Hieromartyr Zachary, Bishop of Vienne

Hieromartyr Zachary is venerated as the second bishop of the ancient Christian community of the city of Vienne in Roman Gaul (modern Vienne, Isère department, France) — importantly, this is the French Vienne, NOT Vienna (the capital of Austria), with which it is sometimes confused due to the similarity of names.

According to local Gallic church tradition, he was consecrated bishop by the apostolic missionary Crescens (some traditions identify him with the Crescens mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:10, though this identification also remains a matter of debate). Christianity was proscribed under the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117); according to tradition, Hieromartyr Zachary was put to death in 106 by order of the Roman prefect Pompeius, acting on the emperor's decree. He is venerated locally as one of the patrons of Vienne and one of the first evangelists of Roman Gaul.

AN HONEST CAVEAT ON HISTORICITY: both English and Catholic hagiographic sources explicitly note that reliable data on the early bishops of Vienne are extremely scarce, and this figure belongs to the same category as other semi-legendary 1st-2nd century "apostolic succession" bishops whose dates and circumstances of martyrdom were reconstructed by local tradition many centuries later rather than recorded by contemporaries. Nevertheless, no source contains any account of a peaceful death for him — the unanimous tradition speaks specifically of martyrdom.