Felix and Fortunatus

Felix and Fortunatus were two brothers from Vicenza, in the Veneto, beheaded at Aquileia, probably in the year 303, in the persecution of Diocletian. Little else is known about them. They are venerated throughout Christendom, and their liturgical feast differs by place: 13 August at Aquileia, 11 June at Chioggia, where they are patrons of the city and the diocese, and 14 May at Vicenza, the date kept in our record.

At the place of martyrdom a place of worship was soon raised, around which a necropolis grew. The relics, also claimed by the diocese of Vicenza, were divided: the body of Fortunatus stayed at Aquileia (in the Lombard period it was moved to Malamocco, and in 1080 to Chioggia), while that of Felix was buried in the cathedral of Vicenza. A tradition said the bones were mixed, but an examination made in 1769 at the tomb of Felix showed that the remains belong to a single person who had been beheaded.

The arrival of some relics at Valence led to a doubling of the hagiographic figure and to the rise of fictitious saints, Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus of Valence. This Fortunatus must not be confused with Fortunatus of Aquileia, the protomartyr, deacon of Bishop Hermagoras.