TWELVE BROTHERS, saints, martyrs. — A highly legendary Passio, composed toward the end of the 8th century, speaks of twelve brothers, sons of Bonifazio and Tecla, natives of Adrumeto in Africa, martyred during the persecution of Diocletian by the judge Valeriano in various cities of Lucania and Apulia. In reality, these were various groups of authentic African martyrs, commemorated in the Hieronymian Martyrology between 27 August and 1 September; their relics were perhaps venerated in the various cities mentioned by the Passio.
In 760, Arechis II, duke of Benevento, gathered all those relics in the church of S. Sofia, establishing their commemoration on 1 September.
BIBL.: BHL, 2297-2302; Acta SS. Septembris, I, Parigi 1868, pp. 129-55; Lanzoni, pp. 285-88; Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 470 ff., 480 ff.; Martyr. Romanum, p. 373 ff. Agostino Amore