Saint January 9 - Saints Julian and Basilissa a Chaste Married Couple who Founded Convents and Converted their Home into a Hospital for the Poor
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Husband and wife; died at Antioch or, 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. Forced by his family to marry, he agreed with his spouse, Basilissa, that they should both preserve their virginity, and further encouraged her to found 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.
The two converted their home into a hospital which could house up to 1,000 people (so, Julian is sometimes confused with Julian the Hospitaller). There, they worked tirelessly, using their own funds, to assist the poor, the sick, the needy. Basilissa attended the women, in separate lodgings from the men, these were taken care of by Julian, who from his charity is named the Hospitalarian. Egypt, where they lived, had then many people who, devoted themselves to the most perfect exercises of charity, penance, and mortification.
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. Like many similar lives of saints, it offers miracles, prodigies, and improbable utterances, that lack the least historical value. In any case these two saints must have enjoyed a great reputation in antiquity, and their veneration was well established before the eighth century. In the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" they are mentioned under 6 January; Usuard, Ado, Notker, and others place them under the ninth, and Rabanus Maurus under the thirteenth of the same month, while Vandelbert puts them under 13 February, and the Menology of Canisius under 21 June, the day to which the Greek Menaea assign St. Julian of Caesarea. There used to exist at Constantinople a church under the invocation of these saints, the dedication of which is inscribed in the Greek Calendar.
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. Like many similar lives of saints, it offers miracles, prodigies, and improbable utterances, that lack the least historical value. In any case these two saints must have enjoyed a great reputation in antiquity, and their veneration was well established before the eighth century. In the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" they are mentioned under 6 January; Usuard, Ado, Notker, and others place them under the ninth, and Rabanus Maurus under the thirteenth of the same month, while Vandelbert puts them under 13 February, and the Menology of Canisius under 21 June, the day to which the Greek Menaea assign St. Julian of Caesarea. There used to exist at Constantinople a church under the invocation of these saints, the dedication of which is inscribed in the Greek Calendar.
Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia and Anastpaul blog
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