Alexander, Evenzio and Teodulo, Saints, Martyrs

ALEXANDER, Evenzio and Teodulo, Saints, Martyrs. - The Hieronymian Martyrology, the Gregorian Sacramentary and the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 8th century commemorate them on 3 May: Romae, Via Nomentana, miliario VII, natale sanctorum Eventii, Alexandri et Theoduli (Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 227).

The history of this group of martyrs is not known to us from texts worthy of credence. Without foundation, the authors of the Liber Pontificalis (ed. L. Duchesne, I, pp. XLI-XLII, 127) and of the Passio Alexandri (BHL, 266) identified this A. with the Pope of the same name (v.) first of that name, and made Evenzio and Teodulo two members of the Roman clergy. The two authors are not interdependent, but reflect a common tradition concerning the identification, the date of the martyrdom and the place of burial. They differ, however, on other very important points: while the Liber Pont. has A. die by decapitation and declares E. a priest and T. a deacon, the Passio has A. die after various tortures, following punctures inflicted on his whole body, and assigns to his companions the priestly dignity. In reality, however, these are three martyrs, probably victims of the Diocletianic persecution, belonging to the community of Ficulea or of Nomentum.

They were buried in two different galleries of a modest country cemetery: Evenzio and A. together, Teodulo alone in a site not yet identified with certainty.

Over their tombs, toward the end of the 4th century, two small sanctuaries were erected, which were then, in the course of the following century, joined and enlarged on several occasions without following an organic plan, so that the result was a monumental complex that was grandiose but irregular in form; the main altar, now almost entirely reassembled, was erected over the tombs (a double tomb that remained off-axis and in an oblique position relative to the hall) of Evenzio and A. by Bishop Orso of Nomentum, at the beginning of the 5th century, as can be gathered from the dedicatory inscription. It should be noted that the name of A. is placed second in the oldest documents: the inscription mentioned and the Mart. Hieron., whereas it comes first in the Passio, in the two sacramentaries cited and in the Notitia of William of Malmesbury (ed. Valentini-Zucchetti, Rome 1942, p. 145). The sanctuary, having fallen into ruin after the 7th century, was rediscovered in 1854 and completely restored in 1936. Of the primitive cemetery there remain only a few galleries, with some rough pictorial decoration and a fair number of graffiti and inscriptions, some of them dated to the 4th-6th centuries.

A. Pietro Frutaz