A Roman layman martyred in 167 with the philosopher-martyr Saint Justin and his companions, in one of the earliest documented Roman trials.

Saint Hierax was a Christian layman in Rome martyred in the year 167 alongside Saint Justin Martyr and a group of companions including Chariton, Charitana, Evelpistus, Peon, and Liberianus, in a trial whose proceedings before the Roman prefect Rusticus survive in one of the earliest and most historically reliable martyrdom accounts of the ancient Church.

Quick Facts

• Died: 167, Rome, Italy
• Venerated as: Lay martyr
• Companions: Saint Justin, Chariton, Charitana, Evelpistus, Peon, Liberianus
• Teacher: Saint Justin Martyr

Who Was Saint Hierax?

Hierax was a disciple of Justin Martyr, the philosopher-apologist who taught Christian doctrine openly in Rome and defended it in writing to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. When Justin was denounced and brought to trial around 165 to 167, Hierax and several fellow students and companions were tried alongside him.

Historical Setting

The Acts of the Martyrdom of Saint Justin and His Companions preserve an unusually direct record of a Roman legal proceeding against Christians, including the prefect Rusticus’s questions and each defendant’s individual answers. This document is considered by historians one of the most reliable pieces of evidence for how such trials were actually conducted in the second-century Roman world.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Hierax

Hierax’s own words are recorded in the trial transcript: asked about his parents, he stated they were dead and that he had left his native Iconium to come to Rome to see his brother, only to be arrested for his Christian confession. That small, specific human detail, rare for a martyr of this era, has been preserved for nearly two thousand years.

Canonization and Feast Day

Unusually for a martyr this old, the trial record itself, not a later canonization process, is what secures Hierax’s place in history; the surviving acts of his trial have carried his cult forward for nineteen centuries without any juridical review ever being needed.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Hierax’s simple, honest answers before a Roman court, preserved almost verbatim, remind Catholics that plain truthfulness under pressure can itself be a form of eloquent witness, without any need for rhetorical flourish.

A Prayer to Saint Hierax

Saint Hierax, who answered honestly before a Roman court and died for that honesty, give us the same plain courage when we are asked to account for our faith. Amen.

Sources

• Acts of the Martyrdom of Saint Justin and His Companions (ancient acta)
• Roman Martyrology, 1 June