Julius and Aaron

Saints Aaron and Julius
The Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon where Julius and Aaron were said to be martyred.
Died	c. 304 AD Caerleon, Britain, Roman Empire
Honoured in	Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion
Feast	1 July (trad.) 22 June (Cath.) 20 June (Cath. & Ang.)

Saints Aaron and Julius (or Julian) were two Celtic saints who are traditionally held to have been martyred at Caerleon, Wales, during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in 304. Along with Saint Alban and Amphibalus, they are the only named martyrs from Roman Britain. Their feast day was traditionally celebrated on 1 July but is now observed together with Saint Alban on 20 June by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican Churches.

There is little information about Aaron and Julius in primary sources. The main textual sources are Gildas and Bede, though there are few details concerning their story from either source. Gildas' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae is the first surviving source to mention them, and he writes that during the Diocletian persecution, "God... kindled up among us bright luminaries of holy martyrs...Such were St. Alban of Verulam, Aaron and Julius, citizens of the city of legions and the rest, of both sexes, who in different places stood their ground in the Christian contest."Bede, drawing on Gildas, says in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People that in the same persecution during which St. Alban was martyred, so "suffered Aaron and Julius, citizens of Caerleon, and many others of both sexes throughout the land. After they had endured many horrible physical tortures, death brought an end to their struggles."