FOUR CORONATED SAINTS, Saints.—Venerated on Nov. 8. The names in the Gregorian Sacramentary (five and not four) are: Claudio, Nicostrato, Sinfroniano (or Sinfoniano), Castorio, Simplicio. The account of their martyrdom (BHL, 1836-37) was not written in Rome; the persons involved were not Romans but Pannonians, and they were not martyred in Rome. The narrative does not feature the type of Diocletian as a ferocious persecutor thirsting for Christian blood, as appears in other late and fantastic hagiographical tales. Instead, it presents the historical Diocletian, a great builder but weak in character, who yields to pressures and insinuations. Also historical is the figure of the bishop of Antioch, Cyril. Therefore, the author of the legend at least knew the setting (H. Delehaye, *Etude sur le légendier romain*, Brussels 1935, pp. 64-73).
However, there is a Roman mention that cannot be overlooked: the very ancient text of the *Depositio martyrum* contains the entry: *VI idus nov. Clementis, Semproniani, Claui* (for Claudio), *Nicostrati in comitatum* (the name of Simplicio is absent). The phrase *in comitatum*, believed by Delehaye to be the title of an imperial residence outside Rome, is instead the name of a Roman locality, since the *Depositio* only mentions places in Rome, and when they are outside the city, this is expressly stated. The epithet fits well with the area of the Labicana, which was a possession of the *corona* and where imperial troops were stationed; there was also an imperial mausoleum (the mausoleum of St. Helena). Here is the catacomb of SS. Marcellino and Pietro, where the group of the *Depositio* was venerated. Therefore, nothing seems to connect the Pannonian martyrs, who were marble workers by profession, with the four Romans, who must have been soldiers. In turn, this Roman group was, in the Middle Ages, confused with a group of Albanian soldiers (Secondo, Carpoforo, Vittorino, and Severiano).
The basilica of SS. Q. C. erected on the Caelian must have combined the cult of the Roman martyrs and the Pannonians; but the relics of the latter must have arrived first. The compiler of the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* mentions the SS. Q. C. only in relation to the Basilica (the text is from the 7th century). This building must have replaced a very ancient title church (Aemilianae). In 595, mention is made of the title of SS. Q. C.; the Basilica was destroyed by the Norman invasion of 1085 and rebuilt by Paschal II (1116) in smaller dimensions. The remains of the earlier structure, which had been restored by Leo IV (847-55), are still recognizable. The crypt is from this pope. In the 12th century, a monastery was built against II. The cloister dates from the first decades of the 13th century. The chapel of St. Sylvester also has 13th-century frescoes (with the legend of St. Sylvester and Constantine).