F

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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December 22 · Martyr

St. Flavian

St. Flavian

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

December 22
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Martyr

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on December 22 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Authority: — The Acts of S. Dafrosa and her daughters SS. Bibiana and Demetria; not trustworthy.] Flavian is said to have been prefect of Rome under Constantius. He was deposed by Julian, and his place filled by Apronius; and Julian gave orders that Flavian should be forced to do sacrifice. As Flavian refused, Apronius had him branded on the brow, like a slave. He then banished him to Acquapendente. He was thus parted from his wife Dafrosa, and his daughters Bibiana and Demetria. He is said to have died whilst praying, at Acquapendente. No reliance can be placed on the Acts, which are eminently unhistorical. Julian would certainly not have had an ex-prefect branded for refusing to sacrifice.

Feast days

Feast: December 22

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Flavian's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on December 22
I

St. Ischyrion

December 22 · Martyr
E

St. Ernan

December 22 · Feast
St. Victoria

St. Victoria

December 22 · Virgin, Martyr
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.