Which martyrs for Christ Jesus IN THE FIRST MILLENIUM, AD have the most compelling life and death biographies?

Felicity and Perpetua. One was a princess and the other was her servant and they were close like sisters. The were persecuted for their belief in Christ, but they would not denounce him. They were imprisoned for being Christians, but they held their ground. They were taken to the arena to be executed: "When those at the arena tried to force Perpetua and the rest to dress in robes dedicated to their gods, Perpetua challenged her executioners. "We came to die out of our own free will so we wouldn't lose our freedom to worship our God. We gave you our lives so that we wouldn't have to worship your gods." She and the others were allowed to keep their clothes.

The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars. The women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. When the crowd, however, saw the two young women, one of whom had obviously just given birth, they were horrified and the women were removed and clothed again. Perpetua and Felicity were thrown back into the arena so roughly that they were bruised and hurt. Perpetua, though confused and distracted, still was thinking of others and went to help Felicity up. The two of them stood side by side as all five martyrs had their throats cut.

Perpetua's last words were to her brother: "Stand fast in the faith and love one another."

I also like Faustina (Divine Mercy)

The Apostles, St Ignatius, St Stephen, St Polycarp. [gotta love the ones who knew the Apostles]

St Joan of Arc, St Valentine...there is a huge list which I cannot name all them from memory.

well getting boiled alive stands out for me

along with being hung upside down

beheadings

left to die in prison

stoned to death

I beat myself up for not being able to stay away

from chocolate, thank the lord he loves me anyway

Countless, but St. Peter and St. Paul is my heroes.