Picture: ado viennensis (s.), martyrologium · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Sylvanus of Gaza
SaintFull write-upPre-congregation
Feast: 4 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
300
Died
311
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
In the mines of Mismiya in Palestine, the passion of the holy martyrs Sylvanus, bishop of Gaza, and thirty-nine companions, who, condemned to forced labour, in the same persecution, on the order of the caesar Maximinus Daia, received the crown of martyrdom by beheading.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 4 May as a bishop of Gaza beheaded with thirty-nine companions in the mines under Maximinus Daia.
Sources
- Roman Martyrology, 4 May (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q3507144 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.