Martyrs of Saragossa

Two groups of martyrs put to death at Saragossa, Spain, by the Romans during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian.

(d.c. 304) Eighteen martyrs whose deaths were recorded by the fourth-century Latin poet Prudentius. They were Optatus, Lupercus, Successus, Martial, Urban, Julia, Quinitilian, Publius, Fronto, Caecilian, Felix, Eventius, Primitivus, Apodemius, and four martyrs named Saturninus. Feastday: April 16 (d.c. 304) A second group, called “the Innumerable Martyrs of Saragossa,” was slain under a Roman prefect named Dacian. He exiled all Christians from the city, and when they started toward the gates of Saragossa, they were massacred by Dacian’s Roman troops. Prudentius wrote of their sufferings. Feastday: November 3