File(s) not publicly available
E06656: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Rufina and Secunda (virgins and martyrs of Silva Candida near Rome, S00814) as exemplary virgins. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.
online resource
posted on 2018-09-29, 00:00 authored by bsavillAldhelm, prose On Virginity, 51
Praeterea imperantibus Augustis Valeriano et Gallieno cum fervor torridae persecutionis et ardor crudelitatis acrius incanduisset et caelestis militiae manipulares, quae pro confessione fidei nequaquam formidolosorum more luctatorum palestram certaminis horruerunt, cruentis carnificum mucronibus necarentur, duae germanae vocabulo Rufina et Secunda, generosis oriundae natalibus, persecutorum rabiem paulisper declinantes ad praediolum suum in Tusciae partibus basternae vehiculo properabant. Ilico sponsis earum prodentibus nuper ad apostasiae cloacam, velut molosi ad vomitum, relapsis [...]
[...] Postremo capitalem sortitae sententiam angelicis evectae catervis cum vexillo virginitatis ad caeli sidera scandunt.
'Moreover, in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, when the fervour of raging persecution and the ardour of cruelty was glowing (even) more harshly, and soldiers of the celestial army – who for the sake of confessing (their) faith in no way recoiled from the arena of combat in the manner of timorous contestants – were being killed by the bloody blades of butchers, two sisters named RUFINA and SECUNDA, born from an eminent family, turned away fro the fury of their persecutors and hastened in (their) sedan-litters to their small estate in the region of Tuscany. There, their fiancés, who had recently relapsed into the filth of apostasy, like dogs to their own vomit, betrayed (them) [...]
[...] In the end they were sentenced to capital punishment; and borne aloft by angelic hosts, they ascended (to) the stars of heaven with the banner of their virginity.'
Text: Ehwald 1919, 307-8. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 118-19.
Praeterea imperantibus Augustis Valeriano et Gallieno cum fervor torridae persecutionis et ardor crudelitatis acrius incanduisset et caelestis militiae manipulares, quae pro confessione fidei nequaquam formidolosorum more luctatorum palestram certaminis horruerunt, cruentis carnificum mucronibus necarentur, duae germanae vocabulo Rufina et Secunda, generosis oriundae natalibus, persecutorum rabiem paulisper declinantes ad praediolum suum in Tusciae partibus basternae vehiculo properabant. Ilico sponsis earum prodentibus nuper ad apostasiae cloacam, velut molosi ad vomitum, relapsis [...]
[...] Postremo capitalem sortitae sententiam angelicis evectae catervis cum vexillo virginitatis ad caeli sidera scandunt.
'Moreover, in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, when the fervour of raging persecution and the ardour of cruelty was glowing (even) more harshly, and soldiers of the celestial army – who for the sake of confessing (their) faith in no way recoiled from the arena of combat in the manner of timorous contestants – were being killed by the bloody blades of butchers, two sisters named RUFINA and SECUNDA, born from an eminent family, turned away fro the fury of their persecutors and hastened in (their) sedan-litters to their small estate in the region of Tuscany. There, their fiancés, who had recently relapsed into the filth of apostasy, like dogs to their own vomit, betrayed (them) [...]
[...] In the end they were sentenced to capital punishment; and borne aloft by angelic hosts, they ascended (to) the stars of heaven with the banner of their virginity.'
Text: Ehwald 1919, 307-8. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 118-19.
History
Evidence ID
E06656Saint Name
Rufina and Secunda, virgins and martyrs of Silva Candida at the 10th milestone from Rome on the via Cornelia : S00814Saint Name in Source
Rufina, SecundaRelated Saint Records
Type of Evidence
Literary - OtherLanguage
- Latin