The Saints: St. Fabian

Died 250/ Feast - Jan. 20

A Roman layman not thought to be under consideration, Fabian was elected pope in 236 after a dove landed on his head during the conclave. He divided Rome into seven ecclesiastical districts, with a deacon in charge of each, and brought the bodies of the martyrs Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus from Sardinia to Rome for reburial. He was among the first martyrs in the persecution of Emperor Decius, who ruled 249-51. St. Cyprian called Fabian “an incomparable man, the glory of whose death corresponded with the holiness of his life.”