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| Saint Adrian and his wife, Saint Natalia |
⛪ Memorial :
• 4 March
• 8 September (translation of relics)
• 26 August (Greek calendar)
• 1 December on some Calendars
⛪ Died :
• Thrown to a lion, which refused to touch him • Legs broken with an anvil, and then hacked to pieces with a sword on 4 March 304 • Body burned, but when a storm extinguished the fire his wife salvaged his dismembered hand as a relic, and took it to Argyropolis near Constantinople • Other relics at Grammont (Geertsbergen), Belgium
⛪ Patronage :
• Against epilepsy • Against plague • Arms dealers • Butchers • Epileptics • Prison Guards • Soldiers • Flanders, Belgium • Germany
⛪ Symbols :
• Anvil at his feet • Anvil in his hand • In Armour • Lion • Anvil • Sword • Axe
Saint Adrian (also known as Hadrian) or Adrian of Nicomedia (died 4 March 306) was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. After becoming a convert to Christianity with his wife Natalia, Adrian was martyred at Nicomedia.
Adrian and Natalia lived in Nicomedia during the time of Emperor Maximian in the early fourth century. The twenty-eight-year-old Adrian was head of the praetorium.
It is said that while presiding over the torture of a band of Christians, he asked them what reward they expected to receive from God. They replied, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."He was so amazed at their courage that he publicly confessed his faith, though he had not yet been baptized. He was then immediately imprisoned. He was forbidden visitors, but accounts state that his wife Natalia came to visit him, dressed as a boy, to ask for his prayers when he entered Heaven.
The executioners wanted to burn the bodies of the dead, but a storm arose and quenched the fire. Natalia recovered one of Adrian's hands.
The accuracy of the recorded story has been questioned. A second Hadrian, is said to have been a son of the Emperor Probus, and, having embraced Christianity, to have been put to death (A.D. 320), at Nicomedia in Asia Minor, by the Emperor Licinius. But no reliable information concerning him is extant. He is commemorated on August 26.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Hadrian shares a feast day with his wife on 26 August (Revised Julian calendar and/or Gregorian calendar), or on 8 September (most Orthodox Churches still use the historic Julian calendar); he also has feast days alone on 4 March. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is venerated alone, without his wife, on September 8.
Saint Hadrian was the chief military saint of Northern Europe for many ages, second only to Saint George, and is much revered in Flanders, Germany and the north of France. He is usually represented armed, with an anvil in his hands or at his feet.