Alexandra of Rome | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Died | 314 [1] Nicomedia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodox Church |
| Feast | April 21st | Eastern Orthodox March 20th | Roman Catholicism April 8th | Oriental Orthodoxy |
| Attributes | crown |
Alexandra of Rome (Greek : Ἀλεξάνδρα) was a Christian martyr and saint, known from Martyrdom of Saint George as either Emperor Diocletian's wife or the wife of Dacian, a Roman Prefect. She is also sometimes mistaken with Priscilla or Prisca. [2]
According to Frederick George Holweck, Saint Alexandra was the reputed wife of Emperor Diocletian and secretly converted to Christianity. Jacobus de Voragine listing her name as “Alexandria” describes her as the wife of Dacian, the Roman Prefect who persecuted Saint Caprasius of Agen and Saint Maginus. While Saint George was being tortured, Alexandra went to the arena, bowed before him, and professed her faith openly. When she questioned whether she was worthy of paradise and martyrdom without being baptized, Saint George told her, “Do not fear, for your blood will baptize you.” She was denounced as a Christian and imprisoned on her husband's orders in Nicomedia, then sentenced to death.
Her husband was so outraged by her conversion that he is said to have uttered, “What! Even thou hast fallen under their spell!”. Alexandra quietly accepted her sentence and prayed as the guards walked her to the place of execution. She asked if she could rest for a moment. The guards allowed this. She rested by the place of Saint George's execution at Nicomedia's City Wall. [3]
Her three servants Apollo, Isaac, and Codratus went to prison with her; the first two died of starvation while the last was beheaded with her on April 21, 314. Her feast day is usually celebrated on April 21 [4] [5] and occasionally on April 23, when she is commemorated at the same time along with the soldier martyrs Anatolios and Protoleon and the 630 others who were martyred for professing faith while witnessing George's martyrdom. The Coptic Church venerates her on April 8, and the Catholic Church Venerates her on March 20. [2]
She is sometimes confused with Prisca. De Voragine presents her story as legendary but not outright fiction. Holweck believes that it is all fictitious and that she never existed. [6]
Agnes of Rome is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. She is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass, and one of many Christians martyred during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Saint George, also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Of Cappadocian Greek origin, he became a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints, heroes, and megalomartyrs in Christianity, and he has been especially venerated as a military saint since the Crusades. He is respected by Christians, Druze, as well as some Muslims as a martyr of monotheistic faith.
Adrian of Nicomedia or Saint Adrian was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. After becoming a convert to Christianity with his wife Natalia (Ναταλία), Adrian was martyred at Nicomedia in Asia-Minor (Turkey). Adrian was the chief military saint of Northern Europe for many ages, second only to Saint George, and is much revered in Flanders, Germany and the north of France.
April 22 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 24
Prisca was a young Roman woman allegedly tortured and executed for her Christian faith. The dates of her birth and death are unknown. She is revered as a saint and martyr in Eastern Orthodoxy, by the Catholic Church, and in the Anglican Communion.
Saint Anastasia is a Christian saint and martyr who died at Sirmium in the Roman province of Pannonia Secunda. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, she is venerated as St. Anastasia the Pharmakolytria, i.e. "Deliverer from Potions". This epithet is also translated as "One who Cures (Wounds)" in Lampe's A Patristic Greek Lexicon.
Juliana of Nicomedia is an Anatolian Christian saint, said to have suffered martyrdom during the Diocletianic persecution in 304. She was popular as a patron saint of the sick during the Middle Ages, especially in the Netherlands.
Saint Kyriaki, also known as Saint Kyriaki the Great Martyr, is a Christian saint, who was martyred under the emperor Diocletian.
The Four Crowned Martyrs or Four Holy Crowned Ones were nine individuals who are venerated as martyrs and saints of Early Christianity. The nine saints are divided into two groups:
Euphemia, known as Euphemia the All-praised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a virgin martyr, who died for her faith at Chalcedon in 303 AD.
Mark and Marcellian are martyrs venerated as saints by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Their cult is sometimes associated with that of Saints Tranquillinus, Martia, Nicostratus, Zoe, Castulus, and Tiburtius, though not in the official liturgical books of the Church, which mention only Mark and Marcellianus among the saints for 18 June. Their mention in the General Roman Calendar on that date from before the time of the Tridentine calendar was removed in the 1969 revision, because nothing is known about them except their names, the fact of their martyrdom, and that they were buried on 18 June in the cemetery of Santa Balbina on the Via Ardeatina.
Susanna of Rome was a Christian martyr of the Diocletianic Persecution. Her existing hagiography, written between about 450 and 500 AD, is of no historical value and the relations it attributes to Susanna are entirely fictitious. It is probable that a real martyr named Susanna lies behind the literary invention.
Saints Cyprian and Justina are honored in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy as Christians of Antioch, who in 304, during the Diocletianic Persecution, suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia on September 26. According to Roman Catholic sources, no Bishop of Antioch bore the name of Cyprian.
Rictius Varus was a Vicarius in Roman Gaul at the end of the 3rd century, around the time of the Diocletianic Persecution. The Roman Martyrology contains many references to the prefect Rixius Varus, who is said to have persecuted hundreds of Christians. In Christian hagiography he later repented and became a Christian martyr himself, and is regarded a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, with his feast day on July 6.
Castulus is venerated as a martyr and saint. According to tradition, he was the chamberlain of Emperor Diocletian and the husband of Irene of Rome.
Valeria Maximilla was a Roman Empress and wife of Emperor Maxentius.
Basilissa and Anastasia are early Christian martyrs of Rome, put to death during the reign of Nero. They were among the first converts to Christianity in the 1st century after Christ.
August 21 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 23
December 9 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 11
Serena of Rome is a legendary third-century martyr and saint listed in the Martyrologium Romanum. She is listed as the wife of Diocletian, however that claim is unproven and she has been removed from the calendar of saints.
