BASIL and EMMELIA, saints.—Parents of St Basil and St Gregory of Nyssa; Basil, son of a wealthy and Christian family of Pontus, was a lawyer and lived at Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he seems also to have held a chair of rhetoric. St Gregory of Nazianzus speaks of him as a fervent Christian, a passionate lover of letters, and calls him “the teacher of virtue in Pontus” (Oratio XLIII, 9, 11). Emmelia, his wife, was a woman of great virtue and beauty. Both were generous in their almsgiving. They had eleven children, among whom, besides the two already mentioned, deserve special mention: Peter, bishop of Sebaste, and Macrina, who later with her mother embraced the religious life. The year of their death is unknown. Their names were introduced into the Roman Martyrology by Baronius on 30 May. It seems that Emmelia’s name should be read in the Hieronymian Martyrology on 23 May.
The Italo-Greek monks celebrate on 30 May the feast of all the relatives of St Basil.