Martyr with Anastasius, Anthony, Basilissa, Celsus, Marcionilla, and companions. Julian and Basilissa were married and used their home as a Christian hospital for the poor. Anthony was a priest, and Anastasius was a new convert. Marcionilla was the mother of young Celsus. They were martyred at Antioch.

Husband and wife; died at Antioch or, more probably, at Antinoe, in the reign of Diocletian, early in the fourth century, on 9 January, according to the Roman Martyrology, or 8 January, according to the Greek Menaea.

Little historical data relating to these two holy personages are known. More often Julian of Antinoe is confused with Julian of Cilicia. The confusion is easily explained by the fact that thirty-nine saints of this name are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, eight of whom are commemorated in the one month of January.

Forced by his family to marry, he agreed with his spouse, Basilissa, that they should both preserve their virginity, and further encouraged her to find a convent for women, of which she became the superior, while he himself gathered a large number of monks and undertook their direction.

Basilissa died a very holy death, but martyrdom was reserved for Julian.

During the persecution of Diocletian he was arrested, tortured, and put to death at Antioch, in Syria, by the order of the governor, Martian, according to the Latins; at Antinoe, in Egypt, according to the Greeks, which seems more probable. Unfortunately, the Acts of this martyr belong to those pious romances so much appreciated in early times, whose authors, concerned only for the edification of their readers, drowned the few known facts in a mass of imaginary details.

When Julian died, thirty-one others, died with him, including a priest named Anthony, a new Christian named Anastasius, Celsus. Additionally the seven-year-old son of the judge who sentenced Julian, Marcianilla, the mother of Celsus, who when she came to visit her son was won over to the faith, and many other Christians. Spared by fire and wild beasts, Saint Julian finally was decapitated. His tomb became illustrious by many great miracles, including the cure of ten lepers on the same day.

In any case these two saints must have enjoyed a great reputation in antiquity, and their veneration was well established before the eighth century. Many churches and hospitals, in both the East and in the West, bear the name of one or another of these martyrs. Four churches at Rome and three in Paris are dedicated to Saint Julian.

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Adrian of Canterbury
2. Saint Waningus of Fécamp
3. Saint Honorius of Buzançais
4. Saint Brithwald of Canterbury
5. Saint Marciana

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