Saints Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna were Christian virgins of the Romagna region in Northern Italy. During the Diocletianic Persecution in the 3rd century, the virgins disguised themselves as men, cut their hair, and escaped to a remote area in Campagna in Southern Italy. [1] [2] They continue to live as ascetics, practicing fasting and prayer, using their God-given gift of healing, treating the local inhabitants, and converting many pagans to Christianity. When the district's governor heard about the virgins' healings, he arrested them and brought them to Salerno. He threatened Archelais with torture if she did not offer sacrifice to idols, and when she refused, he ordered her "to be torn apart by hungry lions, but the beasts meekly lay at her feet". [2] The governor ordered the lions killed, and put the virgins in prison. [2]
Archelais was tortured; first she was suspended from a tree, and then she was raked with iron utensils and hot tar was poured on her wounds. According to tradition, she prayed more loudly, "and suddenly a light shone over her and a voice was heard, 'Fear not, for I am with you' ". [2] Her torturers also tried to crush her with a large stone, but an angel pushed it to the other side and crushed the torturers instead. A judge ordered soldiers to behead all three virgins, but they dared not harm them, and the virgins told them, "If you do not fulfill the command, you shall have no respect from us". [2] All three were then beheaded, in 293. Their feast day is January 19. [1] [3]
Catherine of Alexandria is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early fourth century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around the age of 14, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of eighteen. More than 1,100 years after Catherine's martyrdom, Joan of Arc identified her as one of the saints who appeared to and counselled her.
Philomena, also known as Saint Philomena or Philomena of Rome, was a young virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore an inscription, Pax Tecum Filumena, that was taken to indicate that her name was Filumena, the English form of which is Philomena. Philomena is the patron saint of infants, babies, and youth, and is known as "The Wonder Worker".
Agathaof Sicily is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred c. 251. She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.
Saint Bibiana is a Roman Virgin martyr. The earliest mention in an authentic historical authority occurs in the Liber Pontificalis, where the biography of Pope Simplicius (468–483) states that this pope "consecrated a basilica of the holy martyr Bibiana, which contained her body, near the 'palatium Licinianum'". The Basilica of Santa Bibiana is dedicated to her.
Saint Juliana of Nicomedia is said to have suffered Christian martyrdom during the Diocletianic persecution in 304. She was popular in the Middle Ages, especially in the Netherlands, as the patron saint of sickness.
Menas of Egypt, a martyr and wonder-worker, is one of the most well-known Coptic saints in the East and the West, due to the many miracles that are attributed to his intercession and prayers. Menas was a Coptic soldier in the Roman army martyred because he refused to recant his Christian faith. The common date of his commemoration is November 11, which occurs 13 days later on the Julian calendar.
Saints Chrysanthus and Daria are saints of the Early Christian period. Their names appear in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, an early martyrs list, and a church in their honour was built over their reputed grave in Rome.
Saint Kyriaki, also known as Saint Kyriaki the Great Martyr, is a Christian saint, who was martyred under the emperor Diocletian.
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.
Basilides and Potamiaena were Christian martyrs now venerated as saints. Both died in Alexandria during the persecutions under Septimius Severus.
Hermione of Ephesus is a 2nd-century saint and martyr venerated by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. She was well known as a "great healer" and founded the first Christian hospital in Ephesus.
Saint Engratia is venerated as a virgin martyr and saint. Tradition states that she was martyred with eighteen companions in 303 AD. She should not be confused with the 8th-century Spanish martyr of the same name.
Sosipater is a person mentioned in the New Testament, in Romans 16:21. He is probably the same person as Sopater mentioned in Acts 20:4.
The Virgin-Martyr of Christ, Saint Helen, was the daughter of the Bekiary family and lived in the eighteenth century in Sinope, the oldest city of Pontus in modern-day Turkey. She is commemorated in the Eastern Orthodox calendar each year on November 1.
Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christine, or in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Christina the Great Martyr, is venerated as a Christian martyr of the third century. Archaeological excavations of an underground cemetery constructed over her tomb have shown that she was venerated at Bolsena by the fourth century.
Saint Paraskevi of Rome is venerated as a Christian martyr of the 2nd century. She was arrested and tortured under the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius for her refusal to worship idols. Though he eventually released her after she performed a miracle which cured him of his blindness, she was arrested on multiple later occasions for her Christianity and was eventually beheaded by the Roman governor Tarasius.
Saint Demiana and the 40 Virgins was a Coptic martyr of the early fourth century.
Abanoub or Abanoub Al-Nahisy, is a 4th-century Christian saint and martyr from Egypt. His name means Father of Gold in Coptic. He was born in Nehisa in the Nile Delta to Christian parents. Abanoub was 12 years old when he was killed and beheaded, after being tortured for refusing to leave Christianity. His feast day is July 31. His relics are preserved in St.Virgin Mary and St.Abanoub Churches in Sebennytos, Egypt. His title is often The Child Martyr.
December 9 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 11
Grata of Bergamo is an Italian saint and martyr, and sister of Asteria of Bergamo. Her parents were Saint Lupo of Bergamo and Saint Adelaide, duke and duchess of Bergamo. According to hagiographer Agnes B.C. Dunbar, Grata's husband was "a great king in Germany". She did not become a Christian until after his death, when she converted her parents to Christianity and persuaded them to build the cathedral of Bergamo. She became known as a holy woman in Bergamo, "especially for her zeal in securing Christian burial for the bodies of martyrs". She built three churches and a hospital for the poor in Begamo. She and her sister Asteria buried the body of St. Alexander of Rome, after Grata wrapped his head in a napkin. After her parents' death, she governed Bergamo "with wisdom and benevolence". Grata was put to death for burying Alexander. Her feast day is September 4.