Innocent the Deacon

Saint Innocent, hieromartyr, was a deacon at Rome and died a martyr in the persecution of Valerian, together with Pope Sixtus II. He is commemorated on 6 August, the day of his martyrdom.

He was one of the four deacons seized and killed on 6 August together with Pope Sixtus II, near the catacomb, at Rome, by order of the emperor Valerian. The other three deacons were Saints Januarius, Magnus and Stephen. On the same day two more deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, who were not present when the pope was seized, were also put to death. Their memory is kept on the same day as that of Pope Sixtus. Four days later, in the same persecution, Saint Lawrence was also killed, commemorated on 10 August.

In the martyrology of Ado of Vienne Innocent is called Vincent. The Russian source gives the year 248, but the persecution of Valerian and the death of Pope Sixtus II are usually dated to 258. Saint Innocent is venerated as patron of the places Gasperina in Calabria and San Martino Noceto in Liguria.