76) When, during the persecution of Diocletian, their assemblies were banned with the greatest severity, many were courageous enough to defy the imperial decree and accepted death rather than miss the Sunday Eucharist.
etiam sua verba centurio saevitiae plena, tamquam egregium, vocesque deficientis adiecerat, quis primo [alienationem mentis simulans] quasi per dementiam funesta Tiberio, mox, ubi exspes vitae fuit, meditatas compositasque diras imprecabatur, ut, quem ad modum nurum filiumque fratris et nepotes domumque omnem caedibus complevisset, ita poenas nomini generique maiorum et posteris exolveret.vatican.va vatican.va