The life of St Mercurius
Barbarians came against the empire, and in one of the battles an angel appeared to him in the likeness of a nobleman and put a sword into his hand, telling him to go forward without fear and not to forget the Lord when the victory was his. He broke the enemy line and killed their king, and the emperor made him commander of the whole army.
The angel came a second time, to remind him who had given the victory and to tell him that he would suffer for Christ. His father Gordian had confessed the faith before him. When the emperor called him to sacrifice in the temple he went home instead, and a man named Catullus denounced him. He threw his soldier's belt and cloak down at the emperor's feet and said plainly what he was. They stretched him between four pillars, lit a fire beneath him and cut him with knives until his own blood put the fire out, and each time he was carried back to prison he was healed. He was beheaded at Caesarea in Cappadocia. His body gave off a fragrance like myrrh, and the sick were healed at his grave.
