The Passion of Marian and James · §7 · Acts of the Martyrs

James remembers his midday vision of purple sashes

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James, the deacon fellow prisoner traveling with Marianus, now recalls a vision he had at midday while they rode together in the same cart.

Then James too remembered that a showing of divine gracious favor had marked out this crown for him. A few days earlier Marianus and James and I were riding together in the same cart. Toward midday, along the rough broken road, James was seized by a deep and wonderful sleep. When we called to him and roused him, he woke and said, "Brothers, I am shaken, but not without joy for me, and you ought to rejoice with me as well. I have seen," James said, "a young man of indescribable and very great stature. His loose robe shone with so white a light that eyes could not look steadily at it. His feet did not touch the ground, and his face stood above the clouds. As he swept past, he threw one purple sash into your fold, Marian, and one into mine, and said, 'Follow me quickly.'"

O sleep stronger than all watching! O sleep in which whoever stays awake in faith sleeps so happily! It had put to sleep only his earthly limbs, for only the spirit could see the Lord.

How exultant and how lifted up the hearts of the martyrs must have been. They were about to suffer in confession of faith of the holy name, yet they were already granted both to hear Christ beforehand and to see Him offering Himself to His own in every place and at every time. The restless jolting of the moving cart was no hindrance, nor was the midday then blazing under a bright sun. They waited for no secrecy of night: with a new kind of grace the Lord chose a new time of vision for His martyr.

Latin

Tunc Iacobo quoque in recordationem rediit quod hanc sibi significasset coronam diuinae dignationis ostensio. Nam superioribus diebus, cum eiusdem carrucae uehiculo Marianus et Iacobus et cum his ego uiam communiter carperemus, ad medium fere diem inter illa itineris confragosa mirabili et alto sopore correptus, postquam a nobis interpellatus et excitatus euigilat, Perturbatus sum, inquit, non sine gaudio meo, fratres; sed et uos mecum gaudere debetis. Uidi, inquit, iuuenem inenarrabili et satis ampla magnitudine, cuius uestitus discincta erat in tantum candida luce, ut oculi in eam constanter uidere non possent; cuius pedes terram non calcabant et uultus oris super nubes erat. Is cum transcurreret, unam tibi, Mariane, et unam mihi zonas purpureas in sinus nostros iaculatus est, et ait: Sequimini me cito. O quietem uigiliis omnibus fortiorem! O quietem quam feliciter dormiat quisquis in fide uigilat! Quae terrena tantum membra sopierat, quoniam uidere dominum nisi spiritus non ualebat. Quantum exultantes quamque sublimes animos martyrum fuisse credendum est, quibus in sancti nominis confessione passuris et audire Christum ante contigit et uidere offerentem se suis quocumque in loco, quocumque tempore. Non fuit inpedimento uehiculi se promouentis inquieta iactatio, nec dies medius, qui sub claro tunc sole fulgebat. Nulla noctis expectata secreta sunt: nouo genere gratiae martyri suo dominus nouum tempus uisionis elegit.

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About this text

A friend who shared their road tells how Marian, a reader, and James, a deacon, were arrested near Cirta in Numidia, tortured, strengthened by visions in prison at Lambaesis, and beheaded by a river with many others.

The writer, who does not give his name, was a close companion of the martyrs, arrested with them but later released, writing to Christian brethren as the fraternity and people of God during the persecution under Emperor Valerian in Numidia. At Marian and James's own request he records their contest not to boast of their crown on earth but so the people may be armed by their example for faith.

Bishops Agapius and Secundinus suffered first after calling at the writer's house, and Marian and James were then arrested near Cirta, confessed Christ and their offices, suffered hanging torture, and endured prison with prayer. In prison they and fellow prisoner Aemilianus report their own visions in their own quoted words, with a tribunal voice and Cyprian heard and seen in Marian's account, a shining youth in James's, a rose crowned boy promising a heavenly meal in another, and a pagan blood brother whose questions in Aemilianus's dream are quoted and answered. After delay while many lay Christians were executed, the clerics were condemned by the governor at Cirta and beheaded together by a river outside the city, with light, white horsemen, Marian prophesying coming judgments, and Marian's mother rejoicing over his body, alongside Tertulla and Antonia, Mary the mother, Secundinus, and a twin boy with his mother.

A reader needs only a few renderings used here. Governor is the Roman provincial governor, reader is the lower clerical office Marian avows and deacon is the office James avows, confession of faith is the open avowal I am a Christian, crown is heavenly reward, execution platform is the high stepped place of display and death, official report is the written charge and confession sent with prisoners, and love feast is the heavenly meal after death. Cyprian is the dead bishop martyred at Carthage who appears to welcome them, the Decian persecution is the earlier persecution James had already survived, the only formal scriptural sentence is the camel through the needle's eye cited as Matthew 19:24 with parallels in Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25, and the closing joy points to 2 Maccabees 7.

Printed text used

Translated from Oscar von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1902) (Latin)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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