Martyrdom

But God the almighty, good, just, and merciful, who never overlooks His mercy toward the humanoriginal: "ἀνθρωπίνου" (anthrōpinou) humanoriginal: "ἀν̅νου," a scribal contraction for "anthrōpou" (of man/human). race; who submerged the counsel of Pharaoh in the Red Sea and cut off the neck of Ahithophel with a hanging rope Ahithophel was a biblical counselor who betrayed King David and ultimately took his own life; here, he represents the failure of evil plots.; He Himself also cast down the unstable counsel of these men by His mercy, so that the two brilliant lights Likely referring to the two companions of St. Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius, whose bodies were also recovered. should not be hidden by the depth of the waves. For the Church of Christ always possesses powerful warriors.

Among these things, an honorable woman named Catulla, who was still being held by pagan fears, turned then to the faith of Christ through the miracles of the martyrs and gave herself over to holy desire. Both in her mind and in her deeds, she showed the power of her longing; and being moved by the mercy of God, as a power from above came upon her, she received a sign. And indeed, she entreated the persecutors to come to a banquet; and when she had presented many gifts to them, she subtly removed the memory of their evil intent against the martyrs. To the faithful, however, she revealed the secrets of her heart and commanded that they should secretly steal the honorable bodies of the martyrs. They were to hide them in a certain part of the city, in the rocky ground that lay like a small field prepared for sowing, burying them there in place of a future [harvest]. Those who were commanded fulfilled these orders and quickly carried out what had been enjoined upon them.