Expeditus

Expeditus is called in tradition a Roman centurion of Melitene, in Armenia, killed for faith in Christ in April 303, in the persecution of Diocletian. He is commemorated on 19 April. Very little is certain about him, and his name is not found in the Orthodox Menaion, Prologue or Synaxarion, so the Orthodox Church does not officially celebrate him.

What the sources say

His name appears in the Hieronymian Martyrology, among six Roman soldiers said to have been killed at Melitene in the persecution of Diocletian. According to tradition he commanded the Twelfth Legion Fulminata. The account says that, in a battle, many soldiers, among them Expeditus, Rufus, Caius, Galatas, Aristonicus and Hermogenes, seeing that defeat was certain, turned to the Lord; a storm arose, and the enemies were scattered. When it was known that the soldiers were Christians and had remained faithful, they were beheaded at Melitene and are honoured as martyrs. Another Expeditus is commemorated on 18 April in the same martyrology, with Bishop Eleutherius and others. The Latin name means “lightly equipped soldier”, so some think it a name given to an unknown martyr; according to one scholar, it would be a misreading of the name Elpidius.

The legend

There is also a legend. On the day he decided to become a Christian, the devil, in the form of a crow, told him to put it off until the next day. Expeditus stamped on the crow and cried that he would be a Christian that very day. Hence his usual image: a young centurion trampling a crow, with a cross inscribed hodie, “today”, while from the bird’s beak comes the word cras, “tomorrow”.

Veneration

His veneration was widespread in the Middle Ages at Turin and in southern Germany, then in Sicily and France. It is told that it began in 1781 in Paris, when a case of relics marked expédit, for quick delivery, arrived at a convent, and the nuns took it for the name of the saint. He is patron of those with urgent business, of merchants and seafarers, and of the city of Acireale in Sicily. He is much venerated in Brazil, Chile and Louisiana. In 1905 Pope Pius X struck him from the list of martyrs, but the veneration continued.