TOLOMEO and LUCIO, saints, martyrs. - Put to death about 161, they are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 19 September.
The only author who speaks of them is St. Giustino, who took the occasion of their martyrdom to write his second Apology. T. had converted to the faith a woman who had been living dissolutely with her husband. Annoyed by his wife’s new way of life, the latter accused her before the prefect and, since the trial was dragging on, retaliated by accusing T. as the author of his wife’s conversion. Arrested by the prefect Urbico, T. was first entrusted to a centurion who martyred him; then, brought before the tribunal and having confessed himself a Christian, he was condemned to be beheaded. L. was present at the trial and, seeing the injustice of the sentence, protested against the prefect. The latter, in reply, after a summary interrogation, condemned him to the same penalty. Another Christian, whose name St. Giustino does not report, was likewise condemned for the same reason.