Saint George

Very little is known about the real St George. He is thought to have been born into a noble Christian family in the late third century in Cappadocia, an area which is now in Turkey. He followed his father's profession of soldier and became part of the retinue of the Emperor Diocletian. The emperor ordered the systematic persecution of Christians and George refused to take part. In 303, he was himself tortured and executed in Palestine, becoming an early Christian martyr.

The legend of George slaying a dragon and rescuing an innocent maiden from death is medieval. St George's Day is celebrated in England on 23 April, reputed to be the day of George's martyrdom in 303.

Source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/george_st.shtml

Saint Barnabas

Paul and Barnabas were both first century apostles but not among the original twelve disciples. Barnabas was a Jew  from Cyprus and was an early convert to Christianity. Paul was born Saul, a Jew, in Tarsus (Asia Minor), and as a Pharisee, he made it his job to persecute Christians. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr. Then on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by a flash of light, which was a vision of Christ. He was called to preach Christianity to the Gentiles, but at first the Christian community did not trust him. It was Barnabas who accepted him and introduced him to the other apostles. Paul and Barnabas became tireless missionaries. They undertook the first Christian mission together, which began in Cyprus and took them to Asia Minor and Greece as well. After many journeys, Barnabas returned to Cyprus and evangelized there. Legend says he was martyred in Salamis in 61 C.E.

Paul spent time without Barnabas in Ephesus, Macedonia and Achaia, but when he returned to Jerusalem, he was imprisoned by angry Jews for supposedly breaking Jewish laws. Paul claimed he was keeping faith with the old laws and demanded a trial in Rome. He was entitled to this because he was a Roman citizen. He was apparently acquitted, and legend has him traveling as far away as Spain. He was supposedly martyred in Rome on the same day as Peter, but because he was a Roman citizen, he was executed by sword and not by crucifixion. His epistles are the basis of much of Christian theology, and there are several apocryphal gospels and Acts of Paul which enjoyed wide popularity.


Source

http://www.stbarnabasbeckenham
.org.uk/stbarnh.htm

Saint Cyprian

Cyprian was born around 200 AD in North Africa, of pagan parents. He was a prominent trial lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. Around 246 he became a Christian, and in 248 was chosen Bishop of Carthage. A year later the persecution under the Emperor Decius began, and Cyprian went into hiding. He was severely censured for this (unjustly on my view -- see Mt 2:13; 10:23; 24:16). After the persecution had died down, it remained to consider how to deal with the lapsed, meaning with those Christians who had denied the faith under duress. Cyprian held that they ought to be received back into full communion after suitable intervals of probation and penance, adjusted to the gravity of the denial. In this he took a middle course between Novatus, who received apostates with no probation at all, and Novatian, who would not receive them back at all, and who broke communion with the rest of the Church over this issue, forming a dissident group particularly strong in Rome and Antioch. (Novatus, somewhat surprisingly, ended up joining the party of Novatian.) Cyprian, who held the same position as the Bishop of Rome on the treatment of the lapsed, wrote urging the Christians of Rome to stand with their bishop.
    Later, the question arose whether baptisms performed by heretical groups ought to be recognized as valid by the Church, or whether converts from such groups ought to be rebaptized. Cyprian favored re-baptism, and Bishop Stephen of Rome did not. The resulting controversy was not resolved during Cyprian's lifetime. During the reign of the Emperor Valerian, Carthage suffered a severe plague epidemic. Cyprian organized a program of medical relief and nursing of the sick, available to all residents, but this did not prevent the masses from being convinced that the epidemic resulted from the wrath of the gods at the spread of Christianity. Another persecution arose, and this time Cyprian did not flee. He was arrested, tried, and finally beheaded on 14 September 258. (Because 14 is Holy Cross Day, he is usually commemorated on a nearby open day.)


source http://satucket.com/lectionary/Cyprian.htm