Cuono

Saint Cuono (Conon) the Martyr was, according to Western tradition, a martyr in Isauria and died on 29 May 275. His commemoration is on 29 May. According to Western traditions going back to some fifth-⁠century manuscripts, he is Saint Conon of Isauria and his son Conello.

According to these traditions Cuono was a hydraulic engineer, a man of means, who lived in the city of Iconium in Isauria, a small region of Asia Minor. He was a Christian, like most of the inhabitants of that region, where Christianity had been widespread since the time of the preaching of the holy Apostle Paul. Conon was married to a woman whose name has not come down; it is known only that she died young. Left a widower, Conon decided to take up monasticism. At that time in the eastern Roman Empire, where Conon lived, to be a monk meant to live alone. Monks were held in great esteem, and their help was sought to defend communities against unjust taxation and the violence of the powerful.

The son of Saint Conon, Conello, then a young man, followed his father in all his works and also became a monk. He was a deacon of the Christian community of Iconium and earned the esteem of the people among whom he lived. At that time the prefect Domitian had the commission of making subjects feel that the emperor's power was stronger than any other, and he began the persecution against the saints Conon and Conello. They were accused of the miracle of the water, which in reality was the result of land-⁠reclamation works in that marshy region. After the torments and sufferings which Conon and Conello met with courage, they bore witness to their faith by death, on 29 May 275.