s
brethren, and to give his life for theirs.

"Then was fulfilled the saying of the Lord that the day should come,
When he that slayeth you will think that he doeth God service. Most
madly did the mob, the governor and the soldiers, rage against the
handmaiden Blandina, in whom Christ showed that what seems mean among
men is of price with Him. For whilst we all, and her earthly mistress,
who was herself one of the contending Martyrs, were fearful lest
through the weakness of the flesh she should be unable to profess the
faith, Blandina was filled with such power that her tormentors,
following upon each other from morning until night, owned that they
were overcome, and had no more that they could do to her; admiring that
she still breathed after her whole body was torn asunder.

"But this blessed one, in the very midst of her 'witness,' renewed her
strength; and to [193] repeat, I am Christ's! was to her rest,
refreshment, and relief from pain. As for Alexander, he neither
uttered a groan nor any sound at all, but in his heart talked with God.
Sanctus, the deacon, also, having borne beyond all measure pains
devised by them, hoping that they would get something from him, did not
so much as tell his name; but to all questions answered only, I am
Christ's! For this he confessed instead of his name, his race, and
everything beside. Whence also a strife in torturing him arose between
the governor and those tormentors, so that when they had nothing else
they could do they set red-hot plates of brass to the most tender parts
of his body. But he stood firm in his profession, cooled and fortified
by that stream of living water which flows from Christ. His corpse, a
single wound, having wholly lost the form of man, was the measure of
his pain. But Christ, paining in him, set forth an ensample to the
rest--that there is nothing fearful, nothing painful, where the love of
the Father overcomes. And as all those cruelties were made null
through the patience of the Martyrs, they bethought them of other
things; among which was their imprisonment in a dark and most sorrowful
place, where many were privily strangled. But destitute of man's aid,
they were filled with power from the Lord, both in body and mind, and
strengthened their brethren. Also, much joy was in our virgin mother,
the [194] Church; for, by means of these, such as were fallen away
retraced their steps--were again conceived, were filled again with
lively heat,