Sts. John and Paul, Martyrs: Feast Day & Prayers
Updated: Oct 3
Feast day: June 26 (no longer on the General Roman Calendar; commemorated in the Roman Martyrology)
Patron of: No widely recognized patronage.
About Sts. John and Paul, Martyrs
Sts. John and Paul were two Roman martyrs whose names have been honored in the city since ancient times. They are not the apostles, but two Christians of Rome who, according to tradition, were brothers and officials of the imperial household. Their names are included in the Roman Canon of the Mass, the ancient Eucharistic Prayer, among the martyrs whose prayers the Church asks, and they appear together in the traditional Litany of the Saints.
Their later legend says that they were put to death secretly in their own house on the Caelian Hill during the reign of the emperor Julian the Apostate in the fourth century, after refusing to give up their faith. In the late fourth century a senator named Pammachius, a friend of St. Jerome, built a church over a Roman house on that site, and excavations beneath the basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo have uncovered rooms with early Christian paintings. Their memorial was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969, but they remain in the Roman Martyrology on June 26.
Prayers to Sts. John and Paul, Martyrs on Daily Catholic Prayers
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