est, ut pulverem esse crederent. Et velut inpressio cuiuslibet figure metalli in cera, ita sigillum pedis lapis ille demonstravit; quod prodigium usque hodie sic habetur. Territi tanto miraculo milites, inquiunt: Nichil tale facere deorum cultores nostrorum illum verum Deum esse, quem colit Vincentius, cuius imperio vim suam lapides amittunt. Pro qua re eum domui custodiendum reducunt. Et dixerunt Datiano: Domine, in triduo Vincentius indutias petit, quo pertractet utrum mori, an sacrificare sponte velit. Datianus impetrata concessit. In quo spatio dierum multas sibi animas, per predicationem sanctissimi Vincentii martyris, Dominus adquisivit.
8. Tunc fletui consolationem paululum adhibentes Sabina et Christete, germane eius, cellam vinculorum eius ingrediuntur, silentio adhibito, occasione repperta, et nullo adstante, tales cum fletu dabant voces: Parce, Domine, parce nobis, iam patre matreque orbate; tu nobis dominus, tu pater, tu eras ut mater; cui nos perituras relinquis? Quis putas erit noster dominus, aut quis virginitatem nostram, barbarico iure violabit, et effrenata petulantia animos corporaque polluet? Paulisper, placata aure, audi lamentabilem suggestionem nostram, simulque fugam arripiamus, ut, si fugientes a persequentibus preoccupati fuerimus, simul Trinitati Deo animas tradamus. Si autem evaserimus, quantum tecum eminentem longam cum pudore duxerimus vitam, tantum a Deo nobis cumulabitur et sanctitas.
9. Victus tandem fletibus germanarum, Vincentius sanctus cessit pariterque fugam arripientes, alacri profectu cornipedum evectatione, Abela confugiunt. Statimque eos, indicio cuiusdam, sacrilego promisso velociori equitatu, cruentissimi persecutores adsequuntur. Memor atam urbem repper tos, quos, spoliantes, portam educentes, crudeliter vinxerunt; et extra in locum, qui nunc Vestigia vocatur, singillatim, sursum ac deorsum in eculeo extensis, divaricatis membrorum conpagibus, diversis eos dissipaverunt verberibus. Confitentes Deum Patrem et Filium simulque Spiritum Sanctum, et colla lapidibus superposita, fuste desuper cerebro inliso, tali martyrio consummati, Vincentius, Sabina et Christete pariter Domino animas tradiderunt.
10. Inhumata milites corpora relinquentes, et ne sepelirentur comminantes, ad Datianum suam letitiam nuntiare regrediuntur, et licet mandenda canibus corpora, nullo tegente obstaculo, reliquissent, et nec ipsa pia miseratio christiana, que provenisse sibi martyres gaudebant, corpora custodirent. Lude credo, nec vana mihi fides est, ideo humanum nullum excubiis vigilasse obsequium, ne honori martyrum divina custodia deesse crederetur. Subito, nutu Dei, ex cavernis terre serpentina egressa est belua, que viventes consueverat deglutire. Cepit sinuoso sui corporis flexu, capite sublimato, Christi martyres mortuos custodire. O quam laudabilis es, Christe, in tuorum defensione martyrum, quia quos viventes eligis, nec mortuorum corpora derelinquis; omnia que vis, recte vis, atque voluntate tua omnia celestia et terrestria administrant ferarum: retundis iram, famem conpescis draconum, prevenis homines nolentes, et, ne frustra velint, consequeris.
11. Iudeum quendam, itinere commeantem, martyrum corpora invisenda curiositas inpulit; ilico serpens ille, squamea colla sublimans, facto inpetu, volubiliter circumdatum vinculis corporis sui adstringens vertici hominis, tantum caput supra eminebat eius: stetitque unius fere hore spatio inmobilis. Et Deo inspirante, oculos sursum erigens, hec verba produxit: Christe, tuorum defensor servorum, libera me ab hac maligna bestia; ut in te credens, signaculum accipiam tuum, et corpora dominorum meorum, amicorum tuorum, honorifice sepeliam, ac baselicam nomini eorum sumptu meo efficiam. Hec, ut dixit, paulatim ille serpens tortuosa vincula solvit, rapidissimo ictu effugiens, subito nusquam conparuit; stetit autem hebes ille et gelidus.
12. Transactoque hore spatio, cepit secum volvere, mirans tantum mysterium. Protinus urbem ingreditur, genibus obvolvitur sacerdotum, postulans ut christianus effici mereretur, nec ulla ad purificandum fieret mora, quo, iam christianus, mereretur corpora sepelire sanctorum. Impetravit quod fideliter poposcerat: nam vero nobis, per fontis uterum renatus, novis sarcofagis sanctorum corpora recondens, baselicam desuper miro opere decoratam construxit, in qua, si quis puro corde, fideli devotione et fide prompta advenerit, et oraverit, statim petita ultro adveniunt, et omnis infirmitas amovetur, per eum, qui sanctos suos coronavit per bonam confessionem.
13. Cui est honor et gloria, virtus et potestas, in secula seculorum. Amen.
Ángel Fábrega Grau, ed., El Pasionario Hispánico, vol. 2, Monumenta Hispaniae Sacra, Series Liturgica 6 (Madrid: Instituto Enrique Flórez, 1955), pp. 358–363. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
The Latin transcription and English translation presented here follow the primary critical text established by Fábrega Grau, which relies principally on the 10th-century manuscript from the monastery of San Pedro de Cárdena (British Museum Additional MS 25600). For the sake of textual clarity and readability, the localized paleographical symbols, column markers, and minor orthographic manuscript variants (recorded from the Toletanus, Aemilianensis, and Silensis codices) have been omitted. Readers seeking the complete apparatus criticus and full scribal variations should consult the footnotes of the original printed source volume.
