The Feast Day of St. Alban (22 June)

Albanus or Alban was born in Verulamium (now St. Albans, Hertfordshire), a city of importance in Roman Britain from the first century. It was the only British city to achieve the status of a' Municipium' whereby its inhabitants had the rights of Roman citizenship. Being an unwalled non-military commercial centre the city had been easy prey for Boudicca (Boadicea), Queen of the Iceni who sacked the town in 61 CE. By Alban's time it was once more a thriving and wealthy town. Alban has the distinction of being the first British Christian martyr and he shares his feast day with Amphibalus, the Christian priest he saved. Diocletian feared the Christians as a state within the state and his measures against them became more extreme as martyrdom seemed to strengthen them as the unity of the Empire weakened. Amphibalus and some followers were later captured despite Alban's help and were stoned to death at Redbourn, Hertfordshire.

St. Alban, the First British Martyr

Near London is the town of St. Albans. In Roman times its name was Verulamium and the city was one of the richest and most important in Roman Britain. The villas where the rich and the noble people lived were large and beautiful. They had many rooms, and gardens with pools and fountains. There were slaves and servants to do all the work. In one of these magnificent houses lived a wealthy young man called Alban.
Alban had been born in Verulamium so he was British, but as his father had been a Roman citizen, Alban too had the honour of being a citizen of Rome. Alban 's father was so rich that he had sent his son to school in Rome. Alban had then been an officer in the Roman army for some time, but now he lived in his own town in Britain again.

Although he was very rich and lived in luxury, Alban was not a mean man. He was faithful to his friends and always ready to give help; he was good to the poor and often gave them money, clothes or food when they were in need. He was known throughout the town as a good man.

Alban worshipped the Roman gods. He believed that there were many gods. He prayed to the god Mars when he was in battle, he prayed to spirits called the Lares to protect his home and to the Penates to keep his food cupboards full. He prayed to Neptune, god of the sea when he went by ship, and worshipped the king of the gods, Jupiter. On special days Alban would go to the temple and sacrifice an animal to please the gods. The Romans did not love their gods -they made a bargain with them: if the worshipper did what the god wanted and pleased him, that god would bring him good luck. So it was dangerous to make the gods angry.

Most Romans believed that the Emperor was a god on earth. Some Romans believed that there were no gods at all, some believed that there was a life after death, some believed in foreign gods, but there were a few who believed that there was only one God, a God of love who came down to earth and was murdered, crucified, but rose from the dead. When he lived on earth he was called Jesus Christ. His followers were called Christians and they were causing trouble in the Roman Empire because they refused to worship the Emperor.

Now Alban had heard about the Christians, but he had never met one. One evening, as he was strolling in his garden, he heard a shout and a clatter of feet outside in the street. There were shouts further away. Then the door from the street into Alban 's garden burst open and a man rushed in shutting the door behind him. The man was old, dressed in ragged poor clothes and was so out of breath that he could not speak. Alban went up to him and took him to sit down.

' Are the soldiers chasing you ?' asked Alban. 'What can they want with an old man like you ?' 'I am a Christian,' said the old man. 'The Emperor has ordered the soldiers to put us all to death.' 'Well, I've certainly heard some curious stories about you Christians, but I've never heard that you harmed anyone. Come in and rest for a while and you can tell me about yourself. , Alban took the old man, Amphibalus, into his house and cleaned him up and fed him. Then Amphibalus told Alban about himself. He was a Christian priest and he knew that if the soldiers caught him they would order him to worship the Emperor.

'There is only one god,' said Amphibalus. 'I cannot worship the Emperor -he's just a man. So I would be put to death.'

Amphibalus told Alban the story of Jesus of Nazareth, how he was put to death and how Christians believe that he rose again from the dead. Amphibalus stayed with Alban for a few days teaching him all about Christianity until Alban felt he was beginning to understand about God. One day a servant dashed into the room to tell Alban that the soldiers had started to search all the houses. They were looking for a Christian priest who had run away. Alban could hear the soldiers outside. A heavy knock came on the door.

Amphibalus stood up: 'You'll have to tell them I am here. I am too old to run.'

'No. Fetch your old cloak and put on my best one. They don't know what you look like. I'll lead them away.'

'You mustn't do this for me,' said Amphibalus.

'Yes I must. You've got a job to do, telling people about Jesus. Now, quickly.'

So they changed cloaks. As the soldiers came in they saw a man dressed in a very fine cloak sitting at a table. This must be the man who owns the house, they thought. But through the window, escaping out of the garden gate was a man with an old cloak on.

'The Christian! After him !' they cried.

After a long chase the soldiers caught Alban and dragged him before the governor. As soon as the governor saw Alban he recognised him. He was amazed to find him helping a Christian.

'Well, Alban, you're going to be in trouble alright. I'll do what I can for you, my friend, but you'll have to help. You'll have to come with me to the temple to make a sacrifice to our god the Emperor just to prove you're not a Christian too, and then I'll see what I can do.'

'The Emperor's no god. There is only one God that I will worship the one and only God.'

The governor was furious. He ordered Albans' execution. With an escort of soldiers and a crowd that grew bigger as they went through the city, Alban was taken across the little river and up on to a low hill. Many people wept because everyone felt Alban was a friend. One soldier refused to take part in the execution, so the officer drew his own sword and struck off Alban's head. By helping an old Christian priest Alban became the first person in Britain to die for the Christian faith. Some years later Alban was made Saint Alban and the town of Verulamium took the name it has had ever since -St. Albans.