The Proconsular Acts of the Martyrdom of Cyprian

Then Paternus the proconsul ordered the blessed Cyprian the bishop to be carried off into exile. And when he had remained there for a long time, Galerius Maximus succeeded Aspasius Paternus as proconsul, and ordered the holy Cyprian the bishop, recalled from exile, to be brought before him. And when Cyprian, the holy martyr chosen by God, had returned from the city of Curubis, in which he had been placed in exile by the command of Aspasius Paternus, then proconsul, he was remaining by sacred command in his own gardens.

From there he daily expected that men would come to him, as had been shown to him; and while he was staying there, suddenly on the Ides of September, in the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus, two officers came to him—one a strator of the staff of Galerius Maximus the proconsul, who had succeeded Aspasius Paternus, and the other an equestrian officer from the guards of the same staff—who lifted him into a carriage, placed him in the middle, and brought him to Sextus; where the same Galerius Maximus the proconsul had withdrawn for the sake of recovering his health. And so the same Galerius Maximus the proconsul commanded that Cyprian be kept for him until another day. And at that time the blessed Cyprian, having been led away, withdrew to the house of the chief officer and strator of the same staff of Galerius Maximus the most illustrious proconsul, and remained with him as a guest in his lodging, in the village called Saturni, between the Venerea and the Salutaria.

There the entire people of the brethren gathered. And when the holy Cyprian had learned of this, he commanded that the maidens be watched over, since all of them had remained in the village before the door of the lodging of the officer.

And so on the following day, the eighteenth before the Kalends of October, a great multitude gathered in the morning at Sextus according to the command of Galerius Maximus the proconsul. And so the same Galerius Maximus the proconsul on that same day commanded that Cyprian be brought before him as he sat in the atrium of Sauciolus. And when he had been brought forward, Galerius Maximus the proconsul said to Cyprian the bishop: Are you Thascius Cyprian? Cyprian the bishop answered: I am. Galerius Maximus the proconsul said: Have you presented yourself as a father to men of sacrilegious mind? Cyprian the bishop answered: I have. Galerius Maximus the proconsul said: The most sacred emperors have commanded you to perform the ceremonies. Cyprian the bishop said: I will not do so. Galerius Maximus said: Take thought for yourself. Cyprian the bishop answered: Do what you have been commanded. In so just a cause there is no deliberation.

Galerius Maximus, having conferred with his council, with difficulty and reluctance pronounced sentence in words of this kind: You have long lived in a sacrilegious mind, and have gathered to yourself very many men of your abominable conspiracy, and have made yourself an enemy of the Roman gods and of the sacred laws, nor have the pious and most sacred princes Valerian and Gallienus the Augusti, and Valerian the most noble Caesar, been able to recall you to the observance of their ceremonies. And therefore, since you have been found to be the author and standard-bearer of most wicked crimes, you shall yourself be an example to those whom you have gathered to yourself by your wickedness: discipline shall be ratified by your blood. Having said these things, he read out the decree from a tablet: It is our pleasure that Thascius Cyprian be executed by the sword. Cyprian the bishop said: Thanks be to God.

After this sentence, the multitude of the brethren cried out: Let us also be beheaded with him. On account of this an uproar of the brethren arose, and a great multitude followed him. And so the same Cyprian was led out to the field of Sextus, and there he stripped himself of his cloak and byrrus, and bent his knee to the ground, and prostrated himself in prayer to the Lord. And when he had stripped off his dalmatic and handed it to the deacons, he stood in his linen garment and began to await the executioner. When the executioner came, he ordered his own people to give that executioner twenty-five gold pieces. Linen cloths and napkins were spread before him by the brethren. Afterwards the blessed Cyprian covered his own eyes with his hand. Since he had been unable to bind the ends of the napkins for himself, Julianus the presbyter and Julianus the subdeacon bound them for him. Thus the blessed Cyprian suffered; and his body, on account of the curiosity of the pagans, was laid nearby.

From there it was taken away during the night with candles and torches, and was conducted with great devotion and triumph to the grounds of Macrobius Candidianus the procurator, which are on the Mappalian road near the fishponds. After a few days Galerius Maximus the proconsul died.

The most blessed Cyprian suffered as a martyr on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of October, under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus; but under the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.