25 March
THE Annunciation of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.—At Rome, St. Quirinus, martyr, who after losing his goods, suffering imprisonment in a dark dungeon, and being severely scourged, was put to death with the sword, and thrown into the Tiber. The Christians found his body in the island of St. Bartholomew and buried it in the Pontian cemetery.—In the same city, two hundred and sixty-two holy martyrs.—At Sirmium, the martyrdom of St. Irenaeus, bishop. In the time of the emperor Maximian, under the governor Probus, after undergoing bitter torments, and a painful imprisonment for many days, he was beheaded.—At Nicomedia, St. Dula, the servant of a soldier, who was killed for the preservation of her chastity, and deserved the crown of martyrdom.—At Jerusalem, the commemoration of the good Thief, who confessed Christ on the cross, and deserved to hear from Him these words: “This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.”—At Laodicea, St. Pelagius, bishop, who having endured exile and other afflictions for the Catholic faith under Valens, rested in the Lord.—At Pistoja, the. holy confessors Barontius and Desiderius.—In Indre, an island of the Loire, the abbot St. Hermelandus, whose glorious life is attested by signal miracles.
And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.