Sts. Processus and Martinian

The dates of these martyrs are unknown. The "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 85) gives under 2 July their names. The Berne manuscript of the Martyrology also gives their burial-place, viz. at the second milestone of the Via Aurelia. The old catalogues of the burial places of the Roman martyrs likewise mention the graves of both these saints on this road ( De Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 182-3). They were publicly venerated in Rome from the fourth or perhaps the third century, although nothing further is known. A legend makes them the keepers of the prison of Sts. Peter and Paul ( Lipsius, "Apokryphe Apostelgeschich. u. Apostellegenden", II, Brunswick, 1887, 92, 105 sqq., 110 sq.). It cannot be shown how the legend came to give them this identification. Pope Paschal I (817-24) translated the bones of the two martyrs to a chapel in the old basilica of St. Peter ; they still rest under the altar dedicated to them in the right transept of the present St. Peter's. Their feast is celebrated on 2 July.