St. Mary the Martyr

Mary was an enslaved woman in the household of a Roman senator named Tertullus. Butler describes her as a Christian from childhood whose prayer, fasting and fidelity continued amid a household that did not share her faith. During the persecution, attempts were made to persuade her to abandon Christ.

Neither promises nor threats changed her determination. The account describes punishment in the household, confinement and eventual examination before a judge. She acknowledged her faith and endured torture. When the cruelty provoked an outcry among those watching, she was taken from the rack and placed in a soldier’s custody.

Mary escaped and withdrew to the mountains, where she later died. Butler explicitly says that she did not die by the sword. He explains the title of martyr by the older Christian use of that name for those who had suffered torture with constancy for Christ. The reading retains that distinction rather than supplying an execution absent from the source.