that she too had been favored with a heavenly apparition. Together they
went immediately to the Pope, related their experience, and after due
instruction received Baptism.

At the sacred font Placidus received the name of Eustachius, and his
wife was called Theopista, while his sons were baptized by the names of
Agapitus and Theopistus.

Upon returning to the spot where he first received the call, Eustachius
was favored with another communication from Our Lord, announcing to him
that he was destined to endure many and great afflictions for the sake
of Christ. It was not long before his faith and patience were put to a
severe trial. Stripped of all his possessions and forced to flee from
the fury of the persecution, he was reduced to extreme distress, and in
the course of his wanderings was by a series of calamitous events
separated from his wife and children, of whom he lost all trace. For
many years he dwelt in a remote spot, following the occupation of a farm
laborer, until he was found by the messengers of the emperor, who was
sadly in need of the skill of his former general, because a fierce war
had broken out, in which the Romans sustained severe losses.

Being again invested with the command of the imperial troops, Eustachius
set out for the seat of war, and achieved a decisive victory. In the
course of his march he had the happiness, by a singular providence of
God, to recover his wife and children, with whom he returned to Rome.
His entrance into the city was attended with great rejoicings, and many
were the congratulations which he received on his extraordinary good
fortune. But soon afterward a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving to the
pagan deities was proclaimed, in which he was ordered by the emperor to
take a part. Upon his refusal, after every effort had been made to shake
his constancy, he was condemned to be exposed to the lions in the public
amphitheater along with his wife and children. Finally, as the savage
animals, laying aside their natural ferocity, refused to injure the
confessors of Christ, Eustachius and his family were by order of the
emperor enclosed in the body of an immense brazen bull, which was heated
by means of a great fire enkindled beneath. The last moments of these
heroic martyrs was spent in chanting the divine praises, in the midst of
which their happy souls passed to the enjoyment of everlasting bliss.
Their bodies, miraculously preserved uninjured, were buried with great
devot