Scillitan Martyrs

The Scillitan Martyrs were twelve Christians of Scillium in North Africa, seven men and five women, beheaded for Christ at Carthage on 17 July 180, under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Their names are Speratus, Nartzalus, Cintinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata and Secunda. Six had already been tried; two of the names are Punic (Nartzalus and Cintinus), the others Latin.

Their passion is known from the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs, the record of the trial at Carthage. According to the scholar Herbert Musurillo, the text is the earliest dated document of the Latin Church and the first to mention a Latin Bible. Speratus spoke for them all: he said they had led quiet and upright lives, paid their taxes and wronged no neighbor. When called upon to swear by the name of the emperor, he answered that he did not recognize the empire of this world but served the God whom no man has seen nor can see with these eyes.

A basilica in their honor was built at Carthage. Agobard, archbishop of Lyon (about 779 to 840), states that the relics of Speratus and of Saint Cyprian were moved from Carthage to Lyon by order of Charlemagne. They are commemorated on 17 July as saints of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.