AD BESTIAS. - Among the Romans the damnatio or datio ad b. was the penalty inflicted on parricides, murderers, seditious persons, arsonists and sometimes prisoners of war. Many times this penalty was applied to Christians. Tertullian (Apol. 40), St. Cyprian (sp. 55), Eusebius (Hist. eccles. IV, 15) attest that many times the demand echoed: christiani ad leonem.

One of the most distinguished martyrs is St. Ignatius of Antioch

(v.) in 107, whose famous words are: "I am the wheat of God; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become pure bread" (Epist. ad Rom. IV, 1, 2). Mention must also be made of: the martyrs of Lyons (v.) in 177 (the deacon Saturus, Maturus, Attalus, Sanctus, Blandina) who appeared undaunted in the arena "bearing on their faces a majesty that transfigured them" (Eusebius, Hist. eccles., VI, 1, 3-4), an evident demonstration of divine assistance; the martyrs Saturus, Revocatus, Perpetua, Felicitas and Carthage, whose authentic acts of trial are preserved; the martyr Rutilius in Adrumetum, mentioned by Tertullian (De Fuga in persec. 5).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Pillet, Etude sur la damnation ad bestias, Lille 1902; H. Leclercq, s. v. in DACL, I, coll. 440-62.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec1_ad_bestias, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Ad Bestias}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {288--289}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ad-bestias} }

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