Today, October 27th, we celebrate the feast of:

Saint Evaristus, Pope and Martyr; Saint Frumentius, Bishop; and Saints Vincent, Sabina, and Christeta, Companion Martyrs


Saint Evaristus, Pope and Martyr

He was the fifth successor of Saint Peter as head of the Church of Rome. Data regarding his life are very scarce, but it is known that he served as a priest in the Roman community before being elected Bishop of Rome. His pontificate is dated approximately between the years 96 and 108, during the reign of the emperors Domitian and Trajan. Later traditions attribute to him various provisions regarding the organization of the Church of Rome and clerical discipline. According to some traditions, he suffered martyrdom in Rome.


Saint Frumentius, Bishop

He is venerated as the evangelizer and apostle of Ethiopia. According to the accounts of Rufinus of Aquileia, he was born in the 4th century in Tyre, Phoenicia. While returning from a voyage to India, his ship was forced ashore in Ethiopia,where all the crew members were slain except for him and his brother Edesius because of their youth. They were brought as slaves to the court of the King of Ethiopia at Axum. There, they gained the king's favor and laboryed to introduce Christianity into the realm. Upon the king's death, they were granted freedom but remained as tutors to the young heir until he reached majority. On his journey home, Frumentius stopped in Alexandria, where Saint Athanasius consecrated him bishop. Returning to Ethiopia with a team of missionaries, he devoted himself to the evangelization of the country,baptizing the king and the people, who converted en masse. There, he translated the Bible into the local language and enriched the Alexandrian Christian liturgy with sacred dances, beautiful hymns, and ancestral folk rites. The Ethiopians called him "Abuna Salama Kesetie Berham," meaning: Father of Peace and Revealer of Light. He died around the year 380.


Saints Vincent, Sabina, and Christeta, Companion Martyrs

They were three young Christians who, according to tradition, lived in the Iberian Peninsula during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. Originating from Évora, they sought refuge in Ávila, where they were discovered and martyred for their faith. Tradition relates that they endured various tortures before being put to death. Over the site that tradition identified as their tomb, the magnificent Romanesque Basilica of San Vicente was erected in Ávila,standing as one of the great monuments of Castilian Romanesque architecture.