MASSA MARTANA. – A town in Umbria that derived its name from the “Vicus Martis Tudertium.” G. Sordini discovered near M. M. a completely devastated underground cemetery.
The Passio of a holy woman, Illuminata, who is said to have been buried near M. M., is devoid of all authority (Analecta Bollandiana, 42 [1924], pp. 430–31). The same must be said of the Passio of ss. Fidenzio and Terenzio (BHL, 2927, b and d) and of that of a presumed bishop Felice of the “civitas Martana.”
BIBL.: G. Sordini, Di un cimitero sotterraneo nell'Umbria, Spoleto 1903; Lanzoni, I, pp. 421–23, 484–87. Enrico Josi