Saint Nazarius (Roman Martyrology)

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Nazarius and Companions
birth_date=
death_date=~303 AD
feast_day= 12 June
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


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suppressed_date=1969
issues= Saints Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and Nazarius are mentioned in the Martyrology of Bede and earlier editions of the "Roman Martyrology" for 12 June as four Roman martyrs who suffered death under Diocletian. [CathEncy|title=St. Nazarius and Companions|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10728b.htm]

It has been said that their names were taken from the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum", in the Berne MS., [ed. De Rossi-Duschesne, Acta SS., Nov. II [77] ] where it says: "Romæ, via Aurelia miliario V, Basiledis, Tribuli, Nagesi, Magdaletis, Zabini, Aureli, Cirini, Nabori, Nazari, Donatellæ, Secundæ." The second name in the list, Tribulus, is derived from a place-name, Tripoli, as is evident from the Echternach MS., and those following it have also an African origin.

The group of three supposedly Roman saints, Cyrinus, Nabor, Nazarius, to which was later added Basilides, has in the "Sacramentarium Gelasianum" [ed. Wilson, Oxford, 1894, 174-5] its special form of invocation in the Canon of the Mass. The date and the circumstances of their deaths are unknown.

Their joint commemoration was removed from the Roman Catholic calendar of saints in 1969 because of the completely fabulous character of their "Passio"; the 12 June celebration was in reality a conflation of three distinct commemorations on the same day: the burial of Saint Basilides, a Roman martyr, on the Via Aurelia, the transfer on the Via Appia of the relics of Saint Quirinus of Sescia, and the dedication of the Basilica of the Milanese martyrs Nabor and Nazarius on the Via Aurelia. ["Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 126]

Of the four named, the Roman Martyrology now mentions only Saint Basilides among the saints honoured on 12 June. ["Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7] In an ancient itinerary to the graves of the Roman martyrs [De Rossi, "Roma Sotterranea", I, 183] mention is made of a mortuary chapel of this martyr Basilides on the Via Aurelia.

The bones of Saints Nazarius and Nabor were transferred by Bishop Chrodegang of Metz to his diocese. [Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Script., II 268]

(For the later cultus of Nazarius, see also Lorsch Abbey).

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