Armogastes, Archinimus and Saturus of Africa

The Holy Confessors Armogastes, Archinimus and Saturus of Africa lived in Africa in the fifth century and are venerated as saints and martyrs in the Catholic Church. The Roman Martyrology says that, in the time of the Vandal persecution, under the Arian king Gaiseric, they endured many insults and heavy torments for bearing witness to the truth. The three are not actually related to one another; they are grouped because their stories are told one after another by Victor of Vita in the History of the Persecution of the Province of Africa.

Armogastes was tortured and condemned to death by order of Theodoric, son of Gaiseric, for refusing to renounce his faith and adopt Arianism; an Arian priest, Jucundus, advised that he not be executed, lest he be venerated as a martyr; Theodoric sent him first to forced labor in a quarry in Byzacena, then to herd goats near Carthage. Warned by God that his death was near, Armogastes had himself buried at the foot of a carob tree by another Christian, Felix, who, when he dug the grave, found underground, at the indicated spot, a fine marble sarcophagus ready to receive the body. Archinimus and Saturus, both condemned to death, were also finally spared for the same reason. Saturus, the second of the two, was a procurator of the court of Huneric; he stayed firm in his faith though his wife and children begged him to become an Arian to save his life. The names may be written differently: Saturus sometimes appears as Satyrus or Saturninus, and the name of Archinimus is read otherwise in some editions. They are commemorated on 29 March (new style).