Feast day: October 29

St. Narcissus of Jerusalem

Bishop · d. c. 216

Patron of —

An ancient bishop of Jerusalem of immense age, famous for holiness and miracles, who once withdrew into the desert when slandered and returned to govern his church past a hundred years old.

Narcissus was bishop of Jerusalem in the late second and early third centuries, one of the most venerable figures of the early Church, remembered above all for his extreme old age — he is said to have lived to about a hundred and sixteen — and for the wonders and trials of his long episcopate.

The early historian Eusebius preserves several stories about him. The most famous tells how, one Easter, the deacons ran out of oil for the lamps; Narcissus had water drawn from a well and blessed it, and it was changed into oil, enough for the feast — a wonder remembered in Jerusalem long after.

His holiness and the strictness of his discipline made him enemies. Three men, to escape his reproofs, spread a vile slander against him; Narcissus, rather than defend himself, withdrew from the city to live for years in secret as a hermit in the desert. In time the slander was exposed — its authors, tradition says, meeting terrible ends — and Narcissus returned, his innocence vindicated, to govern his church again.

Grown very old, he was given a younger bishop, St. Alexander, as coadjutor to help him, and lived out his last years in honour. He is remembered as a model of patience under false accusation and of holiness crowned by long perseverance.

By tradition he once blessed water that was poured into the lamps when the oil ran out on Easter eve, and it burned like oil — and he lived to around a hundred and sixteen.

Image: GFreihalter (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: newadvent.org/cathen/01295b.htm