The holy Confessors and Martyrs Armogastes the Count, Mascula, and Saturus, in North Africa.
On the last night of the year 406, the Vandals, together with the Burgundi and the Alani, broke down the defenses of the Roman Empire and poured across the Rhine into Gaul; in 409 they passed on into Spain, and in 429, under Genseric their king, they crossed to Africa. Being Arians, the Vandals cruelly persecuted the Orthodox Christians of Africa, and many of their martyrdoms are recorded by Victor, Bishop of Vita, in his History of the Vandal Persecution. When his Arian bishops urged Genseric to allow only Arians to hold office, Count Armogastes was tortured by having cords tightly bound about his shins which, however, broke every time they were applied as soon as Armogastes invoked Christ. After he overcame other tortures, Genseric, not wishing to make a martyr of him, condemned him to dig ditches then to labor as a cowherd not far from Carthage, where he would be seen by those who had known him as a count. But he cheerfully accepted this, and when he knew his end was near, he asked a Christian named Felix to bury him under a certain carob tree. When Felix had cut through the roots of the tree to bury Armogastes, as he began digging deeper he found a splendid marble sarcophagus in which he was able to bury the confessor.
Mascula was the chief mime; Genseric promised him great riches if he would become an Arian. Mascula steadfastly refused. So Genseric sentenced him to be beheaded, but secretly commanded the headsman that if Mascula were to be afraid and deny his faith, then he should cut off his head; but if he remained steadfast, he should not be killed, lest he be made a Martyr. Though Mascula was not beheaded in deed, he was in will, and is counted with the confessors and Martyrs.
Saturus was the steward of the King’s son, Huneric. For refusing to turn Arian, he was stripped of all his possessions, separated from his wife and children, worn out with punishments, and sent away as a beggar, forbidden to appear in public.
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