The Twelve Brothers, saints, martyrs. — A very fanciful *Passio*, composed around the end of the 8th century, speaks of twelve brothers, sons of Boniface and Thecla, natives of Arduamentum in Africa, martyred during the persecution of Diocletian by the judge Valerian in various cities of Lucania and Apulia. In reality, these are various groups of authentic African martyrs recorded in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* between 27 August and 1 September, some of whose relics may have been venerated in the cities mentioned in the *Passio*. In 760, Arechis II, duke of Benevento, gathered all these relics in the church of St. Sophia, fixing their commemoration on 1 September.
BIBL.: BHL, 2207-2302; Acta SS. Septembris, I, Paris 1868, pp. 129-55; Lanzoni, pp. 285-88; Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 470 sq., 480 sq.; Martyr. Romanum, p. 373 sq.