Happy St. Justin Martyr Day!

Today–June 1–is St. Justin Martyr’s day on the liturgical calendar.

This is special to me for several reasons:

  • St. Justin Martyr is a main patron saint of apologists (myself being an apologist).
  • He also was a philosopher (myself being a philosopher by training).
  • St. Justin was a very early apologist, living in the second century.
  • He also was native to the Middle East, being born in what is modern Nablus.
  • Justin was, in his way, the greatest apologist of "the Age of the Apologists," when Christianity was struggling (not for the last time) with gaining intellectual respectability in an age hostile to it.
  • He also gave his life for his faith, as the sobriquet "Martyr" tells you.
  • He’s just a really cool guy, okay!

So I hope you’ll join me in celebrating his day.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ST. JUSTIN MARTYR.

AND MORE.

Or read his writings:

THE FIRST APOLOGY.

THE SECOND APOLOGY.

DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO THE JEW.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

13 thoughts on “Happy St. Justin Martyr Day!”

  1. Wow! I never knew this…I just awoke to the Birthday Greetings of my beautiful babies, and now I have another great reason to celebrate…that I share my birthday with such an awesome Saint!
    God Bless.

  3. Is “Happy Day” the proper greeting for such occassions? And is “Merry Christmas” the official Catholic greeting for Christmas? Does the pope say “Merry Christmas?”

  4. Being a German, the pope says in German what may be translated as “Happy Holynight!”
    If anyone ever greets you with, “Happy Holiday!”–just give back “Happy Holy Day!”

  5. Happy birthday, ukok!
    And St Justin is WAY cool! Anyone read Rod Bennett’s book Four Witnesses? (Published by Ignatius.) Jimmy? Great section on St Justin! And isn’t “martyr” the Greek word for “witness”?
    St Justin, pray for us!

  6. Gene– I’m near the end of Four Witnesses right now. Excellent book. And I’m so psyched that Jimmy posted the links to Justin’s Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho. I got a little taste of them in the Witnesses book and figured I’d have to dig through a musty library to find them… You gotta love the internet.
    Oh and extra cool– the church around the block from my kids’ school, where I usually hit daily Mass, including today, is— St. Justin the Martyr.

  7. Happy St. Justin Martyr Day!

    Today is the feast day of St. Justin Martyr, he is the patron saint of apologists. He never ended his quest for religious truth even when he converted to Christianity after years of studying various pagan philosophies. As a young

  8. Gene, Thanks for the Birthday Wishes 🙂
    And Rod Bennett’s Four Witnesses, is one of my favourite books! I believe also, that ‘martyr’ means ‘witness’…hence, we are all called to be martyrs..though hopefully not the hung, drawn quatred, boiled, burned and dismembered ones.
    God Bless.

  9. Happy birthday ukok and happy birthday to me 😉
    St.Justin Martyr pray for us!

  10. Happy Birthday, Julie! Mine’s only got another hour and a half to go before it’s over, but it’s been good…hope yours is even better!
    (sorry, Jimmy, didn’t mean to get this whole derail thing going on)
    God Bless.

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