St. Alexis of Rome
St. Alexis of Rome is doubted by many to have actually existed. According to his legend he was born in Rome into a wealthy Christian family sometime in the 5th century. He fled his arranged marriage and instead set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he lived in Edessa as an almsman for 17 years. Upon his return to Rome he was so changed as to be unrecognizable by his own parents, however he chose not to reveal his identity, and settled instead beneath a staircase of his father’s home. He lived out another 17 years as...
