A strain of thought from a teacher named Arius was becoming popular at the time. His ideas declared that Jesus was not “consubstantial with the Father.” Alexander, seeing this distortion of the faith, excommunicated Arius in 321. The heresy grew, and schism threatened.
Alexander organized the first council of Nicea in 325, when the Church addressed our understanding of Jesus and articulated it in the creed that we pray on Sundays today.
In addition to his intellect and faithfulness, his contemporaries admired Alexander as a lover of God who was just and eloquent. He died in 328 and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica, and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Alexander of Alexandria, you fought for the faith declared in the creed we still use today, pray for us!