Eusebius of Rome

Eusebius of Rome is a martyr honored in the Western Church, commemorated on 25 August (Western calendar, new style). According to tradition he lived in the second century, in the time of Emperor Commodus (180-192). He is a saint of the undivided Church.

His martyrdom is described in the acts that tell the sufferings of the four companions Pontian, Vincent, Peregrinus and Eusebius; they contain nine readings, which were read in the service on their feast. Together with his companions he brought many Romans to the faith, among them a senator. Besides proclaiming the Gospel, he looked after the poor and arranged Christian burials. Seized by the emperor, they were tortured. Tradition says Eusebius's tongue was cut out, yet he went on proclaiming the word of Christ and working miracles, after which Commodus condemned him to death.

According to two ninth-⁠century chronicles his relics were taken to Gaul in the time of Pope Nicholas I, but it is not known in which monastery they were placed. A document from the archive of the Benedictine abbey of Prüm says that Pope Sergius II gave them to Abbot Markward, together with the relics of forty-⁠five other saints. In 1453 the priest Walram of Wamel brought them from Prüm to Arnhem, where Eusebius has been patron of the city for centuries. The shrine with his skull and tongue was displayed in the Catharijneconvent museum in Utrecht, and on 3 February 2024 it received a permanent place in the church of Saint Martin in Arnhem.