E06566: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Babylas (bishop and martyr of Antioch, S00061), as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.
Creators: name: Dlambert
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Aldhelm, prose On Virginity, 33<br><br>Quid beatum Babilam loquar, qui dominici gregis excubias et mandras ecclesiae adversus truculentam tyrannorum rabiem velut contra ferinam luporum ferocitatem non more mercenarii, sed solertia pastorali tuebatur? Cum esset summi pontificatus infula praeditus, Numerianum Augustum interfectorum cruore contaminatum non permisit basilicae sacrarium intrando pollutis pedibus profanare [...] <br><br>[...] Mox imperante Augusto ad calumniam pontificis et infamiam cleri boias in collo et compedes in cruribus nectunt; insuper exquisitis poenarum machinamentis sacratissimos viventis hostiae artus acriter dilacerant. Nec non et tres germanos a puerulos, quos Babilas sub disciplinae pedagogio regulariter instruendos acceperat, ad regis praesentiam simul introducunt. Quos imperator mira fidei constantia munitos, cum verborum argumentis fallere nequiret, cruentis verberum ictibus vapulare praecepit; cernens autem furibundus princeps invictam parvulorum constantiam percunctatur venerandum praesulem, utrum filii sui veraciter essent. Respondisse legitur: Filii mei vere sunt secundum Deum; mulierem autem coram Deo meo non cognovi, ex quo natus sum. Tunc sanctus Babilas decollandi sortitus sententiam cum tribus alumnis capite truncatur et rubris venarum rivulis sacratur.<br> <br><br>'What shall I say about the blessed BABILAS, who kept the watches over the Lord's flock, and the sheep-folds of the Church, against the cruel madness of tyrants, as if against the bestial ferocity of wolves, not in the manner of a hireling, but with a shepherd's care? When he was adorned with the insignia of the highest pontificate, he did not allow Numerianus Augustus, defiled with the blood of those he had killed, to profane the sanctuary of the basilica [...]<br><br>[...] Soon, at the command of Augustus, they bound a yoke on his neck and and shackles on his feet, to the calumny of the pontiff and the infamy of the clergy; what is more, they flayed the most holy limbs of their living victim with refined instruments of torture. Also, they brought into the king's presence at the same time three young brothers, whom Babilas had taken into the guidance of his tutelage to be duly instructed. When the emperor could not deceive them with verbal arguments – since they were armed with an amazing constancy of faith – he ordered them to be flogged with bloody strokes of the lash. But seeing the boys' constancy unvanquished, the raging ruler asks the venerable bishop whether these boys were truly his sons. He is said to have replied: "They are truly my sons according to God; but in the presence of my God, since I was born, I have known no woman." Then the saintly Babilas, receiving the sentence of decapitation together with his three pupils, was beheaded and (so) sanctified by the red rivulets of his veins.'<br><br>Text: Ehwald 1919, 274-5. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 94-5.