Proculus of Interamnia

Holy Martyr Proculus of Interamnia (Italy) was one of three young Athenians, disciples of Craton, who believed in Christ through the Holy Hieromartyr Valentine, bishop of Interamnia, in the time of the emperor Aurelian (270-275).

St Valentine, bishop of the city of Interamnia in Umbria, had received from God the gift of healing diseases by calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three young men, Proculus, Ephebus and Apollonius, had come from Athens to Rome to study and lived in the house of their teacher, Craton. Craton's son, Chorimon, had injured his back, which had bent so much that the boy could not straighten himself; for three years he had gone to various doctors, without success. At last Craton called Bishop Valentine to pray for his son. Arriving in Rome, the hierarch shut himself in a room with the young man and prayed earnestly all night; the next morning the young man came out completely healthy.

The news of the miracle spread in Rome and many began to turn to the Christian faith, among them the son of the city prefect, Abundius. The prefect, a fanatical pagan, turned all his wrath on the holy hierarch. They forced him to renounce the faith and worship the idols, and failing, they threw him into prison. The disciples of Craton, who had become Christians, visited him there. Soon Valentine's head was cut off. After him there suffered, for spreading the Christian faith, the disciples of Craton: Proculus, Ephebus and Apollonius. Abundius buried them beside the tomb of the holy martyr Valentine.

St Proculus is commemorated on 12 August, in the new style.