Natalie: Name Day and Patron Saint

Sts Adrian and Natalia were a young husband and wife of Nicomedia, married only about a year when they were martyred under the emperor Maximian. Adrian was the head of the praetorium. When twenty-three Christians seized in a cave near the city were tortured and brought before him to have their names recorded, he was so moved by the courage with which they suffered that he declared himself a Christian and was imprisoned with them. Natalia at first feared that he had given up Christ when he came home, and would not open the door until he told her he had come only to tell her the day of his death. From then on she did not cease to encourage him. She went to the prison, strengthened him through his tortures, and stood beside him to the end, when he and the other martyrs were put to death. After the burning of the martyrs’ bodies failed, she kept her husband’s hand at home. When a commander sought to marry the young and wealthy widow, she fled to Byzantium; Adrian appeared to her in a dream and told her she would soon be at rest in the Lord, and worn out by her sufferings she reposed soon after. The Church keeps their memory on 26 August (8 September on the Old Calendar). Adrian and Natalia are venerated as patrons of married couples, and the faithful ask their prayers for faithful, steadfast love between husband and wife.

What the faithful pray for

• husbands and wives, and faithful love in marriage
• courage to confess Christ
• strength to encourage one another in trials
• widows and those who have lost a spouse