Daily Martyrology for May 23

In 259, at Carthage, Sts. Montanus, Lucius and companions, martyrs. These eight martyrs, about whom contemporary accounts survive, were arrested and imprisoned in the same persecution of Valerian as St. Cyprian (September 16). They gave calm testimony to their faith, supported each other in love, and were executed by the sword.

In 1077, St. Leontius of Rostov, bishop and martyr. A monk of the monastery of the Caves at Kiev, he became bishop of Yaroslavsk. He did successful missionary work there, but died of mistreatment at the hands of pagans.

In 1173, St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, in what is now Belarus. The daughter of a prince, she became a nun and then a solitary. She copied books to support herself. She undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and died there.

In Rome, in 1764, St. John Baptist Rossi. He was a priest of the diocese of Rome, who ministered heroically to the sick and destitute. For a time he was assistant priest of Sancta Maria in Cosmedin. He became a revered confessor and preacher.

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Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.