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Ss. Alpheus and Zacchaeus

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Ss. Alpheus and Zacchaeus

Martyrs

Alpheus, a lector and exorcist, and Zacchaeus, a deacon, suffered imprisonment and martyrdom in Palestine. Butler follows Eusebius and distinguishes their account from the other martyrs in the same notice.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Ministries: Lector and exorcist; deacon
Butler identifies Alpheus with the first two ministries and Zacchaeus as a deacon of Gadara.

Butler sourceAlban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 18, “Ss Alpheus and Zachaeus; Also Romanus and Barulas, Martyrs,” pp. 389-390.

Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1846)Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 18, “Ss Alpheus and Zachaeus; Also Romanus and Barulas, Martyrs,” pp. 389-390.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 18, “Ss Alpheus and Zachaeus; Also Romanus and Barulas, Martyrs,” pp. 389-390.

Alpheus and Zacchaeus suffered in Palestine during the persecution of Diocletian. Butler introduces their account with a contrast: other prisoners could benefit from the pardon given for imperial celebrations, while the Christians remained excluded.

Zacchaeus was a deacon of Gadara. After scourging and torture he was imprisoned with his feet stretched in the stocks. Alpheus, a lector and exorcist associated with the church of Caesarea, was arrested after encouraging other Christians to remain faithful. He too endured repeated examination and torture before being confined with Zacchaeus.

Both refused to abandon their confession of Christ. They were condemned together and beheaded. Butler cites Eusebius’s account of the martyrs of Palestine and distinguishes their story from that of Romanus, whose death at Antioch follows in the same notice. The source gives November 17 for the execution while placing this reading under November 18.

Historical note

An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 sources. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.

This reading concerns Alpheus and Zacchaeus only. Butler prints the combined notice under November 18 but gives November 17 for their execution.

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