Saint Alban

[Saint Alban icon]
Memorial
20 June
Profile
Soldier and solid citizen. Converted by a persecuted priest whom he sheltered. He then changed clothes with the priest, allowing him to escape. Caught, he was ordered to renounce his new faith. He refused and became the first Christian martyr in Britain. The second was the executioner who was to kill him, heard his testimony, converted on the spot, and refused to kill Alban. The third was the priest, who when he learned that Alban had been arrested in his place, hurried to the court in the hope of saving Alban by turning himself in. The place of their deaths is near the site of Saint Alban's Cathedral today.
Born
Verulamium, Hertfordshire (now Saint Albans), England
Died
tortured and beheaded c.305 at Holmhurst Hill, England
Patronage
converts
refugees
torture victims
Prayer
Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Representation
man with a very tall cross and a sword
decapitated, with his head in a holly bush and the eyes of his executioner dropping out
Additional Information
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Herbert Thurston
Catholic Online
Christian Biographies, by James E Keifer
Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney
Ecole Glossary, by Karen Rae Keck
For All the Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Google Directory
Lives of the Saints, by Sabine Baring-Gould
Martyrdom of Saint Alban, by the Venerable Bede
New Catholic Dictionary
Our Island Saints, by Amy Steedman
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
Wikipedia
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