| Marius, Martha, Audifax and Abacum | |
|---|---|
| Martyrs | |
| Born | 3rd century Persia |
| Died | 270 Nymphae Catabassi, near Rome |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Rome |
| Feast | 19 January |
Saints Marius, Martha, Audifax and Abacum[1] (died 270) were, according to their largely legendary passio of the 6th century, four saints of the same family who came from Persia to Rome, and were martyred in 270 for sympathizing with and burying the bodies of Christians. Some ancient martyrologies place the date of their death between 268 to 270, during the reign of Claudius II, although there was no persecution of Christians during this time.[2]
Their story states that the family's assistance to the Christians exposed them to persecution. They were seized and delivered to the judge Muscianus or Marcianus, who, unable to persuade them to abjure their faith, condemned them to various tortures. Despite the torture, the saints refused to abjure. Maris and his two sons were thus beheaded on the Via Cornelia, and their bodies were burnt. Martha meanwhile was killed at a place called in Nimpha or Nymphae Catabassi (later called Santa Ninfa[3]), thirteen miles from Rome. Tradition states that Martha was cast into a well.
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According to tradition, a Roman lady named Felicitas secured the half-consumed remains of the father and sons and also the mother's body from the well, and had the sacred relics secretly interred in on her estate at Buxus, today Boccea. This is said to have occurred on January 20.[2] A church arose at Boccea, and during the Middle Ages, it became a place of pilgrimage.[2]
Their relics later suffered various vicissitudes: some were transferred to the churches of Sant'Adriano al Foro and Santa Prassede, in Rome, and part of these relics were sent to Eginhard, biographer of Charlemagne, who lodged them in the monastery of Seligenstadt.[2]
Their feast day (as indicated in the Roman Martyrology) is on 19 January. They were included in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints from the ninth century to 1969, when they were excluded because nothing is really known of these saints except their names.[4]