Daniel and companions were seven

Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the t ...

martyred at

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

on 10 October 1227, according to the ''

Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor The ''Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor'' () is a medieval chronicle written in Latin around 1370, possibly by the Franciscan friar Arnaud de Sarrant, though Ralf Lützelschwab doubts this attribution. The work d ...

'' (). The names of Daniel's companions are borrowed from the authentic account of the martyrdom of

Berard of Carbio Berard of Carbio was a thirteenth-century Franciscan friar who was executed in Morocco for attempting to promote Christianity. He and his companions, Peter, Otho, Accursius, and Adjutus, are venerated as Catholic Church, Catholic saints and consi ...

and his companions in 1220.Christopher MacEvitt, "The Franciscans", in Paul Middleton (ed.), ''The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2020), pp. 365–380. According to MacEvitt, "it is most likely that the martyrs themselves never existed". Daniel and his companions are venerated as saints by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Story

The martyrdom of

and his companions in 1219 had inflamed many of the religious of the Order of Friars Minor with the desire of preaching the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

in non-Christian lands; and in 1227, the year following

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone ( 1181 – 3 October 1226), known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italians, Italian Mysticism, mystic, poet and Friar, Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Chris ...

's death, six religious of

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, Agnellus (Agnello), Samuel, Donulus, Leo, Hugolinus (Ugolino), and Nicholas, petitioned

Elias of Cortona Elias of Cortona ( – April 22, 1253) was a close associate of Saint Francis of Assisi and one of the earliest followers to join the newly founded Order of Friars Minor. A lay brother, he rose to positions of significant leadership within the o ...

, then vicar-general of the Order, for permission to preach the gospel to the

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

of the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

.Donovan, Stephen. "St. Daniel and Companions." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 2 August 2018 The six missionaries went first to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, where they were joined by Daniel, Minister Provincial of

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

, who became their superior. They set sail from Spain and on 20 September reached the coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, where they remained for a few days in a small village inhabited mostly by Christian merchants just beyond the walls of the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

city of Ceuta. Finally, very early on Sunday morning, they entered the city, and immediately began to preach the gospel and to denounce Islam. They were soon apprehended and brought before the

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

who, thinking that they were mad, ordered them to be cast into prison. Here they remained until the following Sunday when they were again brought before the sultan, who, by promises and threats, endeavoured in vain to make them deny the Christian religion. They were all executed under the Islamic death penalty. Each one approached Daniel, the superior, to ask his

blessing In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with doctrines of grace, grace, Sacred, holiness, spiritual Redemption (theology), redemption, or Will of God, divine will. Etymology and Germani ...

and permission to die for Christ. They were all

beheaded Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...

. Daniel and his companions were canonized by

Leo X Pope Leo X (; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political and banking Me ...

in 1516. Their feast is kept in the Franciscan Order on the thirteenth of October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel and companions 13th-century Christian saints Medieval Italian saints Italian Friars Minor Groups of Christian martyrs of the Middle Ages 1227 deaths History of Ceuta 13th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Christian saints killed by Muslims People from the Almohad Caliphate Groups of Roman Catholic saints Year of birth unknown