Placid, Eutychius and Companions, Saints, Martyrs

PLACID, Eutychius and Companions, Saints, Martyrs. - They probably perished in the Diocletianic persecution (303-13).

The Hieronymian Martyrology commemorates them on 5 October as Sicilian martyrs: « in Sicilia ». In the same Martyrology, however, P. is also commemorated on 29 September, and on 11 and 14 October; according to H. Delehaye it would always be the same martyr. Eutychius is likewise commemorated on 29 September as a martyr of Heraclea. The anonymous group, according to the common reading, would consist of 30 martyrs, but according to another reading of only 8. The genuine acts have been lost. The identification of P. with the disciple of St. Benedict, and of Eutychius as his brother, is a false opinion that arose at Montecassino in the 11th-12th century, given currency by Peter the Deacon (v.), asserting that those disciples, sent by St. Benedict to Messina to found a monastery there (of St. John the Baptist), were killed there by Saracen pirates from Spain. The discovery of human bones in the choir of the church of St. John the Baptist at Messina on 4 August 1588 led to the conclusion that they were the monk martyrs. They were chosen as patrons of the city and from Sixtus V was obtained (13 November 1588) their feast with double rite for Messina and its province, with simple rite for the rest of the Church, and their insertion in the Roman Martyrology (5 October).