Epimachus of Alexandria | |
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![]() Epimachus depicted in the Kempten monastic chronicles of Johannes Birk | |
Died | 250 AD |
Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
Feast | 12 December |
Epimachus of Alexandria was a Roman martyr who died in 250 during the Decian persecution. He and his companions—Alexander, Ammonarion, Mercuria, Dionysia and other women—were beheaded at Alexandria. They are commemorated on 12 December. [1]
After his martyrdom his body was laid in a crypt on the Via Latina and later the body of Saint Gordianus who was martyred during the time of Julian the Apostate was laid beside Epimachus. The two saints gave their name to the cemetery of Gordianus and Epimachus, and were for a long time jointly venerated by the Catholic Church on 10 May. [2] This joint veneration was suppressed in 1969. [1]
Many writers have denied the existence of an Epimachus martyred at Rome, and account for the relics honoured there by asserting that the body of a Saint Epimachus from Alexandria who was transported to Rome shortly before the martyrdom of St. Gordianus. The Bollandist Remi de Buck maintained that the evidence for the Roman Epimachus is too strong to be doubted, and denied that any relics of Epimachus of Alexandria came to Rome. [2] According to others, the body of the Alexandrian Epimachus was translated to Constantinople. [3]
Vitus, whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown. He has for long been tied to the Sicilian martyrs Modestus and Crescentia but in the earliest sources it is clear that these were originally different traditions that later became combined. The figures of Modestus and Crescentia are probably fictitious.
Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity, are a group of Christian martyred saints who are venerated together with their mother, Sophia ("Wisdom").
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.
Gervasius and Protasius are venerated as Christian martyrs, probably of the 2nd century. They are the patron saints of Milan and of haymakers and are invoked for the discovery of thieves. Their feast day in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is 19 June, the day marking the translation of their relics. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, their feast takes place on 14 October (O.S.)/24 October (N.S.), the traditional day of their death. In Christian iconography their emblems are the scourge, the club and the sword.
Saints Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum were, according to their largely legendary passio of the 6th century, four saints of the same family. They came from Persia to Rome, and were martyred in 270 for sympathizing with Christian martyrs and burying their bodies. Some ancient martyrologies place the date of their death between 268 and 270, during the reign of Claudius II, although there was no persecution of Christians during this time.
Jovita and Faustinus were said to be Christian martyrs under Hadrian. Their traditional date of death is 120. They are patron saints of Brescia. Faustinus is the patron saint of Pietradefusi.
John and Paul are saints who lived during the fourth century in the Roman Empire. They were martyred at Rome on 26 June. The year of their martyrdom is uncertain according to their Acts; it occurred under Julian the Apostate (361–363).
Gordianus was a Roman martyr who was killed during the reign of Julian the Apostate, and is commemorated on 10 May.
Saint Gordianus and Saint Epimachus of Alexandria were jointly venerated in the Catholic Church on 10 May until 1969.
Felix and Adauctus (d. 303) were according to tradition, Christian martyrs who were said to have suffered during the Great Persecution during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Martinian and Processus were Christian martyrs of ancient Rome. Neither the years they lived nor the circumstances of their deaths are known. They are currently buried in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Saints Primus and Felician (Felicianus) (Italian: Primo e Feliciano) were brothers who suffered martyrdom about the year 304 during the Diocletian persecution. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum gives under June 9 the names of Primus and Felician who were buried at the fourteenth milestone of the Via Nomentana (near Nomentum, now Mentana).
Romanus of Caesarea, also known as Romanus of Antioch, is venerated as a martyr. A deacon of Caesarea, he was martyred at Antioch.
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 Cyrus and John are venerated as martyrs. They are especially venerated by the Coptic Church and surnamed Wonderworking Unmercenaries because they healed the sick free of charge.
Rufina and Secunda were Roman virgin-martyrs and Christian saints. Their feast day is celebrated on 10 July.
Epimachus of Pelusium was an Egyptian martyr.
Quirinus of Tegernsee, or Quirinus of Rome, is venerated as a martyr and saint of the third century.
Saint Quirinus of Tivoli is venerated as a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church. His cult is centered at Tivoli. Quirinus of Tivoli may be the same saint as Quirinus of Sescia, whose relics were carried from Pannonia to Rome, and perhaps Tivoli as well, explaining the existence of a cult to Saint Quirinus of Tivoli. According to this interpretation Quirinus of Sescia relics were reportedly moved to Apennine Peninsula during the invasion of the Huns.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Sts. Gordianus and Epimachus". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.