Benjamin of Susa

31 March

Benjamin of Susa, deacon and martyr, with bishop Audos, martyred by torture for refusing to cease preaching Christianity, in 421. Audas, bishop of the city of Susa (east of the Tigris River in Persia), was beheaded for Christ in the year 418 by Emperor Yezdegird. His deacon, Benjamin, was released by the tormentors with the understanding that he would never preach the gospel again. In the beginning he agreed, but Benjamin could not sustain this in his heart and continued to spread the truth of Christ among the people. For this, three years after Audas, Benjamin was captured, tortured with thorns driven under his nails, and killed.

Cyril of Heliopolis

29 March

Cyril, deacon and martyr, killed at Heliopolis, and companions, who suffered under Julian the Apostate in 362. Cyril was a prominent deacon in Heliopolis, a suburb of Athens in Greece. He opposed idol worship and destroyed many of the city’s idols. Emperor Julian the Apostate sentenced him to torture and death. Tradition holds that God punished Cyril’s torturers with blindness, boils, and terrible illness.

Pelagius of Treviso

27 March

Pelagius, deacon, venerated at Treviso (near Venice in northern Italy), date of death unknown.

Consent in Louisiana

According to its 2008 report, the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Louisiana consented to the ordination of four bishops but were "unable to consent" to that of Brian Thom of Idaho (who was ordained anyway). No reasons were given. I wonder what they will do about Kevin Thew Forrester of Northern Michigan, who has been the object of attacks in conservative blogs and the press.

Irenaeus of Pentapolis (in Libya)

26 March

Irenaeus, deacon and martyr, with bishop Theodore of Pentapolis in Libya and others, had his tongue cut out but survived and died in peace, in 310. Theodore, Irenaeus, and readers Serapion and Ammonius suffered under Gallienus by having their tongues cut out. They are venerated as martyrs, although they survived.

Bertha Garvin of New York

23 March

Bertha M. Garvin, deaconess at Grace Church, New York City, died 23 March 1945.

Originally from New Hampshire, Bertha Garvin served at Grace Church, Manhattan, where she was the rector’s secretary and the vestry secretary for forty years. She first served under the Rev. William Huntington who had pioneered the deaconess cause at General Convention. During World War I, Garvin helped in organizing and serving Sunday dinners to sailors and soldiers who passed through the busy port of New York on their way to or from the European war. At the 125th anniversary of Grace Parish, Garvin was honored at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The guest speakers included Bishop William T. Manning of New York. Over 300 people attended this event. Garvin also served the greater community of deaconesses in New York City. She was president of the Alumnae Association of the New York Training School for Deaconesses in 1914, 1928, 1929, and 1930. She sat on the Executive Committee of the Association in 1923 and 1924. In 1940 Garvin retired to her home in Sanbornville, New Hampshire, where she died on 23 March 1945. [research of Deacon Geri Swanson]

Octavian of Carthage

22 March

Octavian, archdeacon and martyr at Carthage, with several thousand of his flock, executed by Arian Vandals at the command of King Huneric in 484.

Sophia of Jerusalem

21 March

Sophia of Jerusalem, deacon, died 21 March, probably in the 4th century. The Greek inscription on her tombstone reads: “Here lies the servant and virgin of Christ, the deacon, the second Phoebe, who passed away in peace on the 21st day of March . . . May the Lord God . . .” (Revue biblique, New 1 [1904], 260-262).

Amantius of Wintershoven

19 March

Amantius, deacon and evangelist in Belgium and northeastern France, died c. 668. The pope sent Landoald, a Roman priest, and Amantius his deacon to evangelize what is now the Maestricht region of Belgium and northeastern France. Landoald founded a church at Wintershoven.

Tatian of Aquileia

16 March

Tatian, deacon and martyr, with bishop Hilary of Aquileia and others, killed by beheading, in 284. The others, all baptized Christians, were Denis, Felix, and Largus. Hilary, also called Dionysius, was the bishop of Aquileia, at the head of the Adriatic in northeastern Italy.

Diaconus of the Marsi

14 March

Diaconus, deacon of the church of the Marsi (who lived at Marsica in central Italy), martyred with two monks by the Lombards, 6th c. Gregory the Great recorded Diaconus’ death in his Dialogues.

Peter the Deacon

12 March

Peter the Deacon, disciple, secretary, and companion of Gregory the Great, died at Rome on 12 March 605. A Benedictine monk and one of the seven deacons of Rome, Peter wrote the four books of the Dialogues as dictated by Gregory. He is responsible for the statement that the Holy Spirit sometimes hovered in the form of a dove over the great pope’s head. Peter died a year to the day after Gregory. He is revered as the patron saint of Salassola in the diocese of Biella, near Venice.

Apollonius of Antinoe

8 March

Apollonius, deacon and martyr of Antinoe (also called Antinopolis) in Egypt, with the actor Philemon, cast into the sea at Alexandria, c. 305. Antinoe was on the east bank of the Nile in central Egypt. Philemon was converted to Christianity by deacon Apollonius. Roman authorities arrested them during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Taken to Alexandria, they were wrapped in chains and hurled into the sea.

Pontius of Carthage

8 March

Pontius, deacon and witness to the execution of Cyprian of Carthage, died in 260. A deacon of the congregation at Carthage, Pontius followed Cyprian into the exile imposed upon him during the persecution of the church under Emperor Valerian. After attending Cyprian’s trial and execution, he wrote an account of the event. This appeared in his work, Vita Cæcilii Cypriani (Life of Cæcilius Cyprianus), which was not so much a biography of the bishop as a touching and vivid panegyric. Nevertheless, it is considered the earliest Christian biography.