St Hosius the Confessor, Bishop of Corduba (+359)

Saint Hosius the Confessor laboured in the fourth century. For more than sixty years he headed the Church of Cordova (Spain). The holy Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337) greatly honoured him and made him his closest counsellor. It was on Hosius’s advice that the God-loving ruler convened the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325. The holy father was the first to sign each of the decrees of this council. In 347 he presided over the local council of Sardica. After the death of Saint Constantine the Great, Hosius firmly defended the hierarch Athanasius of Alexandria against the Arian Emperor Constantius (337–361), for which he was exiled to Sirmium. The Lord’s chosen one reposed in peace in 359, after returning to Cordova.