SATURNINUS, Saint, Martyr. - He is commemorated in the Depositio martyrum on 29 November as buried in the cemetery of Traso on the Via Salaria nuova. On the same date and in the same place he is remembered by the Itineraries of the 7th century and by the Sacramentaries.

Over his tomb, which Pope Damasus adorned with a poem, a basilica was built. No Passio of St. Saturninus exists today, although the Damasan poem suggests that one did; some notices, legendary however, are contained in the Passio Marcelli (BHL, 5234). From the Damasan poem it is gathered that he was a Carthaginian and that during the persecution of Decius he was subjected to torture (CSEL, III, 529). Driven into exile, he came to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, probably in the persecution of Valerian.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 626 ff.; H. Delchaye, Etude sur le légendier romain, Brussels 1936, p. 49 ff.; A. Ferrua, S. S. martire cartaginese-romano, in Civ. Catt., 1939, II, pp. 436-445; Martyr. Romanum, p. 554; R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, Codice topogr. della città di Roma, II, ibid. 1942, pp. 28, 38, 60; A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Vatican City 1942, pp. 188-90.

Agostino Amore

@incollection{ec10_saturnino_santo_martire, author = {Amore, Agostino}, title = {Saturnino, santo, martire}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {1966}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/saturnino-santo-martire} }

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Saturninus, Saint, Martyr

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