Saint Victor of Marseilles (died c. 290) was an

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Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at t ...

. He is

venerated Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...

as a saint in the

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and the

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Life

Saint Victor is said to have been a

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officer in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, who publicly denounced the worship of idols. For that, he was brought before the Roman

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

s, Asterius and Eutychius, who later sent him to the Emperor Maximian.Butler, Alban. ''Lives of the Saints'', Vol. VII, 1866
/ref> He was then racked, beaten, dragged through the streets, and thrown into prison, where he converted three other Roman soldiers, Longinus, Alexander, and Felician, who were subsequently beheaded. After refusing to offer

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to a statue of the Roman god

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, Victor kicked it over with his foot. The emperor ordered that he be put to death by being ground under a millstone, but the millstone broke while Victor was still alive. He was then beheaded.

Veneration

Saint Victor and the three other Roman soldiers he converted – Saints Longinus, Alexander and Felician – were killed near the end of the 3rd century. In the 4th century, Saint John Cassian built a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

over the site where their bodies had been buried in a cave, which later became a

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abbey and

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. This is the Abbey of St Victor (''Abbaye Saint-Victor''). Saint Victor's feast day, along with Saints Longinus, Alexander and Felician, is celebrated on July 21.

Patronage

Saint Victor is the patron saint of

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

, the capital of

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.''Puha Viktor-Tallinna kaitsepuhak. St. Victor -the patron saint of Tallinn.''
/ref> His life and martyrdom are celebrated in the scenes depicted on the high altar of St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn.

Notes

External links

Victor of Marseilles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor Of Marseille 3rd-century births 290 deaths Ancient Massaliotes 3rd-century Christian martyrs Gallo-Roman saints