Barsimaeus
bishop of Edessa
Feast: 30 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
At Edessa in Osroene, now in Turkey, Saint Barsimaeus, bishop: tradition says that for his faith in Christ he was beaten with rods under the emperor Decius; when the persecution was over and he was released from prison, he gave the rest of his life with the greatest care to the government of the Church entrusted to him.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 30 January as a bishop of Edessa beaten with rods for the faith who then governed his Church for the rest of his life.
- Roman Martyrology, 30 January (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q97253316 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.