Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-03-03
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. PAUL.

The privileges OF Roman citizenship exempt
ed St. Paul from the ignomloious death OF
lingering torture, which had been lately Ificl-
ell on so many of his brethren. He was to die
by decapitation; and he was led out to execu
ton beyond the city walls, upon the ROAD to
Ostia the port of Rome As he issued forth
from the gate, his eyes must have rested tor
moment on that sepulchral pyramid Whlch
stood beside the road, and still stands unshat.
tered, amid the wreck Of SO many centuries
upon the same spot. That spot was then only
the burial place Of single Roman; it is now
the burial place OF many Britous. The mauso-
leum of Caius Ccslius rises conspicuously
amongst humber graves, aud marks the site
where Papal Rome sutf>rs her Protestant So
jouruers to bury their dead. ln England and
10 Germany, iu Scandinavia aud ln America,
there are hearts which tura to that lofty ceno
taph as the sacred point Of their whole horl-
zou; even as the English villager turns to the
gray Church tower which overooks the grave
stones of his kindred. Among the works OF
man, that pyramid is the ooly surviving wit
ness OF the martyrdom of st. Paul; aud We
may thus regard it with yet deeper interest,
as monument unconscously erected by a
Pagan to the memory of martyr. Nor let
us think that they who lie beneath its shadow
are indeed resting las degenerate Italians
fancy) iu consecrated ground. Rather let US
say, that spot where the disciples OF Paul 8
faith DOW sleep 10 Christ, so pear the soil
once watered by his blood, is doubly hal
lowed; and that their resting place is most
ftly identified with the last earthly journey
and the dying glauce of their own Patron
Saint, the Apostle Of the Gentiles As the
martyr and his exccutioners passed on, their
way was crowded with a motley multitude of
goers and corners between the metropolis and
its harbor-merchants Fastening to superin-
tend the unloading of their cargoes sailors
eager to squander the profits of their last voy.
age in the dssipations of the capital officials
Of the government, charged with the admins.
tratiou of the Provinces. or the command Of
the legioos on the Euphrates or the Rhine
Chaldean Astrologers -Phrygan Enuchs-
danciog-girls from Syria, with their painted
ing for Osiris Greek adventurers, eager to
coin their national cunning into Roman gold
representatives Of the avarice and ambition:
the fraud and lust, the superstition and intel
geuce OF the Imperial world. Through the.
dust and tumuit Of that busy throng the small
troop of soldiers threaded their way silently,
under the bright sky of an Italian midsummer.
They we're marching, though they knew it not,
in procession more truly trump l.thau any
they had ever followed, 10 the train of General
or Emperor, along the Sacred Way. Their
prisoner, now at last and forever delivered
from his captivity, rejoiced to follow his Lord
without the gate" The place Of execution
was not lar distant; aad there the sword of
the headsmsn euded his long course Of suffer
ings, and released that heroic soul from that
feeble body. Weeping friends took up his
corpse, and carried it for burial to those sub
terranean labyriuths, where through maoy ages
of foppression the prosecuted Church found re-
fu9e for the living, and sepuchres for the
dead.
Thus died the Apostle, the Prophet, and
Martyr bequea,hiog to the Church, in her
government and her discipline, the legacy of
his Apostolic abors leaving his prophetic
words to be her living oracles /; pouring forth
his blood to be the seed of thousand martyr
doms Thenceforth, among the glorious cou-
pany of the Apostles, among the goodly fellow
ship of the Prophets, among the nobler army
Of Martyrs, bis name has stood pre-emlnent.
And wheresoever the Holy Church through
out all the world, doth acknowledge God, there
Paul of Tarsus is revered. as the great teacher
OF 3 universal redemption and catholic relig
iou-the herald Of glad tidiugs to all mankind.