St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe broadened the concept of Christian martyrdom to include "martyrs of charity" - that is, men and women who have died for Christ to save another person's life. A member of the Conventual Franciscans, Maximilian Kolbe was arrested during World War II for actively supporting Jewish refugees. He was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. On July 31, in reprisal for a prisoner's escape, ten prisoners were randomly selected to die in place of the escaped prisoner. When one of those randomly chosen pleaded for his life because he had a wife and two children, St. Maximilian Kolbe offered his life in place of that man with a family. Maximilian Kolbe was executed together with others by being injected with carbolic acid (died 1941 A.D.).
St. Eusebius of Rome was a priest who opposed the Arian Emperor Constantius. He was imprisoned by the Arian authorities, in a small room of his house for seven months and eventually died there. Nothing more is known about Eusebius except that he lived in the 4th century A.D. and founded a church in Rome (died ca. 357 A.D.).
St. Marcellus of Apamea was a judge on the island of Cyprus before he became a bishop of Apamea, Syria. Emperor Theodosius the Great enacted an edict proclaiming that all pagan temples in the Empire were to be destroyed. St. Marcellus obeyed the edict and destroyed the pagan temples in his diocese. As a result, a group of pagans took hold of him and burned him to death (died ca. 389 A.D.).
St. Fachanan studied under St. Ita and founded the Molana Monastery on an island in the Blackwater. He also founded the monastic school of Ross (Rosscarbery), in Cook, Ireland. This monastic school became a famous center of monasticism in Ireland (died ca. 6th century A.D.).
St. Athanasia was widowed only 16 days after her marriage. Her husband was killed fighting the invading Arabs in Greece. She remarried, but her second husband wanted to become a monk after their marriage. On her part, St. Athanasia consented, and she then decided to be a nun. Using her home as a convent, she became abbess of a community of nuns. They soon moved their convent community to Timia. It was here in Timia that St. Athanasia spent her last years (died ca. 860 A.D.).
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