On July 25, 308, this layman died at Caesarea in Palestine with two women, Valentina and Thea, during the Diocletianic persecution.

Paul of Caesarea was executed at Caesarea in Palestine on July 25, 308, during the empire-wide persecution launched under Diocletian and continued by his successors, and he is named with two companions, Valentina and Thea, both women. Beyond this shared date, place, and companionship, the ancient record preserves no further detail of his life. No formal canonization process is recorded; his cult descends from the immemorial veneration of the early Palestinian church.

Quick Facts

• Died: July 25, 308, Caesarea, Palestine
• Companions: Saint Valentina, Saint Thea
• Venerated as: Layman and martyr

Who Was Saint Paul of Caesarea?

Paul of Caesarea is recorded as a layman who died at Caesarea Maritima, the Roman administrative capital of Palestine, on July 25, 308, in the company of Valentina and Thea. This precise date places him within the intense persecution that the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, himself a resident of the city at the time, documented firsthand in his work on the martyrs of Palestine, though the surviving source data does not confirm whether Paul’s case is one Eusebius specifically described.

Historical Setting

Caesarea in Palestine was the seat of the Roman governor and a center of the persecution under Emperor Maximinus Daia in the years after 306, when Christians who refused sacrifice faced execution, forced labor in the mines, or worse. Eusebius’s own eyewitness account of these years names a number of Palestinian martyrs by name, describing men and women executed together for their faith, a pattern that matches the joint deaths recorded for Paul, Valentina, and Thea.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Paul of Caesarea

The martyrdom of Paul alongside Valentina and Thea reflects the mixed character of persecution at Caesarea, where men and women of no particular rank were executed together for the same refusal to offer pagan sacrifice. The Church’s memory of Paul rests on this companionship in death as much as on any individual distinction, honoring a small group that stood firm together under one of the empire’s harshest anti-Christian campaigns.

Canonization and Feast Day

There is no papal canonization on record for Paul of Caesarea and his companions, which is unsurprising for a death this ancient; the Church’s recognition of these martyrs comes instead through the Roman Martyrology’s inherited entry and the local cult of the early Palestinian church, a form of veneration that predates any formal canonization procedure by many centuries.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Paul’s companions in martyrdom included two women, Valentina and Thea, a detail worth noticing: the persecution at Caesarea did not spare women any more than men, and the early Church honored their courage without distinction of sex. Their joint witness invites believers today to recognize that fidelity under pressure has always belonged equally to men and women alike.

A Prayer to Saint Paul of Caesarea

Saint Paul of Caesarea, who died with Valentina and Thea rather than offer false worship, strengthen our own resolve against the smaller compromises asked of us today. Pray that we might hold to the truth as steadily as you did, whatever the cost. Amen.

Sources

• Eusebius of Caesarea, On the Martyrs of Palestine
• Roman Martyrology, entry for Caesarea in Palestine