Nicomedes of Rome

Saint Nicomedes was a Roman martyr, of an unknown era, buried in the catacomb on the Via Nomentana, near the gate of the same name. His commemoration is on 15 September, according to the Roman Martyrology, which the historical martyrologies of Bede also follow. He is a martyr of the Church of Rome, venerated chiefly in the West. Our sources give no Orthodox act of canonization; we call him a saint of the undivided Church in the West.

In Rome, on the Via Nomentana, he professed his faith at the burial of the holy martyr Felicula, refusing to sacrifice to idols. For this he was beaten with a lead-⁠weighted club, from which he died in torments. Nothing certain is known of the circumstances of his death. The legend of the martyrdom of Nereus and Achilleus presents him as a presbyter and places his death at the end of the first century. According to Butler, he was seized in the persecution of Domitian for his diligence in helping the martyrs in their struggles and for burying their bodies. Other recensions of the martyrdom of Nicomedes ascribe the sentence of death to the emperor Maximian (beginning of the fourth century).

His name does not appear in the three oldest and most important manuscripts of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, but was inserted in later recensions. The Gregorian Sacramentary contains, under the same date, the orations for his Mass. Three seventh-⁠century itineraries make explicit reference to his grave, and Pope Adrian I restored the church built over it. Pope Boniface V, according to the Roman Martyrology, honoured his body with a sepulchral basilica. A titular church of Rome, mentioned in the fifth century, was dedicated to him (titulus S. Nicomedis). His relics are, according to the Russian source, in the basilica of Saint Praxedes on the Esquiline.

The saint is venerated as patron of the district of San Nicomede in the commune of Salsomaggiore Terme, where there is a church dedicated to him, and in a village in the region of Lunigiana. The feast of the dedication of his church, on 1 June, entered together with 15 September the calendars of the Sarum rite, but only the day of 1 June was kept in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.