Primus and Felician

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Saints Primus and Felician
Martyrdom of Saints Primus and Felician, from a medieval manuscript
Martyrs
Died	ca. 297 AD, Via Nomentana, Rome
Major shrine	Santo Stefano Rotundo, Rome
Feast	June 9
Attributes	Portrayed at their martyrdom. Felician is nailed to a tree and Primus is forced to swallow molten lead.

Saints Primus and Felician (Felicianus) ((Italian) Primo e Feliciano) suffered martyrdom about 297 in the Diocletian persecution. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum (ed. G. B. de Rossi-L. Duchesne, 77) gives under 9 June the names of Primus and Felician who were buried at the fourteenth milestone of the Via Nomentana (near Nomentum, now Mentana).

They were evidently from Nomentum. This notice comes from the catalogue of Roman martyrs of the fourth century.

1 Burial
2 Veneration
3 Acts
4 Veneration in Bavaria
5 External links

[edit] Burial

Saints Primus and Felicianus, from a 14th century manuscript of the Golden Legend

They appear to be the first martyrs of whom it is recorded that their bodies were subsequently reburied within the walls of Rome. In 648 Pope Theodore I translated the bones of the two saints (together with the remains of his father) to the Roman Church of Santo Stefano Rotondo, under an altar erected in their honour (Liber Pontificalis, I, 332), where they remain. The Chapel of Ss. Primo e Feliciano contains mosaics from the 7th century. The chapel was built by Pope Theodore I. One mosaic shows the martyrs St Primus and St Felician flanking a jeweled cross.

Other depictions of the saints can be found at Venice, in the St Mark's Basilica (13th century) and at Palermo, in the Cappella Palatina (12th century).

[edit] Veneration

Their feast is still observed on 9 June, but as the Acts recounting their martyrdom are considered unreliable, their cult has been limited since 1969 to local calendars.

[edit] Acts

Their unreliable Acts relate that Felician and Primus were brothers and patricians who had converted to Christianity and devoted themselves to caring for the poor and visiting prisoners.

Arrested, they both refused to sacrifice to the public gods. They were imprisoned and scourged. They were brought separately before the judge Promotus, who tried to convince each that the other had apostatized. This had no effect on the brothers, and the two were beheaded under Diocletian at Nomentum (12 miles from Rome). Primus was eighty years old at the time of his death. A church was built over their tombs on the Via Nomentana.

[edit] Veneration in Bavaria

A Bavarian tradition holds that Primus and Felician were Roman legionaries who became missionaries in the region of Chiemgau, where Primus found in a forest a fountain with curative properties. The two brothers preached the Gospel there and cured the sick by virtue of their prayers and the virtue of the source. When they returned to Italy, they were martyred under Diocletian. The fountain, known as the "Fountain of Saint Primus," can still be seen at Adelholzen, an area of hot springs where a chapel constructed in 1615 can be found, dedicated to these saints, who are much venerated in the area.[1]