Exuperantius

Holy Martyr Exuperantius was one of the twelve clerics of the Holy Hieromartyr Stephen, pope of Rome, beheaded in the year 257, in the time of the Emperor Valerian. The others were Bonus, Faustus, Maurus, Primitivus, Calumniosus, John, Cyril, Theodore, Basil, Castellus, Honoratus and Tertullinus, converted by Saint Stephen.

Stephen shepherded the Church of Rome between 253 and 257 and zealously fought the heresy of Novatus, who taught that those returning from heresies should not be received. Hidden during the persecution, he baptized many pagans, among them the tribune Nemesius, who believed in Christ after the saint healed his daughter Lucilla. Nemesius, ordained deacon, and his daughter were beheaded. Their steward Symphronius, brought by the tribune Olympius to the temple of Mars for torture, melted the golden idol by prayer, after which Olympius, with his wife Exuperia and his son Theodulus, believed and were baptized.

All were burned, and their remains were buried by Saint Stephen. At that time his twelve clerics were also beheaded. At last Stephen himself was brought to the Emperor Valerian, who condemned him to be beheaded in the temple of Mars. But at the saint's prayer a large part of the temple collapsed and the soldiers fled. The hierarch hid in the catacombs, in the cemetery of Saint Lucina, where he was killed by soldiers who came while he was teaching the Christians.

The Synaxarion commemorates them all on 15 August (new style). The name of Exuperantius is not included in the present calendar of the Russian Church.