JULY 27, Sts. Natalie & Aurelius, Roman Catholic Martyr for her Faith with her husband Aurelius, Bl. Rudolf Acquaviva, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr, St. Anthusa, Roman Catholic Abbess

Sts. Natalie & Aurelius, Roman Catholic Martyr for her Faith with her husband Aurelius. According to his biography by St. Eulogius of Toledo, Aurelius was the son of a Moor and a Spanish woman, and was orphaned as a child. He was secretly raised a Christian by his aunt during the Moorish persecution of Christians. He married a half Moorish woman, Sabigotho, who took the name Natalie when he converted her to Christianity. They were both beheaded for practicing their religion openly together with George, a monk from Jerusalem whom Aurelius had befriended. FeastdayJuly 27th Bl. Rudolf Acquaviva, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr. he was the nephew of Claudius Acquaviva, the fifth master general of the Jesuits, and he followed his uncle into the Society of Jesus. In 1549, he was sent to India, going to the court of Mogul Akbar near Agra. He became superior of the Salsette mission. Rudolf was martyred at Salsette, near Goa, by Hindus, with four companions, including Alfonso Pacheco. Feastday: July 27 St. Anthusa, Roman Catholic Abbess tortured by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. Anthusa was originally a hermitess, becoming abbess of the convent near Constantinople. Because of her veneration of sacred images, she was arrested by the emperor, who, as an ardent iconoclast, opposed such sacramentals. Anthusa was tortured severely until the empress intervened and secured her release. Feastday: July 27