Saint Valerian of Abbenza

Valerian was bishop of Abbenza, in Roman North Africa, during the Vandal invasion of the 5th century. When the Arian king Genseric ordered him to surrender the sacred vessels and treasures of his church, Valerian, then about eighty years old, refused. As punishment he was driven out of the city, and no one was allowed to give him shelter. He died of exposure by the roadside around 457, and the historian Victor of Vita recorded his witness.

He is remembered as an example of faithfulness in old age and of reverence for the things used in worship.