Saint Irenaeus of Sirmium (died 304 AD) was an Illyrian

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous provice of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrians an ...

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

, which is now

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

.''The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity'' edited by Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, p.98-99 He was bishop during the reign of

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

. He refused to offer

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

sacrifices, even at the behest of his family. He was condemned by the governor of Pannonia, and then beheaded on 24 March 304.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070205223359/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainti66.htm
See pages 78ff in "Victories of the Martyrs" by St. Alphonsus de Liguori

References

*Walsh, Michael, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints. 3rd-century births 304 deaths Illyrian people 4th-century Christian martyrs 3rd-century bishops in Pannonia People from Sirmium 4th-century bishops in Pannonia {{saint-stub