“VITALIS was a soldier, and the father of Saints Gervasius and Protasius. Coming one day into Ravenna, in company with the judge of Paulinus, there was being led to execution, for his having confessed the Christian faith, a certain Ursicinus, a physician. Vitalis observing that his courage was somewhat staggered by the tortures, cried out to him: ‘Ursicinus! thou that art a physician, and curest other men, take heed lest thou wound thyself with the dart of eternal death!’ Encouraged by these words, Ursicinus bravely suffered martyrdom. Whereupon, Paulinus was exceedingly angry, and ordered Vitalis to be seized, tortured on the rack, and then thrown into a deep pit, where he was to be buried alive by stones being thrown upon him. This done, one of the priests of Apollo, who had excited Paulinus against Vitalis, was possessed by a devil, and began shouting these words: ‘O Vitalis, Martyr of Christ, thou burnest me beyond endurance!’ Mad with the inward burning, he threw himself into a river.”
— Dom Prosper Guéranger, “St. Vitalis, Martyr, The Liturgical Year
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