ST. TIBERTIUS, VALERIAN, & MAXIMUS, MARTYRS, April 14th

Collect

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God : that we who keep this feast of thy blessed Martyrs, Tibertius, Valerian, and Maximus ; may likewise follow the example of their virtues. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

For the legend

TIBERTIUS, Valerian, and Maximus have been honoured as Martyrs from an early date ; and the Catacomb of Saint Callistus, where their bodies were found, was known at one time as the Cemetary of Saint Tibertius. Their story is to be found in the Acts of Saint Cecilia, which same, however, originated so long after their martyrdom, that its details cannot be accepted with certainty. These Acts tell us that Valerius was a pagan Roman noble, betrothed to the holy Virgin Cecilia, and was brought by her to Christ. And he in turn brought his brother Tibertius. Whereupon these two young men gave themselves to good works. And for their care in burying the bodies of Martyrs, which the Roman law forbade, they were tortured and beheaded by order of the Prefect Almachius, in the latter part of the second century. And their constancy under torture converted Maximus, chamberlain to the Prefect, with several other of his servants, all of whom were later tortured and killed, because they ceased to be servants of the evil one, and became servants of Christ.

From the Anglican Breviary