its rise to the decline of the old religion. He even once reproached the
Roman Senate for not consulting the Sibylline Books in an hour of peril
stating, “It would seem as if you were holding your meetings in a church of
the Christians instead of a temple of all the gods.” In the summer of 275,
the Edict of Gallienus was rescinded and directives issued to the provincial
governors to commence a systematic persecution. However, providentially
no official martyrdoms would occur, for before his edict could be executed
Aurelian would go the way of so many other Emperors of the third century,
being murdered by his own officers.
Themes for study:
The crises leading to the Valerian persecution;
The martyrs of the Valerian persecution;
Aurelian as “restorer of the world”;
Aurelian’s failed attempt to renew the persecution.
Further reading:
The Catholic Encyclopaedia (1911, vol. II, p. 108);
Anne W. Carroll, Christ the King: Lord of History, 2nd Ed., Trinity
Communications, 1986, p. 95;
Warren H. Carroll, The Founding of Christendom (A History of
Christendom), Vol. 1, Christendom Press, 1985, pp. 495-500;
Fr. John Laux, Church History, TAN Books and Publishers, 1930,
pp. 70-72.
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