Saint of the Day – 31 March – St Machabeus (Died 1174) Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Armagh. Also known by his Irish name of Gilla Mo Chaidbeo.
St Machabeus served in his office as the Abbot for over thirty years.
His death is the last to be commemorated in the Martyrology of Gorman, which was written by his contemporary, Máel Muire Ua Gormáin (Marianus Gorman) sometime in the 2nd half of the 12th Century.
The notes to the Martyrology provide him with this most praiseworthyEulogy:
“Gilla mo-Chaidbeo, Abbot of the Monastery of Paul and Peter in Armagh. The tower of piety and firmness, wisdom and knowledge, labour and prudence of his time.”
Details of our Saint are also to be found in the Irish Annals which give the year of his death:
“THE AGE OF CHRIST, 1174.
Gilla Mochaibeus, Abbot of the Monastery of Sts Peter and Paul at Armagh, a diligent and faithful servant of the Lord, died on the 31st day of March, in the seventieth year of his age.”
St Balbina (Died c130) Virgin and Martyr of Rome. Patronage – against Throat Diseases, goitor diseases. Also known as – Balbina the Virgin, Balbine. The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, the holy virgin Balbina, daughter of the blessed Martyr Quirinus, who was Baptised by Pope St Alexander and after overcoming the world, was buried on the Appian Road at ther father’s side.” A Most Efficacious Saint: https://anastpaul.com/2025/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-balbina-died-c130-virgin-and-martyr/
St Benjamin the Deacon (Died c424) Deaco and Martyr. Benjamin was executed during a period of persecution of Christians that lasted forty years and through the reign of two Persian kings: Isdegerd I, who died in 421 and his son and successor, Varanes V. King Varanes carried on the persecution with such great fury, that Christians were submitted to the most cruel tortures. His Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2021/03/31/saint-of-the-day-31-march-st-benjamin-the-deacon-died-c-424-martyr/
St Machabeus (Died 1174) Abbot of Armagh St Mella of Doire-Melle St Renovatus of Merida
Martyrs of Africa – 4 Saints: A group of Christians Martyred together for their faith. No details have survived except for of their names – Anesius, Cornelia, Felix and Theodulus. They were martyred in Roman pro-consular Africa.
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