Sirmium, Stonemasons of
Sirmium, Stonemasons of. The Acts giving the history of the martyrdom
of the five stonemasons of Sirmium have been known for centuries, being found in
substance in Ado's Martyrology, but only last century was their relation to the
history of Diocletian's period recognized. They were stonemasons belonging to Pannonia,
engaged in the imperial quarries; one of them, Simplicius, was a pagan. They distinguished
themselves by their genius and ability, and attracted the notice of Diocletian by
the beauty of their carving. Simplicius was converted by his four companions, and
baptized secretly by a bishop, Cyril of Antioch, who had been three years a slave
in the quarries and had suffered many stripes for the faith. The pagans, jealous
of their skill, accused them before Diocletian, who, however, continued to protect
them. When, however, the emperor ordered them to make, among other statues, one
of Aesculapius, the masons made all the others, but refused to carve that. The pagans
thereupon procured an order for their execution. They were enclosed in lead coffins
and flung into the Save. Their Acts then proceed to narrate the martyrdom of the
saints called the Quatuor Coronati, whose liturgical history has been told at length
in D. C. A. t. i. p. 461. Diocletian, coming to Rome, ordered all the troops
to sacrifice to Aescuapius. Four soldiers, Carpophorus Severus, Severianus, and
Victorinus, refusing, were flogged to death, and their bodies buried by pope Melchiades
and St. Sebastian on the Via Lavicana at the 3rd milestone from the city. These
Acts are very valuable illustrations of the great persecution, but are full of difficulties.
The whole story is in Mason's Diocletian Persecution, p. 259. Attention was
first called to the Acts as illustrating Diocletian's period by Wattenbach in the
Sitsungsberichte der Wiener Akad. Bd. x. (1853) S.
911118–126. They were discussed in Büdinger, Untersuch. zur röm. Kaisergesch,
ii. 262, iii. 321–338, with elaborate archaeological and chronological commentaries.
[G.T.S.]