St Concordius

1^st January is the saint’s day for a 2^nd century Christian martyr named Concordius.

Little is known about Concordius’s early life, apart from the fact that he was a dedicated Christian who spent most of his time in remote parts of the Apennine Mountains of central Italy, praying and meditating.

At some time during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Concordius was captured and taken to Spoleto (the town in the photo) to face trial before Torquatus, the governor of Umbria. At first, Torquatus was prepared to be lenient by promising Concordius his freedom if he agreed to renounce his faith and worship a statue of Jupiter. Concordius refused to do this and he was ordered to be beaten with wooden clubs.

At the next hearing, Torquatus demanded that Corcordius state his name, to which he replied: “I am a Christian and I confess Jesus Christ”. For this, Corcordius was tortured on a rack, during which time he sang hymns.

He was flung into prison under sentence of death by beheading. When the soldiers arrived to carry out the sentence he was given one last chance to repent by making a sacrifice to an idol. Instead he spat at the idol, after which the sentence was carried out.

© John Welford