Porcarius of Lérins

Saint Porcarius of Lérins was abbot of the monastery of Lérins, off the coast of Provence in France, around 732, and he was slain with his community, over five hundred monks.

According to tradition, an angel warned him in a vision that the abbey was about to be attacked by barbarians. Porcarius heeded the warning at once: he sent off to safety by ship all the young students of the abbey and thirty-⁠six of the younger monks, then prepared the rest of the community for death and prayed with them for courage. The abbey was attacked by Saracens, probably Moors from Spain or North Africa, and all were massacred except four who were taken into slavery. Their feast is celebrated in the diocese of Fréjus on 12 August; the Orthodox calendar commemorates him on the same date as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.