On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Taormina in Sicily, the bishop St. Pancratius, who sealed with a martyr’s blood the Gospel of Christ which the blessed Apostle St. Peter had sent him there to preach.
At Tomis in Scythia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Evagrius and Benignus.
At Thessalonica, the martyrdom of the holy virgins Agape and Chionia, under the emperor Diocletian. As they would not deny Christ, they were first detained in prison, then cast into the fire, but being untouched by the flames, they gave up their souls to their Creator while praying to Him.
At Tyre, the martyr St. Vulpian, who was sewn up in a sack with a serpent and a dog and drowned in the sea during the persecution of Maximian Galerius.
In the monastery of Medicion, in the East, the abbot St. Nicetas, who suffered much for the worship of holy images in the time of Leo the Armenian.
In England, St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, celebrated for holiness and glorious miracles. In the same country, St. Burgundofora, abbess and virgin.
At Palermo, St. Benedict, of St. Philadelphus, confessor, surnamed the Black, on account of his colour. He was of the Order of Friars Minor, and rested in the Lord on the third of April, with a reputation for miracles. Pope Pius VII placed him in the number of the saints.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
