PROTO AND HYACINTH, saints, martyrs. — They are already recorded in the Depositio Martyrum on 11 September, buried in the cemetery of Bassilla on the old Via Salaria.
On the same date they are commemorated in the eighth-century Gelasian Sacramentary of St Gall and in the Gregorian Sacramentary, while their tomb is mentioned by the itineraries of the seventh century with the indication « in spelunca ». It has been identified in a double crypt where, on 21 March 1845, the intact loculus was discovered, with G.’s epitaph still in situ and his charred remains. The tombs of the two martyrs had already been blocked by a landslide in the fourth century, and Pope Damasus had arranged for them to be restored with an access staircase and a light shaft: the work of the presbyter Theodorus. The tombs of the two martyrs were embellished (fifth century) through the care of a presbyter Leopardo, who has not been more precisely identified (cf. E. Josi, « Sepulcrum Hincinthi martiris Leopardus presbyter ornavit », in Römische Quartalschrift, 32 [1924], pp. 10-36).
They are mentioned in the late and legendary Passio s. Eugeniae (BHL, 2666), according to which they were brothers and served Eugenia as eunuchs. After accompanying their mistress to Alexandria, they are said to have been given to the virgin Bassilla, whom they converted to Christianity. During the persecution of Valerian, they are said to have been arrested following a popular uprising and, taken to a temple to sacrifice, their prayers are said to have reduced the statue of the god to dust. The prefect Nicetius then had them put to death.