Feastday: July 21
Death: 290
According to legend, Victor was a soldier in the Roman army at Marseilles when he was hailed before the prefects, Asterius and Eutychius, who sent him to Emperor Maximian for his exhortations to Christians to be firm in their faith in the face of an impending visit by the Emperor. He was dragged through the streets, racked, imprisoned (he converted three guards, Alexander, Felician, and Longinus while in prison). He was again tortured after the guards were beheaded when it was discovered he had converted them to Christianity. When he refused to offer incense to Jupiter, he was crushed in a millstone and beheaded. His tomb became one of the most popular pilgrimage centers in Gaul. His feast day is July 21st.
Saint Victor of Marseilles (died c. 290) was a Christian martyr. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Life
Saint Victor is said to have been a Roman army officer in Marseille, who publicly denounced the worship of idols. For that, he was brought before the Roman prefects, Asterius and Eutychius, who later sent him to the Emperor Maximian. He was then racked, beaten, dragged through the streets, and thrown into prison, where he converted three other Roman soldiers, Longinus, Alexander, and Felician, who were subsequently beheaded. After refusing to offer incense to a statue of the Roman god Jupiter, Victor kicked it over with his foot. The emperor ordered that he be put to death by being ground under a millstone, but the millstone broke while Victor was still alive. He was then beheaded.
Veneration
Abbey of St Victor
Saint Victor and the three other Roman soldiers he converted – Saints Longinus, Alexander and Felician – were killed near the end of the 3rd century. In the 4th century, Saint John Cassian built a monastery over the site where their bodies had been buried in a cave, which later became a Benedictine abbey and minor basilica. This is the Abbey of St Victor (Abbaye Saint-Victor).
Saint Victor's feast day, along with Saints Longinus, Alexander and Felician, is celebrated on July 21.
Saint Victor, Saint Nicholas, Saint George and the blackamoor, Tallinn
Patronage
Saint Victor is the patron saint of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. His life and martyrdom are celebrated in the scenes depicted on the high altar of St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn.
Notes
- ^ Saints of July 21
- ^ Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints, Vol. VII, 1866
- ^ Puha Viktor-Tallinna kaitsepuhak. St. Victor -the patron saint of Tallinn.
