ON ST. DOMNINUS, MARTYR AT NICAEA,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
CommentaryDomninus, martyr at Nicaea. (S.)
J. V. D. G.
[1] Of St. Domninus, whom the Hieronymian lists celebrate, Of this saint nothing has been retained but the name, which the Hieronymian tables report at the present day: At Nicaea, the natal day of St. Domninus. On this Fiorentini, editor of the older martyrology of the western church, noted in the year 1668 that the natal day of St. Domninus of Nicaea seemed to him unknown to the other martyrologies published in his time, except Rabanus, who also commemorates Domninus at Nicaea. In actual fact almost all the abridged Hieronymian martyrologies omit the memory of St. Domninus of Nicaea. Three, which have been published by the press since the age of Fiorentini, namely the Reichenau one in the Acta Sanctorum volume VI of June, the Bern and the Fulda ones, as may be seen in the edition prefixed to this volume, commemorate this saint under this formula: At Nicaea, of Domninus. In the Antwerp, Echternach and other lists derived from it one reads: And at Nicaea the natal day of St. Domninus. The Augsburg and Labbe lists bear: Of Caesarius, of Domninus, perhaps from a confusion made with the commemoration of St. Domninus of Caesarea, who is venerated on the following day. The addition of Florus to the martyrology of Bede, from the Barberini, Vatican, Tournai and Saint-Cyriacus codices, also commemorates Domninus at Nicaea. When we have added to these Rosweyde's addition to Usuard, which runs thus: In Italy, of Domninus, martyr, we shall have reviewed everything that is brought forward anywhere about St. Domninus.
[2] nothing has become known. As is clear from these things, only the name has been reported by unanimous consent, namely that of Domninus. The place where he was born into heavenly beatitude remains doubtful, whether it is Nicaea, which seems more probable and is affirmed by several martyrologies, or a town of Italy, which Rosweyde alone brought forward. Of martyrdom only the Bern codex and Rosweyde's addition speak expressly; indeed it is to be noted that in the Bern codex the word martyr is a Metz addition.