ABDON and SENNEN, according to tradition SS. Abdon and Sennen were Persian nobles, brought to Rome as captives by Emperor Decius (r. 249–251) after his first successful campaign against the Persians. Once there, they devoted themselves to looking after imprisoned Christians and burying the bodies of Martyrs. This led to them being imprisoned by the authorities and then fed to wild animals in the Amphitheatre during the Decian Persecution.

ERMENGYTH, a sister of St. Ermenburgh (19th November) who lived in great piety as a nun at Minster-in-Thanet, England. She is believed to have reposed circa 680.

MAXIMA, DONATILLA, and SECUNDA (MARTYRS of TEBOURBA), three maidens who were martyred circa 304 in Tebourba Minus, Africa Proconsularis (present-day Tebourba, Tunisia) during the Diocletianic Persecution.

OLAUS (OLAV, OLOF, OLAF, OLAVE) of SWEDEN, (Ninth Century), a King of Sweden who was martyred by pagan subjects for refusing to make offering to their gods. The location of St. Olav’s martyrdom served as the foundation of the city of Stockholm

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, a native of Imola in present-day Italy; he was ordained to the diaconate there, and circa 433 consecrated eighteenth Archbishop of Ravenna (northern Italy). Though he battled both paganism and the Monophysite heresy, St. Peter is best remembered for his eloquence in preaching, thus the name Chrysologus (Golden Speech), St. Peter reposed circa 450. Many of his sermons are still extant.

RUFINUS, (Date Uncertain), according to legend, St. Rufinus was the first Bishop of Assisi in Umbria (central Italy), and a martyr. Many scholars postulate he is in all likelihood the same as the St. Rufinus and Companions listed on 11th August. St. Rufinus is also the patron saint of Assisi, Italy.

TATWINE (TATWIN) of CANTERBURY, the tenth Archbishop of Canterbury, succeeding St. Brithwald of Canterbury (9th January). Prior to being elevated to the See of Canterbury St. Tatwine was a monk and then Abbot at Holy Hill Monastery in Breedon, Mercia and was known for his piety and learning. St. Bede the Venerable (25th May) calls him a “vir religione et Prudentia insignis, sacris quoque literis nobiliter instructus” (a man notable for his prudence, devotion, and learning). We see examples of this in the two surviving manuscripts of riddles and four of his Ars de partibus orationis. The Ars is one of only two surviving eighth century Latin grammars from England. His Ars was a reworking of fourth century Roman grammarian Aelius Donatus’ (†380) Ars Minor and Major with the addition of information drawn from other grammarians. It covers the eight parts of speech through illustrations drawn from classical scholars, and was designed for more advanced students. This work was used not only in England but on the continent as well. During his brief episcopate, St. Tatwine appointed Nothbald, Abbot of St. Augustine’s Abbey, and consecrated Bishops for Lindsey and Selsey. St. Tatwine in reposed 30th July, 734 and was buried at Canterbury. Eleventh century Benedictine hagiographer Goscelin [of Canterbury] († after 1107) wrote of miracles through his intercession.

URSUS of AUXERRE, a hermit at the church of St. Amator in Auxerre in Burgundy (France) who at the age of seventy-five was elected tenth Bishop of that city. According to tradition he was elected after he had saved the town from a fire by his prayers. 508 is given as the year of his repose.

CASSIAN of BENEVENTO, believed to have been a Bishop of Benevento in the south of present-day Italy who reposed circa 340. However, he does not appear in any contemporary lists of bishops of that See.

EUPLUS of CATANIA, martyred in 304 in the Sicilian city of Catania for possession of, and preaching, the Gospel to the pagan population.

EUSEBIUS of MILAN, a native of Greece, St. Eusebius served as the nineteenth Bishop of Milan (c. 449–462). In 451, St. Eusebius convened a council in Milan, where the Tome of Pope St. Leo the Great (10th November) was read and approved, hence this local council affirmed the Fourth Œcumenical Council’s condemnation of Eutyches' Christological heresy.

GRACILIAN and FELICISSIMA the BLIND, according to tradition, during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313), St. Gracilian was condemned to death for the Faith. Whilst in prison awaiting martyrdom, a woman brought her blind daughter, St. Felicissima, to St. Gracilian and he miraculously restored her sight. St. Felicissima embraced Christ instantaneously and was immediately baptised by St. Gracilian, and then condemned to death by the authorities. SS. Gracilian and Felicissima were martyred by beheading on the same day in the early fourth century.

HERCULANUS of BRESCIA, a mid-sixth century Bishop of Brescia in Lombardy (northern Italy). No other reliable information on his life is extant.

HILARIA, DIGNA, EUPREPIA, EUNOMIA, QUIRIACUS, LARGIO, CRESCENTIAN, NIMMIA, JULIANA, and COMPANIONS, Martyrs of Augsburg, (Fourth Century), a group of twenty-nine Christians in Augsburg, Bavaria (Germany) who were martyred, circa 304, during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). St. Hilaria was the mother of St. Afra of Augsburg (5th August), and was burned alive, along with her three maids, Digna, Euprepia, and Eunomia, as they prayed at St. Afra’s tomb. The balance of these martyrs were killed in riots led by pagan mobs.

JÆNBERT (JAMBERT, JANBERT, LAMBERT), an Abbot of St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury, Kent, England, who was consecrated fourteenth Archbishop of Canterbury on 2nd February, 765. St. Jænbert reposed in 792, and is buried at Canterbury Cathedral.

MEREWENNA, (Date Uncertain), said to have been a daughter of the great Welsh saint, King St. Brychan of Brycheiniog (6th April), St. Merewenna is the patron saint of Marham Church near Bude, Cornwall, England. According to some sources she is the same saint as St. Morwenna (8th July), also a daughter of King St. Brychan.

PORCARIUS (PORCHAIRE) of LÉRINS and FIVE HUNDRED COMPANIONS, St. Porcarius was Abbot of the Abbey of Our Lady of Lérins (abbaye Notre Dame de Lérins) on one of the Lérins Islands in the Mediterranean Ocean off the Côte d’Azur in France. Circa 732, he was warned by an angel in a vision that the abbey was about to be attacked. St. Porcarius immediately sent off by ship all the young students, as well as thirty-six of the younger monks. Soon afterwards the monastery was attacked by Saracens (or more likely Vikings), and with the exception of four monks taken as slaves, St. Porcarius and the remaining community numbering five hundred monks were massacred.

UST (JUSTUS), (Date Unknown), the patron of the St. Just in Penwith Parish Church in Church St., St. Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall, England, in which, according to English chronicler and antiquary, William of Worcester (†c. 1482), St. Just's relics are enshrined. The town of St. Just, Cornwall, England is named for him as well. Some accounts state that he was a hermit, others a martyr, and still others claim he was a bishop. It is most likely there were two or more saints of the same name in Brittany, Wales, and Cornwall in the fifth or sixth century. However, the lack of reliable information makes it impossible to state with any amount of certainty specific details of his life.