Feast Day: April 25

Patron of:

• against impenitence
• against insect bites
• against scrofulous diseases
• against struma
• attorneys
• cobblers, shoemakers
• imprisoned people
• glaziers
• lions
• notaries
• prisoners
• stained glass workers

The Author of the earliest canonical Gospel. Mark is believed to be the disciple who ran away when Jesus was arrested. He travelled with Saint Peter, Saint Barnabas, and Saint Paul and founded the Church in Alexandria, Egypt, serving as its first bishop. He was martyred in Alexandria on April 25, A.D. 68.

Saint Mark is traditionally associated with a lion due to his Gospel opening with an account of John the Baptist as  "..The voice of the one who cries in the wilderness: Prepare Ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths" Mark 1:3. This has been interpreted by artists as a roaring lion.