Chapter XI.
The remarkable patience and fortitude of the seven brothers of the Maccabees, to whom an eighth mother was added, who obtained the reward of a blessed life through their sufferings.
45. After this, seven boys were compelled, along with their mother, to endure torture (2 Maccabees 7:1ff). It is permissible to insult a tyrant, who, while cunningly thinking that it must begin with an old man, chooses a teacher through whom he might make his disciples stronger, and provokes them, like children, with rewards to commit wrongs, and pressurizes them with terrors to fear. But those boys, not unworthy of such a leader, respond: Why do you despise or deceive us like children? But faith is mature, and discipline is strong. Certainly try, subject those whose favors you wish to the punishment of childhood viscera, you will not find childish hearts: nor will the machines of torture be more powerful than the legitimate guards of observation. Whom old age conquers, youthfulness of old age will surpass. We follow the father of the son, the disciples follow the teacher. Gather the offered instruments of punishment: they bring meditation of patience, not the terror of infancy, while they are seen.
46. He ordered the eldest to be chosen. But he, laughing, said: rightly, you preserve the order of nature. But why do you think that God's law should be violated? And indeed, we are all the greatest in piety: but nevertheless, I am glad that I have begun it. What are you looking for, tyrant? I confess that we serve the Supreme God, and you teach us what we should do. If you want to extract the truth with such stubbornness, why can't we think that we should hold it with all our virtue? What more? Various kinds of punishments are employed. But piety conquered the fury of cruelty: the soul was excluded, not religion.
47. Second came forward, and he did not fail in fulfilling the duties of his pious confession, not unworthy of his brother (Ibid., 7 et seq). And when the membrane of his head was being removed, he responded: Indeed, you may remove the membrane, but I have a spiritual helmet which you cannot remove. And truly, no one can remove this helmet, as the Apostle later taught in the Church of the Lord: For the head of a man is Christ (I Cor., XI, 3). And we are members of Him (Ephes., V, 30). The boy rightly foresaw that apostolic doctrine with divine inspiration. Fierce beasts tore off the skin of his head and raged with panther-like fury. But he, fainting, said: How sweet it is to die for religion, how pleasant is all the bitterness of death for piety; for the reward of these labors remains! Yours are, O king, more severe torments: you are more fiercely tormented by your own punishments; for you see yourself being conquered in power.
48. And after this, when he had passed away, he ordered a third to be brought forward (2 Maccabees VII, 1, 10 et seq.). And when some tried to deceive him, while others sought to frighten him, he responded to him: I will not do your will, I will not succumb to your command. By the blessed suffering and nobility of my brothers, I will not deny my loyal brotherhood. Apply any tortures you wish, by which you may accomplish this more forcefully, in harshness of punishments, that you may receive greater evidence of our loyalty. Therefore, he ordered his tongue to be cut off. But he, shouting, said: You are defeated, Antiochus, who order the instrument of speech to be cut off. You confess that you cannot respond to reason, and you prove that the lashes of our tongue are greater than your blows. For we do not fear your blows, you cannot endure the lashes of our voice; but these are the lashes of piety, your lashes are the lashes of treachery; but even with the tongue removed, it will lash you more severely, falling upon you with its weighty murmur. Do you think, Antiochus, that you will escape if you take away my voice? God hears even those who are silent, and He hears even more. Behold, I have opened my mouth, I have loosened my tongue, cut off my tongue; but you will not cut off my steadfastness, you will not take away my courage, you will not obliterate my reason, you will not snatch away the testimony of truth, you will not silence the cry of my heart. If my tongue is cut off, the blood will cry out, and it will be said to you: The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me (Genesis 4:10). For He hears the voice of blood, He who hears the inner thoughts, even though darkness may cover and walls may surround. Let the wicked say, because no witness stands by him: God explores everything, sees everything; nor is there any crime that can hide from the judge of all, who knows everything before they happen. What words do we give? Wounds are more talkative: even if wounds are covered, even if a scar is hidden, faith is not hidden. And yet you do not applaud when you take away someone's tongue, you snatch away the confession of praise. We have already praised God enough with words, now let us praise Him with suffering.
49. And with him killed, he ordered the fourth to be bound to the wheel, so that by its turning all his limbs would be loosened (Ibid. 13). But when he was being tormented cruelly, he said: You dissolve the limbs of the body; but you join grace to suffering and do not take away solace from death. For the voice of thunder is in the wheel, because in the good and unhindered course of this life a heavenly oracle resounds, just as it resounded in the sons of thunder, John and James. And so, I recognize more clearly what I read: For the wheel runs within the wheel and is not hindered (Ezek. 1:16-17). For he passes his life without any offense in any passion, and even within these things the wheel runs. The Law runs within grace, and obedience to the Law is within the course of divine mercy: for the more it turns, the more it is proven. It is better here to endure adversity from the impious, so that there we may find consolation from the Lord. And he, completing his course, broke off his spirit and poured forth his victorious soul.
When Quintus was being burned, having first cut himself, he ordered fires to be brought close to him, and flames to be placed beneath him. Blood flowed from his wounds, and with his ulcerated flesh exposed, the blood extinguished the flames themselves. Meanwhile, amidst the crackling of the fire, he could be heard saying: 'Thanks be to You, Lord, for allowing us to say: We have passed through fire.' And as your same Prophet says elsewhere: 'You have tested us with fire, just as silver is tested by fire.' I will stand for you like gold purified by fire; and if there was any fault, the fire has burnt it away. Therefore, also he, transformed from corruption to incorruption, breathed life.
Moreover, six catapults were brought forward (2 Maccabees 7:18-19). But he said, 'Do not err in vain and attribute this to your power, that you exercise these things against us. The punishment for our sins is such that we sinners are punished. And thanks be to the Lord, that here we are required to pay for our double sins, so that consolation may be given to us there. But thanks also to you, for being so harsh and merciless, that through such punishments the Lord, against whom we have sinned, may show mercy to our people.' We also endured hardship while being delighted by the sufferings of faith. And he, torn by harsh and rough punishments, was brought to his brothers.
52. The younger one out of the brothers surpassed them, and now he was ashamed that Antiochus had been a mockery to his immature age. Therefore, desiring to deceive him with tricks, he promised him honors, riches, his friendship, and a share in his secret plans. But his pious mother advised her son, saying to him and to the others: 'I do not know how you entered into my womb, nor did I give you breath, nor did I form your limbs: but these are the gifts of the almighty God. Antiochus, seeing his mother worried because she feared for his safety, also began to persuade him to withdraw from his plan. But she, in her native tongue, said to her son: You alone remain, my son, the greatest of my hopes; you were the last to close my deliveries, you will be the last to close my joys. Have mercy on me, who carried you in my womb for so many months; do not ruin my old age in an instant, do not dim the triumphs of your brothers, do not leave their holy companionship, do not abandon our partnership. They still await those triumphs. Look up to the heavens, from where you drew your spirit, to the Father of all; look down to the earth, which provided you with nourishment; look to your brothers, who seek a companion; look to your mother, who gave you milk; repay the reward for your pious blood; do not be separated from your brothers, do not be separated from your mother. The wealth and honors that Antiochus promises are temporary; the everlasting crown is bestowed by Almighty God. The Lord gave me seven days of light, and on the sixth day I closed, with very good works of all. You owe me, son, that which I labored in those six, to find rest in you on the seventh, as if already resting from the works of the world. Therefore, the young man hurriedly said: 'Why do you endure?' (cf. Ibid., 30 and following). And shouting many things, because he could not at all be separated from the companionship of his brothers, whose funerals were much more blessed than the commands of the king, when he was pressing the king with insults, and he himself, tormented by bitter types of tortures, completed the task of this life.
53. The most recent mother was offered to death. Who would deny her blessedness, who, as if fortified by seven gifts, feels no invasion of death among the bodies of her children? Who, I say, would doubt her blessedness, who, surrounded by seven towers, raised her head to the seat of paradise; who, encircled by seven sons, not only led the most sacred choir to God with melodious voices, but also brought forth their passions to sing praises to the Lord on heavenly altars? How good is this faithful birth, how safe is this harbor of piety, how splendid is this lamp shining with the seven-fold light of the Church, and supplying oil to all the lights from the eighth womb! Concerning these, it is beautifully said, 'Give a part to seven, and even to eight' (Eccles. 11:2), because they obtain a share in grace in both numbers, nourished in the Law, crowned by grace, seven as in the Sabbath, eight as in the Gospel, with the pious mother added as a supplement to the passion, who in such sons both conceived and gave birth to the complete form of piety.