Saints of the Day – 26June – Saint John and Saint Paul of Rome (Died c362) Laymen siblings, Martyrs. John and Paul lived during the 4th Century in the Roman Empire. They were Martyred at Rome on 26 June. The year of their Martyrdom is uncertain according to their Acts; it occurred under the Emperor, Julian the Apostate

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, on Mount Coelus, the holy Martyrs, John and Paul, brothers. The former was Steward, the other Secretary of the virgin Constantia, daughter of the Emperor Constantine. Afterwards, under Hulian the Apostate, they received the Palm of Martyrdom by being beheaded.”

These two Saints were brothers and were Officers of the Roman army in the days of Constantine the Great. They served in the house of Constantia, daughter of Constantine, who was consecrated to God. Their virtues and services to her father rendered them very dear to her. They would soon glorify God by a great moral victory – after despising the honours of the world, they triumphed by their Martyrdom over its threats and torments.

With the aid of the liberality of the Christian Princess, they were practising many works of charity and mercy, until the deaths of both Constantine and Constantia. Then, at the accession of Julian the Apostate to the imperial throne, they resigned their position in the palace. Julian had returned to the cult of idols and was attempting to re-establish it in the Empire. The Christian brothers saw many wicked men prosper in their impiety but were not dazzled by their example. They considered that worldly prosperity accompanied by impunity in sin, is the most dreadful of all judgements, indicating reprobation. And history reveals how false and short-lived was the glittering prosperity of Julian.

While still in power the apostate attempted to win back these influential Officers into active service. When he was refused, he gave them ten days to reconsider. The Officer Terentianus, who at the end of that time brought to their house a little idol of Jupiter for their adoration, found them in prayer. In the middle of that night they were decapitated secretly in their own garden, since the Emperor feared their execution might cause a sedition in Rome. He instigated a rumour that they had been exiled but the demons took hold of possessed persons in Rome and published the fact of their Martyrdom everywhere.

The son of the Officer who had slain them, also became possessed and it was only after their father, Terentianus, had prayed at the tomb of the Martyrs that the child was liberated. This so impressed him that he became a Christian, with all his family and wrote the history we have reported.

The Martyrs, by their renunciation of favours and their heroic resistance, purchased an immense weight of never-fading glory and were a spectacle worthy of God. Their house became a magnificent Basilica already at the end of the 4th Century. Next to it, there was also a building to offer hospitality to the devotees of the cult of our Martyrs and to house those who would care for the sacred buildings. In time this became the Passionist Monastery Complex dedicated to Sts John and Paul, see below

The Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Rome, is dedicated to them, as is the Basilica di San Zanipolo in Venice (Zanipolo being Venetian for John and Paul), which is situate in the Square of San Zanipolo.
Since the erection of the Roman Basilica, the two Saints have been greatly venerated and since the 5th Century, their names have been included in the Roman Canon.

Reflection. The Saints always consider that they had done nothing for Christ, as long as they had not resisted unto blood and completed their sacrifice, even to pouring forth its last drop, if God asked it of them. We must always bear in mind that we owe to God, all that we are and, after all our efforts, we remain unprofitable servants, doing only what we are bound to do. (Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints).