Firmilian was the Roman governor of the Iudaea Province, during the third Late Roman Period of the Roman rule over the region. He was the third of a succession of governors (Flavianus, Urbanus, and Firmilian) who enforced the Diocletian Persecution at Caesarea, the province's capital, which lasted for twelve years. [1] He is commonly referred as cruel and sadistic [1] [2] [3] [4] for torturing and killing many Christians and being heartless even to his close allies. [3] [4] He was beheaded for his crimes around 310 AD, by the emperor Maximinus’s order, as his predecessor Urbanus had been two years before. [5]
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of saints, or authorized list of that communion's recognized saints.
Pope Urban I, also known as Saint Urban (175?–230), was the bishop of Rome from 222 to 23 May 230. He was born in Rome and succeeded Callixtus I, who had been martyred. It was believed for centuries that Urban I was also martyred. However, recent historical discoveries now lead scholars to believe that he died of natural causes.
Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy and beekeepers. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine since at least the eighth century.
Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea Mazaca from c. 232, was a disciple of Origen. He had a contemporary reputation comparable to that of Dionysius of Alexandria or Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. He took an active part in the mid-3rd century controversies over rebaptising heretics and readmitting lapsed Christians after the persecutions of Decius and was excommunicated by Pope Stephen I for his position. A single letter of Firmilian to Cyprian survives among Cyprian's correspondence. Jerome omits Firmilian from De viris illustribus. "To his contemporaries his forty years of influential episcopate, his friendship with Origen and Dionysius, the appeal to him of Cyprian, and his censure of Stephanus might well make him seem the most conspicuous figure of his time" (Wace).
Saint Adrian travelled from Batanea to Caesarea Palaestina, where he was martyred together with Saint Eubulus. He is commemorated on 5 March; Eubulus on 7 March.
Laurent-Joseph-Marius Imbert, sometimes called Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert and affectionately known in Korea as Bishop Imbert Bum (Korean: 범세형) was a French missionary bishop in Asia. Most notable among the Koreans, he was appointed by Pope Gregory XVI in August 1836 when first Bishop Barthélemy Bruguière died in Manchuria.
Julian and Basilissa were husband and wife, and are venerated as saints in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were Christian martyrs who died at either Antioch or, more probably, at Antinoe, in the reign of Diocletian, early in the fourth century, on 6 January, according to the Roman Martyrology, or 8 January, according to the Greek Menaea.
Saint Marcellus of Tangier or Saint Marcellus the Centurion was a Roman centurion who is today venerated as a martyr-saint in both the Eastern Orthodox and the Catholic Church. His feast day is celebrated on October 30.
Elias and four companions, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Samuel were Egyptian martyrs. Their feast day is February 16.
Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem was an early patriarch of Jerusalem. He is venerated as a saint by both the Western and Eastern Churches. In the Roman Catholic Church, his feast day is celebrated on October 29, while in the Eastern Orthodox Church it is celebrated on August 7.
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.
Astius is a 2nd-century Christian martyr venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. He was the bishop of Dyrrhachium.
Christina of Bolsena, also known as Christine of Bolsena, or in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Christina the Great martyr, is venerated as a virgin 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.
August 23 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - August 25
Andrew Stratelates, also known as Andrew the Tribune or Andrew the Commander is a 3rd-century Roman soldier who is commemorated with his 2,593 soldiers as martyrs by the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church on 19 August.
Saint Theodosia of Tyre, according to the historian of the early Christian church Eusebius, was a seventeen-year-old girl who deliberately sought to be executed as a martyr to Christianity in the city of Caesarea in 307 AD. She was tortured, urged to reject Christianity, and, when she refused, thrown into the sea. She is commemorated on April 2.
Patermutius was an early Christian martyr. A layman, Patermutius was one of four Christians who led Mass for the persecuted Christians condemned to work in the Palestinian quarries in the wake of the Diocletianic Persecution. When the Roman emperor Galerius learned of this, he had Patermutius burned alive along with the other leaders, and the Christians dispersed to mines in Cyprus and Lebanon. He is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church.
Saint Ulphianus was a Christian martyr in Palestine. His feast day is 3 April.
Saint Arianus was a historically attested governor of Ansena in Egypt and a notable figure in the Diocletianic persecution. He is a recurring character in Coptic hagiography, wherein he often attempts to torture Christian martyrs into worshiping idols, gets frustrated with their resilience and has them beheaded. In these hagiographies he is depicted with a sadistic fondness for torture, employing various methods such as beating, combing, nailing, burning, imprisoning, crucifying, and spearing Christians.
This article lists historical events that occurred between 301–400 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.