There is no success without perseverance.

What is the difference between the heroes, legends, and saints who fill the history books and the rest of us?

They just have better habits. And one of them, always dominant in their lives, is perseverance. We see this on display most heroically in the martyrs.

Saints Anatolia, Victoria, and Audax are some of the most revered martyrs in Church history.

Anatolia and Victoria were Christian sisters of a noble Roman family. They were arranged to marry Roman pagans named Titus and Eugenius. The Roman emperor Decius gave these two men permission to lock these women up on their property until they renounced their faith. The sisters persevered, despite the brutal isolation. Titus soon gave up and handed Anatolia over to the Roman authorities.

Anatolia was then imprisoned and subjected to torture under the watch of Audax, a Roman soldier tasked with breaking her spirit. However, her perseverance even under the most brutal of tortures moved the heart of Audax. He knew that God must be in her if she could withstand such pain. Trying to stick to his duty as a Roman soldier, however, he tried to finish the ordeal quickly and execute her by sword. When the steel touched Anatolia, it shattered into pieces. Audax fell to his knees and converted to Christianity right then and there.

A group of soldiers eventually killed Anatolia with their daggers, once they saw she could not be forced by threat or torture to renounce her faith in God. She persevered to the end.

And so did Victoria. After a long period of testing, her would-be husband Eugenius finally gave up and handed her into the Roman authorities. Victoria refused to renounce her faith even under torture, and was killed with arrows. Audax too was killed once the army realized he had converted. 

Saints Anatolia, Victoria, and Audax could have easily renounced their faith in the face of such immense pain. But they didn’t. They persevered.

The virtue of perseverance is essential for everything important in this life. Perseverance teaches us to resolve difficulties. Acquiring this virtue requires both grace and significant personal effort. Without perseverance, many things seem impossible. With perseverance, so much is possible.



Feast Day: July 10

Feast Day Shared By: Saints Rufina and Secunda

Patron Saint: Against Earthquakes, Lightning, and Severe Weather