The Roman Martyrology mentions the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus under the date of 27 July, as follows: “Commemoration of the seven Holy Sleepers of Ephesus. The story involves seven Christian boys who were persecuted by the Roman Emperor Trajan, then escaped to a cave and slept there for 309 years. As the earliest versions of the legend spread from Ephesus, an early Christian catacomb came to be associated with it, attracting scores of pilgrims. On the slopes of Mount Pion (Mount Coelian) near Ephesus (near modern Selçuk in Turkey), the “grotto” of the Seven Sleepers with ruins of the church built over it was excavated in 1927–28.
