NABOR AND FELIX, Saints, Martyrs. - They are commemorated on July 12 in the Hieronymian Martyrology, which however depends on the Passio, composed probably around the middle of the 5th century, and according to which N. and F. were two soldiers who, imprisoned in Milan for having deserted the ranks of the army, were subsequently beheaded in the vicinity of the gate of the city of Lodi, and their bodies were brought to Milan by a pious woman named Savina.

The plausibility of this information, corroborated by other documents, would place the martyrdom of N. and F. at the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian, that is, at the end of the 3rd century. In the 4th century a basilica stood over their tombs, where they were greatly venerated. In the vicinity of that basilica St. Ambrose found the bodies of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius, which had for so long been unknowingly trampled underfoot by the faithful who came to venerate N. and F.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Paolino, Vita di s. Ambrogio: PL 14, 31 ed.; Acta SS. Iulii, III, Paris 1876, pp. 267-81; F. Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d'Italia dalle origini al 1300. La Lombardia, parte 1ª: Milano, Florence 1913, pp. 759-80; Lanzoni, pp. 696-1001; Martyr. Hieronymium, pp. 366-71; H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., Brussels 1933, pp. 335-37.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec8_nabore_e_felice_santi_martiri, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Nabore e Felice, santi, martiri}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1591--1592}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nabore-e-felice-santi-martiri} }

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Nabor and Felix, Saints, Martyrs

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