A Gruesome Story - Why is Adrian
usually depicted holding an anvil?
A Cruel Joke - Adrian is the patron
saint of soldiers, butchers, and arms dealers (Get it? He has no
arms!).
St. Adrian of Nicomedia (d. 306) lived under the Christian
persecutions of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian.
Thirty-three Christians were seized in Nicomedia, brought
before a judge, and ordered to be savagely beaten. With each new torture the
men received, they bravely proclaimed their faith in Christ. They argued with
the judge that he was only increasing their heavenly glory, while guaranteeing
his own damnation to hell.
Adrian, a man of 28 years, was head of the Praetorian Guard
and witnessed the steadfast faith of these men. He was moved to the point of
conversion, and exclaimed that he, too, would reject paganism to suffer and die
for the name of Christ along with the other Christians. One of Adrian's
servants ran to tell his wife, Natalie, what her husband had done. Natalie,
herself secretly a Christian, ran to the prison in joy at the news of her
husband's faith, and encouraged him to stay strong and steadfast in it.
After Adrian refused to recant his profession of Christ, he
was thrown into prison with the other men and cruelly tortured, having his
arms and legs severed on an anvil.
Saint Adrian is the patron saint of soldiers, arms dealers,
and butchers.
His feast day is September 8th.
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