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 an anonymous beggar, in the process becoming renowned
for his saintliness. Only when he was lying on his death bed did Alexis
disclosed to the Pope, who had come to his side in that hour, who he really
was. The legend of St. Alexis was very popular in the East, and at the
end of the Middle Ages, also became widespread in the West.
Another version of the story says Alexis never returned to Rome and
died in Edessa around 430 A.D.
Feastday: 17 July in West. 17 March in East.
See: Georges de La Tour.The
Discovery of the Body of St. Alexis.
Recommended reading:
The
Alexis in the Saint Albans Psalter: A Look into the Heart of the Matter
(Garland Studies in Medieval Literature, V. 4) by Rachel Bullington. Garland
Pub, 1991.
The
Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford Paperback Reference) by
David Hugh Farmer. Oxford University Press, 2003.
The
Golden Legend by Jacobus De Voragine, William Granger Ryan
(Translator). Princeton Univ Pr, 1995.