NEREUS AND ACHILLEUS, Saints, Martyrs. - They are commemorated in the Jeronymian Martyrology on 12 May; the Itineraries of the 7th century record them as buried in the church of St. Petronilla near the cemetery of Domitilla on the Via Ardeatina. The time and manner of their martyrdom are unknown, but they were probably killed in the military persecution of Diocletian.

Pope Damasus composed a poem in their honor, from which it is gathered that N. and A. were soldiers, attached to the tribunal of a judge and charged with carrying out capital sentences; they were suddenly converted, abandoned military service, and by confessing the Christian faith merited eternal glory. According to the depiction on a small column, still extant, which must have been placed on the altar built over their tomb, they were beheaded. In the 6th century, in their honor, the Titulus de Fasciola was dedicated, which stood near the baths of Caracalla, whose clergy had the administration of the cemetery of Domitilla.

Their burial in this cemetery, and specifically in the church of St. Petronilla—believed, because of the similarity of the name, to be the daughter of the apostle Peter—spurred the imagination of a hagiographer to write, between the 5th and 6th centuries, a Passio of these martyrs in absolute contrast with the epigram of Pope Damasus.

Bibliography9 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Maii, III, Paris 1866, pp. 4-16; G. B. De Rossi, L'elogio damasiano dei martiri N. e A., in Bull. arch. crist., 2nd series, 5 (1874), pp. 20-26; id., Insigni scoperte nel cimitero di Domitilla, ibid., 6 (1875), p. 7 ff. and pl. 4; P. Franchi de' Cavalieri, I ss. N. ed A. nell'epigramma damasiano, in Note agiografiche (Studi e testi, 22), III, Rome 1909, pp. 43-55; J. P. Kirsch, Die römischen Titelkirchen im Altertum, Paderborn 1918, pp. 90-94; Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 249; Martyr. Romanum, p. 185; A. Ferrus, Epigrammata damasiana, Vatican City 1942, pp. 101-104; A. Guerrieri, La chiesa dei SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, Vatican City 1951.

Agostino Amore

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Nereus and Achilleus, Saints, Martyrs

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