IRENAEUS, Saint, Martyr. — Bishop of Sirmium, he is commemorated on April 6 in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, which records the true *dies natalis*.
There exists a very ancient *Passio*, worthy of belief and probably composed from judicial records. According to this, I. while still young, was bishop of Sirmium during the persecution of Diocletian. Brought before the tribunal of the praeses of Pannonia, Probus, he refused to sacrifice despite the entreaties of relatives and friends, and was subjected to torments. Imprisoned, after a further interrogation he was condemned to beheading, and his body cast into the Sava. He died in 304. He is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on March 25.
BIBL.: Tillemont, V, pp. 230-34; Acta SS. Martii, III, Paris 1865, pp. 553-55; Martyrologium Romanum, p. 112. Text of the *Passio* in *Ausgewählte Martyriarchien* by G. Knopf, 3rd ed., Tübingen 1929, pp. 103-105.