4 May
AT Ostia, the birthday of St. Monica, mother of blessed Augustine, who has left us in the ninth book of his Confessions a beautiful sketch of her life.—At the metal mines of Phennes, in Palestine, the birthday of the blessed Silvanus, bishop of Gaza, who was crowned with martyrdom with many of his clerics by the command of Caesar Galerius Maximian, in the persecution of Diocletian.—Also, thirty-nine holy martyrs, who were beheaded together after having been condemned to work in the same mines, to be branded with a hot iron, and to undergo other torments.—At Jerusalem, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, St. Cyriacus, bishop, who was murdered as he was visiting the holy places.—In Umbria, St. Porphyry, martyr.—At Nicomedia, the birthday of St. Antonia, martyr, who, for the confession of Christ, was cruelly tortured, subjected to diverse torments, suspended by one arm for three days, kept two years in prison, and finally delivered to the flames by the governor Priscillian.—At Lorch, in Austria, under the emperor Diocletian and the governor Aquilinus, the martyr St. Florian, who was precipitated into the river Enns, with a stone tied to his neck.—At Tarsus, St. Pelagia, virgin, who endured martyrdom under Diocletian by being shut up within a red-hot brazen ox.—At Cologne, St. Paulinus, martyr.—At Milan, St. Venerius, bishop, whose virtues are attested by St. John Chrysostom in the epistle which he wrote to him.—In the province of Perigord, St. Sacerdos, bishop of Limoges.— At Hildesheim, in Saxony, St. Godard, bishop and confessor, ranked among the Saints by Innocent II. —At Auxerre, St. Curcodomus, deacon.
And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.