Julian and Basilissa | |
---|---|
Died | ~304 AD |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
Feast | January 9; January 6; January 7 (this last date according to calendars of the Old Hispanic liturgy, such as that in the Antiphonary of León) |
Attributes | palm of martyrdom |
Patronage | Basilissa is invoked against chilblains |
Julian and Basilissa (Greek: Ίουλιανός & Βασίλισσα, died c. 304) were husband and wife, and are venerated as saints in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were Christian martyrs who died at either Antioch or, more probably, at Antinoe, in the reign of Diocletian, early in the fourth century, on 6 January, according to the Roman Martyrology, or 8 January, according to the Greek Menaea.[1]
There exists no historically certain data relating to these two personages, and more than once this Julian of Antinoe has been confounded with Julian of Cilicia. The confusion is easily explained by the fact that thirty-nine saints of this name are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, eight of whom are commemorated in the one month of January. But little is known of this saint, aside from the exaggerations of his Acts.[1]