Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria

Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria were, according to ancient tradition, a young married couple martyred at Rome for their faith in the latter part of the third century. Chrysanthus, said to be the son of a noble Egyptian who had settled in Rome, embraced Christianity as a young man; when his father sought to turn him from the faith by marriage, he in turn led his bride, Daria, to belief in Christ, and the two lived together in consecrated chastity, drawing many others to the Gospel by their teaching and example.

Denounced as Christians during the persecution, they endured various torments and were at last put to death and buried on the Via Salaria outside the city, where their tombs were long venerated by pilgrims. Though the details of their passion are wrapped in legend, the early cult of the two martyrs is well attested, and their names were inscribed in the Roman Martyrology; the Church keeps their memory on 25 October.