A layman martyred around 284 at Pojani in present-day Albania, with companions Isaurus, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, and Basil.

Peregrinus was a Christian layman martyred at Pojani, in present-day Albania, around the year 284, grouped in the record with companions Isaurus, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, and Basil, near the start of the period of heightened persecution that would soon culminate under Diocletian.

Quick Facts

• Died: c. 284, Pojani, Albania
• Venerated as: Lay martyr
• Companions: Saints Isaurus, Innocent, Felix, Hermias, and Basil
• Canonization: no formal process recorded; venerated through ancient local cult

Who Was Saint Peregrinus?

Peregrinus was a layman of the Roman province that included the Adriatic coast of present-day Albania, martyred together with five named companions around the year 284, the year the future persecutor Diocletian became emperor. No further biographical detail survives beyond his place in this company of martyrs.

Historical Setting

The Roman province of Epirus, along the eastern Adriatic coast, had scattered Christian communities by the late third century, and local persecutions under officials enforcing traditional Roman religious observance could claim believers’ lives in this period even before Diocletian’s later empire-wide edicts formalized persecution across the whole empire.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Peregrinus

Peregrinus and his companions are remembered as part of the early Christian community of this Adriatic coastal region, a witness preserved through the local church of Pojani even though most details of the group’s arrest and trial have not survived.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal canonisation process is recorded for Peregrinus. His veneration rests on the ancient and immemorial local cult of the martyrs of this region, preserved through the Church’s liturgical memory.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Peregrinus’s death as part of a group of six companions, none individually more prominent than the others in what survives of the record, is a reminder that martyrdom in the early Church was very often a shared, communal act rather than a solitary one.

A Prayer to Saint Peregrinus

Saint Peregrinus, who stood firm together with your five companions, help us find and support fellow believers in our own trials, that we may draw strength from faith held together rather than faith carried alone. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology
• New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia, entries on early Balkan and Adriatic martyrs