Under the Emperor Licinius, these martyrs suffered at Sebaste in Armenia. When all the soldiers of their legion were commanded to offer sacrifice to the gods, these forty heroes bravely refused. They said they would willingly die for their country but they would never commit the sin of offering sacrifice to false gods. In punishment, they were stripped of their clothes and lowered into a little pond. It was winter time and very cold. They were to be left there all night to freeze to death. "It will be a terrible night," they exclaimed, ""but it will win us a happy eternity!"
The pagans kept trying to persuade them to give up their faith in the true God. If they would, they could jump into a warm bath prepared nearby. At last, one soldier gave in to the temptation. But no sooner did he enter the warm bath than he died!
A pagan guard had a vision right then of blessed spirits descending from heaven with thirty-nine crowns. He was converted himself, and casting of his clothes, he joined the other thirty-nine. So the number of forty martyrs was complete again, and the Church honors these brave heroes of Christ as saints.
Let us admire the courage of these soldiers and learn from them how to bear without complaining the heat or the cold.
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