One of the Scillitan Martyrs, twelve North African Christians executed in 180 in the earliest datable Christian martyrdom in Latin literature.

Saint Acyllinus was one of twelve Christians from the North African town of Scillium, in modern Tunisia, tried before the Roman proconsul Vigellius Saturninus and beheaded on 17 July 180 for refusing to swear by the genius of the emperor. The trial record of this group, the Scillitan Martyrs, is the earliest datable document of Christianity in North Africa and among the oldest surviving Latin Christian texts of any kind.

Quick Facts

• Died: 17 July 180, Scillium, Tunisia (near Carthage)
• Venerated as: Martyr
• Companions: Speratus, Narzal, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestina, Donata, and Secunda, together the Scillitan Martyrs

Who Was Saint Acyllinus?

Acyllinus, also recorded as Aquilinus, was one of twelve men and women from Scillium brought before the Roman proconsul of Africa, Vigellius Saturninus, in Carthage in 180. When ordered to swear by the genius of the emperor and offer sacrifice, the group’s spokesman, Speratus, answered for them all that they honored only the God who made heaven and earth, and refused. All twelve were condemned and beheaded together.

Historical Setting

The trial took place in Carthage, the leading city of Roman North Africa, under the emperor Commodus. Unlike most early martyrdoms, which survive only through later legend, the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs preserve what appears to be an authentic transcript of the actual court proceedings, giving historians a rare, direct window into how Roman law treated ordinary Christians who would not compromise their faith.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Acyllinus

Acyllinus is remembered as part of the earliest datable group of Christian martyrs in North Africa, a region that would go on to produce towering figures like Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine. The calm, almost understated exchange recorded between the martyrs and the proconsul, refusing worldly honors while asking only to read their Scriptures, became a model account of Christian steadfastness under interrogation.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal canonisation process is recorded for Acyllinus or his eleven companions, as expected for second-century martyrs. Their cult is ancient, resting on the surviving trial record itself and the immemorial veneration of the North African Church, later inherited by the wider Church.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

The Scillitan Martyrs, including Acyllinus, met the demand to honor Caesar with simple, unshaken clarity about where their ultimate loyalty lay. Their example is a model for anyone facing pressure to treat as absolute something that is not: they did not rage against Rome, they simply declined to give Caesar what belonged to God, and accepted the consequences with remarkable composure.

A Prayer to Saint Acyllinus

Saint Acyllinus, with Speratus and your ten companions of Scillium, you answered the proconsul’s demand with quiet, unshakable faith and went to your death together in peace. Teach us that same clarity, to give to earthly authority what is rightly its due, and to reserve for God alone what belongs to him. Amen.

Sources

• Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs
• Roman Martyrology
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints