Saints and Holy People

Find out about their lives and how they changed the world

Saint Porphyry of Gaza (347–420)

Saint Porphyry of Gaza (347–420)

Feast day: February 26




Saint Porphyry of Gaza was a fourth-century Macedonian who was a hermit by the Jordan River. When he inherited some money, he gave it all away to the poor, went to work as a shoemaker in the vast, teeming city of Jerusalem, and was so admired for his spiritual honesty that he was ordained and made a bishop “very much against his wishes.” He finished his days as bishop of Gaza, and he made a regular practice of kneeling in prayer on Calvary. (From Saints Passionate and Peculiar [Saint Mary’s Press])

(Image in public domain-70)