Saint Serapion of Algiers - November 14
(1128-80) Saint Serapion of Algiers (1179 – 14 November 1240) was an English Roman Catholic Mercedarian priest and martyr. Thomas O'Loughlin says Serapion was Scottish by birth. Serapion is acknowledged as a proto-martyr. He was the first of his Order to merit the palm of martyrdom by being crucified and cut to pieces.
It has been said that he once served in the armies of Richard the Lion-Heart and Leopold VI during the time of the Crusades. He accompanied his father during the Crusades in his childhood and was present at a battle at Acre in 1191. He participated in the Reconquista while serving in the armed forces for either Alfonso VIII of Castile or Alfonso IX of León. He met Saint Peter Nolasco in Barcelona and became a professed member of the Mercedarians in 1222. The Mercedarians' goal was to free Christian captives held in Muslim states. He was assigned to recruit for the order in England but pirates besieged the ship and left him for dead …More