From 249-263, pestilence and disease ravaged the Roman empire. At its worst, plague killed 5,000 people in Rome in one day.

Alexandria, the great city in Egypt, was not safe from the crisis. The city had already suffered from famine, and desperate people turned to violence. On top of all of this, the plague struck—nearly every single family in the city suffered at least one death.

The city was in chaos—corpses lay in the streets and homes, unburied, and the smell of sickness and death was everywhere. All of this inspired fear in Alexandrians—as soon as anyone fell ill, they were abandoned by their family and closest friends.

Up to this point, Christians in Alexandria had suffered under Roman persecution, and they were forced to gather in secret to worship. Sometimes they came together at a hidden location, other times they all went to sea in a boat to be safe.

When the city fell apart from fear, sickness, and death, Christians stood tall—they disregarded the danger from the persecution, and from their own exposure to the plague, and cared for the suffering. They tended sick and dying people, carrying the dead on their own shoulders for a proper burial.

The bishop of Alexandria, St. Dionysius, described their service: “Many who had healed others became victims themselves. The best of our brethren have been taken from us in this manner: some were priests, others deacons and some laity of great worth.”

Because these Christians willingly gave their life in the course of living their faith with heroic virtue, they are recognized as martyrs. Below is a detail from a painting by Nicolas Poussin, who depicted the plague striking Ashod; it is in the public domain.

Martyrs of Alexandria, you gave your lives to care for your plague-stricken persecutors—pray for us!