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Meaning & History
From Late Latin amphibalus meaning "cloak". Saint Amphibalus was originally an anonymous character in the legend of Saint Alban. Alban had noticed the piety and devotion of this Christian priest, and gradually been converted by it into becoming a Christian himself. Alban concealed the priest in his home when a local prince was seeking him out during a persecution of Christians. Learning that the priest was in Alban's home, the prince sent solders to search him out. Alban took the cloak (amphibalus) of the priest, robed himself in it, and presented himself to the soldiers as the priest, allowing the true priest to escape. Later accounts tell how the priest, now named Amphibalus from his cloak, himself converted others, including Saints Stephanus and Socrates, was captured in Wales, and martyred in Verulam (St Albans). Remains identified as belonging to Amphibalus were discovered at Redbourn in Hertfordshire, England, near the town of St Albans, in 1178, and placed in the Abbey Church.