Expeditus
Legendary catholic saint
Expeditus (died 303), also known as Expedite, was said to have been a Roman centurion in Armenia who was martyred around April 303 in what is now Turkey, for converting to Christianity. Considered the patron saint of urgent causes, he is also known as the saint of time; he was commemorated by the Catholic Church on 19 April.
Hagiography
Information concerning Expeditus is found in the Hieronymian Martyrology, where he appears as one of six Roman soldiers said to have been executed at Melitene during the Diocletianic Persecution. If he was stationed at Melitene at the beginning of the fourth century, he would likely have been a member of the Legio XII Fulminata.
His cult was already developed in Turin, Italy, in the Middle Ages. Given that "Expeditus" is Latin for a soldier without marching pack, i.e. a soldier with light equipment, this saint may be an anonymous individual known by his profession. He was mentioned briefly in 1675 in the Acta sanctorum volume for April. Expeditus was included in martyrologies in Italy before 1781.
Historicity
According to hagiographical scholar Hippolyte Delehaye, the word "Expeditus" is a misreading of "Elpidius".
“Expeditus” enters the record as legendary catholic saint. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Expeditus, Legendary and catholic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Expeditus” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Expeditus, Legendary and catholic provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q739082. VIAF identifies the subject as 33728824. The Library of Congress control number is n96096822. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1675 and 1781.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Expeditus”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Expeditus primary sources, Expeditus archive and Expeditus research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Expeditus”?
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This entry incorporates text from “Expeditus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.