E01870: The Martyrdom of *Torpes (martyr of Pisa, S00947) is written in Latin, presumably in Pisa, by the 9th c. at the latest. It narrates the conversion of Torpes, baptised by the presbyter Antonius, his martyrdom in Pisa, and finally the miraculous translation of his body across the sea to 'Portus Sinus' in Hispania where his tomb is said to be located, in a church dedicated to him.
Creators: name: Mpignot
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2016
Subjects: History

description: Martyrdom of Torpes (BHL 8307)<br><br>Summary:<br><br>§ 1: During his reign, the emperor Nero restores the city of Pisa and decorates the pretorian palace. Close to the porta Latina, near the bridge over the river Auser, Nero builds a temple to Diana with a precious statue of the goddess, where priests regularly celebrate her cult. He then builds a 'bronze sky' supported by 90 marble columns and holes in this sky, of a height of 100 feet, with water flowing through, almost as if rain. The goddess Diana, for whom these wonders are performed, is praised by the keeper of the place, Narzius. Then, two mechanisms are built to imitate the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon during the night, and a quadriga to imitate thunder. These are destroyed by the Lord.<br><br>§ 2: One day, as Nero is praising Diana, Torpes, who is part of his officium, rejects the worship of multiple gods in favour of the single true God. He presents himself as akin to those who Nero killed in Rome and who were crowned by angels. In a dialogue with Nero, Torpes rejects the gods and condemns Nero’s buildings as fiction incomparable to God’s creation, while Nero warns him that he could be punished. <br><br>§ 3: Torpes then decides to seek baptism and goes to ask the priest Antonius who is hiding in the mountains. He leaves the city from the porta Lucana, passes by the amphitheatre and comes at night to Antonius. Although Antonius fears him because he works for the emperor, Torpes reassures him, telling him that he has told the emperor that he wants to worship Christ. Now he wants to be baptised. Torpes is baptised at the bottom of the mountains where there is living water. Antonius leaves after baptism, blessing him with the protection of an angel. <br><br>§ 4: As Torpes goes back to town, he has a vision: he hears an angel speaking to him in glowing light. At first Torpes is frightened, but the angel tells him that he has been crowned as the only man in town ready to be slapped in the face for Christ; he will be received in paradise and his body will be brought to another province. The angel disappears, Torpes thanks the Lord for sending the angel and prays Him asking for his help in enduring suffering.<br><br>§ 5: Torpes comes into town in the morning through the stone gate (porta lapidea) and goes to Nero and his advisors at the forum and predicts to them that they will perish with Diana. As the emperor leaves for Rome in a hurry, where saints who are crowned for Christ are suffering greatly, he asks a certain Satellicus to deal with Torpes and try to convince him to change his mind using torture if necessary. He should kill him by the sword if he refuses to amend. Satellicus puts Torpes in prison and orders that wild beasts should not be fed for three days.<br><br>§ 6: Three days later, Satellicus asks Torpes to sacrifice to the gods, in order to be freed. In a dialogue between them, Torpes refuses and tells Satellicus about the angel of Christ that he has seen. Satellicus however does not believe him. Torpes is beaten and tied naked to the habietina column. While he is beaten, blood flows from his side as water from a spring, he prays to God for help and for vengeance: the column falls and fifty unbelievers, amongst them Satellicus, are killed. He is put on a wheel by the ministers of Nero, among whom is Silvinus the angry son of Satellicus. <br><br>§ 7: The next day, the people are extremely upset: they remove Torpes from the wheel and bring him to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. They first send a lion, killed by Torpes with a sign of the cross, then a leopard who licks his wounds. Everyone is amazed, the emperor’s advisor Evellius believes in Christ and flees to Rome where he is martyred on the fifth day before the Calends of May [= 27 April]. Torpes then leaves the amphitheatre and, under the bronze sky of the temple, asks God to send his angel to destroy it. The angel comes as a thundestorm, destroying the bronze sky and 24 columns, killing several pagans. From that day, many start doubting the cult of idols. <br><br>§ 8: Then Silvinus orders that Torpes should be killed by the sword: he is to be brought to the porta Romana but asks to meet his friend Andronicus first. As they all arrive at his house, Torpes asks Andronicus to follow him and bury his body after his death, but the ministers of Nero refuse so that the prophecy of the angel might be fulfilled (‘I will bring your body to another province’). They leave town through the porta Circensis and take a small boat on the river, the ministers holding Torpes to avoid him jumping into the river. Meanwhile, Silvinus decides in the forum in front of many pagans that Torpes should be beheaded at sea to avoid any chance of him surviving. He sends this order to those who are leading Torpes. When they reach the Arno delta (Gradus Arnense), Torpes is decapitated. <br><br>§ 9: The ministri leave him to drift at sea on a small and damaged boat with a dog and a cock until they lose sight of it. They return to the city and tell what happened. The angel brings the boat to 'portus Sinus' on the sea-shore, the dog protecting the body and the cock guiding the way. The angel then visits the matrona and senatrix Celerina asking her while she is sleeping to go to the coast at portus Sinus and bury the body of Torpes. Celerina wakes up and thanks God. The next day, she gathers a huge crowd of priests and people. Fasting, they all go to the sea but fail to find the body. Celerina prays to God, hears the cock crowing and finds the boat with the body, the dog and the cock. The priests and people are amazed: they take the body, wrap it in clean linen cloth and bring it into portus Sinus. Celerina embalms the body with perfume and places it in a tomb (locus). Celerina who rules 'half of Spain' (medietas Hispaniæ), builds a great and adorned church. On the day of the dedication of the church, many are healed and freed from evil spirits as they pray to the body, and wonders occur up to this day. Celerina also endowed the church with money and in our day people still gather there.<br><br>§10 : Fifteen years later, all provinces rejoice because of Nero's death, as they all believe in Jesus Christ. A member of his officium, Artemius, who has already been baptised, comes to Sinus, enters the church and prays at the body. Unaware of the saint’s name, he asks the inhabitants who tell him that it is Torpes. He realises that it is the same Torpes who suffered in Pisa. He asks the Lord to forgive him for what he has done, following the orders of unjust pagans, since he was present when Torpes was killed. The inhabitants ask him to tell them what happened. Since Artemius is skilled in letters, he sits and dictates the story of Torpes and his martyrdom. Torpes’ feast is celebrated on the third day before the Calends of May [= 29 April].<br><br>Text: Acta Sanctorum, Mai., IV, 7-10 Summary: M. Pignot