The Hieromartyr Babylas and with him the three youths Urban, Prilidian, Epolonius and their mother Christodoula died as martyrs under the emperor Decius (249-251). During his stay in their city of Antioch, the emperor arranged for a large festival in honor of the pagan gods. At the same time, Babylas, the holy and God-fearing Bishop of Antioch, was serving the Divine Liturgy in church. He...

Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo, also known as Idelfonso, Ildefonso, or Ildefonsus, was born in 607 in Toledo, Spain. He came from a noble family and was the nephew of Saint Eugene of Toledo. From an early age, Ildephonsus showed immense devotion to the Catholic faith, and this led him to pursue his studies under the guidance of Saint Isidore of Seville in Seville, Spain. After completing his...

Saint Publius was a 1st century Christian bishop and saint. He is considered the first Bishop of Malta and one of the first Bishops of Athens. Publius is Malta's first canonised saint. The prefect of Malta, he was described in the Acts of the Apostles as "the chief man of the island" at the time when St. Paul, who was being taken to Rome, was shipwrecked on the isle. Paul cured...

St. Alban Roe was a missionary and martyr, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Alban is believed to have been born in Bury St. Edmund's, England, about 1580. He converted to Catholicism and went to the English College at Douai, where he was dismissed for an infraction of discipline. In 1612 he became an ordained Benedictine at Dieulouard, France. From there he was sent to...

St. Euthymius the Great (born 377, Melitene, Armenia—died January 20, 473, Palestinian desert, northeast of Jerusalem; feast day January 20) was an ascetic and one of the great fathers of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, who established religious communities throughout Palestine. Orphaned in his youth, Euthymius was educated and later ordained priest by Bishop Otreus of Melitene. He was...