Saint Alban
| Saint Alban | |
| Martyr |
| Born | N/K, Verulamium |
| Died | 305, Holmhurst Hill, St Albans |
| Major shrine | St Albans Abbey |
| Feast | March 20 |
| Attributes | soldier with a very tall cross and a sword; decapitated, with his head in a holly bush and the eyes of his executioner dropping out |
| Patronage | converts, refugees, torture victims |
A short hymn or prayer
associated with the saint
Its source (author's name, title of the prayer book, or at least the denomination) |
Saint Alban was the first
Christian martyr (protomartyr) in
Britain. He is listed in the Church of England (Anglican) calendar of England and Wales for 20 June and he continues to be venerated in the Anglican Communion. The first mention of St Alban is by Constantius, in his
Life of St Germanus of Auxerre, written about
480. He also appears in
Gildas's 6th century polemic
De Excidio Britanniae.
According to
Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of the English People, I.vii and xviii, Alban was a
pagan living at
Verulamium (near
St Albans), who converted to
Christianity, and was executed by
decapitation on a hill above the
Roman settlement of
Verulamium.
St Albans Abbey at
St Albans,
Hertfordshire,
England was later founded near this site.
The date of the execution is best left to the venerable Bede: "when the cruel Emperors first published their edicts against the Christians". In other words, sometimes after the publication of the edicts by
Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian in
303 and before the proclamation of the toleration
Edict of Milan by co-ruling
Roman Emperors Constantine I and
Licinius in
313. The year
304 has been suggested.
Alban sheltered a Christian priest, (
Geoffrey of Monmouth's later interpolation giving his name as "
Amphibalus", the name for the cloak) in his home, and was converted and baptised by him. When the "impious prince," as Bede has called him, sent Roman soldiers to Alban's house to look for the priest, Alban exchanged cloaks with the priest and was arrested in his stead. Alban was taken before the
magistrate, who was furious at the deception and ordered that Alban be given the punishment due to the priest if he had indeed become a Christian. Alban declared "I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things." These words are still used in prayer at St Albans Abbey. Despite being flogged he refused to sacrifice to the
Roman gods and was condemned to death. He was taken out of the town across the river Ver to the top of the hill opposite. The place of his beheading is where
St Albans Cathedral now stands.
A cult connected with Alban was already in existence in the
6th century, for Bede quotes a line from one of the
Carmina of
Venantius Fortunatus,
Albanum egregium fæcunda Britannia profert ("Fruitful Britain holy Alban yields").
 |
The martyrdom of St Alban, from a 13th century manuscript, now in the Trinity College Library, Dublin. Note the executioner's eyes falling out of his head. |
Bede tells several legends associated with the story of Alban's execution. On his way to the execution, Alban had to cross a river, and finding the bridge full of people, he made the waters part and crossed over on dry land. And the executioner was so impressed with Alban's faith that he also converted to
Christianity on the spot, and refused to kill him. Another executioner was quickly found (whose eyes dropped out of his head when he did the deed), and the first was killed after Alban, becoming the second British Christian martyr.
Alban is represented in art as carrying his head between his hands, having been beheaded.
Feast day:
June 22.
Some details added to St Alban's tradition come from confusing him with another
Saint Alban of Mainz, or Albinus, who was martyred at Mainz.
In June 2002 a
clavicle (collar bone), believed to be a
relic of St Alban, was presented to St Albans Cathedral and placed inside the saint's restored 13th century shrine. The bone was given by the Church of St Pantaleon in
Cologne,
Germany. St Pantaleon's, like St Albans Cathedral a former
Benedictine abbey church that had a shrine to St Alban, has possessed remains believed to be those of St Alban since the 10th century. It is entirely possible that further relics were acquired by the church in the 16th century at the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in England, when many such relics were smuggled abroad to prevent their destruction.
*
Bede, Ecclesiastical History Book i.vii: the story of Saint Alban
*
Catholic encyclopedia: St Alban
*
The Story of Alban on St Albans Cathedral website
*
Alban on Catholic-Forum.com
*
Early British Kingdoms: St. Alban
