St. Julius

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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May 27 · Martyr

St. Julius

St. Julius

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

May 27
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Martyr

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints · little is known

Julius was a veteran soldier denounced by his officers before Maximus, governor of Lower Moesia. He refused the judge's promises and threats, saying that to die for Christ would fulfil all his desires.

On the way to execution a Christian soldier named Hesychius asked to be remembered. Julius embraced him, then prayed, 'Lord Jesus, for whose name I suffer death, vouchsafe to receive my soul in the number of thy saints.' He was beheaded at Durostoro on the Danube, in the second Moesia. Butler and Baring-Gould agree on about 302.

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 May 27 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: Florus in his addition to Bede, Usuardus, Ado, Notker, &c. Roman Martyrology. Authority The authentic Acts.] E have already given the account of the martyrH 9 ^om ^as^crates andValentio, soldiers in the Roman army, at Dorostolum, in the persecution of Diocletian. Julius was a veteran in the same regiment, and was called to suffer in the same cause two days after his companions. As he went to execution, Hesychius, a Christian soldier, who was also a prisoner, and suffered martyrdom a few days later, said, “ Go with courage and run to win the crown the Lord hath promised * and remember me, who am shortly to follow thee. Commend me to the servants of God, Pasicrates and Valentio, who are gone before us.’' Julius embracing him said, “ Dear brother, make haste to join us; they whom you have saluted have already heard thy commission.” Julius bound his eyes with a handkerchief, and presenting his neck to the executioner, said, “ Lord Jesus, for whose name I suffer death, receive me into the number of Thy saints.”

Feast days

Feast: May 27

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

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

Also on May 27
St. John I., Pope

St. John I.

May 27 · Martyr
St. Bede the Venerable, Ml

St. Bede the Venerable

May 27 · Deacon
F

St. Frederick of Liege

May 27 · Bishop
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Pope Julius II.jpg · Raphael · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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.

Image: Raphael, Wikimedia Commons (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.