ALESSANDRO, bishop of CONSTANTINOPLE, saint. — Consecrated bishop of Byzantium between 313 and 317, he died in 336. He was a defender of orthodoxy against the error of Arius. Forced by Constantine to receive Arius into the Church when he still showed no signs of repentance, he insistently prayed for God’s judgment. On the very morning when he was to go to church, Arius suddenly died in the latrine. A. was the first bishop of the new Constantinople. His feast is celebrated by the Latins on 28 August, and by the Byzantines on the 31st.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Iunii, VII, Antwerp 1741, pp. 71–84; Acta SS. Augusti, VI, there 1743, pp. 195–98; Tillemont, VI, pp. 294–96; VII, pp. 32–38; 636–59. Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina