Saint Romanus, Martyr - August 9th
SaintoftheDay
He said the same thing before the tribunal that he had said everywhere else since his baptism: I am a Christian. He had been a Christian for perhaps one day. It was enough. One day of truth is sufficient for a martyr's crown. He could not understand how a man of flesh and blood could be tortured without opening his mouth to complain. Then he saw the Angel. That is always the order — first the inexplicable endurance, then the supernatural explanation. Faith works the same way. The faithful sins if his neighbor sins — that was Saint Matthias's saying. Romanus saw a neighbor suffering for Christ and could not remain indifferent. He converted on the spot. He was beheaded the next day. His neighbor's martyrdom was his baptism. Grace is contagious. He saw beside the tortured martyr a young man of incomparable grace and beauty wiping away the blood. No one else seemed to see him. That vision cost Romanus his life. He considered it well spent. So does the Church. So should we. Baptized. Brought before the tribunal. Beheaded. All within one day. He did not have time to sin again, to grow lukewarm, to negotiate with the world. God gave him the faith and took him home before anything could touch it. That is a mercy worth asking for. Roman soldier converted by St. Lawrence’s heroic faith. Baptized in prison, he boldly proclaimed, “I am a Christian!” and was martyred in 258. His courage inspires us to stand firm in faith, no matter the cost. He saw Lawrence stretched on the rack and silent. He saw an Angel wiping away the blood. He asked Lawrence — still on the rack — to baptize him. Lawrence was untied and imprisoned. He found the water. He baptized him. The soldier was beheaded before Lawrence was. Martyr August 9th Born: Unknown Died: 9 August 258 at Rome -- Magnificat, E. (n.d.-c). Saint Romanus, Martyr. Saint Romanus, Martyr Wikipedia contributors. (2021). Romanus Ostiarius. Wikipedia. Romanus Ostiarius - Wikipedia Contributors to Wikimedia projects. (2013). Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sts. Romanus. Wikisource, the Free Online Library. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Sts. Romanus - … "(1) A Roman martyr Romanus is mentioned in the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 155) with three other ecclesiastics as companions in the martyrdom of St. Lawrence (10 August, 258). There is no reason to doubt that this mention rests upon a genuine ancient tradition. Like St. Lawrence Romanus was buried in the Catacomb of the Cyriaca on the Via Tiburtina. The grave of St. Romanus is explicitly mentioned in the Itineraries of the seventh century (De Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 178-9). In the purely legendary Acts of St. Lawrence, the ostiary Romanus is transformed into a soldier, and an account in accordance with this statement was inserted in the historical martyrologies and in the present Roman Martyrology, which latter places his feast on 9 August (cf. Duchfourcq, "Les Gesta Martyrum romains", I, 201)."