Napoleon

Holy Martyr Napoleon is the name under which the Roman martyr Neopolus has come to be known in recent times. The few data about him are those of the Roman Martyrology: at Rome the Holy Martyrs Saturninus, Neopolus, Germanus and Caelestinus, after suffering many torments, were thrown at last into prison and rested in the Lord. The Hieronymian Martyrology, however, placed their martyrdom at Alexandria in Egypt. It is said that Neopolus died after torture, while being led back to his place of detention, so greatly had the cruelty of the torture disfigured him. He suffered in the great persecution of Diocletian, on 2 May 304.

The name Napoleon was given to him in 1805, when Cardinal Caprara, looking for a saint for the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, found in the Roman Martyrology, on 2 May, the commemoration of the martyrs of Alexandria, among them Neopolus, a name similar to "Napoleo". The day of commemoration was then moved to 15 August, Bonaparte's birthday, and on 15 August 1806 he celebrated his name day for the first time. This cult was so artificial, however, that in 1814 King Louis XVIII abolished the feast. He is a saint of the undivided Church, venerated in the Catholic Church; the account shows no Orthodox veneration.