Saints

Martyrs. These were two members of a group of five Christians martyred at Cordoba in Spain, by the Muslim Emir Abd ar-Rahman II, in about 852. Aurelius was the son of a Muslim man and a Spanish woman who was a secret Christian. Natalia also came from a Muslim and Christian family. Aurelius had a relative, Felix who became Muslim for a time but then returned to his Christian faith and married a Chr... Read More

Parents of the Virgin Mary. Little is known about the mother and father of Our Lady. Their story is told in the apocryphal Gospel of James, but neither are mentioned in Holy Scripture. The early cult of Joachim was recorded in the East with images on the columns of St Marks in Venice. Later, Giotto painted Joachim and Ann in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. They were also depicted together in st... Read More

Physician, confessor, and martyr. Pantaleon was born in the city of Nicodemia, now Izmit, in northern Turkey near the Black Sea. His mother, Eubula, was a devout Christian while his father, Eustorgius, did not convert until much later. Sadly, Eubula died while Pantaleon was still quite young. While he had been exposed to Christianity, Pantaleon did not practice his faith. His father Eustorgus, se... Read More