Abdon and Sennen

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Abdon and Sennen

Martyrs
Born	Unknown
Died	about A.D. 250
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Feast	30 July
Attributes	Fur tunics; sword; Phyrygian caps; two crowns
Patronage	burying the dead, coopers, Pescia, Sahagún, León
Saints Portal

Saints Abdon and Sennen, variously written in early calendars and martyrologies Abdo, Abdus, and Sennes, Sennis, Zennen are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as saints, with a feast day on 30 July.^[1] In some places they have been honoured on March 20, and the first Sunday of May.^[2]

Nothing is known historically about these saints except their names, that they were martyrs, and that they were buried on a 30 July in the Cemetery of Pontianus on the Via Portuensis. Because of this lack of knowledge about them, they are no longer included in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints to be commemorated liturgically worldwide.^[3]

Their Acts, written for the most part prior to the ninth century, describe them as Persians martyred under Decius, in about the year 250, and contain several fictitious statements about the cause and occasion of their coming to Rome and the nature of their torments. They relate that their bodies were buried by a subdeacon, Quirinus, and later transferred in the reign of Constantine to the Cemetery of Pontianus on the road to Porto, near the gates of Rome. A fresco found on the sarcophagus supposed to contain their remains represents them receiving crowns from Christ. According to Martigny, this fresco dates from the seventh century. Several cities, notably Florence and Soissons, claim possession of their bodies, but the Bollandists say that they rest in Rome.

[edit] References

^ Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
^ Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132