Story
The deacon Achilleus and his companion Fortunatus accompanied the priest Felix on a missionary preaching expedition that Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, sent to Valence at the beginning of the third century. The three of them were martyred together during the reign of Caracalla, around the year 212 A.D.
It is said that as they preached Christianity they persuaded many of the pagans, especially since the Lord had granted them the gift of working signs and healing the sick. They were arrested and imprisoned. But an angel appeared to them and brought them out so that they might go to the pagan temples and shatter the costly idols of the gods Jupiter, Saturn the god of agriculture, and Mercury the god of commerce and eloquence. For this they were arrested, their legs were broken, and they were subjected to many torments day and night, until at last their necks were severed.
Their feast is celebrated on April 23