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The saints

St. Justin Martyr

A philosopher who tried every school of thought and found the truth in Christ.

Feast: 1 June · about 100 to 165 · The early Church · Samaria and Rome

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Icon of St. Justin Martyr in a red cloak, holding a scroll.

AnonymousUnknown author. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

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Rome, the 2nd century

Justin went from philosopher to philosopher looking for the truth about God.1

An old man he met by the sea told him to read the prophets.1

He did, and he became a Christian, still wearing his philosopher’s cloak.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers him as the first great Christian philosopher.

01St. Justin Martyr

The earliest Mass we can read

In Rome he wrote defenses of the faith, including the earliest description we have of a Sunday Mass.2

He was beheaded around 165 with several of his students.1

Live it this week

Read the earliest description of Mass

Justin wrote down what Christians did on Sunday in the year 155. Read it this week (it’s quoted in the Catechism, paragraph 1345), then go to Mass and notice how much is the same.

Notes

How we know · 2 sources for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Justin Martyr”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org
  2. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “St. Justin Martyr”. New Advent edition. newadvent.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.