Martyrs of Brescia

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF BRESCIA, MARINUS THE PRIEST AND STEPHEN THE DEACON.

UNDER THE EMPEROR HADRIAN.

Marinus the Priest, Martyr at Brescia (St.) Stephen the Deacon, Martyr at Brescia (St.)

From various sources.

[1] Under the Emperor Hadrian, St. Apollonius the Bishop governed the Church of Brescia, whose feast is celebrated there on the Nones of July. By him St. Faustinus the Priest and St. Jovita the Deacon were consecrated, as their Acts testify, which we shall give on the 15th of February. Their companions in this sacred office, in undertaking labors for the spread of the Christian religion, in enduring torments, and finally in undergoing death, were St. Marinus the Priest and St. Stephen the Deacon, [The feast of Saints Marinus and Stephen is uncertain, as is their manner of death,] of whom, however, no mention is made in those Acts. But whoever carefully examines them will perhaps conclude that Saints Marinus and Stephen were slain by order of the Count of Italy, Faustinus and Jovita being reserved for the Emperor's arrival, since they were of most noble birth: or at least that they were led about by order of Hadrian together with the companions of St. Calocerus (of whom we treat on the 18th of April) and beheaded, and that Bishop Apollonius, together with the Christians, seized their bodies and gave them honorable burial on the 13th day before the Kalends of December. Ferrari in his Notes and Galesini merely write that they suffered together with Saints Faustinus and Jovita. Perhaps when those Saints had already been brought back from Rome to Brescia for execution by the Count Aurelianus, Marinus and Stephen too were seized and slain.

[2] Their bodies, having lain hidden for a very long time, were discovered with an inscription in the year 1529, as the same Ferrari testifies, and before him Galesini in his Notes on the Martyrology, Finding on the 16th of January, where he cites the Brescia Annals. This Finding is assigned to this day by Ferrari: At Brescia, the Finding of the holy Martyrs Marinus the Priest and Stephen the Deacon. But he calls him Morinus in his Topography of the Martyrology, and in the Index to his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy he writes thus: Marinus, also called Morinus, Priest, and Stephen, Deacon, Martyrs at Brescia, 16th of January. Galesini on the same day: At Brescia, the Finding of the holy Martyrs Marinus the Priest and Stephen the Deacon; who, both together with the blessed Martyrs Faustinus and Jovita, were subjected to various torments and rendered an illustrious testimony to the Christian faith. Ferrari observes that nothing is read about them in the official liturgical records of the Church of Brescia.

ON THE HOLY AFRICAN MARTYRS: SATURNINUS, FAUSTINUS, NAFFANIANUS, AND SEVEN OTHERS.

Saturninus, Martyr in Africa (St.) Faustinus, Martyr in Africa (St.) Naffanianus, Martyr in Africa (St.) Seven other Martyrs in Africa

The Martyrology of St. Jerome: In Africa, Saturninus, Faustinus, Naffanianus, and seven others. The Hibernian manuscript of the Dungal community: Saturninus, Faustinus, and seven others. The Rhinau manuscript: In Africa, Faustus. On the 22nd of March another Saturninus is commemorated as having suffered in Africa with nine companions; on the 4th of July, Namphanion with companions.