St. Lazarus

St. Lazarus was a friend of Jesus and the brother of Mary and Martha. When Lazarus was sick, his sisters sent for Jesus. By the time Jesus arrived, his friend was dead. Our Lord wept over the death of his friend and the sorrow of the people grieving for him; He then raised Lazarus from the dead, after he had been in the tomb four days (John 11: 1-45). After the Resurrection of Jesus, a tradition says that Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and some other disciples of Jesus went to Gaul. Lazarus became bishop of Marseilles and was eventually martyred. Most scholars do not think that the Biblical Lazarus went to Gaul. It is thought that writers confused him with the fifth century Bishop Lazarus of Aix, who fled to Palestine during a persecution in 411 and later returned to Gaul. Another tradition says that the body of the Biblical Lazarus was brought to Constantinople. His feast day is June 21.