FELICE and ADAUTTO, saints, martyrs. — The oldest and most reliable information concerning them is found in a Damasian poem, from which it may be inferred that a certain presbyter Vero adorned their tombs. These are located in the cemetery of Commodilla, where they are also commemorated by the Hieronymian Martyrology on 30 August.
From the Damasian inscription, whose text as transmitted by the manuscripts is not, moreover, always certain, it seems that F. and A. were brothers and that they were killed together. There is a very legendary Passio from the seventh century, according to which F. was a priest; during the persecution of Diocletian, after being tortured, he was led along the Via Oatiense to be beheaded. Along the way, a Christian joined him in confessing the faith and in martyrdom, and since his name was unknown, he was called A., «quod sancto Felici auctus sit ad coronam martyrii». A basilica was built over their tombs, which had been placed in a deep fissure in the ground. The author of the Passio probably based himself on the scant information contained in the Damasian poem, which he nevertheless read and interpreted incorrectly. The presence in Rome «in Pincis» of a little church dedicated to s. Felice di Nola then provided the occasion for a further legendary confusion between that saint and our F.