Papias and Maurus

The Holy Martyrs Papias and Maurus were two soldiers who suffered at Rome in the time of Maximian, around 303. Their veneration is attested from at least the seventh century, in pilgrim itineraries, which show them buried in the great catacomb on the Via Nomentana.

According to the late account of the martyrdom of Marcellus and his companions, they were soldiers brought to Christianity by Saints Sisinnius and Saturninus, when the latter dissolved a metal tripod as if it were clay instead of sacrificing to the gods at the command of the city prefect, Laodicius. Learning of this, Laodicius ordered their mouths to be bruised with stones and had them cast into prison. There Marcellus baptised them. They were then beaten with rods and with leaded whips until they gave up their souls, in the Circus Flaminius. A priest, John, collected their bodies and buried them on 29 January in a cemetery on the Via Nomentana. Their relics were rediscovered in 1590 in the church of Sant'Adriano al Foro Romano.

They are saints of the undivided Church, commemorated on 29 January (new style).