Saint Aaron

St Aaron, was a martyr. The earliest authority for Saint Aaron is Gildas, who mentions him in his work, De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. He says that God magnified His mercy unto us and called sinners no less than those who regard themselves righteous. He of His own free gift, in the time mentioned above of persecution, lest Britain should be wholly enveloped in the thick darkness of black night, kindled for us bright lamps of holy martyrs. 

In his work, he names three such saints, Saint Alban of Verulam, Aaron and Julius. Gildas tells us that all three were citizens of Caerleon, a town and community in Newport, Wales. They are Romano-British Christian saints and are thought to have died around 304 AD. Traditionally, their feast day was celebrated on 1 July, but it is now observed together with that of St. Alban on 20 June by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.

According to Gildas, followed by Bede, Roman Caerleon was the site of their martyrdoms.

A martyrium dedicated to Julius and Aaron was present by the sixth century, and a chapel dedicated to the saints was certainly in existence near Caerleon by the ninth century, when it was recorded in a land charter. In the early twelfth century, the church passed into the property of the new Goldcliff Priory, and by 1142 had been renamed in dedication to St Alban as well as Julius and Aaron, reflecting the growing popularity of the former's cult. In later centuries, the chapel's associations with Julius and Aaron were forgotten. By the time of the sixteenth-century English Reformation, when the chapel was abandoned and perhaps converted into a barn, it was solely referred to as a Church of Saint Alban. The building fell into dilapidation and no longer survives.

Julius and Aaron were two of the three Christian martyrs recorded as having lived in Roman Britain, the other being St Alban. Nothing is known of them except for their martyrdom. The name "Aaron" is Hebrew and might suggest an individual of Jewish heritage. The name was exceptionally rare in both Jewish and Christian contexts at that time. The name "Julius" was extremely common among the soldiers at Caerleon, reflecting either descent from one of the Julio-Claudian Coloniae or a name taken on enlistment in the army. Although Caerleon was a major military base in western Britain, there was a civilian settlement association with the fort, and thus Julius and Aaron could have been civilians rather than soldiers.