List of African Saints
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Name

Year of Death

Comment

Feast Day

St. Fulgentius

533

Bishop of Ruspe, Tunisia

January 1

St. Paul

342

Egyptian Hermit and founder of Monastic life in Thebes

January 15

St. Anthony

356

Founder of monastic life in the desert of Egypt

January 17

St. John the Alms Giver

619

Patriarch of Alexandria

January 23

St. Gelasius

496

Bishop of Rome and third African Pope (492-496) 
SS. Perpetua and Felicity

202

Martyred in Carthage along with 6 other companions

March 7

St. Maximilian (Marmilian)

295

Martyred at Theveste, Numidia after refusing to serve in the Roman army

March 12

St. Benedict the Black

1585

Sicilian, son of African parents; the first African to be canonized through the regular canonical process

April 12

St. Zeno

380

Born at Cherchell, Algeria; missionary in Verona, Italy, where he become Bishop of Verona (c.362)

April 12

St. Marcellinus

4th Cent.

He was an African missionary to France

April 20

St. Athanasius

373

Bishop of Alexandria

May 2

SS. Timothy and Maura

298

Husband and wife martyred in Southern Egypt

May 3

St. Isdore of Chios

251

Alexandrian army officer beheaded for his faith

May 15

Blessed Josephine Bakhita

1947

Sudanese slave girl who joined the Canossian Sisters, Italy, lived a holy life, and beatified May 17, 1992. Canonization of Josephine Bakhita by Pope John Paul II is scheduled on October 1, 2000

 
St. Julia of Tunisia

?

Slave girl crucified for her faith

May 22

St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

1886

Martyrs, canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. The 22 young court servant were martyred for their faith by the Buganda King Mwanga in 1886. Along with them were 80 young Anglicans

June 3

St. Onuphrius

4th Cent.

Egyptian hermit

June 12

St. Orsiesius

c.380

Abbot of Tabennisi Monastery, Egypt

June 15

St. Cyril of Alexandria

444

Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444)

June 27

St. Shenute

c.450

Founder of monastic life in Egypt

July 1

St. Anatolius

c.282

Philosopher and scientist of Alexandria

July 3

St. Pantaenus

190

Head of Alexandrian Catechetical School and missionary to Persia (Iran)

July 9

St. Eugenius

5th Cent.

Archbishop of Carthage, Tunisia

July 20

St. Speratus and Companions

180

The 12 martyrs of Scillum, Carthage, Tunisia

July 17

St. Aurelius

5th Cent.

Archbishop of Carthage, Tunisia

July 20

St. Victor I

199

Bishop of Rome and first African Pope (189-199)

July 23

St. Rutilius

4th Cent.

North African martyr

August 2

Blessed Isidore Bakanja

1909

A Congolese laborer and catechist martyred for his faith

August 17

Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo

1894

Foundress of the Catholic Action in Madagascar, beatified in 1989

August 21

153 martyrs of Utica

c.260

Thrown into a pit of quicklime in Utica, Tunisia

August 24

St. Monica

387

Mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, widowed at age 40

August 27

St. Poemen

c.400

A desert monk known for his holiness, and who encouraged frequent Communion

August 27

St. Augustine of Hippo

354-430

Bishop of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) on coast of Algeria, Doctor of the Church

August 28

St. Moses the Black

395

A slave, gang leader, who after conversion died a martyr of non-violence on August 28, his feast day. The date providentially coincides with the march to Washington by 200,000 African Americans in 1963

August 28

Blessed Ghebre Mikha'el

1855

Ethiopian priest and martyr

September 2

St. Donatian and Companions

257

9 Bishops, several deacons and lay persons who died in a marble quarry in North Africa

September 10

St. Maurice and his Theban Legion (from Egypt)

287

Martyrs, who were killed at Agauno, Switzerland for refusing to sacrifice to pagan divinities

September 22

St. Matthew

1st Cent.

Apostle and Evangelist. According to one ancient tradition, he was the first evangelizer of Nubia (modern Sudan)

September 21

St. Raissa

c.300

Virgin and martyr from Alexandria

September 22

SS. Aizan and Sazan

360

Twin Brothers; Aizan was the first Christian Emperor of the Kingdom of Axum, Ethiopia

October 1

St. Thais

c.350

Egyptian penitent, converted after many years as a prostitute

October 8

St. Cerbonius

573

African missionary Bishop in Italy

October 10

St. Michael Aragave

4th Cent.

One of the first Ethiopian Monks

October 11

St. Sarmata

357

A disciple of St. Anthony of Egypt, martyred by Saracens in the Egyptian desert

October 11

5000 African martyrs and confessers of the faith

483

African martyrs deported and killed for their faith by the Vandal King Huneric

October 12

Commemoration of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church: St. Frumentius (Abba Salama) and Aedesius

380

Syriac monks and founders of the Church in Ethiopia

October 27

St. Elesbaan

555

An Ethiopian King who died as a monk in Jerusalem

October 27

St. Lalibala (Ghebre Mesgel)

1255

An Ethiopian Emperor revered for his faith

October 27

St. Tekla Hymanot

1313

A great Ethiopian reformer of monasticism

October 27

St. Martin de Porres

1639

Born in Peru, son of a Spanish father and an African slave mother, who became a pharmacist at an early age and later joined the Dominican Order, where he continued to dispense medicine to the poor, while living a humble and austere life, with great devotion to the Eucharist

November 3

St. Pierius

4th Cent.

Head of the Catechetical School in Alexandria

November 4

St. Achilias

312

Head of religious instruction in Alexandria

November 7

St. Nennas

c.300

An Egyptian soldier in Phygia, who fled from persecution and became a hermit

November 11

St. Arcadius and Companions

437

Martyrs, victims of the Arian Kind of the Vandals, Genseric

November 13

St. Gelasius

496

Bishop of Rome and third African Pope (492-496), liturgical reformer, who ordered the reception of Communion under both species

November 21

St. Catherine of Alexandria

4th Cent.

Virgin and martyr who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria. Her relics are said to be kept in the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai

November 25

Blessed Anuarite Nengapeta

1964

Virgin and martyr, a member of the Holy Family Sister in Congo Kinshasa, martyred by the Simba rebels

December 1

St. Peter Martyr of Alexandria

311

Patriarch of Alexandria during the Roman persecution

December?

St. Cassian of Tangiers

298

A lawyer who resigned and became Christian and died as a martyr

December 3

St. Melchiades

314

Bishop of Rome and second African Pope (311-314)

December 10



List prepared by: J. Mutiso-Mbinda, 1998.

 
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