Monday, Nov 08, 2014
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles  Miracles_BLay Saints 
 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900  
202 Hieromartyr Charalampus, Bishop of Magnesia Many miracles worked through his prayer raised a dead youth healed a man tormented by devils 35 years so that many people began to believe in Christ the Savior the Martyrs Porphyrius and Baptus and Three Women Martyrs
212 Sts. Felix priest and two deacons Fortunatus & Achilleus martyred evangelizers region around Vienne miracles
215 Oct 29 St. Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem 30th bishop; miracle of water to oil; Narcissus, a bishop At Jerusalem, the birthday of blessed distinguished for holiness, patience, and faith, who went to the kingdom of God at the age of one hundred and sixteen years.
231 St. Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria 43 yrs;  Demetrius promoted the famous Catechetical School of Alexandria; revered by his people and also feared, on account of the gift, which was his of reading men’s secret sins and thoughts
238 St. Alexander Martyred soldier of Pannonia performing many miracles (Hungary)
250 - 290 St. Paul of Narbonne priest notable missionary to Gaul with Sts. Saturninus and Dionysius; performed
       miracles

250 St. Alexander & Martyrs  companion of St. Epimachus; divine revelation; condemned to be eaten by wild beasts,
       but they did not harm him
250 St. Heliconis Martyr of Thessalonica, Greece; beheaded; In some lists she is called Heliconides Christ the Savior
       and the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel
appeared to the martyr in prison and healed her of her wounds
250 St Terence Companions idols fell down angel removed martyrs' chains fed them
250 Saint Martial Bishop of Limoges one of the first apostles of France
250 St. Myron Bishop of Crete; Aug 17 who lived for 100 years. He is called "the Wonder Worker" in the region.
250 May 09 Christopher The Holy Martyr; miracles, converted as many as 50 thousand pagans to Christ,
251 May 16 Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, divine revelation established the first library of Christian theological works at Jerusalem Hieromartyr disciple of the great teacher and writer of the Church, Clement of Alexandria
251 Saint Andrew Martyr Companions Peter and Nichomachus in Lampsacus Mysia w/Dionysia a young man,
       appeared glittering with light diffusing itself over the whole house protected her
251 St. Alphius Martyr one of 3 brothers from Vaste, Italy, who died with their sister, Benedicta  1517 their incorrupt
      relics were discovered at Leontini [Lentini] 6 30
Apud Leontínos, in Sicília, sanctórum Mártyrum Alphii, Philadélphi et Cyríni.
      At Lentini in Sicily, the holy martyrs Alphius, Philadelphis, and Cyrinus

251 May 02 Martyrdom of St. Sina, the Soldier and Isidore many signs and wonders appeared from them
252 St. Martha Virgin martyr Spain led holy life in dens/caves, glorious miracles baptized by Pope St. Sylvester
255 St. Felix of Nola Bishop; inheritance to poor; assistant to St. Maximus of Nola; tomb famous for miracles
258 The Holy Martyrs Quadratus of Nicomedia, Saturinus, Rufinus and others
258 The holy Virgin Martyr Agnes Many miracles occurred at the grave relics rest in the church built in her honor, along the Via Nomentana born at Rome during the third century.
259 Sts. Marian a lector or reader; and James a deacon; experienced visions, including martyred bishop
262 Saint Agrippina martyr, whose shrine is venerated as a site of miracles
265 St. Dionysius the Great of Alexandria Bishop of Alexandria
270 Patroclus The Martyr; native of Tricassinum city (Troyes in France); loved to pray, read Holy Scriptures, fast and charitable to the poor; Lord bestowed gift of wonderworking.
270 St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (means wonderworker) first recorded vision of Our Lady and St John the Baptist and
       dozens of more

270 Dec 14 St Spiridion Bishop and Confessor of our Order; Although his feast is no longer included either the Carmelite proper or the 2004 edition of the “Martyrologium Romanum”, his name is mentioned in the Byzantine “Synaxaria”. Saint Spiridion was born in Tremithous in Cyprus in 270 AD.
270 see 250-290 St. Paul of Narbonne priest notable missionary priest notable missionary to Gaul with Sts. Saturninus and Dionysius; performed miracles
272 St. Sabas "stratelates"= {military commander}  healing the sick and casting out demons in the name of Christ
      Roman martyr Gothic officer

275 The Holy Martyr Synetus reader in Roman Church for Pope Sixtus
275 Sabina of Troyes miracles wrought at her intercession at Troyes, Sens V (RM)
283 SS Cosmas and Damian The Holy Martyrs, Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians they led strict and chaste
       lives, and they were granted by God the gift of healing the sick
284  St. Crescentia storm destroyed temples angel set martyrs free

286 St. Sebastian an officer in the imperial bodyguard and had secretly done many acts of love and charity for his
       brethren in the Faith.

287 St. Asclas Martyr miracle concerning Arrian governor of Egypt crossing Nile
287 December 18 Saint Zoe Appearing in a vision to St Sebastian she told him about her death received gift of speech
      from St
Sebastian

290 Epictetus priest and Astion monastic martyrs; lived in Bithynia SW coast of the Black Sea God granted Epictetus
       gift of wonderworking, healed many people of unclean spirits, or afflicted with other maladies.
290 Dec 19 The Holy Martyr Boniface unharmed by boiling tin & tar relics glorified by numerous miracles
290 St. Lucian Martyred missionary with companions, Julian, /Maximian; relics were famous for miracles
293 St. Aquilina at the age of seven, living as a true Christian, by the age of ten was so filled with divine understanding
      and the grace of the Holy Spirit that she used to preach Christ with great power and zeal to her girl friends Killed
     but an angel of God appeared to her and said: 'Arise and be healed!' Asked to be martyred again; then her relics
    gave healing to many of the sick
295 May 11 Saint Mocius a presbyter in Macedonia in the city of Amphipolis miracles from God created Christians
          from pagans seeing them

3rd v. Orestes the Physician of Cappadocia Martyr; miracle of the pagan temple colapse; illustrious; capable soldier from childhood;
late 3rd v. May 13 Alexander Holy Martyr suffered for Christ; soldier serving tribune Tiberian at Rome; By night a
          fearsome angel appeared to Tiberian with sword in hand; miracles; healings
.
3rd V May 09 St. Beatus of Vendôme, missionary through regions of France
 
In castro Vindecíno, in Gállia, deposítio sancti Beáti Confessóris.
     In the town of Windisch in France, the death of St. Beatus, confessor.

3rd v. St. Julian of Le Mans First bishop of Le Mans extravagant miracles
3rd v. December 18 The Holy Martyr Sebastian miracle worker steadfast faith given to wavering Christians
3rd v. Therapon, Bishop of Sardis; Hieromartyr suffered for Christ Sardis was in Lydia, Asia Minor miraclulous
      curative powers from his blood
3rd v. Jan 09 Saint Polyeuctus was the first martyr in the Armenian city of Meletine;  soldier

Alexander Holy Martyr suffered for Christ; soldier serving tribune Tiberian at Rome; By night a fearsome angel appeared to Tiberian with sword in hand; miracles; healings
at the beginning of the fourth century. He was a soldier serving in the regiment of the tribune Tiberian at Rome. When he was eighteen, the Roman emperor Maximian Hercules (284-305) issued an edict that all citizens were to go to the temple of Jupiter outside the city on a designated day to offer sacrifice. The tribune Tiberian assembled his soldiers and he ordered them to go to this festival, but Alexander, raised from childhood in the Christian Faith, refused and said that he would not offer sacrifice to devils.
Tiberian reported to the emperor Maximian that there was a soldier in his regiment who was a Christian. Soldiers were immediately sent to arrest Alexander.

Alexander was asleep, but an angel woke him and warned him of his impending martyrdom, saying that he would be with him during this time. When the soldiers arrived, Alexander came out to meet them. His face shone with a light so bright that the soldiers fell to the ground when they saw him. The saint upbraided them and told them to carry out their orders.
Standing before Maximian, St Alexander boldly confessed his faith in Christ and he refused to worship the idols. He said that he was not afraid of the emperor, nor of his threats. The emperor tried to persuade the young man with promises of honors, but Alexander remained steadfast in his confession, and denounced the emperor and all the pagans.
They tortured the holy martyr, but he bravely endured all the sufferings.

Maximian remanded St Alexander to the tribune Tiberian, who was being sent to Thrace to persecute Christians there. So they brought the martyr to Thrace, fettered in chains.
At this time an angel told St Alexander's mother, Pimenia, of her son's martyrdom. Pimenia found her son in Carthage, where he stood before Tiberian and again he steadfastly confessed himself a Christian.

They subjected him to torture before the eyes of his mother, and then they took the prisoner on his final journey, walking behind Tiberian's chariot. The brave Pimenia asked the soldiers to let her go to her son, and she encouraged him to undergo torments for Christ.
The soldiers were astonished at the stoic strength of the martyr and they said one to another, "Great is the God of the Christians!"

The angel appeared to the martyr several times, strengthening him.
By night a fearsome angel appeared to Tiberian with sword in hand, and commanded the tribune to hasten to Byzantium, since the martyr's end was drawing near. Tiberian hurried on his way.

In the city of Philippopolis, Tiberian retried St Alexander in the presence of the city dignitaries gathered for this event. At this trial St Alexander remained steadfast. During his grievous journey the holy martyr had been repeatedly subjected to cruel tortures. He was strengthened by God, however, and he endured all the torments.

He gave strength to the soldiers weakened by thirst, asking the Lord to provide a spring of water for them.
During the journey, the martyr prayed beneath a tree, asking for strength in his sufferings, and the fruit and leaves of this tree received a curative power.
At a place named Burtodexion, the saint again met his mother Pimenia, who fell weeping at his feet.
The holy martyr said to her, "Do not weep , my mother, for the day after tomorrow, the Lord shall help me finish matters."
In the city of Drizipera Tiberian imposed the death sentence on the saint. The holy martyr gave thanks to the Lord for giving him the strength to endure all the torments, and to accept martyrdom.

The soldier who was supposed to carry out the execution asked the saint's forgiveness, and for a long time he could not bring himself to raise his sword, for he saw angels waiting to take the soul of the martyr.
The saint prayed and asked God to remove the angels, since he wanted to go to the Lord.
Only then did he cut off the saint's holy head. The saint's body was cast into a river, but four dogs dragged it out of the water, and they would not let anyone near it, until St Alexander's mother Pimenia came. She took up the remains of her martyred son and reverently buried them near the River Ergina.
Healings began to take place at the grave of St Alexander.
Soon the holy martyr appeared to his mother in a dream, in which he comforted her and said that soon she too would be transported to the heavenly habitations.
3rd v. St. Julian of Le Mans First bishop of Le Mans extravagant miracles.
First bishop of Le Mans, France. Tradition states that he was a noble Roman. Julian performed extravagant miracles and was honored during the Middle Ages as the patron of churches in England.
3rd v. Callinicus Kallinikos (Καλλίνικος) The Holy Martyr , a native of Cilicia, raised from childhood in the Christian Faith. Grieving that many misguided people would perish for  eternity because they worshiped idols, he went through the cities and villages to proclaim Jesus Christ and His teachings to the pagans, and with the Word of God; he  converted many to Christianity; God caused a miraculous spring of water to gush forth from a stone.
Gangris in Paphlagónia, sancti Calliníci Mártyris, qui, virgis férreis verberátus aliísque supplíciis afflíctus, tandem, in fornácem injéctus, spíritum Deo réddidit.
    At Gangra in Paphlagonia, St. Callinicus, martyr, who was scourged with iron rods, and given over to other torments.  Being finally cast into a furnace, he gave up his soul to God.


Callinicus Kallinikos (Καλλίνικος) The Holy Martyr, a native of Cilicia, was raised from childhood in the Christian Faith. Grieving that many misguided people would perish for eternity because they worshiped idols, he went through the cities and villages to proclaim Jesus Christ and His teachings to the pagans, and with the Word of God he converted many to Christianity; God caused a miraculous spring of water to gush forth from a stone.
In the Galatian city of Ancyra the holy confessor was arrested and brought to trial before a governor named Sacerdonus, a fierce persecutor of Christians. The governor, threatening tortures and death, ordered the saint to offer sacrifice to the idols. The saint fearlessly declared that he was not afraid of martyrdom, since every believer in Christ receives from Him strength in ordeals, and through death inherits an eternal blessed life.

They cruelly beat the saint with ox thongs and tore at his body with iron hooks, but he endured everything with patience and calm. This aroused still greater fury in Sacerdonus, and he ordered that sandals with sharp nails be placed on the saint's feet, and that they should drive the martyr with whips to the city of Gangra to be burned.

The pathway was arduous, and the soldiers who accompanied the condemned man were weak from thirst. In despair they began to implore the saint to pray the Lord for water. The saint, taking pity on his tormentors, with the help of God caused a miraculous spring of water to gush forth from a stone. The astonished soldiers were filled with sympathy for their rescuer, and they wanted even to set him free. Fear of execution, however, compelled them to bring the martyr farther. In Gangra, St Callinicus joyfully offered thanks to the Lord, Who had vouchsafed him the crown of martyrdom. He went into the blazing fire and gave up his soul to God. His body, remaining unharmed, was reverently buried by believers.
3rd v. Saint Polyeuctus was the first martyr in the Armenian city of Meletine;  soldier
He was a soldier under the emperor Decius (249-251) and he later suffered for Christ under the emperor Valerian (253-259).
The saint was friend also of Nearchos, a fellow-soldier and firm Christian, but Polyeuctus, though he led a virtuous life, remained a pagan.

When the persecution against Christians began, Nearchos said to Polyeuctus, "Friend, we shall soon be separated, for they will take me to torture, and you alas, will renounce your friendship with me." Polyeuctus told him that he had seen Christ in a dream, Who took his soiled military cloak from him and dressed him in a radiant garment. "Now," he said, "I am prepared to serve the Lord Jesus Christ."

Enflamed with zeal, St Polyeuctus went to the city square, and tore up the edict of Decius which required everyone to worship idols. A few moments later, he met a procession carrying twelve idols through the streets of the city. He dashed the idols to the ground and trampled them underfoot.

His father-in-law, the magistrate Felix, who was responsible for enforcing the imperial edict, was horrified at what St Polyeuctus had done and declared that he had to die for this. "Go, bid farewell to your wife and children," said Felix. Paulina came and tearfully entreated her husband to renounce Christ. His father-in-law Felix also wept, but St Polyeuctus remained steadfast in his resolve to suffer for Christ.

With joy he bent his head beneath the sword of the executioner and was baptized in his own blood.

Soon, when the Church of Christ in the reign of St Constantine had triumphed throughout all the Roman Empire, a church was built at Meletine in honor of the holy Martyr Polyeuctus. Many miracles were worked through the intercession of St Polyeuctus. In this very church the parents of St Euthymius the Great (January 20) prayed fervently for a son. The birth of this great luminary of Orthodoxy in the year 376 occurred through the help of the holy Martyr Polyeuctus.

St Polyeuctus was also venerated by St Acacius, Bishop of Meletine (March 31), a participant in the Third Ecumenical Council, and a great proponent of Orthodoxy. In the East, and also in the West, the holy Martyr Polyeuctus is venerated as a patron saint of vows and treaty agreements.

The Polyeucte Overture of French composer Paul Dukas is only one of many pieces of classical music inspired by the saints. It premiered in January of 1892. French dramatist Pierre Corneille has also written a play, Polyeucte (1642), based on the martyr's life.

 Saint_Porphyrius soldier  Seeing the Elder's endurance and his complete lack of malice  openly confessed Christ
202 Hieromartyr Charalampus, Bishop of Magnesia Many miracles worked through his prayer raised a dead youth healed a man tormented by devils 35 years so that many people began to believe in Christ the Savior the Martyrs Porphyrius and Baptus and Three Women Martyrs
St Charalampus, Bishop of Magnesia (Asia Minor), successfully spread faith in Christ the Savior, guiding people on the way to salvation. News of his preaching reached Lucian, the governor of the district, and the military commander Lucius. The saint was arrested and brought to trial, where he confessed his faith in Christ and refused to offer sacrifice to idols.
Despite the bishop's advanced age (he was 113 years old), he was subjected to monstrous tortures.

They lacerated his body with iron hooks, and scraped all the skin from his body. During this the saint turned to his tormentors,
 "I thank you, brethren, that you have restored my spirit, which longs to pass over to a new and everlasting life!"

Seeing the Elder's endurance and his complete lack of malice, two soldiers (Porphyrius and Baptus) openly confessed Christ, for which they were immediately beheaded with a sword. Three women who were watching the sufferings of St Charalampus also began to glorify Christ, and were quickly martyred.
The enraged Lucius seized the instruments of torture and began to torture the holy martyr, but suddenly his forearms were cut off as if by a sword.
The governor then spat in the face of the saint, and immediately his head was turned around so that he faced backwards.
Then Lucius entreated the saint to show mercy on him, and both torturers were healed through the prayers of St Charalampus.
During this a multitude of witnesses came to believe in Christ. Among them also was Lucius, who fell at the feet of the holy bishop, asking to be baptized.

Lucian reported these events to the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211), who was then at Pisidian Antioch (western Asia Minor). The emperor ordered St Charlampos to be brought to him in Antioch. Soldiers twisted the saint's beard into a rope, wound it around his neck, and used it to drag him along. They also drove an iron nail into his body. The emperor then ordered them to torture the bishop more intensely, and they began to burn him with fire, a little at a time.
But God protected the saint, and he remained unharmed.
Many miracles were worked through his prayer: he raised a dead youth, and healed a man tormented by devils for thirty-five years, so that many people began to believe in Christ the Savior. Even Galina, the daughter of the emperor, began to believe in Christ, and twice smashed the idols in a pagan temple.
On the orders of the emperor they beat the saint about the mouth with stones. They also wanted to set his beard on fire, but the flames burned the torturer.

Full of wickedness, Septimus Severus and an official named Crispus hurled blasphemy at the Lord, mockingly summoning Him to come down to the earth, and boasting of their own power and might.
The Lord sent an earthquake, and great fear fell upon all, the impious ones were both suspended in mid-air held by invisible bonds, and only by the prayer of the saint were they put down.

The dazed emperor was shaken in his former impiety, but again quickly fell into error and gave orders to torture the saint.
And finally, he sentenced St Charalampus to beheading with a sword. During his final prayer, the heavens opened and the saint saw the Savior and a multitude of angels. The holy martyr asked Him to grant that the place where his relics would repose would never suffer famine or disease. He also begged that there would be peace, prosperity, and an abundance of fruit, grain, and wine in that place, and that the souls of these people would be saved. The Lord promised to fulfill his request and ascended to heaven, and the soul of the hieromartyr Charalampus followed after Him. By the mercy of God, the saint died before he could be executed. Galina buried the martyr's body with great honor.
In Greek hagiography and iconography St Charalampus is regarded as a priest, while Russian sources to regard him as bishop.
212 Sts. Felix priest and two deacons Fortunatus & Achilleus martyred evangelizers region around Vienne miracles
Valéntiæ, in Gállia, pássio sanctórum Mártyrum Felícis Presbyteri, Fortunáti et Achíllei Diaconórum.  Hi, cum fuíssent a beáto Irenæo, Lugdunénsi Episcopo, missi ad prædicándum verbum Dei, et máximam illíus civitátis partem ad Christi fidem convertíssent, a Duce Cornélio sunt in cárcerem trusi; deínde, diutíssime verberáti, cruribúsque confráctis, circa rotárum vertíginem stricti, fumum quoque in equúlei suspensióne perpéssi; ad extrémum gládio consummáti sunt.
    At Valence in France, the holy martyrs Felix, a priest, Fortunatus and Achilleus, deacons, who were sent there to preach the word of God by blessed Irenæus, bishop of Lyons.  They converted the greater portion of that city to the faith of Christ.  These martyrs were cast into prison by the commander Cornelius, were for a long time scourged, had their legs crushed, were bound to wheels in motion, and stifled with smoke while stretched on the rack, and finally died by the sword.

Felix, a priest, and two deacons, Fortunatus and Achilleus, were sent by St. Irenaeus(, Bishop of Lyons, at the beginning of the third century, to Valence in the district afterwards known as the Dauphine' to evangelize its inhabitants. They all three suffered martyrdom in the reign of Caracalla about the year 212.

That is all that is actually known about these saints, but legend has supplied additional details. According to their reputed "acts", after they had by their preaching and miracles, converted a great proportion of the heathen people, they were arrested. From prison they were liberated by angels, at whose bidding they cast down the idols in the temples, destroying with hammers the images of Mercury and Saturn and a valuable amber statue of Jupiter. For this they were promptly seized: their legs were broken, they were tortured on wheels and subjected by day and by night to acrid and suffocating fumes. As they survived all these torments they were eventually beheaded. An even more fantastic legend than that related, connects St. Felix, St. Fortunatus and St. Achilleus with Valencia in Spain. The remains there venerated are certainly those of other
saints
215  St. Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem 30th bishop miracle of water to oil
Hierosólymis natális beáti Narcíssi Epíscopi, sanctitáte, patiéntia ac fide laudábilis, qui, centum et séxdecim annórum senex, felíciter migrávit ad Dóminum.
   
Narcissus, a bishop At Jerusalem, the birthday of blessed distinguished for holiness, patience, and faith, who went to the kingdom of God at the age of one hundred and sixteen years.

215 ST NARCISSUS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM
ST NARCISSUS was already very old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem. Eusebius says the Christians there preserved in his time the remembrance of several miracles which God had wrought by this bishop, as when on one Easter-eve the deacons were unprovided with oil for the lamps in the church, Narcissus sent for water, offered prayer over it, and then bade them pour it into the lamps. They did so, and it was immediately converted into oil.

Veneration of good men for this holy bishop could not shelter him from the malice of the wicked, and some, disliking his severity in the observance of discipline, laid to his charge a certain crime, which Eusebius does not specify. They confirmed their calumny by fearful imprecations on themselves, but their accusation did not find credit.

However, St Narcissus made it an excuse for leaving Jerusalem and spending some time alone, as had long been his wish. He spent several years undiscovered in his solitude and, that his church might not remain destitute of a pastor, the neighbouring bishops placed in it Dius, and after him Germanicus, who was succeeded by Gordius.

Whilst this last held the see, Narcissus appeared again like one from the dead. The faithful, delighted at the recovery of their pastor, induced him to resume the administration of the diocese. He acquiesced, but, under the weight of extreme old age, made St Alexander his coadjutor. This Alexander has been noticed herein under March 18. In a letter he wrote soon after the year 212 he refers to St Narcissus as being then 116 years.

The Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xii, have brought together from Eusebius and other sources all that is known, or likely to be known, about St Narcissus of Jerusalem.

St. Narcissus was born towards the close of the first century, and was almost fourscore years old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem, being the thirtieth bishop of that see.
In 195, he and Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, presided in a council of the bishops of Palestine held at Caesarea, about the time of celebrating Easter; in which it was decreed that this feast is to be kept always on a Sunday, and not with the Jewish passover.
Eusebius assures us, that the Christians of Jerusalem preserved in his time the remembrance of several miracles which God had wrought by this holy bishop; one of which he relates as follows.

One year on Easter-eve the deacons were unprovided with oil for the lamps in the church, necessary at the solemn divine office that day. Narcissus ordered those who had care of the lamps to bring him some water from the neighboring wells. This being done, he pronounced a devout prayer over the water; then bade them pour it into the lamps; which they did, and it was immediately converted into oil, to the great surprise of the faithful. Some of this miraculous oil was kept there as a memorial at the time when Eusebius wrote his history.
The veneration of all good men for this holy bishop could not shelter him from the malice of the wicked. Three incorrigible sinners, fearing his inflexible severity in the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, laid to his charge a detestable crime, which Eusebius does not specify. They confirmed their atrocious calumny by dreadful oaths and imprecations; one wishing he might perish by fire, another, that he might be struck with a leprosy, and the third, that he might lose his sight, if what they alleged was not the truth.
Notwithstanding these protestations, their accusation did not find credit; and, some time after, the divine vengeance pursued the calumniators. The first was burnt in his house, with his whole family, by an accidental fire in the night; the second was struck with a universal leprosy; and the third, terrified by these examples, confessed the conspiracy and slander, and by the abundance of tears which he continually shed for his sins, lost his sight before his death.

Narcissus, notwithstanding the slander had made no impression on the people to his disadvantage, could not stand the shock of the bold calumny, or rather made it an excuse for leaving Jerusalem, and spending some time in solitude, which had long been his wish. He spent several years undiscovered in his retreat, where he enjoyed all the happiness and advantage which a close conversation with God can bestow. That his church might not remain destitute of a pastor, the neighboring bishops of the province, after some time, placed in it Pius, and after him Germanion, who, dying in a short time, was succeeded by Gordius. While this last held the see, Narcissus appeared again like one from the dead.
The whole body of the faithful, transported at the recovery of their holy pastor, whose innocence had been most authentically vindicated, conjured him to reassume the administration of the diocese. He acquiesced; but afterwards, bending under the weight of extreme old age, made St. Alexander his coadjutor.
This primitive example authorizes the practice of coadjutorships; which, nevertheless, are not allowable by the canons except in cases of the perpetual inability of a bishop through age, incurable infirmity, or other impediment as Marianus Victorius observes in his notes upon St. Jerome.
St. Narcissus continued to serve his flock, and even other churches, by his assiduous prayers and his earnest exhortations to unity and concord, as St. Alexander testifies in his letter to the Arsinoites in Egypt, where he says that Narcisus was at that time about one hundred and sixteen years old. The Roman Martyrology honors his memory on the 29th of October.

Pastors of the primitive church, animated with the spirit of the apostles were faithful imitators of their heroic virtues, discovering the same fervent zeal. the same contempt of the world, the same love of Christ.

If we truly respect the church as the immaculate spouse of our Lord, we will incessantly pray for its exaltation and increase, and beseech the Almighty to give it pastors according to his own heart, like those who appeared in the infancy of Christianity. And, that no obstacle on our part may prevent the happy effects of their zeal, we should study to regulate our conduct by the holy maxims which they inculcate, we should regard them as the ministers of Christ; we should listen to them with docility and attention; we should make their faith the rule of ours, and shut our ears against the language of profane novelty.

O! that we could once more see a return of those happy days when the pastor and the people had but one heart and one soul; when there was no diversity in our belief; when the faithful seemed only to vie with each other in their submission to the church, and in their desire of sanctification.

St. Narcissus of Jerusalem 
Life in second- and third-century Jerusalem couldn’t have been easy, but St. Narcissus managed to live well beyond 100. Some even speculate he lived to 160.
Details of his life are sketchy, but there are many reports of his miracles. The miracle for which he is most remembered was turning water into oil for use in the church lamps on Holy Saturday when the deacons had forgotten to provide any.

We do know that Narcissus became bishop of Jerusalem in the late second century. He was known for his holiness, but there are hints that many people found him harsh and rigid in his efforts to impose church discipline. One of his many detractors accused Narcissus of a serious crime at one point. Though the charges against him did not hold up, he used the occasion to retire from his role as bishop and live in solitude. His disappearance was so sudden and convincing that many people assumed he had actually died.

Several successors were appointed during his years in isolation. Finally, Narcissus reappeared in Jerusalem and was persuaded to resume his duties. By then, he had reached an advanced age, so a younger bishop was brought in to assist him until his death.
231 St. Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria 43 yrs;  Demetrius promoted the famous Catechetical School of Alexandria; revered by his people and also feared, on account of the gift, which was his of reading men’s secret sins and thoughts
Egypt. Named to this post in 188, he ruled as patriarch there for forty-three years. Demetrius promoted the famous Catechetical School of Alexandria, appointing Origen director of the school in 203. Later he expelled Origen for being ordained without his permission.

231 ST DEMETRIUS, BISHOP OP ALEXANDRIA; revered by his people and also feared, on account of the gift, which was his of reading men’s secret sins and thoughts

HE is said to have been the eleventh successor of St Mark, and is certainly the first bishop of Alexandria of whom anything is known, chiefly in his relations with Origen. When Clement withdrew from the direction of the catechetical school of Alexandria Origen was raised to that post by St Demetrius, with whom he was then on terms of close friendship; the bishop even defended him against those who had condemned the bodily mutilation to which he had voluntarily submitted himself. Later Origen went to Caesarea in Palestine and accepted an invitation to preach before the bishops there. St Demetrius protested, for Origen was yet a layman, and recalled him to Alexandria. Fifteen years later Origen set out for Athens, and on his way through Caesarea was ordained priest, without the leave of his own bishop. Thereupon Demetrius convened a synod that sentenced him on several counts and forbade him to teach.

St Demetrius is said to have set up the first three suffragan sees of Alexandria and is often credited, on the authority of St Jerome, with having sent St Pantaenus on his mission to Yemen and Ethiopia. But this probably took place before St Demetrius was bishop. He governed the see of Alexandria for forty-two years and died in the year 231, at the age of 105, revered by his people and also feared, on account of the gift, which was his of reading men’s secret sins and thoughts.

There is little to add to the data collected in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. iv. See also the articles on Demetrius and on Origen in DCB., and on the letters of Demetrius in DAC., vol. viii, cc. 2752—2753 and Abbot Chapman in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. iv.
238 St. Alexander Martyred soldier of Pannonia performing many miracles (Hungary) may be anonymous martyr of Thrace listed on May 13
 Drizíparæ, in Pannónia, sancti Alexándri mílitis, qui, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, post multos pro Christo agónes superátos múltaque mirácula édita, cápitis abscissióne martyrium complévit.
       At Drizipara in Hungary, St. Alexander, soldier, in the time of Emperor Maximian.  Having overcome many torments for the sake of Christ, and performing many miracles, his martyrdom was completed by beheading.
mid-third century. He is believed to be the anonymous martyr of Thrace in some lists.
Alexander M (RM) 3rd century. Saint Alexander, a soldier, is described in the Roman Martyrology as having suffered as a Christian in Pannonia (Hungary) under Maximian Herculeus (238). may be anonymous Thrace martyr listed May 13
(Benedictines).
250 St. Myron Bishop of Crete who lived for one hundred years. He is called "the Wonder Worker" in the region. In Achája sancti Myrónis, Presbyteri et Mártyris, qui, sub Décio Imperatóre et Antípatre Præside, Cyzici, post multa torménta, cápite truncátus est.
    In Achaia, St. Myron, priest and martyr, who was beheaded at Cyzicum after undergoing many torments, in the time of Emperor Decius and the governor Antipater.
The Holy Martyr Myron was a presbyter in Achaia (Greece), and lived during the third century. He suffered in the year 250 under the emperor Decius (249-251). The presbyter was gentle and kind to people, but he was also courageous in the defense of his spiritual children.

On the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy. The local governor Antipater came into the church with soldiers so as to arrest those praying there and to subject them to torture. St Myron began to plead for his flock, accusing the governor of cruelty, and for this the saint was delivered over to be tortured.

They took St Myron and struck his body with iron rods. They then threw the presbyter into a red-hot oven, but the Lord preserved the martyr, but about 150 men standing nearby were scorched by the fire. The governor then began to insist that the martyr worship idols. St Myron firmly refused to do this, so Antipater ordered the leather thongs to be cut from his skin. St Myron took one of the leather thongs and threw it in the face of his tormentor.

Falling into a rage, Antipater gave orders to strike St Myron all over his stripped body, and then to give the martyr to wild beasts to be eaten. The beasts would not touch him, however. Seeing himself defeated, Antipater in his blind rage committed suicide.
 They then took St Myron to the city of Cyzicus, where he was beheaded by the sword.
250 Saint Martial Bishop of Limoges one of the first apostles of France.
Saint Gregory of Tours informs us, that he was one of the first apostles of France, whither Saint Martial was sent from Rome with Saint Dionysius of Paris, about the year 250. He was the first bishop of Limoges, and his name is famous in ancient Martyrologies. Great miracles hare been wrought at his relics
.
250 St. Heliconis Martyr of Thessalonica, Greece. She was beheaded. In some lists she is called Heliconides Christ the Savior and the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to the holy martyr in prison and healed her of her wounds.
Corínthi sanctæ Helicónidis Mártyris, témpore Gordiáni Imperatóris.  Hæc primum, sub Perénnio Prǽside, multis torméntis afflícta, deínde, sub ejus successóre Justíno, íterum cruciáta, sed ab Angelis liberáta est; demum, disséctis mammis, ferísque objécta atque igne probáta, cápitis obtruncatióne martyrium complévit.
    At Corinth, St. Helconides, martyr, who was first subjected to torments in the reign of Emperor Gordian, under the governor Perennius, and then again tortured under his successor Justin, but was delivered by an angel.  Her breasts were cut away, she was exposed to wild beasts and to fire, and finally her martyrdom was fulfilled by beheading.
The Holy Martyr Heliconis lived during the third century in the city of Thessalonica. St Heliconis arrived in the city of Corinth during a persecution of Christians, and urged the pagans to stop serving senseless idols and instead to worship the one true God, the Creator of the universe. She was arrested and brought before the governor Perinus, who vainly attempted to persuade the saint to offer sacrifice to idols, both by flattery and by threats. The holy martyr was subjected to tortures, but she bravely endured them. Then they threw her into a hot furnace, but she emerged from it unharmed, because an angel of the Lord had cooled the flames.

Thinking the saint was a sorceress, the governor invented new torments for her. They tore the skin from her head, and burned her breasts and head with fire. After halting the torture, the judge again attempted to urge St Heliconis to offer sacrifice to the idols, promising her honors and the title of priestess. The saint seemed to consent, and the pagan priests and the people led her to the pagan temple with the sounds of trumpet and drum.  At the saint's request, they left her there alone. St Heliconis, filled with heroic strength, cast down and smashed all the idols. When some time had passed, the pagan priests entered their temple. Seeing the destruction, they were even more enraged and cursed the holy virgin shouting, "Put the sorceress to death!" They beat the holy martyr, and then they threw her into prison, where she spent five days.

Christ the Savior and the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to the holy martyr in prison and healed her of her wounds. Finally, they sent the saint to be torn apart by wild beasts. They set loose three hungry lions upon her, but the beasts came up to the martyr meekly and lay down at her feet. The pagan mob shouted and cried, "Death to the sorceress."

But at this point the lions jumped out of the arena and pounced on the people, who fled in terror. Not knowing what else to do, the governor ordered that St Heliconis be beheaded. The saint went to execution with joy and heard a Voice summoning her to the heavenly habitations.
She contested in the year 244, and her body was reverently buried by
Christians.
250 St Terence and his Companions idols fell down angel removed the martyrs' chains and fed them.
beheaded at Carthage Commemorated April 10
The Holy Martyr Terence and his Companions suffered under the emperor Decius (249-251 AD). The emperor issued an edict commanding all subjects to offer sacrifice to the pagan idols.
When the governor of Africa Fortunianus received this edict, he gathered the people into the city square, set out cruel instruments of torture and declared that everyone without exception had to offer the sacrifice to the idols.
Many, afraid of torture, complied. However, St Terence and forty other Christians bravely affirmed their faith in the Saviour and ridiculed the idols. Fortunianus was amazed at their boldness and he asked how they as rational people, could confess as God, One Whom the Jews crucified as a malefactor.
St Terence answered that their belief was in the Saviour, Who voluntarily endured death on the Cross and rose on the third day. Fortunianus saw that Terence inspired the others by his example, and so he ordered him to be isolated in prison with his three closest companions: Africanus, Maximus, and Pompeius. Fortunianus was determined to force the rest of the martyrs, including Xenon, Alexander, and Theodore, to renounce Christ.
Neither threats nor terrible tortures could sway the holy martyrs. They burned them with red-hot iron, they poured vinegar on the wounds, they sprinkled on salt, and they raked them with iron claws. In spite of their sufferings, the Saints did not weaken in their confession of Christ, and the Lord gave them strength.
Forunatian gave orders to lead the martyrs into the pagan temple, and once again he urged them to offer sacrifice to the idols. The valiant warriors of Christ cried out, "O Almighty God, Who once sent down fire on Sodom for its iniquity, destroy this impious temple of idolatry". The idols fell down with a crash, and then the temple lay in ruins. The enraged governor gave orders to execute them, and the martyrs, glorifying God, bowed their necks beneath the executioner's sword.
After the execution of the thirty-six martyrs, Fortunianus summoned Terence, Maximus, Africanus and Pompeius before him. He showed them the martyrs' bodies and again urged them to offer sacrifice to the idols. The martyrs refused. The governor put heavy chains on them, and gave orders to starve them to death. By night, an angel of the Lord removed the martyrs' chains and fed them.
In the morning, the guards found the Saints cheerful and strong. Then Fortunianus ordered sorcerers and conjurers to carry snakes and all kinds of poisonous creatures into the prison. The guards looked into the cell through an opening in the ceiling and saw the martyrs unharmed, praying, and the snakes crawling at their feet. When the sorcerers opened the door of the prison cell, the snakes bit them. The furious Fortunianus gave orders to behead the holy martyrs. Christians took up their holy bodies and buried them with reverence outside the city.
250 St. Alexander & Martyrs  companion of St. Epimachus  divine revelation condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him
Alexander and Epimachus lived in Alexandria, Egypt. They were taken prisoner during the reign of Emperor Decius, then tortured and burned to death.  4 women shared their martyrdom: Ammonaria, Mercuria, Dionisia, a mother, and another woman, thought by some to have been named Ammonaria.
The Hieromartyr Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, was a disciple of the great teacher and writer of the Church, Clement of Alexandria. At the beginning of the third century he was chosen bishop of Flavia, Cappadocia. He was arrested during the reign of the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) and spent three years in prison.
After his release from prison he went to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places, and was told to remain there through a divine revelation. In 212 he was chosen as coadministrator with the elderly Patriarch Narcissus, an unusually rare occurrence in the ancient Church. Following the death of St Narcissus (August 7), St Alexander succeeded him and governed the Church of Jerusalem for thirty-eight years, working for the enlightenment of Christians. He also established the first library of Christian theological works at Jerusalem.
St Alexander was arrested during the persecution of the Church under the emperor Decius (249-251). The holy martyr was sent to Cappadocia, where he suffered many tortures. He was condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him. St Alexander was cast into prison, where he surrendered his soul to God.
The hieromartyr Alexander is also commemorated on May 16.
250 Christopher The Holy Martyr; miracles, converted as many as 50 thousand pagans to Christ, as St Ambrose of Milan testifies
He lived during the third century and suffered about the year 250, during the reign of the emperor Decius (249-251). There are various accounts of his life and miracles, and he is widely venerated throughout the world. St Christopher is especially venerated in Italy, where people pray to him in times of contagious diseases.

There are various suggestions about his descent. Some historians believe that he was descended from the Canaanites, while others say from the "Cynoscephalai" [literally "dog-heads"] of Thessaly. Perhaps this is why certain unlearned painters foolishly portray St Christopher with a dog's head.

St Christopher was a man of great stature and unusual strength. According to tradition, St Christopher was very handsome, but wishing to avoid temptation for himself and others, he asked the Lord to give him an unattractive face, which was done. Before Baptism he was named Reprebus [Reprobate] because his disfigured appearance. Even before Baptism, Reprebus confessed his faith in Christ and denounced those who persecuted Christians. Consequently, a certain Bacchus gave him a beating, which he endured with humility.

Because of his renowned strength, 200 soldiers were assigned to bring him before the emperor Decius. Reprebus submitted without resistance. Several miracles occurred along the way; a dry stick blossomed in the saint's hand, loaves of bread were multiplied through his prayers, and the travellers had no lack thereof. This is similar to the multiplication of loaves in the wilderness by the Savior. The soldiers surrounding Reprebus were astonished at these miracles.
They came to believe in Christ and they were baptized along with Reprebus by St Babylus of Antioch (September 4).

Christopher once made a vow to serve the greatest king in the world, so he first offered to serve the local king. Seeing that the king feared the devil, Christopher thought he would leave the king to serve Satan. Learning that the devil feared Christ, Christopher went in search of Him. St Babylas of Antioch told him that he could best serve Christ by doing well the task for which he was best suited. Therefore, he became a ferryman, carrying people across a river on his shoulders. One stormy night, Christopher carried a Child Who insisted on being taken across at that very moment. With every step Christopher took, the Child seemed to become heavier. Halfway across the stream, Christopher felt that his strength would give out, and that he and the Child would be drowned in the river. As they reached the other side, the Child told him that he had just carried all the sins of the world on his shoulders. Then He ordered Christopher to plant his walking stick in the ground. As he did so, the stick grew into a giant tree. Then he recognized Christ, the King Whom he had vowed to serve.

St Christopher was brought before the emperor, who tried to make him renounce Christ, not by force but by cunning. He summoned two profligate women, Callinike and Aquilina, and commanded them to persuade Christopher to deny Christ, and to offer sacrifice to idols. Instead, the women were converted to Christ by St Christopher. When they returned to the emperor, they declared themselves to be Christians.Therefore, they were subjected to fierce beatings, and so they received the crown of martyrdom.

Decius also sentenced to execution the soldiers who had been sent after St Christopher, but who now believed in Christ. The emperor ordered that the martyr be thrown into a red-hot metal box. St Christopher, however, did not experience any suffering and he remained unharmed. After many fierce torments they finally beheaded the martyr with a sword. This occurred in the year 250 in Lycia. By his miracles the holy Martyr Christopher converted as many as 50 thousand pagans to Christ, as St Ambrose of Milan testifies. The relics of St Christopher were later transferred to Toledo (Spain), and still later to the abbey of St Denis in France.

In Greece, many churches place the icon of St Christopher at the entrance so that people can see it as they enter and leave the building. There is a rhyming couplet in Greek which says, "When you see Christopher, you can walk in safety." This reflects the belief that whoever gazes upon the icon of St Christopher will not meet with sudden or accidental death that day.
The name Christopher means "Christ-bearer." This can refer to the saint carrying the Savior across the river,
and it may also refer to St Christopher bearing Christ within himself (Galatians 2:20).


Christophorus Orthodoxe Kirche: 09. Mai  Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 24. Juli
Christophorus gehört auch heute zu den beliebtesten Heiligen und um ihn ranken sich viele Legenden. Christophorus lebte um 250, er stammte vielleicht aus Lykien. Er erlitt wahrscheinlich unter Kaiser Decius das Martyrium. Am 22.9.452 wurde ihm eine Kirche in Chalkedon am Bosporus geweiht. Reliquien werden insbesondere in St. Peter in Rom und in St. Denis bei Paris verehrt. Christophorus gehört auch zu den 14 Nothelfern. Die morgendliche Betrachtung seines Bildes soll Schutz für den ganzen Tag gewähren, weshalb sich früher große Christophorusbilder an Kirchen und belebten Plätzen befanden. Auch die bei Autofahrern beliebte Christophorusplakette am Armaturenbrett oder Schlüsselbund mag hiermit zusammenhängen. Christophorus ist - neben vielen anderen Patronaten - Patron der kroatischen Insel Rab. Hier wird er am 25.7. gefeiert.
251 Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, divine revelation established the first library of Christian theological works at Jerusalem Hieromartyr disciple of the great teacher and writer of the Church, Clement of Alexandria
At the beginning of the third century he was chosen bishop of Flavia, Cappadocia. He was arrested during the reign of the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) and spent three years in prison.
After his release from prison he went to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places, and was told to remain there through a divine revelation. In 212 he was chosen as coadministrator with the elderly Patriarch Narcissus, an unusually rare occurrence in the ancient Church.
Following the death of St Narcissus (August 7), St Alexander succeeded him and governed the Church of Jerusalem for thirty-eight years, working for the enlightenment of Christians. He also established the first library of Christian theological works at Jerusalem.
St Alexander was arrested during the persecution of the Church under the emperor Decius (249-251). The holy martyr was sent to Cappadocia, where he suffered many tortures. He was condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him. St Alexander was cast into prison, where he surrendered his soul to God in the year 251.
The hieromartyr Alexander is also commemorated on December 12.
250 - 290 St. Paul of Narbonne priest notable missionary to Gaul with Sts. Saturninus and Dionysius; performed miracles
 Narbóne, in Gállia, natális sancti Pauli Epíscopi, Apostolórum discípuli, quem tradunt fuísse Sérgium Paulum Procónsulem.  Hic, a beáto Apóstolo Paulo baptizátus, et ab eo, cum in Hispániam pérgeret, apud Narbónem relíctus, ibídem Episcopáli dignitáte donátus est; ibíque, prædicatiónis offício non ségniter expléto, clarus miráculis migrávit in cælum.
       At Narbonne in France, the birthday of the bishop St. Paul, a disciple of the apostles.  He is said to have been the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was baptized by the blessed apostle Paul, and left at Narbonne, where he was raised to the episcopal dignity when the apostle went to Spain.  Having zealously discharged the office of preaching and having performed miracles, he departed to heaven.
who is known principally because of reports made of him by St. Gregory of Tours. According to Gregory, Paul was ordained at Rome and, with other missionaries including Sts. Saturninus and Dionysius, he was assigned to Gaul to preach the Gospel. He enjoyed considerable success in the region around Narbonne, founding several churches there.
He is also mentioned in various legends.

290 ST PAUL OF NARBONNE
WE learn from St Gregory of Tours that St Paul of Narbonne was sent from Rome with several other missionaries to plant the faith in Gaul. Two of the band, St Saturninus of Toulouse and St Dionysius of Paris, received the crown of martyrdom, but St Paul of Narbonne, St Trophimus of Aries, St Martial of Limoges and St Gatian of Tours, after passing through many dangers and founding churches in the places now connected with their names, finally died in peace. Prudentius says that the name of Paul shed lustre on the city of Narbonne. No attention need be paid to an extravagant legend which has identified St Paul of Narbonne with the Sergius Paulus who was proconsul at Cyprus when the apostle St Paul withstood the magician Elymas.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, and Duchesse, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. i, p. 303.

Paul of Narbonne and Companions MM (RM) Died after 250 (c. 290?). Saint Gregory of Tours informs us (Hist. Franc. I, 30), that Saint Paul was consecrated priest at Rome from where he was sent with other preachers to plant the faith in Gaul. There Saints Saturninus of Toulouse and Dionysius of Paris were crowned with martyrdom.
Saints Paul of Narbonne, Trophimus of Arles, Martial of Limoges, and Gatian of Tours survived, established churches in their respective sees amidst many dangers, and died in peace. Prudentius says, that Paul's association with the city of Narbonne had made it famous. A much later legend identifies Paul with the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was converted by Saint Paul the Apostle (Acts 13) (Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth).
251 Saint Andrew Martyr Companions Peter and Nichomachus in Lampsacus Mysia w/Dionysia a young man, appeared glittering with light diffusing itself over the whole house protected her
Andrew and his fellow Christians were arrested during the persecutions conducted by Emperor Trajanus Decius. Nichomachus is recorded as having denied Christ under torture. Andrew and Peter stood firm in the faith. Nichomachus was scolded by a sixteen year-old woman named Dionysia, and she suffered martyrdom as well. Andrew and Peter were stoned to death.
Peter of Lampsacus, Paul, Andrew, Dionysia & Decius MM (RM). Peter was a young man of Lampsacus on the Hellespont, who was martyred at Troas together with SS. Paul, Andrew, Dionysia, and Decius. Peter was remarkable for his physical beauty and the natural endowments of his mind, as well as his faith and virtue. He was captured and brought before Proconsul Optimus who said, "You have before your eyes the edicts of our invincible princes: sacrifice to the goddess Venus, as they command."
Peter answered: "I am surprised that you should endeavor to persuade me to sacrifice to an infamous lewd woman, whose actions modesty forbids me to mention, and are such as are punishable by your own laws."
Optimus ordered him to be extended on a wheel, with pieces of wood so disposed and bound on his body with iron chains, that the wheel being put in motion it might gradually occasion the breaking of his bones. The martyr, turning his eyes towards the heavens, said, with a cheerful countenance: "I praise and thank you, O Lord Jesus Christ, for vouchsafing me patience to overcome this cruel tyrant." Optimus, seeing his unshaken resolution, ordered his head to be struck off.
After this execution, three other Christians, Andrew, Paul, and Nicomachus, were brought before him. He asked their origin and religion Nicomachus answered loudly with impatience, "I am a Christian." When ordered to sacrifice to the gods, Nicomachus answered: A Christian must not sacrifice to devils." The proconsul gave orders that he should be hung on the rack and tortured. When he was just ready to expire under his torments, he unhappily lost his crown, and cried out: "I never was a Christian, and am ready to sacrifice to the gods."
The proconsul immediately caused him to be taken off the rack, but no sooner had the miserable man offered sacrifice than he was seized by the devil, fell on the ground, and beat it with his head in violent agonies, in which he expired. God afforded his other two servants a comfort under their affliction for this loss.
Dionysia, a tender virgin about sixteen years old, who was standing by, was struck at this misfortune, and said: "Unfortunate wretch! Why did you bring upon yourself eternal torments for the sake of a moment's ease?" Optimus, hearing these words, asked if she was a Christian: she confessed she was. He then required her to sacrifice, and threatened to expose her to prostitution, and burn her alive in case of refusal.
Finding his threats made no impression on her constancy, he ordered her to be put into the hands of two young men to be deflowered. They took her with them to their lodgings, but she resisted so strenuously that she tired them out. About midnight they were surprised at the appearance of a young man, glittering with light, which diffused itself over the whole house. Seized with fear, they threw themselves at the feet of the holy virgin. She raised them up, and told them not to be afraid, saying: "This is my guardian and protector." They asked her to intercede for them that they would not be harmed.
The next morning, the mob, stirred up by the priests of Diana, beset the house of the proconsul, demanding in a tumultuous manner to have Andrew and Paul delivered up to them. The proconsul, to humor them, had them brought forth and commanded them to sacrifice to Diana. Upon their refusal, Optimus had them scourged and then threw them to the rabble who stoned them to death.
When Dionysia heard the raucous noise surrounding their execution, she began to weep and wail bitterly. She escaped her guards and ran to the place where they were. Upon seeing her fellows, she cried out: "That I may live with you eternally in heaven, I will die with you on earth." The proconsul being informed of the wonderful preservation of her chastity, her escape, and desire to die with the martyrs, ordered her to be taken away from Andrew and Paul, and to be beheaded at a distance (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
251 Martyrdom of St. Sina, the Soldier and Isidore many signs and wonders appeared from them
On this day also, St. Sina, the companion of St. Isidore(1), was martyred. After the Governor of Farma had tortured the two friends and St. Isidore was martyred, he kept St. Sina in the prison until he was removed.
When the new Governor took charge with the command not to keep any one who confessed the Name of Christ, he heard about the presence of Sina in prison, and that he was a captain of soldiers. St. Sina was tortured much but did not turn from his counsel. The Governor immediately ordered to cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom. His mother was beside him when he was martyred, and she saw a multitude of angels carrying away his soul as she saw St. Isidore's soul at the time of his martyrdom before.
They took his body, shrouded it, laid it with the body of his friend St. Isidore in the city of Samanoud, and many signs and wonders appeared from them. Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever
. Amen.
251 St. Alphius Martyr one of 3 brothers from Vaste, Italy, who died with their sister, Benedicta  1517 their incorrupt relics were discovered at Leontini [Lentini]
Apud Leontínos, in Sicília, sanctórum Mártyrum Alphii, Philadélphi et Cyríni.   At Lentini in Sicily, the holy martyrs Alphius, Philadelphis, and Cyrinus

The details concerning these martyrdoms are traditional, considered by some scholars as unreliable. Alphius, Philadeiphus, Cyrinus, and Benedicta were arrested during the persecutions conducted by Emperor Trajanus Decius(Trajan Decius 249-251 AD and Usurpers During His Reign). They were tortured in Rome and then taken to Pozzuoli, near modern Naples, where one of the Christians, Onesimus, was executed. The brothers went on to Sicily, where they were martyred at Lentini. Alphius had his tongue torn from his mouth. Philadelphus was burned to death and Cyrinus was boiled to death. The brothers ranged in age from nineteen to twenty-one years of age at the time of their martyrdom. No details of execution are given extant for Benedicta.

Alphius, Cyrinus, and Philadelphus MM (RM). These three Sicilian brothers appear to have suffered under Decius. They are highly venerated among the Greeks and in Sicily, especially at Lentini, of which they are patrons (Benedictines).
The Holy Martyrs Philadelphus, Alphaeus, Cyprian, Onesimus, Erasmus and 14 others with them, lived during the third century and came from Italy. Alphaeus, Philadelphus and Cyprian were sons of a governor in Italy, named Vitalius. They were enlightened by faith in Christ and baptized by St Onesimus.

During this period the emperor Licinius issued orders to seek out and hand over the Christians for torture. The brothers went to Rome together with Onesimus, Erasmus and fourteen other Christians. At Rome they crushed the chest of St Onesimus with a heavy stone, which killed him. Erasmus and the fourteen Martyrs were beheaded.

The brothers Alphaeus, Philadelphus and Cyprian suffered in the city of Mesopolis Leontii in Sicily, where they had been sent from Rome. St Philadelphus was burned over an iron lattice in the year 251, in the reign of the emperor Decius.

In the year 1517 their incorrupt relics were discovered at Leontini [Lentini]. Sts Alphaeus, Philadelphus and Cyprian appeared to St Euthalia (March 2) and told her that she would be healed of an affliction after she was
baptized.
252 St. Martha Virgin martyr of Spain
 In civitáte Asturicénsi, in Hispánia, sanctæ Marthæ, Vírginis et Mártyris, quæ, sub Décio Imperatóre et Patérno Procónsule, dire ob Christi fidem est cruciáta et gládio tandem occísa.
       In the city of Astorga in Spain, St. Martha, virgin and martyr, under Emperor Decius and the proconsul Paternus.  She was cruelly tortured for the faith of Christ and was finally slain by the sword.
She was beheaded at Astorga, Spain, and her relics were enshrined in the abbey of Ribas de Sil and at Ters.

Martha of Astorga VM (RM) Beautiful Spanish virgin and a true Christian, Saint Martha was beheaded for the faith in Astorga under Decius. Her relics are enshrined in the old Benedictine abbey of Ribas de Sil and at Ters, diocese of Astorga (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
255 St. Felix of Nola Bishop distributed inheritance to the poor assistant to St. Maximus of Nola tomb famous for miracles
 Nolæ, in Campánia, natális sancti Felícis Presbyteri, qui (ut sanctus Paulínus Epíscopus scribit), cum a persecutóribus post torménta in cárcerem missus esset, et cóchleis ac téstulis vinctus superpósitus jacéret, nocte ab Angelo solútus atque edúctus fuit; póstmodum vero, cessánte persecutióne, ibídem, cum multos ad Christi fidem exémplo vitæ ac doctrína convertísset, clarus miráculis quiévit in pace.
       At Nola in Campania, the birthday of St. Felix, priest, who (as is related by bishop St. Paulinus), after being subjected to torments by the persecutors, was cast into prison, bound hand and foot, and extended on shells and broken earthenware.  In the night, however, his bonds were loosened and he was delivered by an angel.  The persecution over, he brought many to the faith of Christ by his exemplary life and teaching, and, renowned for miracles, rested in peace.
260 ST FELIX OF NOLA
IT must be remembered that St Paulinus of Nola, who is our ultimate authority for the life of St Felix, lived more than a century after his time, and that it is probable that legendary accretions had already attached themselves to the tradition handed down. The story told by St Paulinus runs as follows:

St Felix was a native of Nola, a Roman colony in Campania, fourteen miles from Naples, where his father Hermias, who was by birth a Syrian and had served in the army, had purchased an estate and settled down. He had two sons, Felix and Hermias, to whom at his death he left his patrimony. The younger sought preferment in the world by following the profession of arms. Felix, to become in effect what his name in Latin imported, that is “happy”, resolved to follow no other standard than that of the King of kings, Jesus Christ. For this purpose he distributed most of his possessions among the poor, and was ordained priest by St Maximus, Bishop of Nola, who, charmed with his virtue and prudence, made him his right hand in those times of trouble, and looked upon him as his destined successor.

In the year 250 the Emperor Decius began a cruel persecution against the Church. Maximus, seeing himself marked out as a victim, retired into the desert, not through the fear of death but rather to preserve himself for the service of his flock. The persecutors, not finding him, seized on Felix, who in his absence was very zealous in the discharge of pastoral duties. The governor caused him to be scourged, then loaded with chains and cast into a dungeon, in which, as Prudentius informs us, the floor was spread all over with potsherds and pieces of broken glass, so that there was no place free from them on which the saint could either stand or lie. One night an angel appearing filled the prison with a bright light, and bade St Felix go to the aid of his bishop, who was in great distress. The confessor, seeing his chains fall off and the doors open, followed his guide, and was conducted to the place where Maximus lay in hunger and cold, speechless and unconscious:  for, through anxiety for his flock and the hardships of his solitary retreat, he had suffered more than a martyrdom. Felix, not being able to bring him to himself, had recourse to prayer; and discovering thereupon a bunch of grapes within reach, he squeezed some of the juice into his mouth, which had the desired effect. The good bishop, as soon as he beheld his friend Felix, begged to be conveyed back to his church. The saint, taking him on his shoulders, carried him to his home in the city before day appeared, where a devoted old woman took care of him.

Felix kept himself concealed, praying for the Church without ceasing, till the death of Decius in the year 251. He no sooner appeared again in public than his zeal so exasperated the pagans that they came to apprehend him; but though they met him, they did not recognize him. They even asked him where Felix was, a question to which he returned an evasive answer. The persecutors, going a little further, perceived their mistake, and returned; but Felix in the meantime had stepped a little out of the way, and crept through a hole in a ruinous wall, which was instantly closed up by spiders’ webs. His enemies, never imagining anything could have lately passed where they saw so dense a web, after a fruitless search elsewhere returned without their prey. Felix, finding among the ruins, between two houses, an old well half dry, hid himself there for six months, and obtained during that time wherewithal to subsist by means of a devout Christian woman.

Peace being restored to the Church, he quitted his retreat, and was received in the city with joy.
St Maximus died soon after, and all were unanimous in electing Felix bishop but he persuaded the people to make choice of Quintus, his senior in the priesthood. The remainder of the saint’s estate having been confiscated in the persecution, he was advised to press his legal claim, as others had done, who thereby recovered what had been taken from them. His answer was that in poverty he should be the more secure of possessing Christ. He could not even be prevailed upon to accept what the rich offered him. He rented a little spot of land, not exceeding three acres, which he tilled with his own hands to supply his own needs and to have something left for alms. Whatever was bestowed on him he gave immediately to the poor. If he had two coats he was sure to give them the better, and often exchanged his only one for the rags of some beggar. He died in a good old age, on January 14, on which day he is commemorated in the martyrologies.

More than a century had elapsed after the death of Felix when Paulinus, a distinguished Roman senator, settled in Nola and was elected bishop there. He testifies that crowds of pilgrims came from Rome and more distant places to visit the shrine of the saint on his festival. He adds that all brought some present or other to his church, such as candles to burn at his tomb and the like; but that for his own part he offered him the homage of his tongue and himself, though an unworthy gift. He expresses his devotion in the warmest terms, and believes that all the graces he received from Heaven were conferred on him through the inter­cession of St Felix. He describes at large the pictures of the whole history of the Old Testament in the church of St Felix, which were as so many books that instructed the ignorant. The holy bishop’s enthusiasm is reflected in his verses. He relates a number of miracles which were wrought at the tomb, as of persons cured of diseases and delivered from dangers by the saint’s intercession, in several of which cases he was an eye-witness. He testifies that he himself by having recourse to Felix had been speedily succored. St Augustine also has given an account of miracles performed at the shrine. It was not formerly allowed to bury any corpse within the walls of cities, and as the church of St Felix stood outside the walls of Nola many Christians sought to be buried in it, that their faith and devotion might recommend them after death to the patronage of this holy confessor. On this matter St Paulinus consulted St Augustine, who answered him by his book On the Care for the Dead, in which he shows that the faith and devotion of such persons would serve them well after death, as the suifrages and good works of the living in behalf of the faithful departed are profitable to the latter.

As already stated, the poems of St Paulinus constitute our main authority for the life of St Felix. Of these poems Bede wrote a summary in prose, which is printed, with other documents, in the Acta Sanctorum for January 14. In the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvi (1897), pp. 22 seq., may be found a curious illustration of the confusion introduced by the martyrologist Ado, and other hagiographers, through their invention of a “St Felix in Pincis”. This confusion was probably due to the existence of a church on the Pincio at Rome dedicated to St Felix of Nola. Pope St Damasus pays a tribute in verse to Felix for a cure he himself had received. Cf. Quentin, Les Martyrologes historiques, pp. 518—522

255 St. Felix of Nola Bishop distributed inheritance to the poor assistant to St. Maximus of Nola tomb famous for miracles 
happy (= Felix)
Son of Hermias a Syrian Roman soldier born on his father's estate at Nola near Naples, Italy. On the death of his father, Felix distributed his inheritance to the poor, was ordained by Bishop St. Maximus of Nola, and became his assistant.
When Maximus fled to the mountains to escape the persecution of Decius, Felix was arrested and beaten for his faith instead. Legend says he was freed by an angel so he could help his sick bishop. Felix hid Maximus from soldiers in a vacant building. When the two were safely inside, a spider quickly spun a web over the door, fooling the imperial forces into thinking it was long abandoned, and they left without finding the Christians. The two managed to hide from authorities until the persecution ended with the death of Decius in 251.
Even after Decius' death in 251, Felix was a hunted man but kept well hidden until the persecution ended. When Maximus died, the people unanimously selected Felix as their Bishop, but he declined the honor in favor of Quintus, a senior priest. Felix spent the rest of his life on a small piece of land sharing what he had with the poor, and died there on January 14.

His tomb soon became famous for the miracles reported there, and when St. Paulinus became bishop of Nola almost a century later (410), he wrote about his predecessor, the source of our information about him, adding legendary material that had grown up about Felix in the intervening century.

Patronage against eye disease; against eye trouble; against false witness; against lies; against perjury; domestic animals; eyes. 
Representation cobweb; deacon in prison; spiderweb; young priest carrying an old man (Maximus) on his shoulders; young priest chained in prison with a pitcher and potsherds near him; young priest with a bunch of grapes (symbolizes his care of the aged Maximus); young priest with a spider; young priest with an angel removing his chains
258 The Holy Martyrs Quadratus of Nicomedia, Saturinus, Rufinus and others suffered during the persecutions of the emperor Decius (249-251) and his successor Valerian (253-259).   St Quadratus was descended from an illustrious family. Possessing considerable wealth, the saint did not spare his means in helping fellow Christians, languishing in prison for the faith.  When the envoy of the impious Decius, the proconsul Perennius, arrived in Nicomedia, St Quadratus voluntarily appeared before him, in order to strengthen the courage of the imprisoned brethren by his self-sacrificing decision. At first Perennius attempted to lure Quadratus from Christ, promising him rewards and honors.
Then, seeing the futility of his attempts, he cast the saint into prison and gave orders to lay him down on a bed of nails and to lay a large stone on him.

Setting out for Nicea, the proconsul commanded that all the imprisoned Christians be brought after him. In that number was St Quadratus. Upon arriving in the city, St Quadratus implored that they be led to the pagan temple. As soon as they untied his hands and feet, he began to overturn and destroy the idols. By order of the proconsul, they gave Quadratus over to torture.
Enduring terrible torments, the saint held firm in spirit and by his act encouraged the other martyrs, whose wounds were seared with burning candles.
Quadratus_Anastasia_Michael_the_new

During the suffering of the martyrs, suddenly there shone a brilliant cloud, but the pagans found themselves in total darkness. In the ensuing silence was heard the singing of angels glorifying God. Many of those present confessed themselves Christians. Perennius ascribed the miracle to sorcery, and gave orders to take them to prison.

From Nicea the martyrs walked behind the proconsul to Apamea, then to Caesarea, Apollonia and the Hellespont, where they tortured them in all sorts of ways, hoping to make them deny Christ.
They tied St Quadratus into a sack filled with poisonous serpents, and threw it into a deep pit. On the following morning, everyone was astonished to see the martyr whole and unharmed. When they began to beat him mercilessly, two noblemen, Saturinus and Rufinus, were moved with pity for the martyr. This was observed, and Saturinus and Rufinus were beheaded.
Perennius subjected the martyr to even more fierce and refined tortures, but was not able to break his spirit. The saint lost his strength and was hardly able to move. For the last time the proconsul urged the martyr to abjure Christ. Marshalling his strength, the saint firmly replied,
"Since childhood I have acknowledged Christ as the one and only God, and I know no other."
The proconsul gave orders to light the fire, make the iron grate red-hot and throw the martyr on it. Having blessed himself with the Sign of the Cross, St Quadratus laid himself down upon the red-hot couch as upon a soft bed, emerging unharmed from the flames. In frustration, the proconsul gave orders to behead St Quadratus.
258 The holy Virgin Martyr Agnes Many miracles occurred at the grave relics rest in the church built in her honor, along the Via Nomentana born at Rome during the third century. Romæ pássio sanctæ Agnétis, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Præfécto Urbis Symphrónio, ígnibus injécta, sed iis per oratiónem ejus exstínctis, gládio percússa est.  De ea beátus Hierónymus hæc scribit: « Omnium géntium lítteris atque linguis, præcípue in Ecclésiis, Agnétis vita laudáta est; quæ et ætátem vicit et tyránnum, et títulum castitátis martyrio consecrávit ».
       At Rome, the passion of St. Agnes, virgin, who under Symphronius, governor of the city, was thrown into the fire, but after it was extinguished by her prayers, she was slain with the sword.  Of her, St. Jerome writes: "Agnes is praised in the writings and by the tongues of all nations, especially in the churches.  She overcame the weakness of her age, conquered the cruelty of the tyrant, and consecrated her chastity by martyrdom."

304 ST AGNES, VIRGIN AND MARTYR   
ST AGNES has always been looked upon in the Church as a special patroness of bodily purity. She is one of the most popular of Christian saints, and her name is commemorated every day in the canon of the Mass. Rome was the scene of her triumph, and Prudentius says that her tomb was shown within sight of that city. She suffered perhaps not long after the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian, whose cruel edicts were published in March in the year 303. We learn from St Ambrose and St Augustine that she was only thirteen years of age at the time of her glorious death. Her riches and beauty excited the young noblemen of the first families in Rome to contend as rivals for her hand. Agnes answered them all that she had consecrated her virginity to a heavenly husband, who could not be beheld by mortal eyes. Her suitors, finding her resolution unshakable, accused her to the governor as a Christian, not doubting that threats and torments would prove more effective with one of her tender years on whom
allurements could make no impression. The judge at first employed the mildest expressions and most seductive promises, to which Agnes paid no regard, repeating always that she could have no other spouse but Jesus Christ. He then made use of threats, but found her endowed with a masculine courage, and even eager to suffer torment and death. At last terrible fires were made., and iron hooks, racks and other instruments of torture displayed before her, with threats of immediate execution. The heroic child surveyed them undismayed, and made good cheer in the presence of the fierce and cruel executioners. She was so far from betraying the least symptom of terror that she even expressed her joy at the sight, and offered herself to the rack. She was then dragged before the idols and commanded to offer incense, but could, St Ambrose tells us, by no means be compelled to move her hand, except to make the sign of the cross.

The governor, seeing his measures ineffectual, said he would send her to a house of prostitution, where what she prized so highly should be exposed to the insults of the brutal and licentious youth of Rome.* {* On such vile methods of breaking down the constancy of Christian maidenhood Ter­tullian in his Apologia comments as follows “By condemning the Christian maid rather to the lewd youth than to the lion, you have acknowledged that a stain of purity is more dreaded by us than any torments or death. Yet your cruel cunning avails you not, but rather serves to gain men over to our holy religion.”} Agnes answered that Jesus Christ was too jealous of the purity of His chosen ones to suffer it to be violated in such a manner, for He was their defender and protector. “You may”, said she, “stain your sword with my blood, but you will never be able to profane my body, conse­crated to Christ.

The governor was so incensed at this that he ordered her to be immediately led to the place of shame with liberty to all to abuse her person at pleasure. Many young profligates ran thither, full of wicked desires, but were seized with such awe at the sight of the saint that they durst not approach her; one only excepted, who, attempting to be rude to her, was that very instant, by a flash, as it were of lightning from Heaven, struck blind, and fell trembling to the ground. His companions, terrified, took him up and carried him to Agnes, who was singing hymns of praise to Christ, her protector. The virgin by prayer restored his sight and his health.

The chief accuser of the saint, who had at first sought to gratify his lust and avarice, now, in a spirit of vindictiveness, incited the judge against her, his passion­ate fondness being changed into fury. The governor needed no encouragement, for he was highly exasperated to see himself set at defiance by one of her tender age and sex. Being resolved therefore upon her death, he condemned her to be beheaded. Agnes, filled with joy on hearing this sentence, “went to the place of execution more cheerfully”, says St Ambrose, “than others go to their wedding”. The executioner had instructions to use all means to induce her to give way, but Agnes remained constant; and having made a short prayer, bowed down her neck to receive the death stroke. The spectators shed tears to see this beautiful child loaded with fetters, and offering herself fearlessly to the sword of the executioner, who with trembling hand cut off her head at one stroke. Her body was buried at a short distance from Rome, beside the Nomentan road.

It is necessary to add to the account (based mainly on Prudentius), which is given above by Alban Butler, that modern authorities incline to the view that little reliance can be placed on the details of the story. They point out that the “acts of St Agnes, attributed unwarrantably to St Ambrose, can hardly be older than A.D. 415, and that these seem to represent an attempt to harmonize and embroider the discordant data found in the then surviving traditions. St Ambrose, as just quoted, in his quite genuine sermon De virginibus (A.D. 377), says of St Agnes’s martyrdom cervicem inflexit, “she bent her neck”, from which it is commonly inferred that she was decapitated. *{* A. S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns (1922), p. 6g. urges that inflexit “may mean bent aside in order to admit the point of the sword”, and quotes parallel passages from the classics in support of this view. This is also the view of Father Jubaru. There can be no question that stabbing in the throat was a common way of despatching the condemned, and was regarded as the most merciful form of coup de grace. St Ambrose calls the execu­tioner “percussor”. This view is supported by Prudentius’s explicit statement that her head was struck off at one blow. On the other hand, the epitaph written by Pope St Damasus speaks of “flames”, and beyond this says nothing as to the manner of her death; while from the beautiful hymn, Agnes beatae virginis (which Walpole, Dreves and others now recognize as a genuine work of St Ambrose), it clearly follows that she was not beheaded, otherwise she could not after the blow was struck (percussa) have drawn her cloak modestly around her and have covered her face with her hand. It seems plain that in the writer’s view she was stabbed in the throat or breast. From these apparent contradictions many critics conclude that already in the second half of the fourth century all memory of the exact circum­stances of the martyrdom had been forgotten, and that only a vague tradition survived.

In any case, however, there can be no possible doubt of the fact that St Agnes was martyred, and that she was buried beside the Via Nomentana in the cemetery afterwards called by her name. Here a basilica was erected in her honour before 354 by Constantina, daughter of Constantine and wife of Gallus; and the terms of the acrostic inscription set up in the apse are still preserved, but it tells us nothing about St Agnes except that she was “a virgin and “victorious. Again, the name of St Agnes is entered in the Depositio martyrum of A.D. 354, under the date January 21, together with the place of her burial. There is also abundant sub­sidiary evidence of early cultus in the frequent occurrence of representations of the child martyr in “gold glasses, etc., and in the prominence given to her name in all kinds of Christian literature. “Agnes, Thecla and Mary were with me, said St Martin to Sulpicius Severus, where he seems to assign precedence to Agnes even above our Blessed Lady. St Agnes is, as remarked above, one of the saints named in the canon of the Mass.

It is quite possible that Father Jubaru is right in his attempt to reconcile the data supplied by Pope Damasus and St Ambrose, but it would not follow as a necessary consequence that he is also right in his theory that in the Greek “acts” we have an amalgamation of the story of two different St Agneses. With regard to the great St Agnes, he contends that she was a child in Rome, that she con­secrated to God her virginity, that she turned away from all suitors, and when persecution came that she deliberately left her parents’ house and offered herself to martyrdom, that she was threatened with death by fire in an attempt to shake her constancy, but that, as she gave no sign of yielding, she was in fact stabbed in the throat. Father Jubaru in his elaborate monograph further claims to have discovered the reliquary, containing the greater portion of the skull of the youthful martyr, in the treasury of the Sancta sanctorum at the Lateran. This treasury was opened in 1903 after it had been hidden from view for many hundred years, permission to do so having been obtained from Pope Leo XIII. The relic is considered by Father Grisar, s.j., and by many other archaeologists to be in all probability authentic, since a regular custom had grown up in the ninth century of separating the head from the rest of the bones when entire bodies of saints were enshrined in the churches. It also seems certain that the body of St Agnes was at that date preserved under the altar of her basilica, and further that on opening the case in 1605 it was found without a head. From a medical examination of the fragments of the skull in the Sancta sanctorum, Dr Lapponi pronounced that the teeth showed conclusively that the head was that of a child about thirteen years of age. The more extravagant miracles which occur in the so-called “acts” are now admitted by all to be a fiction of the biographer. The case of St Agnes is, therefore, typical, and affords conclusive proof that the preposterous legends so often invented by later writers who wish to glorify the memory of a favourite saint cannot in themselves be accepted as proof that the martyrdom is fabulous and that the saint never existed.

In art St Agnes is commonly represented with a lamb and a palm, the lamb, no doubt, being originally suggested by the resemblance of the word agnus (a lamb) to the name Agnes. In Rome on the feast of St Agnes each year, while the choir in her church on the Via Nomentana are singing the antiphon Stans a dextris ejus agnus nive candidior (On her right hand a lamb whiter than snow), two white lambs are offered at the sanctuary rails. They are blessed and then cared for until the time comes for shearing them. Out of their wool are woven the pallia which, on the vigil of SS. Peter and Paul, are laid upon the altar in the Confessio at St Peter’s immediately over the body of the Apostle. These pallia are sent to archbishops throughout the Western church, “from the body of Blessed Peter”, in token of the jurisdiction which they derive ultimately from the Holy See, the centre of religious authority.

Until the feast of St Peter Nolasco, displaced by that of St John Bosco, was fixed for January 28, there was in the general Western calendar on that day a “second feast” of St Agnes (she still has a commemoration in the Mass and Office of the 28th). This observance can be traced back to the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries, and is not altogether easy to explain. The addition of the words de nativitate or in genuinum, which meets us in certain liturgical texts of the seventh or eighth centuries, would seem to suggest that January 28 was the day on which St Agnes actually died, while the feast of January 21—de passione, as it is sometimes described—marks the day when the martyr was brought to trial and threatened with torture. In view, however, of the prominence which the “octave” has in later times acquired in our Christian liturgy, it is curious that the one feast should occur exactly a week after the other. We have evidence that the Circumcision was called “Octavas Domini” already in the sixth century, and it must be remembered that our present Missal, following usages still more ancient, which were in fact pre­ Christian in their origin, provides a special commemoration for the departed in die septimo, trigesimo et anniversario—in other words, the week day, the month day and the year day. It does not, therefore, seem by any means impossible that we have here a vestige of some primitive form of octave. Dom Baumer has called atten­tion to the fact that the primitive octave implied no more than a commemoration of the feast at the week-end without any reference to it upon the intermediate days.

The “acts” of St Agnes are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, January 21. The Greek “acts” were first edited by P. Franchi de Cavalieri, S.  Agnese nella tradizione e nella legenda (1899), together with a valuable discussion of the whole question. See also the monograph of F. Jubaru, Sainte Agnes d’apres de nouvelles recherches (1907) and further Sainte Agnes, vierge et martyre (1909) ; DAC., vol. i, cc. 905—965 ; Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 227—228 ; P. Franchi in Studi e Testi, vol. xix, pp. 141—164; Bessarione, vol. viii (1911), pp. 218—245 ; the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), vol. i, p. 196; CMII., pp. 52—53, 66; S. Baumer, Geschichte des Breviers (1895), p. 325; and, for the relics, Grisar, Die Römische Kapelle Sancta Sanctorum und ihr Schatz (1909), p. 103. And cf. St Ambrose, De virginibus in Migne, PL., vol. xvi, cc. 200—202; and Prudentius, Peristephanon, 14. 
Her parents were Christians and they raised her in the Christian Faith. From her youth she devoted herself to God, and dedicated herself to a life of virginity, refusing all other suitors.

When she refused to enter into marriage with the son of the city official Symphronius, one of his associates revealed to him that Agnes was a Christian. The wicked Eparch decided to subject the holy virgin to shame and he ordered that she be stripped and and sent to a brothel for disdaining the pagan gods. But the Lord would not permit the saint to suffer shame. As soon as she was disrobed, long thick hair grew from her head covering her body. An angel was also appointed to guard her.
Standing at the door of the brothel, he shone with a heavenly light which blinded anyone who came near her.

The son of the Eparch also came to defile the virgin, but fell down dead before he could touch her. Through the fervent prayer of St Agnes, he was restored to life. Before his father and many other people he proclaimed, "There is one God in the heavens and on earth: the Christian God, and the other gods are but dust and ashes!" After seeing this miracle, 160 men believed in God and were baptized, and then suffered martyrdom.

St Agnes, at the demand of the pagan priests, was given over to torture. They tried to burn her as a witch, but the saint remained unharmed in the fire, praying to God. After this they killed her by stabbing her in the throat. Through her death at the age of thirteen, St Agnes escaped everlasting death and inherited eternal life. The holy virgin martyr was buried by her parents in a field they owned outside of Rome.

Many miracles occurred at the grave of St Agnes. Her holy and grace-filled relics rest in the church built in her honor, along the Via Nomentana.
  
Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young—12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century. Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning, strangling.

Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men wanted to marry. Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities as being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. She was condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a catacomb that eventually was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built a basilica in her honor.

Comment:    Like that of modern Maria Goretti, the martyrdom of a virginal young girl made a deep impression on a society enslaved to a materialistic outlook. Like Agatha, who died in similar circumstances, Agnes is a symbol that holiness does not depend on length of years, experience or human effort. It is a gift God offers to all.
259 Sts. Marian a lector or reader; and James a deacon; experienced visions, including martyred bishop
    Often, it’s hard to find much detail from the lives of saints of the early Church. What we know about the third-century martyrs we honor today is likewise minimal. But we do know that they lived and died for the faith. Almost 2,000 years later, that is enough reason to honor them.
    Born in North Africa, Marian was a lector or reader; James was a deacon. For their devotion to the faith they suffered during the persecution of Valerian.
    Prior to their persecution Marian and James were visited by two bishops who encouraged them in the faith not long before they themselves were martyred. A short time later, Marian and James were arrested and interrogated. The two readily confessed their faith and, for that, were tortured. While in prison they are said to have experienced visions, including one of the two bishops who had visited them earlier.
    On the last day of their lives, Marian and James joined other Christians facing martyrdom. They were blindfolded and then put to death. Their bodies were thrown into the water. The year was 259.
262 Saint Agrippina martyr, whose shrine is venerated as a site of miracles
Item Romæ sanctæ Agrippínæ, Vírginis et Mártyris, quæ sub Valeriáno Imperatóre martyrium consummávit.  Ipsíus autem corpus, in Sicíliam translátum ac Menis cónditum, multis miráculis corúscat.
    Also at Rome, St. Agrippina, virgin and martyr, under the emperor Valerian.  Her body was taken to Sicily, where it works many miracles.
Agrippina is believed to have come from a good Roman family. She was caught up in the persecutions instituted by Emperor Valerian or Diocletian and was beheaded or scourged. Her body was taken to Mineo, Sicily, by three devout Christian women. The gravesite became a popular pilgrimage destination, noted for miracles through Agrippina's intercession.
265 St. Dionysius the Great of Alexandria Bishop of Alexandria.
Alexandríæ sancti Dionysii Epíscopi, summæ eruditiónis viri, qui, multis confessiónibus clarus et pro passiónum tormentorúmque diversitáte magníficus, plenus diérum Conféssor quiévit, Valeriáni et Galliéni Imperatórum tempóribus.
    At Alexandria, St. Denis, bishop, a man of very great learning.  In the time of Emperors Valerian and Gallienus, renowned for often having confessed the faith, and illustrious for the various sufferings and torments he had endured, full of days he rested in peace a confessor.

265 St Dionysius, Bishop Of Alexandria
St Basil and other Greek writers honour this prelate with the epithet of “the Great”, and St Athanasius calls him the “Teacher of the Catholic Church”.  Alexandria, which was the place of his education, was then the centre of the sciences, and Dionysius whilst yet a heathen gave himself to learning. He assures us that he was converted to the Christian faith by a vision and a voice, which spoke to him, as well as by diligent reading and an impartial examination.
   He became a scholar in the catechetical school of Origen, and made such progress that when Heraclas was made bishop the care of that school was committed to Dionysius, who conducted it for fifteen years. In 247 he was himself chosen bishop. Soon after the populace, stirred up by a certain heathen prophet at Alexandria, raised a fierce persecution, of which St Dionysius wrote an account to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch.
  Then the edict of Decius put arms into the hands of the enemies of the Christians, and directly the decree reached Alexandria the governor sent a troop to arrest the bishop. They looked everywhere for him except in his house, where he was all the time, but at the end of four days he left it with his household to try and get away. They were seen and arrested, except one servant, who told a peasant whom he met going to a wedding what had happened. The peasant was not a Christian but seemed glad of an excuse to fight the police, for he rushed off and told the wedding party, who “with a single impulse” as if by agreement, ran to the rescue and drove off the guards. St Dionysius thought the wedding-guests were robbers and offered them his clothes. Then when it was explained that
St Dionysius was free he was grieved at losing a martyr’s crown and refused to budge. The Egyptians did not understand this idea at all, so they seized him, put him on a donkey and drove him to a place of refuge in the Libyan desert. Here Dionysius remained with two companions, governing the church of Alexandria from thence, until the per­secution ceased.
  
Then the Church was rent by the schism formed by Novatian against Pope St Cornelius. The antipope sent him a request for his support, and St Dionysius answered, “You ought to have suffered all things rather than have caused a schism in the Church. To die in defence of its unity would be as glorious as laying down one’s life for its faith in my opinion, more glorious because here the safety of the whole Church is concerned. If you bring your brethren back to union your fault will be forgotten. If you cannot gain others, at least save your own soul.”

   In opposition to the heresy of Novatian, who denied to the Church the power of remitting certain sins, he ordered that communion should be refused to no one that asked it in the right dispositions at the hour of death.

   When Fabius of Antioch seemed inclined to favour the rigorism of Novatian towards the lapsed, Dionysius wrote him several letters against that principle. In one he relates that an old man called Serapion, of hitherto blameless life, had offered pagan sacrifice and had therefore been refused communion. In his last sickness he could get absolution from no one, till he cried out, “Why am I detained here? I beg to be delivered.” Then he sent his little grandson to a priest who, being sick and not able to come, sent the Holy Eucharist by the child (for during persecutions the Blessed Sacrament is allowed to be so carried and received in domestic communion). So the aged man died in peace. St Dionysius contends that his life was miraculously preserved that he might receive communion.

   At this time a pestilence began to rage and made great havoc for several years. St Dionysius left an account of its terrors, in which he contrasts the behaviour of the Christians, many of whom died martyrs of charity, with the selfishness—and greater mortality—of the pagans.

   In opposing the false opinion that Christ will reign on earth with his elect a thousand years before the day of judgement Dionysius showed himself a keen scriptural critic, and in his enthusiasm against dogmatic error, used arguments against St John’s authorship of the Apocalypse which seventeen hundred years later were revived by “higher critics”.

St Dionysius took part also in the controversy about baptisms by heretics, in which he seems to have inclined to the view that such baptisms were invalid but followed the practice directed by Pope St Stephen I {254-246}. This indefatigable bishop also had to proceed against some of his brethren in the Pentapolis who professed Sabellianism. In writing against them he vented opinions that caused him to be delated to his namesake, Pope St Dionysius. The pope wrote expounding the bishop’s errors, whereupon he published an explanation of his teaching.

Persecution being renewed by Valerian in 257, Emilian, prefect of Egypt, had St Dionysius with some of his clergy brought before him and pressed them to sacrifice to the gods, the protectors of the empire. St Dionysius replied, “All men do not worship the same deities. We worship one only God, the creator of all things, who has bestowed the empire on Valerian and Gallienus. We offer up prayers to Him for the peace and prosperity of their reign.” The prefect tried to persuade them to worship the Roman deities with their own God, and then sent them into banishment to Kephro in Libya.

The exile of St Dionysius this time lasted for two years, but when he was allowed to return to his see in 260 it was to a distracted city. A political upheaval brought on Alexandria all the evils of civil war, and it was a prey to violence of all sorts. Trifling incidents caused riots. The town ran to arms, the streets were filled with dead bodies, and the gutters ran with blood. The peaceable demeanour of the Christians could not protect them from violence, as St Dionysius complains, and a man could neither keep at home nor stir out of doors without danger. He even had to communicate with his people by letter, for it was easier, he wrote, to go from East to West than from Alexandria to Alexandria. Plague again added its havoc, and, whilst the Christians attended the sick with care and charity, the heathen threw putrid carcasses into the highways, and often put their dying friends out of doors and left them to perish in the streets.

Towards the end of the year 265 St Dionysius died at Alexandria, after he had governed that church with great wisdom and sanctity about seventeen years. A church dedicated in his honour, but much more by his virtues and writings, says St Epiphanius, preserved his memory, there, of which only a few fragments have survived.  St Dionysius of Alexandria is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on this day, and also on October 3, where he is erroneously named as a martyr together with his companions in his first exile and others. He is commemorated in the canon of the Syrian and Maronite Mass.

Almost all we know of St Dionysius is derived from Eusebius and from the extracts from the saint’s letters that Eusebius preserved for us. There are a few references to him in the writings of St Athanasius and other early fathers, but they do not amount to much. The best edition of Dionysius’s literary remains is that of C. L. Feltoe (1904), who has also produced (1918) another book of translations and comments. There is an exhaustive article devoted to this Dionysius by Abbot Chapman in the Catholic Encyclopedia. See also Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchilchen Literatur, vol. ii, pp. 206—237 DTC., vol. iv (1911), cc. 425—427 the Journal of Theological Studies, vol. xxv (1924), pp. 364—377 the Zeitschrift N.—T. Wissenschaft, 1924, pp. 235—247 the monographs of F. Dittrich (1867) and J. Burel (1910) and H. Delehaye, Les passions des martyrs… (1921), pp. 429—435.  

Born in Alexandria, Dionysius had a vision and converted to Christianity. He entered a catechetical school and studied under Origen, whom he succeeded as master of the school. Bishop Heraclas named him to this position in 232. In 247, Dionysius was elected bishop of Alexandria. During the persecution of the Church in 249, Dionysius was arrested but rescued and taken to the Libyan desert. He returned to Alexandria but had to flee again in another persecution. Dionysius supported Pope St. Cornelius in his battle against Novatian. After his second exile, this time to Kephro in the Libyan desert, Dionysius returned to Alexandria to find plague and civil unrest. He comforted the plague victims and protected Christians.
St. Athanasius called Dionysius “the Teacher of the Catholic Church.” St. Basil surnamed him “the Great.”

He studied under Origen, and eventually became the head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, Egypt. Archbishop of Alexandria. In 250 during the persecution of Decius, Dionysius tried to flee the city, but was caught and imprisoned. He was rescued by Christians and hid in the Libyan desert until 251. During the Novatian schism Dionysius supported Pope Cornelius, and helped unify the East. Exiled during the persecution of Valerian in 257 to the desert of Mareotis; he returned to Alexandria when toleration was decreed by Gallienus in 260. Dionysius dealt leniently with the Christians who had lapsed during the persecutions. He wrote a noted commentary on Revelations. Greek Father of the Church.  Born  c.190 in Alexandria, Egypt  Died  265 of natural causes
Prayer for Harmony
God the Father, source of everything divine, you are good surpassing everything good and just surpassing everything just. In you is tranquility, as well as peace and harmony. Heal our divisions and restore us to the unity of love, which is similar to your divine nature. Let the bond of love and the ties of divine affection make us one in the Spirit by your peace which renders everything peaceful. We ask this through the grace, mercy, and compassion of your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
St Dionysius of Alexandria, Bishop and Educator
270 St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (means the wonderworker) first recorded vision of Our Lady.
Gregory was of a distinguished pagan family. He was born at Neocaesarea, Pontus, and studied law there. About 233, he and his brother, Athenodorus, accompanied his sister, who was joining her husband in Caesarea, Palestine, while they continued on to Beirut to continue their law studies.
They met Origen and instead of going to Beirut, entered his school at Caesarea, studied theology, were converted to Christianity by Origen, and became his disciples. Gregory returned to Neocaesarea about 238, intending to practice law, but was elected bishop by the seventeen Christians of the city. It soon became apparent that he was gifted with remarkable powers. He preached eloquently, made so many converts he was able to build a church, and soon was so reknowned for his miracles that he was surnamed Thaumaturgus (the wonderworker).
He was a much-sought-after arbiter for his wisdom and legal knowledge and ability, advised his flock to go into hiding when Decius' persecution of the Christians broke out in 250, and fled to the desert with his deacon. On his return, he ministered to his flock when plague struck his See and when the Goths devastated Pontus, 252-254, which he described in his "Canonical Letter."
He participated in the synod of Antioch, 264-265, against Samosata, and fought sabellianism and Tritheism. It is reported that at his death at Neocaesarea, only seventeen unbelievers were left in the city. He is invoked against floods and earthquakes (at one time he reportedly stopped the flooding Lycus, and at another, he moved a mountain).
According to Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Thaumaturgus experienced a vision of Our Lady, the first such recorded vision. He wrote a panegyric to Origen, a treatise on the Creed, and a dissertation addressed to Theopompus; St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote a panegyric to Gregory Thaumaturgus.

Saint Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Neocaesarea
Born in the city of Neocaesarea (northern Asia Minor) into a pagan family. Having received a fine education, from his youth he strived for Truth, but the thinkers of antiquity were not able to quench his thirst for knowledge. Truth was revealed to him only in the Holy Gospel, and the youth became a Christian.

For the continuation of his studies St Gregory went to Alexandria, known then as a center for pagan and Christian learning. The youth, eager for knowledge, went to the Alexandrian Catechetical School, where the presbyter Origen taught. Origen was a famous teacher, possessing a great strength of mind and profound knowledge. St Gregory became a student of Origen. Afterwards, the saint wrote about his mentor: "This man received from God a sublime gift, to be an interpreter of the Word of God for people, to apprehend the Word of God, as God Himself did use it, and to explain it to people, insofar as they were able to understand it." St Gregory studied for eight years with Origen, and was baptized by him.

The ascetic life of St Gregory, his continence, purity and lack of covetousness aroused envy among his conceited and sin-loving peers, pagans that they were, and they decided to slander St Gregory. Once, when he was conversing with philosophers and teachers in the city square, a notorious harlot came up to him and demanded payment for the sin he had supposedly committed with her. At first St Gregory gently remonstrated with her, saying that she perhaps mistook him for someone else. But the profligate woman would not be quieted. He then asked a friend to give her the money. Just as the woman took the unjust payment, she immediately fell to the ground in a demonic fit, and the fraud became evident. St Gregory said a prayer over her, and the devil left her. This was the beginning of St Gregory's miracles.

Having returned to Neocaesarea, the saint fled from the worldly affairs into which influential townsmen persistently sought to push him. He went into the desert, where by fasting and prayer he attained to high spiritual accomplishment and the gifts of clairvoyance and prophecy. St Gregory loved life in the wilderness and wanted to remain in solitude until the end of his days, but the Lord willed otherwise.

The bishop of the Cappadocian city of Amasea, Thedimos, having learned of St Gregory's ascetic life, decided to have him made Bishop of Neocaesarea. But having foreseen in spirit the intent of Bishop Thedimos, the saint hid himself from the messengers of the bishop who were entrusted to find him. Then Bishop Thedimos ordained the absent saint as Bishop of Neocaesarea, beseeching the Lord that He Himself would sanctify the unusual ordination.
St Gregory perceived the extraordinary event as a manifestation of the will of God and he did not dare to protest. This episode in the life of St Gregory was recorded by St Gregory of Nyssa (January 10). He relates that St Gregory of Neocaesarea received the episcopal dignity only after Bishop Thedimos of Amasea performed all the canonical rites over him.

During this time, the heresy of Sabellius and Paul of Samosata began to spread. They taught falsely concerning the Holy Trinity. St Gregory prayed fervently and diligently imploring God and His most pure Mother to reveal to him the true faith. The All-Holy Virgin Mary appeared to him, radiant like the sun, and with Her was the Apostle John the Theologian dressed in archepiscopal vestments.

By the command of the Mother of God, the Apostle John taught the saint how to correctly and properly confess the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. St Gregory wrote down everything that St John the Theologian revealed to him. The Mystery of the Symbol of the Faith, written down by St Gregory of Neocaesarea, is a great divine revelation in the history of the Church. The teaching about the Holy Trinity in Orthodox Theology is based on it. Subsequently it was used by the holy Fathers of the Church: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa. The Symbol of St Gregory of Neocaesarea was later examined and affirmed in the year 325 by the First Ecumenical Council, showing his enduring significance for Orthodoxy.

Having become a bishop, St Gregory set off to Neocaesarea. Along the way from Amasea he expelled devils from a pagan temple, the priest of which he converted to Christ. The convert was witness to still another miracle of the saint, at his word a large stone shifted from its place.

The preaching of the saint was direct, lively and fruitful. He taught and worked miracles in the name of Christ: he healed the sick, he helped the needy, he settled quarrels and complaints. Two brothers sharing an inheritance were not able to agree over the property of their dead father. There was a large lake over which they argued, for each of the brothers wanted the lake for himself. They both gathered their friends together, and were ready to come to blows. St Gregory persuaded them to delay their fight until the following day, and he himself prayed all night long at the shore of the lake which sparked the quarrel. When dawn broke, everyone saw that the lake had dried up or gone underground. Through the intense prayer of the saint, now there was only a stream, and its course defined the boundary line. Another time, during the construction of a church, he commanded a hill to move and make room at the place of the foundation.

When a persecution against Christians began under the emperor Decius (249-251), St Gregory led his flock to a faraway mountain. A certain pagan, knowing about the hiding place of the Christians, informed the persecutors. Soldiers surrounded the mountain. The saint went out into an open place, raised up his hands to heaven and ordered to his deacon to do the same. The soldiers searched the whole mountain, and they went several times right past those praying, but not seeing them, they gave up and went away. In the city they reported that there was nowhere to hide on the mountain: no one was there, and only two trees stood beside each other. The informer was struck with amazement, he repented of his ways and became a fervent Christian.

St Gregory returned to Neocaesarea after the end of the persecution. By his blessing church Feasts were established in honor of the martyrs who had suffered for Christ.

By his saintly life, his effective preaching, working of miracles and graced guiding of his flock, the saint steadily increased the number of converts to Christ. When St Gregory first ascended his cathedra, there were only seventeen Christians in Neocaesarea. At his death, only seventeen pagans remained in the city.

GREGORY THAUMATURGUS   Also known as  Gregory of Neo Caesarea; Gregory of Neocaesarea; Gregory of Pontus; Gregory the Wonder Worker; The Wonder Worker; 
Born to a wealthy and distinguished pagan family. Trained in law and rhetoric in his youth. Brother-in-law to the Roman governor of Palestine. Father died when Theodore was age 14. Originally planned to study at the law school in Beirut, but when he arrived at Caesarea with his brother-in-law's entourage, Palestine he encountered Origen, head of the catechetical school in Alexandria. He and his brother Athenodorus each gave up the idea of law school, became students of Origen, and converted to Christianity; Theodore changed his name to Gregory. Studied philosophy and theology for seven years under Origen. Returned to Pontus c.238.

Bishop of Caesarea, a diocese with only 17 Christians at the time. Converted most of his bishopric; tradition says there were only 17 pagans left at the time of his death. Instituted the celebration of martyrs, teachings about the saints, and celebration of saint feast days as a way to interest pagans in the Church. During the Decian persecutions c.250, he and his flock fled into the desert. Worked among the sick when the plague struck soon after, and with refugees during the invasion of Pontus by the Goths in 252-254. Attended the First Council of Antioch in 264-265. Opposed the heresies of sabellianism and Tritheism. Used his legal training to help his parishioners, and settle disputes between them without taking their problems to the civil courts controlled by pagans. Oversaw the council that chose Saint Alexander the Charcoal Burner as the first bishop of Comana. Saint Macrina the Elder heard Gregory preach many times in her youth, and passed his wisdom onto her grandsons Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Noted theological writer.
As you might expect from some one surnamed the Wonder Worker, there were many miraculous events in Gregory's life.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes that the Wonder-Worker was the first person known to receive a vision of the Theotokus. The Virgin and Saint John the Baptist appeared to him in a vision, and gave him what became a statement of doctrine on the Trinity.
Gregory had the power of healing by laying on of his hands. Often the healing was so powerful that the patient was cured of his illness, and became a fervent convert on the spot.
During the construction of a church for his growing flock, the builders ran into a problem with a huge buried boulder. Gregory ordered the rock to move out of the way of his church; it did.
In order to stop the River Lycus from its frequent and damaging floods, Gregory planted his staff at a safe point near the river bank. He then prayed that the river would never rise past the staff. The staff took root, grew into a large tree, and the river never flooded past it again. This act led to his patronage against floods and flooding.
Two local pagans, hearing that Gregory was a soft touch, decided to con the bishop. One lay beside the road where Gregory was travelling, and pretended to be dead. The other stopped the bishop, pleaded poverty, and asked for money to bury his dead friend. Gregory had no money with him, so he took off his cloak and threw it over the "dead" man, telling the "live" one to sell the cloak and use the funds. When Gregory had moved on, the "live" con-man found that his friend had died.
Two brothers in Gregory's diocese had inherited a piece of land that contained a lake. Unable to decide how to divide the lake, the two settled on armed combat to settle the matter. On the night before the battle, Gregory prayed for a peaceful solution to the matter. The next morning the brothers found that the lake had dried up leaving easily dividable farm land.
During Gregory's time in the desert during the Decian persecutions, an informer told the authorities where to find the bishop. Guards went to the site, but found nothing but two trees standing in isolation in the desert. The informer went back to the place and found that what the soldiers had seen as trees were actually Gregory and a deacon in prayer. This convinced the informer of the reality of Gregory's God, and he converted.
When returning from the wilderness, Gregory had to seek shelter from a sudden and violent storm. The only structure nearby was a pagan temple. Gregory made the sign of the cross to purify the place, then spent the night there in prayer, waiting out the storm. The next morning, the pagan priest arrived to receive his morning oracles. The demons who had been masquerading as pagan gods advised him that they could not stay in the purified temple or near the holy man. The priest threatened to summon the anti-Christian authorities to arrest Gregory. The bishop wrote out a note reading "Gregory to Satan: Enter". With this "permission slip" in hand, the pagan priest was able to summon his demons again.
270 Patroclus The Martyr; native of Tricassinum city (Troyes in France); loved to pray, read Holy Scriptures, fast and charitable to the poor; Lord bestowed gift of wonderworking.
He lived during the third century under the emperor Aurelian (270-275). He was a native of the city of Tricassinum (now the city of Troyes in France) and led a pious Christian life: he loved to pray, to read the Holy Scriptures, to fast and to be charitable to the poor. For this the Lord bestowed upon him the gift of wonderworking.

The emperor Aurelian summoned St Patroclus to himself and commanded him to worship idols, promising for this great honors and riches. The saint disdained idol worship saying that the emperor himself was a beggar.

"How can you call me, the emperor, a beggar?" asked Aurelian. The saint answered: "You possess many earthly treasures, but you do not have heavenly treasures. Since you do not believe in Christ and in the future life, you shall not receive the blessedness of Paradise. Therefore, you are poor."

Aurelian sentenced him to beheading by the sword. Soldiers led him to the banks of the River Sequanum (now the Seine), but suddenly their eyes were clouded, and St Patroclus at this time went across the river on the water and began to pray on a hill on the other shore. Coming to themselves, some of the soldiers were astounded at the disappearance of the martyr and they glorified God, but others attributed the miracle to magic.

A pagan woman pointed out to the soldiers that St Patroclus was on the other bank of the river. Crossing over there, the soldiers killed the martyr. His body was buried by night by the priest Eusebius and deacon Liberius.

270 St Spiridion Bishop and Confessor of our Order; Although his feast is no longer included either the Carmelite proper or the 2004 edition of the “Martyrologium Romanum”, his name is mentioned in the Byzantine “Synaxaria”. Saint Spiridion was born in Tremithous in Cyprus in 270 AD.
In Cypro natális beáti Spiridiónis Epíscopi, qui unus fuit ex illis Confessóribus, quos Galérius Maximiánus, dextro óculo effósso et sinístro póplite succíso, ad metálla damnáverat.  Hic prophetíæ dono et signórum glória ínclitus fuit, et in Nicæno Concílio philósophum éthnicum, Christiánæ religióni insultántem, devícit et ad fidem perdúxit.
    In the island of Cyprus, the birthday of blessed Spiridion, bishop.  He was one of those confessors who were condemned by Galerius Maximian to labour in the mines, after suffering the loss of his right eye and cutting of the sinews of his left knee.  This prelate was renowned for the gift of prophecy and glorious miracles, and in the Council of Nicea he confounded a heathen philosopher, who had insulted the Christian religion, and brought him to the faith.

Although his feast is no longer included either the Carmelite proper or the 2004 edition of the “Martyrologium Romanum”, his name is mentioned in the Byzantine “Synaxaria”. Saint Spiridion was born in Tremithous in Cyprus in 270 AD. Son of a poor family, he had no formal education and earned his living as a shepherd. After the death of his beloved wife, he dedicated himself to the Church and eventually rose to the office of Bishop of Tremithous. During the Maximinian persecutions he was arrested and exiled, but was returned to his see after the coming to power of Constantine. He participated in the Council of Nicea, and died around 348. When the Saracens took the island, the Cypriots opened his grave in order to remove his sacred bones to Costantinople. They found that his body had remained intact, while from the grave emanated a scent of basil, true signs of the sainthood he had shown during his life. When Costantinople fell in 1453, a Corfiot elder, Georgios Kalohairetis, brought him to Corfu, where his three children acquired the Saint's relics as an heirloom. The sacred remains then passed as the dowry of his doughter Asimia into the possession of the Voulgaris family, who placed them in their private church (which was located on the site of the Pallas Cinema). The relics of the Saint were transferred to their present church when, during the fortification of the town, the original church was demolished. The Holy Relics of the St. Spiridion go out on parade in Cyprus four times each year to commemorate times when his powerful intercession was felt. He is considered to be the island's Protector.

ST SPIRIDION, BISHOP OF TREMITHUS
MANY stories are told of this Cypriot saint, who was at the same time a shepherd, married and a bishop. Sozomen, who wrote in the middle of the fifth century, says that an invisible hand stopped a gang of thieves attempting one night to carry off some of his sheep, so that they could neither steal nor make their escape. Spiridion (or better, Spyridon), finding them thus the next morning, set them at liberty by his prayers and gave them a ram, lest they should have been up all night for nothing.

The same historian says that it was the saint’s custom to fast with his family for some days in Lent without eating anything. Once during this time, when he had no bread in his house, a traveller called to rest and refresh himself on the road. Spiridion, having nothing else, ordered some salt pork to be boiled, for he saw the traveller was very tired. Then he invited the stranger to eat. He excused himself, saying that he was a Christian. Spiridion, himself setting the example by way of courtesy, replied that therefore he was quite free to eat; thereby reminding the stranger both that ecclesiastical precepts do not bind unreasonably and that to a Christian no food is in itself forbidden.

St Spiridion was chosen bishop of Tremithus, on the seacoast near Salamis, and thenceforth combined the care of sheep with the care of souls. His diocese was very small and the inhabitant’s poor, but the Christians were regular in their lives; there remained among them some idolaters. In the persecution of Galerius he made a glorious confession of the faith. The Roman Martyrology says he was one of those who lost their right eye, had the left leg hamstrung, and in that state were sent to work in the mines, and (mistakenly) that he was among the bishops at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
There is a legend in the East that on the way to the council he fell in with a party of other bishops, who were alarmed lest the rustic simplicity of Spiridion should compromise the cause of orthodoxy. So they told their servants to cut the heads off the mules of Spiridion and his deacon, which was done. When he prepared to set off before dawn the next day and discovered the crime, Spiridion was not at all discomfited. He told the deacon to put the severed heads upon the bodies, and at once they grew together and the animals lived. But when the sun rose it was found that a mistake had been made in the dark: for the bishop’s white mule had a brown head and the deacon’s brown mule had a white head. During the council a pagan philosopher named Eulogius made an attack on Christianity, and an aged, one-eyed bishop, unpolished in manner and appear­ance, got up to reply to the urbane scoffer. He affirmed the omnipotent God and the incarnation of the Son for the redemption of all people as things beyond proof to be held by faith: did Eulogius believe them, or did he not? After a pause the philosopher was constrained to admit that he did. “Then”, said the bishop, “come with me to the church and receive the sign of faith.” And Eulogius did so, for, he said, words and arguments cannot resist virtue, meaning thereby the power of the Holy Ghost manifested in the unlearned bishop. Later writers identify this bishop with St Spiridion, but without authority. A certain person had deposited for safety in the hands of Spiridion’s daughter Irene something of great value. This he demanded of the bishop after her death; but it was not to be found and nobody knew where it was. Whereupon, it is said, St Spiridion went to the place where his daughter was buried, called her by her name, and asked where she had put the missing article. Then she answered him, giving directions where she had hid it that it might be safer: and it was found there.

Spiridion had very little learning, but he had made the Scriptures his daily study and had learned what respect is due to the word of God. Once when the bishops of Cyprus were assembled together, St Triphyllius, Bishop of Ledra (whom St Jerome commends as the most eloquent man of his time), was preaching a sermon. Mentioning that passage, “Take up thy bed, and walk”, he said “couch” instead of “bed”, thinking that word the more elegant and suitable. St Spiridion objected against this false nicety and attempt to add graces to what was more adorned with simplicity, and asked the preacher whether the word our Lord Himself had used was not good enough for him. *{* The obvious reflection that this rebuke would sometimes apply also to Alban Butler himself is modified by the further reflection that the fashions of the eighteenth century are not ours. But there are not wanting writers and speakers to-day who might with advantage ponder this anecdote.}

 The relics of St Spiridion were translated from Cyprus to Constantinople, and again to Corfu, where they are still venerated. He is the principal patron of the Catholics of Corfu, Zakynthos and Kephalonia.

Besides the relatively early references made to St Spiridion by the historians Socrates and Sozomen, it seems that a life of him was written at the beginning of the seventh century by Leontius of Neapolis. This is preserved to us only in the later adaptation of the Meta­phrast (Migne, PG., vol. cxvi, pp. 417—468). There is also a memorial discourse by Theodore of Paphos (printed in part by Usener, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Legendenliteratur, pp. 222—232, and edited complete in 1901 by S. Papageorgios), but it proves to be in large part simply a plagiarism from an anonymous Life of Bishops Metrophanes and Alexander of Constantinople (see P. Heseler, Hagiographica, 1934). It is also stated that a life of St Spiridion was written in elegiacs by his pupil, Triphyllius of Ledra, but this has not survived. In Byzantine art Spiridion is recognizable by his peculiar shepherd’s cap see, for example, G. de Jerphanion, Let églises rupestres de Cappadoce (1932); and the Byzantinische Zeitschrift for 1910, pp. 29 and 107. See P. Van den Ven, La Légende de S. Spyridon (1953), “beau travail d’édition et de critique “ (Fr F. Halkin).
272 St. Sabas "stratelates"= {military commander}  healing the sick and casting out demons in the name of Christ Roman martyr Gothic officer
Romæ sancti Sabæ, ductóris mílitum, qui, accusátus quod Christiános in cárcere deténtos visitáret, coram Júdice Christum líbere conféssus est.  Hinc ab eódem Júdice fácibus adústus et in lebétem picis fervéntis est immíssus, et, cum inde evasísset illæsus, eo miráculo septuagínta viros ad Christum convértit; qui omnes, constánter in confessióne fídei permanéntes, gládio cæsi sunt.  Postrémo et ipse, demérsus in flumen, martyrium consummávit.
    At Rome, St. Sabas, a military officer, who bravely confessed Christ before the judge when he was accused of visiting the Christians kept in prison.  For this he was burned with torches and thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch, out of which he came uninjured.  Seventy men were converted to Christ at the sight of this miracle, and as they all remained unshaken in the confession of the faith, they were put to the sword.  Sabas, however, completed his martyrdom by being cast into the river.

Saint Sabbas Stratelates came from a Gothic tribe. For his bravery he attained the high rank of military commander or "stratelates," and he served under the Roman emperor Aurelian (270-275).  From his youth, Sabbas was a Christian and he fervently followed the commands of Christ. He helped the needy, and visited Christians in prison. Because of his pure and virtuous life the saint received from the Lord the gift of wonderworking, healing the sick and casting out demons in the name of Christ.
When the emperor learned that St Sabbas was a Christian, he demanded that he apostasize. The martyr threw down his military belt and declared that he would not forsake his faith. They beat him, burned him with torches, and threw him into a cauldron with tar, but the martyr remained unharmed.
Looking on at his torments, seventy soldiers came to believe in Christ. They were beheaded by the sword. St Sabbas was thrown in prison. At midnight, while he was praying, Christ appeared to the martyr and shone on him the light of His Glory. The Savior bade him not to fear, but to stand firm. Encouraged, the Martyr Sabbas underwent new torture in the morning, and was drowned in a river in 272.
275 The Holy Martyr Synetus reader in the Roman Church under Pope Sixtus
 (the name is derived from the Greek word meaning "man of reason") was a Roman by birth, and was a reader in the Roman Church under Pope Sixtus (257-258). He was subjected to torture, and was beheaded for his brave confession of faith in the time of the emperor Aurelian
(270-275).
275 Sabina of Troyes miracles wrought at her intercession at Troyes, Sens V (RM).
In pago Tricassíno sanctæ Sabínæ Vírginis, virtútibus et miráculis gloriósæ.
    In the vicinity of Troyes, St. Sabina, a virgin, celebrated for virtues and miracles.
Saint Sabina, the alleged sister of Saint Sabinian, is said to have sought out her missing brother in Troyes, France. When she found him, he was already dead and being venerated as a saint. She herself died soon after and was highly venerated because of the miracles wrought at her intercession at Troyes, Sens, and throughout the region (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). Saint Sabina is generally portrayed in art with her brother, Saint Sabinian (Roeder). She is venerated at Troyes (Roeder).
283 Cosmas and Damian The Holy Martyrs, Wonderworkers and Unmercenary Physicians they led strict and chaste lives, and they were granted by God the gift of healing the sick
Born at Rome, brothers by birth, and physicians by profession. They suffered at Rome in the reign of the emperor Carinus (283-284). Brought up by their parents in the rules of piety, they led strict and chaste lives, and they were granted by God the gift of healing the sick. By their generosity and exceptional kindness to all, the brothers converted many to Christ. The brothers told the sick, "It is not by our own power that we treat you, but by the power of Christ, the true God. Believe in Him and be healed." Since they accepted no payment for their treatment of the infirm, the holy brothers were called "unmercenary physicians."

Their life of active service and their great spiritual influence on the people around them led many into the Church, attracting the attention of the Roman authorities. Soldiers were sent after the brothers. Hearing about this, local Christians convinced Sts Cosmas and Damian to hide for a while until they could help them escape. Unable to find the brothers, the soldiers arrested instead other Christians of the area where the saints lived. Sts Cosmas and Damian then came out of hiding and surrendered to the soldiers, asking them to release those who had been arrested because of them.

At Rome, the saints were imprisoned and put on trial. Before the Roman emperor and the judge they openly professed their faith in Christ God, Who had come into the world to save mankind and redeem the world from sin, and they resolutely refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. They said, "We have done evil to no one, we are not involved with the magic or sorcery of which you accuse us. We treat the infirm by the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we take no payment for rendering aid to the sick, because our Lord commanded His disciples, "Freely have you received, freely give" (Mt. 10: 8).

The emperor, however, continued with his demands. Through the prayer of the holy brothers, imbued with the power of grace, God suddenly struck Carinus blind, so that he too might experience the almighty power of the Lord, Who does not forgive blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt. 12:31). The people, beholding the miracle, cried out, "Great is the Christian God! There is no other God but Him!" Many of those who believed besought the holy brothers to heal the emperor, and he himself implored the saints, promising to convert to the true God, Christ the Savior, so the saints healed him. After this, Sts Cosmas and Damian were honorably set free, and once again they set about treating the sick.

What the hatred of the pagans and the ferocity of the Roman authorities could not do, was accomplished by black envy, one of the strongest passions of sinful human nature. An older physician, an instructor, under whom the holy brothers had studied the art of medicine, became envious of their fame. Driven to madness by malice, and overcome by passionate envy, he summoned the two brothers, formerly his most beloved students, proposing that they should all go together in order to gather various medicinal herbs. Going far into the mountains, he murdered them and threw their bodies into a river.

Thus these holy brothers, the Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian, ended their earthly journey as martyrs. Although they had devoted their lives to the Christian service of their neighbors, and had escaped the Roman sword and prison, they were treacherously murdered by their teacher.  The Lord glorifies those who are pleasing to God. Now, through the prayers of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian, God grants healing to all who with faith have recourse to their heavenly intercession.

The Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome should not be confused with the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor (November 1), or the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Arabia (October 17).
284  St. Crescentia storm destroyed temples; angel set martyrs free.
Martyrs St. Crescentia, Vitus and Modestus were Christians who gave their live for the Faith in the Roman province of Lucania, in southern Italy. Crescentia was Vitus' attendant. They were racked on the iron horse until their limbs were dislocated. At this juncture, a great storm arose destroyed many temples, killed a multitude of pagans. An angel now descended from heaven, set the martyrs free, and led them back to Lucania, where they peacefully expired, worn out by their sufferings.
286 St. Sebastian an officer in the imperial bodyguard and had secretly done many acts of love and charity for his brethren in the Faith.
Roman martyr; little more than the fact of his martyrdom can be proved about St. Sebastian. In the "Depositio martyrum" of the chronologer of 354 it is mentioned that Sebastian was buried on the Via Appia. St. Ambrose ("In Psalmum cxviii"; "Sermo", XX, no. sliv in PL, XV, 1497) states that Sebastian came from Milan and even in the time of St. Ambrose was venerated there. The Acts, probably written at the beginning of the fifth century and formerly ascribed erroneously to Ambrose, relate that he was an officer in the imperial bodyguard and had secretly done many acts of love and charity for his brethren in the Faith. When he was finally discovered to be a Christian, in 286, he was handed over to the Mauretanian archers, who pierced him with arrows; he was healed, however, by the widowed St. Irene. He was finally killed by the blows of a club. These stories are unhistorical and not worthy of belief. The earliest mosaic picture of St. Sebastian, which probably belongs to the year 682, shows a grown, bearded man in court dress but contains no trace of an arrow. It was the art of the Renaissance that first portrayed him as a youth pierced by arrows. In 367 a basilica which was one of the seven chief churches of Rome was built over his grave. The present church was completed in 1611 by Scipio Cardinal Borghese. His relics in part were taken in the year 826 to St. Medard at Soissons. Sebastian is considered a protector against the plague. Celebrated answers to prayer for his protection against the plague are related of Rome in 680, Milan in 1575, and Lisbon in 1599. His feast day is 20 January.

Fabian_Sebastian.jpg
286 St. Sebastian an officer in the imperial bodyguard and had secretly done many acts of love and charity for his brethren in the Faith.
Item Romæ, ad Catacúmbas, sancti Sebastiáni Mártyris, qui, Diocletiáno Imperatóre, cum habéret principátum primæ cohórtis, jussus est, sub título christianitátis, ligári in médio campo, et sagittári a milítibus, atque ad últimum fústibus cædi, donec defíceret.
      Also at Rome, in the catacombs, the martyr St. Sebastian.  He was commander of the first cohort under Emperor Diocletian, and for professing Christianity he was bound to a tree in the centre of a vast field, shot with arrows by the soldiers, and beaten with clubs until he expired.
Born in Narbonne, Gaul (France); died in Rome, 288-300; feast day in the East is December 18.
No matter what our occupation in life, God can use us for His purpose if we will simply pray for the eyes to see the opportunities before us. Sebastian, a Roman soldier, had such a faith. He had joined the army in 283 in order to help his fellow Christians by rescuing them from persecution and/or giving them comfort. He entered the lists against the powers of evil, knowing that not all the battles are visible to human eyes.

Those who faltered, like Marcus and Marcellian, he encouraged; those pagans who had fiercely objected to the death of relatives and children, like their mother Zoë (a deaf mute whom he cured with the Sign of the Cross on her lips) and her husband Nicostratus (who was in charge of prisoners and cured of gout by Sebastian), he converted; for those who were martyred, he helped to make arrangements for burial and veneration of their bodies.

So successful was he as a soldier that he gained favor with the emperor Diocletian, who made him captain of the Praetorian Guard. He retained that position under Emperor Maximian when Diocletian left him in charge at Rome. Thus by his high rank and office he helped to relieve many who were imprisoned for Christ, though by so doing he placed himself in great peril.

Among the thrilling incidents of early Christian history is that of his bold deliverance of two brothers who had been condemned. He went openly to the house of he magistrate, where they were detained along with 16 heathen prisoners, and before them all spoke of the love of Christ to such effect that those who heard him, including the magistrate and the jailer, were converted. In the place where he spoke the only window was a hole in the roof, and as he stood directly under it the light shone down upon his rich tribune's armor, leaving the rest of the room in darkness. Who could be sure that among so many there might not be one there who would betray him?

Afterwards, Claudius, the jailer, came with anxiety to the magistrate and reported: "The prefect is much disturbed at my having allowed the prisoners to be in your house; and therefore he requires you to appear before him and explain the reason." Upon this, the magistrate went at once to the prefect and so impressed him with his account of what had happened, that he, too, was baptized, and after him 68 others, as a direct result of Sebastian's intervention.

One version of the legend says that Tiburtius, the son of the prefect of Rome, and Chromatius, the prefect himself were converted because Sebastian cured him, too, of the painful gout with which he was afflicted. Thereafter, the prefect set many godly prisoners free, freed his slaves, and resigned as prefect. He retired to his estate in Campania, and took many of Sebastian's converts with him to this place of relative safety.

Such activities could not long remain secret. Soon many of Sebastian's converts were tortured and killed. First Nicostratus's wife Zoë was discovered to be a Christian. Hung by her heels over a fire, she died of smoke inhalation. Nicostratus and the converted prefect were captured, tortured, and killed.

Finally, Sebastian was denounced to the emperor, who reproached him with ingratitude and accused him of conspiracy. Sebastian protested in vain that though he was a Christian he had never neglected his military duties. "I pray daily," he said, "for thy safety and the prosperity of the State." But Diocletian, who had returned, refused to listen, and ordered him to be shot to death with arrows.

By a strange providence, however, although his body was riddled with arrows and the archers thought he was dead, he recovered in the field where they had left him and was rescued by a friend, the widow of Saint Castulus named Saint Irene, who took him to her apartment near by in the imperial palace--and nursed him to recovery. The widow Irene then urged him to escape, but, casting aside discretion, he placed himself deliberately in the path of the emperor and called boldly for the relief of the Christians, who, he declared, were among the most loyal of his subjects.

The emperor, thinking he was dead, was startled as if he had seen a ghost. "You will have no peace," cried Sebastian, "until you cease from shedding innocent blood." The emperor angrily sentenced him to be cudgelled to death and his body to be thrown into the sewer, from which it was afterwards removed by a Christian woman called Lucina, who buried it in her own garden along the Appian Way.

In 367, Pope Saint Damasus built a basilica of San Sebastiano over his tomb, which was one of the seven stationary churches of Rome. Sebastian's cultus dates from the 4th century; his name is found in the Depositio Martyrum, dated 354. That Sebastian was a martyr buried in a cemetery on the Appian Way is fact; all else is pious fiction dating no earlier than the 5th century. Some wrongly attribute these acta to Saint Ambrose.

Several writers testify that the relics of Saint Sebastian were given to Hilduin, abbot of Saint-Denys, by Pope Eugenius II and deposited in Saint Medard's at Soissons on December 9, 826, together with some of the relics of Saint Gregory the Great. These shrines were plundered by the Hugenots in 1564, and the sacred bones thrown into a ditch in which there was water. They were later found and re-enshrined in 1578, though the bones were then intermixed. Sebastian's head was given to Saint Willibrord by Pope Sergius and is now kept at Echternach, Luxembourg. Other portions of his relics are widely dispersed.

It should be noted that Saint Ambrose says that Sebastian was born in Milan, Italy, where he was venerated as early as the 4th century (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Butler, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, White).
Arrows, representing pestilence as well as the instrument of his martyrdom, are Saint Sebastian's emblem in art (Tabor). Generally he is portrayed as a young, nude man tied to a tree and shot through by bowmen. At times he may be shown (1) nude, pierced by or holding arrows; (2) richly dressed with bow and arrows; (3) as a young warrior with an arrow; (4) with sword and arrow; or (5) as the arrows are being removed by Saint Irene in the habit of a Benedictine nun. He should not be confused with the king Saint Edmund of England, who is always bearded and crowned (Roeder). There is a notable image of him in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence painted by Sodoma (Tabor).

The earliest representations of Sebastian, as in mosaics in Ravenna and at the church of Saint Peter in Chains in Rome (late 7th century) or in the frescoes of Saint Saba's church (Rome; early 8th century), depict him as an elderly, bearded man holding a crown. Some later images also show Sebastian in this manner. The more popular image as a young man appeared in the late Middle Ages (Farmer).

 St. Sebastian (257?-288?)  
Nothing is historically certain about St. Sebastian except that he was a Roman martyr, was venerated in Milan even in the time of St. Ambrose and was buried on the Appian Way, probably near the present Basilica of St. Sebastian. Devotion to him spread rapidly, and he is mentioned in several martyrologies as early as a.d. 350.

The legend of St. Sebastian is important in art, and there is a vast iconography. Scholars now agree that a pious fable has Sebastian entering the Roman army because only there could he assist the martyrs without arousing suspicion. Finally he was found out, hauled before Emperor Diocletian and delivered to Mauritanian archers to be shot to death. His body was pierced with arrows, and he was left for dead. But he was found still alive by those who came to bury him. He recovered, but refused to flee. One day he took up a position near where the emperor was to pass. He accosted the emperor, denouncing him for his cruelty to Christians. This time the sentence of death was carried out. Sebastian was beaten to death with clubs.

Comment:    The fact that many of the early saints made such a tremendous impression on the Church—awakening widespread devotion and great praise from the greatest writers of the Church—is proof of the heroism of their lives. As has been said, legends may not be literally true. Yet they may express the very substance of the faith and courage evident in the lives of these heroes and heroines of Christ.
287 St. Asclas Martyr miracle concerning Arrian governor of Egypt crossing Nile
who performed a miracle concerning Arrian, the governor of Egypt. Asclas was brought before Arrian during the persecutions instituted by Emperor Diocletian. Asclas was tortured for a time by Governor Arrian, until Arrian started to cross the Nile but found himself unable to do so. Asclas informed the governor that he would never cross the Nile unless he acknowledged Christ in writing. Arrian wrote this tribute and crossed the Nile. However, once safe, he commanded that Asclas be tortured and thrown into the Nile.
287 Saint Zoe Appearing in a vision to St Sebastian she told him about her death received gift of speech from St Sebastian mentioned in the account of St Sebastian's martyrdom.
She was the wife of the jailer Nicostratus, and was unable to speak for six years. She fell down at the feet of St Sebastian, by her gestures imploring him to heal her. The saint made the Sign of the Cross over the woman, and she immediately began to speak and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. She said that she had seen an angel holding an open book in which everything St Sebastian said was written. Then all who saw the miracle also came to believe in Christ, the Savior of the world.

Nicostratus, his wife Zoe and brother Castorius, and Claudius, his son Symphorian and brother Victorinus remained in Rome with St Sebastian, refusing to move to a safer place. They gathered for divine services at the court of the emperor together with a secret Christian named Castulus, but soon the time came for them to suffer for the Faith.
The pagans arrested St Zoe first, while she was praying at the grave of the Apostle Peter. At the trial she bravely confessed her faith in Christ. She died, hung by her hair over the foul smoke from a great fire of dung. Her body then was thrown into the River Tiber. Appearing in a vision to St Sebastian, she told him about her death.

290 Epictetus priest and Astion monastic martyrs; lived in Bithynia on the southwest coast of the Black Sea God granted Epictetus gift of wonderworking, he healed many people troubled by unclean spirits, or afflicted with other maladies.
   During the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian (284-305). From his youth, St Epictetus had dedicated his life to God, and studied to acquire knowledge of the Gospel. He entered a monastery, and later was found worthy to be ordained to the holy priesthood. Proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, the saint converted many people to Christianity. God granted Epictetus the gift of wonderworking, and he healed many people troubled by unclean spirits, or afflicted with other maladies.
One day while out for a stroll, the illustrious youth Astion met St Epictetus. During a long conversation St Epictetus enlightened Astion, sowing the seed of God's Word in the young man's soul. He spoke to him about the only true God, about the great value of the immortal human soul, and about fleeting worldly pleasures.
   Astion came to believe in Christ and was baptized. Soon after this, he also became a monk. Since Christians were being persecuted in Bithynia, he asked St Epictetus if they might travel together to some distant land where they could dedicate their lives completely to God. Boarding a ship, Sts Epictetus and Astion journeyed to Scythia and settled among the pagan Slavs near the Roman outpost of Halmyris in the province of Histria south of the mouth of the Danube. The city was the site of a military fort and a base for the Roman fleet which patrolled the Danube and the Black Sea.
   When they arrived at Halmyris in 273, St Epictetus was forty-seven years old, and St Astion was only eighteen. During the next seventeen years, the saints spent their lives in prayer and fasting, and performed many miracles.
   The God-pleasing lives of the monks could not remain hidden from others for very long. People afflicted by various illnesses or oppressed by evil spirits came to the saints seeking relief. Even pagans asked the holy ascetics for help, and after being healed of their afflictions, they embraced Christianity.
   St Epictetus once healed a fifteen-year-old deaf and dumb boy by praying and breathing on him three times. More than a thousand people became Christians after witnessing this miracle. St Astion once cured a man whose legs and toes were crushed when he fell from a building.
   Latronianus, the military commander of the district, arrived in Halmyris in 290 on an official visit of inspection. The pagan priests wasted no time in complaining to him about Sts Epictetus and Astion. They denounced the two men from Bithynia, accusing them of converting people to Christianity through sorcery, and persuading them not to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.
The saints were arrested and interrogated by Latronianus, who tried to find out their names and where they were from. Their only reply was, "We are Christians." Latronianus had them tortured in an effort to make them abandon their Christian beliefs.
After thirty days in prison without food and water, the holy martyrs Epictetus and Astion were once again brought before Latronianus. They remained steadfast and ready to endure even more suffering for Christ. The commander declared that Epictetus and Astion were traitors, and ordered them to be tortured and beheaded.
   Sts Epictetus and Astion received the crown of martyrdom on July 8, 290. At first, they were buried in an unknown spot. Later, their holy relics were transferred into the basilica built in the fourth century by St Constantine the Great (May 21) at Halmyris.
Archaeologists discovered the holy relics of Sts Epictetus and Astion at Halmyris in 2001. The bones were scattered about in two rooms of a burial crypt, indicating that the tomb had been vandalized, perhaps in the sixth century. Scientific tests on the bones revealed that one of the men was approximately sixty-four years old, and the other about thirty-five. This is consistent with the ages of the two saints as given in the written accounts of their martyrdom. The bones also indicate that the two had been beheaded.
The holy relics of Sts Epictetus and Astion were reburied in 2001 by Archbishop Theodosius of Tomis (Romania).
290 The Holy Martyr Boniface unharmed by boiling tin & tar relics glorified by numerous miracles
was the slave of a rich young Roman woman named Aglaida and he dwelt with her in an iniquitous cohabitation. But they both felt the sting of conscience and they wanted somehow to be cleansed of their sin. And the Lord granted them the possibility to wash away their sin with their blood and to finish their life in repentance.

Aglaida learned that whoever keeps relics of the holy martyrs in the home and venerates them receives great help in gaining salvation. Under their influence, sin is diminished and virtue prevails. She arranged for Boniface to go to the East, where there was a fierce persecution against Christians, and she asked him to bring back the relics of some martyr, who would become a guide and protector for them.

As he was leaving, Boniface laughed and asked, "My lady, if I do not find any relics, and if I myself suffer for Christ, will you accept my body with reverence?" Aglaida scolded him, saying that he was setting off on a sacred mission, but he was not taking it seriously. Boniface pondered her words, and during the whole journey he thought that he was unworthy of touching the bodies of the martyrs.

Arriving at Tarsus in Cilicia, Boniface left his companions at the inn and proceeded to the city square, where they were torturing Christians. Struck by the beastly horrible torments, and seeing the faces of the holy martyrs radiant with the grace of the Lord, Boniface marveled at their courage. He embraced them and kissed their feet, asking them to pray that he might be found worthy to suffer with them.

The judge asked Boniface who he was. He replied, "I am a Christian," and then refused to offer sacrifice to idols. They stripped him and hung him upside down, beating him so hard that the flesh fell from his body, exposing the bone. They stuck needles under his nails, and finally they poured molten tin down his throat, but by the power of the Lord he remained unharmed. The people who witnessed this miracle shouted, "Great is the God of the Christians!" Then they began to throw stones at the judge, and then they headed for the pagan temple, in order to cast down the idols.

On the following morning, when things had quieted down somewhat, the judge directed that the holy martyr be thrown into a cauldron of boiling tar, but this also caused the sufferer no harm. An angel come down from Heaven and bedewed him as he stepped into the cauldron. The tar overflowed the cauldron, splattering and burning the torturers themselves. St Boniface was then sentenced to beheading by the sword. Blood and a milky fluid flowed from his wounds. Beholding such a miracle, about 550 men believed in Christ.

St Boniface's companions, waiting for two days at the inn for him in vain, began searching for him, thinking that he had gotten drunk somewhere. At first their search was without success, but finally they came across a man who had been an eyewitness to the martyr's death. The man also led them to the place where the decapitated body lay. St Boniface's companions tearfully begged his forgiveness for their unseemly thoughts about him. After they ransomed the martyr's remains, they brought them back to Rome.
 On the eve of their arrival an angel appeared to Aglaida in her sleep and told her to prepare herself to receive her former slave, now the brother and fellow-servant of the angels. Aglaida summoned the clergy, and she received the holy relics with great reverence. Then she built a church on the site of his grave and dedicated it to the holy martyr. There she enshrined his relics, glorified by numerous miracles. After distributing all her wealth to the poor, she withdrew to a monastery, where she spent fifteen years in repentance, then fell asleep in the Lord. She was buried beside St Boniface. The sins of the one were washed away by his blood, the other was purified by her tears and asceticism. Both were found worthy to appear unsullied before our Lord Jesus Christ, Who desires not the death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his wickedness and live (Ezek. 33:11).We pray to St Boniface for deliverance from drunkenness.
He lived in Rome during the reign of Diocletian. He was slave to Aglais, the daughter of a Senator, and served as steward of her household and her large fortune. He also lived in fornication with her, and was addicted to drink. Despite these sins, he was kind, hospitable to strangers, and generous toward the needy.
In time, Aglais became troubled in her conscience over her way of life, and began to think of the account that she would have to give to God for her sins. Some Christians told her of the holy Martyrs and, moved by their accounts, she ordered Boniface to travel to Tarsus and bring back relics of these holy ones. Boniface, still deaf and blind to the things of God, said jokingly, "And will you honor me as a Saint if I bring back my own body to you as a relic?"
  Boniface traveled to Tarsus with a large escort, well supplied with gold. He went straightaway to the Amphitheater, where he beheld a number of Martyrs being subjected to awful torments for the pleasure of the crowd, but bearing them all with patience and serenity. At the sight, the dissolute steward was touched by grace and felt his heart melt within him. He ran to the Martyrs, fell at their feet and kissed their chains, and loudly declared that he too was a disciple of Christ. So he too was put in chains, subjected to frightful tortures, and finally beheaded, rejoicing and praising God.
  Boniface's escort, mystified by his long absence, made inquiries and were astonished to discover that their godless and sinful companion had met a Martyr's death the day before. They paid fifty pounds in gold for his body and brought it back to Rome, thus fulfilling Boniface's own unwitting prophecy.
  An angel of the Lord appeared to Aglais and said, "Arise and go to meet him who was once your servant and companion in sin, but has now become our brother. Receive him as your master for, thanks to him, all your sins are to be forgiven." Rejoicing, Aglais received her former lover's holy relics and built a church in his honor, where many miracles were wrought. Aglais gave away her fortune, devoted herself to ascesis and prayer, and was herself granted the grace to work miracles. She reposed in peace thirteen years later, assured that the sins of her past had been effaced through the intercessions of the holy Boniface.
290 St. Lucian Martyred missionary with companions, Julian, /Maximian; relics were famous for miracles.  
 Bellóvaci, in Gálliis, sanctórum Mártyrum Luciáni Presbyteri, Maximiáni et Juliáni. Horum duo últimi a persecutóribus gládio perémpti sunt; beátum autem Luciánus, qui, una cum sancto Dionysio, in Gálliam vénerat, et ipse, post nímiam cædem, cum Christi nomen viva voce confitéri non timuísset, priórum senténtiam excépit.
       At Beauvais in France, the holy martyrs Lucian, priest, Maximian and Julian.  The last two were killed with the sword by the persecutors; but blessed Lucian, who had come to France with St. Denis, after the slaughter of his companions, not fearing to confess the Name of Christ openly, received the same sentence of death.

They were martyred at Beauvais, France.

290 ST LUCIAN OF BEAUVAIS, MARTYR
IT is said that this Lucian preached the gospel in Gaul in the third century and came from Rome; he was possibly one of the companions of St Dionysius of Paris, or at least of St Quentin. He sealed his mission with his blood at Beauvais, under Julian, vicar or successor to the persecutor Rictiovarus in the government of Gaul, about the year 290. Maximian, called by the common people Messien, and Julian, the companions of his labours, were crowned with martyrdom at the same place a little before him. His relics, with those of his two colleagues, were discovered in the seventh century, as St Ouen informs us in his life of St Eligius. They were shown in three gilt shrines in an abbey, which bore his name, founded in the eighth century. Rabanus Maurus says that these relics were famous for miracles when he wrote, a hundred years later.

St Lucian is styled only martyr in most calendars down to the sixteenth century, and in the Roman Martyrology; but a calendar compiled in the reign of Louis the Pious calls him bishop, and he is honoured in that quality at Beauvais.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 8, p. 640, though the two lives of this saint there printed are of little or no authority. Duchesne in his Faster Épiscopaux, vol. iii, pp. 119 and 141—152, discusses the case of St Lucian at some length, and shows good reason for believing that the whole story is mythical. He strongly inclines to the belief that Rictiovarus never existed. See H. Moretus, Les Passions de S. Lucien et leurs dérivés céphalophoriques (1953). 
293 St. Aquilina at the age of seven, living as a true Christian, and by the age of ten was so filled with divine understanding and the grace of the Holy Spirit that she used to preach Christ with great power and zeal to her girl friends Killed but an angel of God appeared to her and said: 'Arise and be healed!' Asked to be martyred again, then her relics gave healing to many of the sick
Born in the Palestinian town of Biblos of Christian parents, little Aquilina was already. When Diocletian's persecution began, Aquilina was handed over to the imperial governor, Volusianus, who was more like a beast than a man. He ordered that she first be flogged and then that a heated rod be passed through her ears and brain. Until the last moment, the virgin Aquilina freely and clearly confessed Christ the Lord; but when her brains started flowing with her blood from her head, she fell as if dead. Believing her to be indeed dead, the governor ordered that her body be taken outside the city and thrown onto a dungheap for the dogs to eat.

During the night, an angel of God appeared to her and said: 'Arise and be healed!', and the maiden arose and was restored to health, and stood a long time expressing her gratitude and praise to God and begging Him not to deny her a martyr's death. A voice was heard from heaven: 'Go; and it shall be to thee as thou desirest', and Aquilina went into the city. The city gates opened of their own accord for her, and she passed through them and went to the governor's palace like a ghost, standing before his bed and showing herself to him. The governor was seized with unspeakable terror when he saw the maiden whom he had thought dead. On the following day, he ordered the executioner to take Aquilina out and behead her with the sword.
Before her execution, she knelt in prayer and surrendered her spirit into God's hands, leaving her dead body to be beheaded by the executioner. Her relics gave healing to many of the sick. St Aquilina was twelve years old when she suffered for the Lord; she endured her Passion and was crowned with a wreath of martyrdom in the year 293.St Triphyllius, Bishop of Levcosia; St Anna and her son John
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295 Saint Mocius a presbyter in Macedonia in the city of Amphipolis miracles from God created Christians from pagans seeing them
During a persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian (284-305), St Mocius exhorted pagans assembled for the pagan festival of Dionysus (Bacchus), to abandon iniquity and the vile customs, which accompanied this celebration. He urged them to repent and be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be cleansed through holy Baptism.

The saint was brought to trial before the governor of Laodicea.

When threatened with torture, he replied, "My death for Christ is a great accomplishment for me." St Mocius was subjected to torture, which he bore with marvelous endurance, and did not cease to denounce the idol-worshippers.

Taken to the pagan temple of Dionysus, the saint shattered the idols when he called upon Jesus Christ.

After this he was put into a red-hot oven, where he remained unharmed, but the flames coming out of the oven scorched the governor.
Again the commander subjected St Mocius to fierce torture, which he endured with the help of God. He was given to wild beasts to be eaten, but they did not touch him. The lions lay down at his feet. The people, seeing such miracles, urged that the saint be set free. The governor ordered the saint to be sent to the city of Perinth, and from there to Byzantium, where St Mocius was executed.

Before his death he gave thanks to the Lord for giving him the strength to persevere to the very end. His last words were, "Lord, receive my spirit in peace." Then he was beheaded. St Mocius died about the year 295. Emperor Constantine built a church in honor of the hieromartyr Mocius and tr
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3rd V St. Beatus of Vendôme, missionary through regions of France
 
In castro Vindecíno, in Gállia, deposítio sancti Beáti Confessóris.
     In the town of Windisch in France, the death of St. Beatus, confessor.


A missionary who traveled through regions of France. Beatus preached in Garrone, Vend me, Laon, and Nantes, evangelizing those regions successfully. He died in Chevresson, near Laon. He lived and died on Mount Beatenburg above Lake Thun. The cave became a popular pilgrim's destination, the famed site of Beatus' fight with a dragon.
3rd v. Orestes the Physician of Cappadocia Martyr; miracle of the pagan temple colapse; illustrious; capable soldier from childhood;
St Orestes truly a good Christian 
lived at the end of the third century in the city of Tyana in Cappadocia in the time of the emperor Diocletian (284-311). He was an illustrious and capable soldier, and from childhood St Orestes was truly a good Christian.
By order of the emperor, the military officer Maximinus was sent to Tyana to deal with Christianity, which then had spread widely throughout Cappadocia. Orestes was among the first brought to trial to Maximinus. He bravely and openly confessed his faith in the Crucified and Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. The prosecutor offered the saint riches, honors and renown to renounce God, but St Orestes was unyielding.

At the order of Maximinus, they took Orestes to a resplendant pagan temple and again demanded that he worship idols. When he refused, forty soldiers, took turns one after the other, beating the holy martyr with lashes, with rods, with rawhide, and then they tormented him with fire. St Orestes cried out to the Lord, "Establish with me a sign for good, let those who hate me see it and be put to shame (Ps. 85/86:17). "And the Lord heard His true servant. The earth began to tremble, and the idols fell down and were smashed. Everyone rushed out of the temple, and when St Orestes came out, the very temple tumbled down.

Infuriated, Maximinus ordered the holy martyr to be locked up in prison for seven days giving him neither food nor drink, and on the eighth day to continue with the torture. They hammered twenty nails into the martyr's legs, and then tied him to a wild horse. Dragged over the stones, the holy martyr departed to the Lord in the year 304. His relics were thrown into the sea.

In 1685, when St Demetrius, later the Bishop of Rostov, (October 28) was preparing the Life of St Orestes to be printed by the Kiev Caves Lavra, he became tired and fell asleep. The holy martyr Orestes appeared to him in a dream. He showed him the deep wound in his left side, his wounded and severed arms, and his legs which had been cut off. The holy martyr looked at St Demetrius and said, "You see, I suffered more torments for Christ than you have described." The humble monk wondered whether this was St Orestes, one of the Five Martyrs of Sebaste (December 13). The martyr said, "I am not that Orestes, but he whose Life you have just finished writing."
3rd v. Drizíparæ, in Pannónia, sancti Alexándri mílitis, qui, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, post multos pro Christo agónes superátos múltaque mirácula édita, cápitis abscissióne martyrium complévit.
      At Drizipara in Hungary, St. Alexander, soldier, in the time of Emperor Maximian.  Having overcome many torments for the sake of Christ, and performing many miracles, his martyrdom was completed by beheading.

3rd v. The Holy Martyr Sebastian miracle worker steadfast faith given to wavering Christians
born in the city of Narbonum in Gaul (modern France), and he received his education at Mediolanum (now Milan).

Under the co-reigning emperors Diocletian and Maximian (284-305) he occupied the position of head of the imperial guards. St Sebastian was respected for his authority, and was loved by the soldiers and those at court. He was a brave man filled with wisdom, his word was honest, his judgment just, insightful in advice, faithful in his service and in everything entrusted to him. He was a secret Christian, not out of fear, but so that he could provide help to the brethren in a time of persecution.

The noble Christian brothers Marcellinus and Mark had been locked up in prison, and at first they firmly confessed the true Faith. But under the influence of the tearful entreaties of their pagan parents (Tranquillinus and Marcia), and also their own wives and children, they began to waver in their intent to suffer for Christ. St Sebastian went to the imperial treasurer, at whose house Marcellinus and Mark were held in confinement, and addressed the brothers who were on the verge of yielding to the entreaties of their family.

"O valiant warriors of Christ! Do not cast away your everlasting crowns of victory because of the tears of your relatives. Do not remove your feet from the necks of your enemies who lie prostrate before you, lest they regain their strength and attack you more fiercely than before. Raise your banner high over every earthly attachment. If those whom you see weeping knew that there is another life where there is neither sickness nor death, where there is unceasing gladness and everything is beautiful, then assuredly they would wish to enter it with you. Anyone who fears to exchange this brief earthly life for the unending joys of the heavenly Kingdom is foolish indeed. For he who rejects eternity wastes the brief time of his existence, and will be delivered to everlasting torment in Hades."

Then St Sebastian said that if necessary, he would be willing to endure torment and death in order to show them how to give their lives for Christ.

So St Sebastian persuaded the brothers to go through with their act of martyrdom, and his speech stirred everyone present. They saw how his face shone like that of an angel, and they saw how seven angels clothed him in a radiant garment, and heard a fair Youth say, "You shall be with Me always."

Zoe, the wife of the jailer Nicostratus, had lost her ability to speak six years previously, and she fell down at the feet of St Sebastian, by her gestures imploring him to heal her. The saint made the Sign of the Cross over the woman, and she immediately began to speak and she glorified the Lord Jesus Christ. She said that she had seen an angel holding an open book in which everything St Sebastian said was written. Then all who saw the miracle also came to believe in the Savior of the world. Nicostratus removed the chains from Marcellinus and Mark and offered to hide them, but the brothers refused.

Mark said, "Let them tear the flesh from our bodies with cruel torments. They can kill the body, but they cannot conquer the soul which contends for the Faith." Nicostratus and his wife asked for Baptism, and St Sebastian advised Nicostratus to serve Christ rather than the Eparch. He also told him to assemble the prisoners so that those who believed in Christ could be baptized. Nicostratus then requested his clerk Claudius to send all the prisoners to his house. Sebastian spoke to them of Christ, and became convinced that they were all inclined to be baptized. He summoned the priest Polycarp, who prepared them for the Mystery, instructing them to fast in preparation for Baptism that evening.

Then Claudius informed Nicostratus that the Roman eparch Arestius Chromatus wanted to know why the prisoners were gathered at his house. Nicostratus told Claudius about the healing of his wife, and Claudius brought his own sick sons, Symphorian and Felix to St Sebastian. In the evening the priest Polycarp baptized Tranquillinus with his relatives and friends, and Nicostratus and all his family, Claudius and his sons, and also sixteen condemned prisoners. The newly-baptized numbered 64 in all.

Appearing before the eparch Chromatus, Nicostratus told him how St Sebastian had converted them to Christianity and healed many from sickness. The words of Nicostratus persuaded the eparch. He summoned St Sebastian and the presbyter Polycarp, and was enlightened by them, and became a believer in Christ. Nicostratus and Chromatus, his son Tiburtius and all his household accepted holy Baptism. The number of the newly-enlightened increased to 1400. Upon becoming a Christian, Chromatus resigned his office of eparch.

During this time the Bishop of Rome was St Gaius (August 11). He blessed Chromatus to go to his estates in southern Italy with the priest Polycarp. Christians unable to endure martyrdom also went with them. Father Polycarp went to strengthen the newly-converted in the Faith.

Tiburtius, the son of Chromatus, desired to accept martyrdom and he remained in Rome with St Sebastian. Of those remaining, St Gaius ordained Tranquillinus as a presbyter, and his sons Marcellinus and Mark were ordained deacons. Nicostratus, his wife Zoe and brother Castorius, and Claudius, his son Symphorian and brother Victorinus also remained in Rome. They gathered for divine services at the court of the emperor together with a secret Christian named Castulus, but soon the time came for them to suffer for the Faith.

The pagans arrested St Zoe first, praying at the grave of the Apostle Peter. At the trial she bravely confessed her faith in Christ. She died, hung by her hair over the foul smoke from a great fire of dung. Her body then was thrown into the River Tiber. Appearing in a vision to St Sebastian, she told him about her death.

The priest Tranquillinus was the next to suffer: pagans pelted him with stones at the grave of the holy Apostle Peter, and his body was also thrown into the Tiber.

Sts Nicostratus, Castorius, Claudius, Victorinus ,and Symphorian were seized at the riverbank, when they were searching for the bodies of the martyrs. They were led to the eparch, and the saints refused his command to offer sacrifice to idols. They tied stones to the necks of the martyrs and then drowned them in the sea.

The false Christian Torquatus betrayed St Tiburtius. When the saint refused to sacrifice to the idols, the judge ordered Tiburtius to walk barefoot on red-hot coals, but the Lord preserved him. Tiburtius walked through the burning coals without feeling the heat. The torturers then beheaded St Tiburtius, and his body was buried by unknown Christians.

Torquatus also betrayed the holy Deacons Marcellinus and Mark, and St Castulus (March 26). After torture, they threw Castulus into a pit and buried him alive, but Marcellinus and Mark had their feet nailed to the same tree stump. They stood all night in prayer, and in the morning they were stabbed with spears.

St Sebastian was the last one to be tortured. The emperor Diocletian personally interrogated him, and seeing the determination of the holy martyr, he ordered him taken out of the city, tied to a tree and shot with arrows. Irene, the wife of St Castulus, went at night in order to bury St Sebastian, but found him alive and took him to her home.

St Sebastian soon recovered from his wounds. Christians urged him to leave Rome, but he refused. Coming near a pagan temple, the saint saw the emperors approaching and he publicly denounced them for their impiety. Diocletian ordered the holy martyr to be taken to the Circus Maximus to be executed. They clubbed St Sebastian to death, and cast his body into the sewer. The holy martyr appeared to a pious woman named Lucina in a vision, and told her to take his body and bury it in the catacombs. This she did with the help of her slaves. Today his basilica stands on the site of his tomb.
3rd v. Therapon, Bishop of Sardis Hieromartyr suffered for Christ Sardis was in Lydia, Asia Minor miraclulous curative powers from his blood
In fulfilling his priestly service, St Therapon enlightened many of the pagan Greeks with the light of the Christian Faith and baptized them. For this, he was brought to trial before the governor Julian and fearlessly declared himself a Christian bishop. They threw him into prison, where he languished with hunger and thirst, and then they gave him over to cruel tortures. These torments did not break the saint's valiant confession of faith. They led the saint off in chains to the city of Sinaion in Phrygia, and then to Ancyra.
In these cities they tortured him again. They took him to the River Astala, where they stretched him naked upon the ground, fastened to four stakes, and fiercely beat him. After this torture, they took the passion-bearer to the outskirts of the Satalia diocese, part of the Sardis metropolitanate, and here after long beatings St Therapon ended his martyric contest.
The stakes to which the saint had been tied, and which were soaked with his blood, put forth green shoots and grew into large trees, whose leaves were found to have curative powers. Many people received healing through them.