Euticius of Ferento

Saint Euticius, hieromartyr, was bishop of Ferento, in Italy, and received the crown of martyrdom about the year 270, in the persecution of the emperor Aurelian. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his commemoration is on 15 May.

According to one tradition, Euticius was born at Ferento. At nineteen he was ordained priest by Bishop Dionysius. He escaped an ambush set by Thrason, judge of Falerii, in which his disciple, Saint Felissima, was seized, and went to the river Purgatorio, at Falerii Novi, to accompany her and Saint Gratilian to burial in the Christian manner. On the way back, not far from Selva Cimina, he was overtaken and seized by the men of Thrason. Through the intervention of Maximus, father of Saint Gratilian and a friend of Thrason, he was released after some days in prison and was able to return to Ferento. According to other sources, after he was seized he was not released, although Bishop Dionysius tried to help him.

His death is placed on 15 May, when he was beheaded after great torments. When night came the body and head of the saint were given to the faithful, and the bishop blessed the burial, which took place in some catacombs fifteen miles from Ferento, on the land of present-⁠day Soriano nel Cimino. After the accession of Constantine, the body of the saint was placed in a marble shrine and a church was built over his tomb. His veneration afterward spread throughout Italy. His relics are at Soriano nel Cimino. He is regarded as patron of this town and of Carbognano.