Vitus

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

Vitus was the only son of a Sicilian senator and gained a reputation for winning people for Christ. This attracted the attention of the administrator of Sicily, who had Vitus brought in and tried without success to undermine his faith.

Vitus escaped to Rome with his tutor and his servant. There he is said to have freed Emperor Diocletian’s son from an evil spirit, but the cure was attributed to sorcery when Vitus refused to sacrifice to the gods. The trio were arrested and ill-treated but survived the various tortures they endured. They were released when a storm destroyed some pagan temples, but they were later arrested again and martyred at Luciana.

Let us keep our eyes steadily upon the goal… For when we hear the shout from the skies, all else will fade into utter nothingness. For the Lord shall descend – from heaven with a shout. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Robert Jaffray (martyred on Celebes island, Indonesia, 1945)

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo is the International Director of Barnabas Fund and the Executive Director of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life.