Papius of Dyrrhachium

Holy Martyr Papius of Dyrrhachium is commemorated on 20 July with the martyrs Peregrinus, Lucian, Pompey, Hesychius, Saturninus and Germanus. All were from Italy and suffered for Christ in the time of the emperor Trajan, in the city of Dyrrhachium on the shore of the Adriatic Sea.

Present at the torture of Bishop Astius, whom the Romans crucified, they openly praised the courage and firmness of the confessor. For this they were themselves seized and drowned in the sea, as confessors of Christ. The waves cast their bodies on the shore, and the Christians hid them in the sand. After ninety years the martyrs appeared to the bishop of Alexandria with a command to bury their bodies and raise a church over them.

Saint Papius is commemorated on 20 July, in the new style.