ZENONE, SANTO, MARTIRE

Image from page 1100
Image from page 1100

ZENO, Saint, Martyr. — He is commemorated only by the Bernese codex of the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* on 14 February (Acta SS. Novembris, II, part 1, Brussels 1894, p. [20]). The same date is given by the 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary from St. Gall.

He was buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus on the Via Appia in a church where he was venerated by pilgrims in the 7th century. Pope Damasus dedicated a poem to him, of which only a few fragments survive today in the Christian Museum of the Lateran. Pope Adrian I (772–95) restored Zeno’s cemetery church (Lib. Pont., I, p. 509); Paschal I (817–824) translated his body to the basilica of St. Praxedes (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 Zeno or the time of his death. The inscription placed by Paschal I describes him as a priest.

Bibl.: Acta SS. Februarii, II, Paris 1864, pp. 744–46; G. B. De Rossi, *La Roma sotterranea cristiana*, I, Rome 1894, pp. 126, 246; id., *Mosaici cristiani*, 1819, fasc. XXVI–XXVII; Wilpert, *Mosaiken*, tavv. 114–15; *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, p. 66; *Martyrologium Romanum*, pp. 62, 279; A. Ferrara, *Epigrammata Damasiana*, Vatican City 1942, pp. 134–36; R. Valentini–G. Zucchetti, *Codice topografico della città di Roma*, II, Rome 1942, pp. 87, 111.