Marian and James
Numidian lector and deacon beheaded at Lambaesis in 259, whose passion is one of the few authentic acts of the martyrs.
- Antiquity
- North Africa
- Feast day May 6
- † 259
- Martyr
- Priest
- Deacon
Listen to the life 0:33
Marian was a lector and James a deacon when Valerian's persecution reached Numidia. Their passion was written by a fellow prisoner who says he shared their cell, which makes it one of the few martyrdom accounts scholarship holds to be authentic — alongside those of Perpetua and Cyprian. The text reports their prison dreams with a sobriety that stands apart from later hagiography. They were taken to Lambaesis, the military capital of the province, and beheaded beside a river with a crowd of companions whose number the account does not give.
