August 11 -- Feast of Saint Alexander the Charcoal Burner

When I began this blog, I opened with the Feast of Saint Clare, whose feast I thought fell in September. It turns out that August 11 is her feast, so if you want to read about her, you can punch this link. Otherwise, let's move on to Saint Alexander the Charcoal Burner.

Alexander was a well-educated Greek who converted to Christianity and embraced humility as the hallmark of his submission to God. He moved to Comana (in Pontus, Asia Minor) and began work as a charcoal burner. It was, as you might imagine, a filthy, dangerous business. He shed all affectation of his education and lived as a "fool for Christ."

The folks in Comana asked Gregory Thaumaturgus to help identify a bishop for them. They were instructed to ignore outward appearance and focus on inner spirituality. All candidates failed the interview process. Someone joked that maybe they should interview filthy old Alexander the Charcoal Burner, since no one had a less pleasing outward appearance. Gregory, wonderworker that he was, took the suggestion seriously and ordered Alexander to appear before the panel. At first Alexander played dumb, but Greg saw through it. When he ordered Alexander to answer honestly, the walking cinder demonstrated a profound spirituality. Greg had him scrubbed and dressed well before interview round two, which of course went better than the first. The clothes may not make the man, but at least they frame him nicely.

Alexander was proclaimed the bishop just in time for another of those persecutions to roll around. Hanged? Beheaded? No, of course not. Alexander was naturally burned to death.

Caveat: a gripe (you may want to skip it). Three sources I consulted contend that Alexander was killed during the persecution of Diocletian. Two of them say he was killed in AD 275. One of them says he was killed in AD 251. Diocletian reigned from AD 284 to 305, and was born in AD 244. If the last source was correct, he was already persecuting by age seven, which would be impressive, especially since he was a poor kid from a hard-scrabble family. The one source that says Alexander was killed during Decius' persecution would agree with the one that dates it at AD 251, though they each offer conflicting dates and emperors. I wish that the writers would at least think the date / reign thing through before declaring these things. I find it especially lazy that folks ascribe every third century martyrdom to Diocletian, no matter when it happened.