Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha

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Saints Tryphon (Trypho), Respicius, and Nympha (Ninfa) were martyrs whose feast was observed in the Catholic Church on November 10. Tryphon is said to have been born at Kampsade (Lampsakon) in Phrygia, near Apamea, and as a boy took care of geese. His name is derived from the Greek τρυφη (tryphe) meaning "softness, delicacy".

During the Decian persecution he was taken to Nicaea about the year 250 and put to death in a horrible manner after he had converted the heathen prefect Licius. Fabulous stories are interwoven with his legend. He is greatly venerated in the Greek Orthodox Church which observes his feast on February 1. In this Church he is also the patron saint of gardeners. Many churches were dedicated to him, and the Eastern Emperor, Leo VI the Wise (d. 912), delivered a eulogy upon Tryphon.

[edit] Respicius and Nympha

Attached to his feast day since the eleventh century have been two other saints, Respicius and Nympha, of whom nothing is known. About the year 1005 the monk Theodoric of Fleury wrote an account of him based upon earlier written legends; in Theodoric's story Respicius appears as Tryphon's companion. The relics of both were preserved together with those of a holy virgin named Nympha, at the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Sassia.

Nympha (Ninfa) was a 5th century virgin martyr from Palermo who was put to death for the Faith at the beginning of the fourth century. According to other versions of the legend, when the Goths invaded Sicily she fled from Palermo to the Italian mainland and died in the sixth century at Savona. The feast of her translation is observed at Palermo on August 19. Some believe that there were two saints of this name. Before 1624 Palermo had four patron saints, one for each of the four major parts of the city. They were Saint Agatha, Saint Christina, Saint Nympha, and Saint Olivia. Their images are displayed at the Quattro Canti, in the centre of Palermo.

The church of the Hospital of the Holy Ghost at Rome was a cardinal's title which, together with the relics of these saints, was transferred in 1566 by Pope Pius V to the Church of St. Augustine. A Greek text of the life of St. Tryphon was discovered by Father Franchi de Cavallieri, Hagio-graphica (Rome, 1908), in the series Studi e Texti, XIX. The Latin Acts are to be found in Thierry Ruinart, Acta Martyrum. Analecta Bollandiana, XXVII, 7-10, 15; XXVIII, 217.

Saint Tryphon's feast day was removed from the Catholic calendar in 1969 due to lack of evidence and documentation.