Fructuosus of Tarragona, Saint, bishop and martyr; d. 21 Jan., 259. During the night of 16 Jan., he, together with his deacons Augurius and Eulogius, was led into prison, and on 21 Jan. tried by the judge Aemilianus. He confessed that he was a Christian and a bishop, whereupon all three were sentenced to be burnt alive. They underwent the ordeal courageously, and, praying and with outstretched hands, gave up the ghost. In this position they are also depicted. St. Augustine mentions them in one of his sermons (ecelxxiii), and the Spanish poet Prudentius has celebrated them in a hymn (Peristephanon, hymn 6).
Acta SS., Jan., II, 340; Ruinart, Acta Martyrum (Ratisbon, 1857); Gams, Kirchengesch. von Spanien (1862), I, 265-276.
Gabriel Meier.