St. Mercurius was a Roman soldier in the third century. He and other soldiers were assigned to escort persecuted Christians to their execution. The prisoners he walked with displayed such heroism that he was converted on the spot. He and his troops surrendered themselves, and were beheaded with their new Christian friends on this date in what is now Sicily. The relics of St. Mercurius rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica.

St. Mercurius, who had the courage to follow the heroic examples of the martyrs, pray for us!