Catholic Blesseds, Saints, Solemnities & Holy Days

St. Eusignius was born in 252.  He was a soldier under the Emperor Maximian, Constantine, and Constantine’s sons.  He was present at the martyrdom of the holy martyr Basiliscus, and he saw many angels and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He received the soul of this holy martyr from the angel’s hands.   

He was a general under Constantine, and saw the Cross that appeared to the Emperor.  After sixty years in military service, he retired during the time of Constantine’s sons, and returned to his home town of Antioch.  There he lived a godly life of fasting, prayer and good works.   

While living in Antioch in the time of Julian the Apostate, two men with a dispute asked him to judge between them.  This was a way they settled disputes in his time.  He judged right to the righteous, and the one at fault became enranged.  He went to the Emperor and denounced Eusignius as a Christian.  The emperor summoned him to trial, and Eusignius fiercely denounced the Emperor for his apostasy from the faith, and rebuked him by citing the great example of Constantine.  The proud Julian ordered him to denounce Christianity and honor the Roman gods, or be beheaded.  

Even though Eusignius suffered greatly in the old age of 110, he would not give up his great faith, and was beheaded in the year 362.  Inside St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the Colonnade is surrounded and adorned with 140 Great Saints, St. Eusignius is amoung them.