Saints of the Day & More

ST. Felix was a holy priest in Rome, no less happy in his life and virtue than in his name. Being apprehended in the beginning of Dioclesian’s persecution, he was put to cruel torments, which he suffered with admirable constancy, and was at length condemned to lose his head. As he was going to execution he was met by a stranger, who, being a Christian, was so inflamed at the sight of the martyr, and the lively prospect of the glory to which he was hastening, that he was not able to contain himself, but cried out aloud: “I confess the same law which this man professeth; I confess the same Jesus Christ; and it is also my desire to lay down my life in this cause.” The magistrates hearing this, caused him forthwith to be seized, and the martyrs were both beheaded together about the year 303. The name of this latter not being known, he was called by the Christians Adauctus, because he was joined to Felix in martyrdom.

One of the emperors' chief persecutors of Christians in the early years of the 4th century was a man named Dacian, who journeyed through Spain in a frenzy of violence and terror. In 304, he reached Alcalá, and proclaimed that all Christians, on pain of death, renounce their faith. Two schoolboys, Justus (age 13) and Pastor (less than 9), heard of this and determined to show that their own Christian faith was as strong as that of any of their elders by publicly reciting their catechism. Dacian thought it simple to cow schoolboys. He ordered that they both be savagely flogged. But although the sentence was viciously enacted, neither flinched. Instead the two boys shouted words of encouragement to each other, which only whipped their tormentors to further fury. Dacian was shamed by their bravery. He still wished to have them killed, but the sentence was carried out secretly. They were beheaded outside Alcalá, when no one was about, but some fellow−Christians found their bodies and bur...