St Alexius' on the Aventine
The Greek version of the legend of St Alexius legend said that he was the only son of Euphemianus, a wealthy Christian Roman of the senatorial class. Alexius fled his arranged marriage to pursue an eremetical life of penance.
Disguised as a beggar, he lived near Edessa in Syria, accepting alms even from his own household slaves, who had been sent to look for him but did not recognize him, until a miraculous vision of the Virgin Mary singled him out as a "Man of God."
Fleeing the resultant notoriety, he returned to Rome, and his appearence was so changed that his parents did not recognize him, but as good Christians took him in and sheltered him for seventeen years. He lived beneath the stairs of his own parents' home, praying and teaching catechism to children.
After his death, his family found writings on his body which told them who he was and how he had lived his life of penance for the love of God.
St Alexius' on the Aventine
The Greek version of the legend of St Alexius legend said that he was the only son of Euphemianus, a wealthy Christian Roman of the senatorial class. Alexius fled his arranged marriage to pursue an eremetical life of penance.
Disguised as a beggar, he lived near Edessa in Syria, accepting alms even from his own household slaves, who had been sent to look for him but did not recognize him, until a miraculous vision of the Virgin Mary singled him out as a "Man of God."
Fleeing the resultant notoriety, he returned to Rome, and his appearence was so changed that his parents did not recognize him, but as good Christians took him in and sheltered him for seventeen years. He lived beneath the stairs of his own parents' home, praying and teaching catechism to children.
After his death, his family found writings on his body which told them who he was and how he had lived his life of penance for the love of God.