Zeno, Saint, Martyr

ZENONE, saint, martyr. - He is commemorated only by the Bernese codex of the Hieronymian Martyrology on 14 February (Acta SS. Novembris, II, parte 1ª, Bruxelles 1894, p. [20]). On the same date he is commemorated by the eighth-century Gelasian Sacramentary of St. Gall.

He was buried in the cemetery of Pretestato on the Via Appia, in a church where he was venerated by seventh-century pilgrims. Pope Damasus dedicated a poem to him, of which only a few fragments survive, now preserved in the Lateran Christian Museum. Pope Adrian I (772–95) restored the cemetery church of Z. (Lib. Pont., I, p. 509); Paschal I (817–824) transferred his body to the basilica of S. PRASSEDE, SANTA (v.) and placed it in the oratory dedicated to him, which he adorned with the characteristic mosaics still extant (ibid., II, p. 55). Nothing is known about Z. or the time of his death. In the inscription placed by Paschal I he is called a priest.

BIBL.: Acta SS. Februarii, II, Parigi 1864, pp. 744–46; G. B. De Rossi, La Roma sott. crist., I, Roma 1864, pp. 120, 246; id., Musaici cristiani, ivi 1899, fasc. XXVI–XXVII; Wilpert, Mosaiken, tavv. 114–15; Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 96; Martyr. Romanum, pp. 62, 279; A. Ferrua, Epigrammata Damasiana, Città del Vaticano 1942, pp. 134–36; R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, Codice topogr. della città di Roma, II, Roma 1942, pp. 87, 111. Agostino Amore
Cite this article

“ZENONE, SANTO, MARTIRE.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII (1954), p. 1100. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/zenone-santo-martire.