Today we honor a group of martyrs in the early Church who demonstrate the power of fearless witness of faith to inspire courage in others.

In the year 309, when the Roman empire was persecuting Christians, a group of faithful Egyptians traveled to Cilicia (in modern-day Turkey) to visit Christians who had been condemned to work in mines there because of their faith. On their return journey, they were stopped by guards in Caesarea. They willingly declared their status as Christians and the purpose of their trip.

They were immediately arrested, hung on the rack, and examined. The judge asked for their names and they offered names they had taken at their baptism: Elias, Jeremy, Isaiah, Samuel, Daniel, and Pamphilus. When they asked about their homeland, Elias answered that they were from the heavenly Jerusalem. The judge ordered them tortured and beheaded.

A young servant of Pamphilus named Porphyry requested that the new martyrs be buried, but the governor arrested him and, discovering that he was a Christian, had him tortured as well. Porphyry was martyred by being burned in a bonfire.

A man named Seleucus witnessed the burning of Porphyry and lauded the courage of the young man, who did not cry out during his beating or martyrdom. Soldiers nearby heard his comments and arrested him, and he, too, was beheaded.

It is easy to see the ripples of courage that spread through the community of faithful from the faithfulness of a few Christians imprisoned in a far-off mine. Their constancy and hope in suffering inspired others who faced death—it gave Elias and his friends the courage to cling to their faith no matter what. May it be so with us today.

Relics of Sts. Pamphilus, Jeremy, Samuel, Daniel, and Porphyry all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.

St. Elias and his friends, you adopted the courage you saw in other martyrs who preferred death to renouncing faith, pray for us!