Saint Amphibalus was formerly venerated as the Christianpriest traditionally sheltered by Saint Alban, who was converted by him, as a consequence of which Alban was martyred.
Prior to Christianity becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, Christians in Britain were persecuted by Romans. Alban sheltered Amphibalus in his home, and was converted to Christianity by him. When Roman soldiers came in search of the priest, Alban and Amphibalus exchanged cloaks, and Alban was arrested instead of Amphibalus. Alban was executed on the current site of St Albans Cathedral.
It is unlikely that Amphibalus was the genuine name of the priest _ it is likely to be Geoffrey of Monmouth's misunderstanding of the Latin word used for the cloak, amphibalus passed to Alban. Similarly, other details concerning the life of Amphibalus should be approached with skepticism. He is believed to have come from Caerleon, and to have converted numerous Britons to Christianity, including Saint Stephanus and Saint Socrates with whom he fled to Wales. He was later caught by the Romans, and returned to Verulamium where he was executed.
Remains identified as of Amphibalus were discovered at Redbourn in Hertfordshire, England, near the town of St Albans, in 1178, and placed in the Abbey Church. The first shrine to Saint Amphibalus was destroyed when the roof of the abbey collapsed. A new shrine was built circa 1350, but was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the remains of Saint Amphibalus were dispersed. Fragments of the shrine were found in the 19th century and can be found in St Albans Cathedral.
Amphibalus' relics, or certain relics which were held to be his, were discovered at Redbourne, near St. Albans, in the days of Abbot Simon (1166-1183) and were brought in solemn procession to the church of the monastery.
In the original Norman Abbey of St. Albans, which largely still stands today, the shrine of St. Amphibalus stood before the Great Rood Screen, near the high altar, on the north side of the shrine of St. Alban.
A timber beam broke the marble shafts supporting his shrine canopy and the feretory, which miraculously survived, was removed to the north aisle of the presbytery.
A later development in the legend informs us that the cleric's name was Amphibalus, and that he, with some companions, was stoned to death a few days afterwards at Redbourn, four miles from St. Albans.
It is also probable that the name Amphibalus is derived from some version of the legend in which the cleric's cloak is called an amphibalus; for Geoffrey of Monmouth, the earliest witness to the name Amphibalus, makes precisely the same mistake in another passage, converting the garment called amphibalus into the name of a saint.
That of St. Amphibalus is not now observed, but it seems formerly to have been attached to 25 June.
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