DEPOSITIO OF THE MARTYRS
Like the preceding document, it is included in the so-called Chronography of the Year 354 (q.v.). It comprises a list of depositions of martyrs, with the date, the name, and the place of deposition or where the liturgical station was celebrated.
It begins with 25 December (“Natus Christus in Bethlem Iudaeae”). The feast of the “Cathedra Petri” (22 February) is not followed by any topographical indication. With the exception of the Apostles Peter and Paul, all the other martyrs mentioned—from Rome, Africa, Albano, and Porto—are not earlier than the 3rd century. The oldest African martyrs are Perpetua and Felicity (203); the oldest Roman martyr of certain date is Pope Callistus (223).
The document, which cannot be called official since no elements support this, is of great importance for the names of the cemeteries and the related topographical indications, which have always been found to be perfectly accurate by archaeological discoveries (sepulchral inscriptions of Pontian, Fabian, Hyacinth—this last also for the date of deposition—graffiti, other inscriptions, Damasian poems, etc.).