Sr, is said to have been the first person who suffered martyrdom for Christianity in Britain; he is therefore usually styled the protomartyr of this island. He was born at Verulam, and flourished towards the end of the third century. In his youth he took a journey to Rome in company with Amphibalus, a monk of Cælebon, and served seven years as a soldier under the emperor Diocletian. On his return home he settled at Verulam, and, through the example and instructions of Amphibalus, renounced the errors of Paganism, in which he had been educated, and became a convert to the Christian religion. It is generally agreed that Alban suffered martyrdom during the great persecution under the reign of Diocletian; but authors differ as to the year when it happened. Bede and others fix it in 286; some refer it to the year 296; but Usher reckons it amongst the events of 303. Between 400 and 500 years after St. Alban's death, Offa, King of the Mercians, built a large and stately monastery to his memory; and the town of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, takes its name from our protomartyr.