The Old Testament prophet Daniel, honored by the Catholic Church as a holy figure of ancient Israel whose life and visions are recorded in Scripture.

Saint Daniel of Iran refers to the biblical prophet Daniel, whose life is recorded in the Old Testament Book of Daniel and whose traditional place of death, in the region of ancient Persia (modern Iran), is remembered in this entry. As a figure who lived before Christ, Daniel is honored by the Church not through the ordinary process applied to post-New-Testament saints but as one of the great prophetic witnesses of the Old Covenant.

Quick Facts

• Died: before Christ (B.C.), Iran
• Venerated as: Prophet

Who Was Saint Daniel of Iran?

Daniel is the prophet whose story the Book of Daniel tells: a young Israelite taken into exile in Babylon who rose to prominence in the royal court through wisdom and unwavering fidelity to the God of Israel, famously surviving being cast into a den of lions for continuing to pray openly despite a royal decree forbidding it. His book also contains apocalyptic visions that Christian tradition has long read as pointing toward the coming of Christ and the end of the ages.

Historical Setting

The events of Daniel’s life are traditionally set during the Babylonian exile of the sixth century before Christ and its aftermath under the Persian Empire, which succeeded Babylon and whose territory covered much of what is now Iran. Daniel’s witness of remaining faithful to the worship of the true God while serving in the court of a foreign, non-Israelite empire has made him a model invoked across many later ages of the Church for maintaining faith under a hostile or indifferent civil authority.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Daniel of Iran

The Church remembers Daniel as a prophet of extraordinary integrity, who continued to worship God openly even when a king’s law forbade it, and whose visions are read liturgically and theologically as genuine preparation for the Gospel, making him one of the major prophetic figures honored from the Old Testament.

Canonization and Feast Day

As a figure from the Old Testament, Daniel’s veneration predates the Church’s formal canonization process entirely; he is honored through the ancient and continuous liturgical tradition that recognizes the sanctity of the great figures of the Hebrew Scriptures.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Daniel’s refusal to stop praying openly, even under a decree that made it a capital offense, is a reminder that public fidelity to God, not merely private belief, has always been asked of believers, and that God can protect and vindicate that fidelity even against the power of kings.

A Prayer to Saint Daniel of Iran

Saint Daniel, prophet who prayed to the true God even facing the lions’ den, pray for us, that we may hold to open, honest worship of God whatever pressure the world places on us to hide or abandon it. Amen.

Sources

• The Book of Daniel (Old Testament)
• Roman Martyrology
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia