MARIO, MARTA, AUDIFACE and ABAGO, saints, martyrs. — Commemorated in the Hieronymian Martyrology, but without any indication of kinship, on January 16 and 20, while in the Roman Martyrology on the 19th of the same month. Very probably the true *dies natalis* is the 20th, on which they are also commemorated in the Gelasian Sacramentary. Their tomb, visited by pilgrims of the 7th century, was at the 13th mile of the Via Cornelia, where today the remains of a basilica can be seen, still standing in the 9th century. The time of their martyrdom is uncertain; the *Passio* states they died in the time of Claudius Gothicus, but it seems instead that they perished in the persecution of Diocletian.
According to the *Passio*, which is very legendary, Mario and Marta, noble Persians, would have come to Rome together with their sons Audiface and Abago to venerate the bodies of the martyrs, and would have buried, together with the priest John, 260 of them on the Via Salaria. Captured, they would have been beheaded on the Via Aurelia after severe torments and buried by the matron Felicitas in her field.