ON THE HOLY ROMAN MARTYRS: ANANUS AND MARIUS, on the Appian Way. NINE SOLDIERS, on the Cornelian Way. HONORIUS AND THIRTEEN OTHERS.
CommentaryAnanus, Martyr at Rome on the Appian Way (St.) Marius, Martyr at Rome on the Appian Way (St.) Nine Soldiers, Martyrs at Rome on the Cornelian Way (SS.) Honorius, Martyr at Rome (St.) Thirteen other Martyrs at Rome
[1] The names of these Martyrs are confused, recorded by only two ancient manuscript Martyrologies, of which the one bearing the name of St. Jerome reads thus: The 17th day before the Kalends. At Rome, on the Salarian Way, in the cemetery of Priscilla, the burial of St. Marcellus the Bishop. The confused record of these Saints. And on the Appian Way, in the cemetery of Callistus, the passion of St. Ananus, Marius. On the Cornelian Way, nine Soldiers. In the cemetery of thirteen others, whose names God knows. More obscurely still, the Hibernian manuscript of the Dungal community: Callistus, Priscilla. Ememrianus and sixteen others. Fabian, Honoratus, and twenty-nine other Martyrs. Honorius and fourteen other Martyrs.
[2] The former manuscript is of better repute, although mutilated. We shall follow it. We shall treat separately of St. Marcellus, who was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla. Whether Ememrianus and Fabianus are the same as Ananus and Marius, and which is the genuine reading, it is not easy to determine. Marius is mentioned below on the 19th of January as having been killed on the Cornelian Way. Here there was no punctuation, and so one could read: the passion of St. Ananus. Marius on the Cornelian Way. But this codex customarily places the location first. Is not Ananus perhaps the same who is mentioned below as Pope Fabian, buried in the cemetery of Callistus? But in both manuscripts Fabian is again cited on the 20th of January.
[3] The cemetery of St. Callistus on the Appian Way outside the Capena Gate, which is now called St. Sebastian's, is famous. Here, therefore, Ananus and Marius were laid to rest; and perhaps also the other sixteen, among whom were Ememrianus and Fabianus. The Honoratus who is named here in the Hibernian codex appears to be entirely St. Honoratus of Arles. The twenty-nine Martyrs who follow are perhaps those soldiers whom the manuscript of St. Jerome attests suffered on the Cornelian Way, although it recognizes only nine; one or the other number being corrupted. In the same manuscript of St. Jerome, the name of the cemetery is lacking in which those thirteen or fourteen were laid, to whom the Hibernian manuscript adds Honorius.