Feast of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome: These were Christians martyred in the city of Rome during Nero's persecution in 64. In July of 64 AD, Rome was devastated by fire. Largely made up of wooden tenements, fire was a frequent occurrence in the city. Rumor ...(Read the rest of the story here:) https://www.facebook.com/St.Eugene.OMI?ref=hl
irenaeus was a student of polycarp polycarp was bishop of smyrna. Ignatius of Antioch ( AD c. 35 or 50 – 98 to 117) was an Apostolic Father and student of John the Apostle and was the third bishop of Antioch.
Brass strigil. Used by ancient Romans to scrape dirt and sweat from their bodies. The Romans did not use soap. Instead, perfumed oil would be rubbed onto the body and then scraped off with the strigil, removing any dead skin, sweat, and dirt. It was boiled clean so the strigil would have been a hygienic instrument, especially since the Romans shared bath facilities at bath houses.
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs: Today, together with the whole Church, we honor twenty-two Ugandan martyrs. They are the first martyrs of Sub-Saharan Africa and true witnesses of the Christian faith. Charles Lwanga, a catechist and a young leader, was martyred in 1886 with a group of Catholic and Anglican royal pages, some of whom were not yet baptized. King Mwanga, who despised the Christian religion, gave orders that all the Christian pages in his service be laid upon a mat…