Alexander of Africa

Saint Alexander of Africa suffered in the time of the emperor Decius (249 to 251) together with Saint Terentius and his companions. He is commemorated on 23 April.

The saints had been forty Christians who, before the governor of Africa, Fortunatian, confessed their faith in the Saviour, led by Terentius. Terentius, together with his friends Africanus, Maximus and Pompius, the governor shut up, while the others, among them Zeno, Alexander and Theodore, he resolved to force to deny Christ. Neither persuasion nor tortures shook them: they were burned with red-⁠hot iron, their wounds were sprinkled with vinegar, rubbed with salt and scraped with iron claws, and the Lord strengthened them. When they were brought into the temple and prayed to God, the idols fell and shattered, and then the whole temple collapsed. Enraged, the governor ordered their heads cut off, and the martyrs, glorifying God, bowed their heads beneath the sword. Thirty-⁠six died then, among them Alexander. Christians buried their bodies with honour, outside the city.