On This Day February 24

Roman emperor Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published on February 24, 303, beginning the Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most severe episode of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Diocletian's systematic intense persecution against the Church,  climaxed in early 304 when all Christians were required to make sacrifice to the empire on the pain of death. An estimated 3,000–3,500 Christians were martyred in the persecution.

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1883)

WANT MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 24? CHECK OUT MY ONTHATDAY BLOG. HERE'S A LINK