Saints Primus & Felician, Martyrs
Ss. Primi et Feliciani Martyrum
Saints Primus and Felician were two brothers of the city of Rome who, according to ancient tradition, gave their lives for Christ during the persecutions of the early Church.
On the ninth of June the Church honours the brothers Primus and Felician, Roman martyrs whose memory reaches back to the early centuries. They are traditionally numbered among those who suffered death for the faith during the persecutions of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, at the close of the third century or the beginning of the fourth.
What is reliably known
The particulars of their lives that have come down to us are drawn largely from later accounts of their passion, and the Church does not press us to receive every detail as certain history. What is sure is that Primus and Felician were venerated from an early date as martyrs of Rome, that their bodies were buried on the Via Nomentana outside the city, and that their relics were afterward translated into the city itself and enshrined in a church, where a mosaic was set up in their honour. This translation is notable as one of the early instances of the remains of martyrs being brought within the walls of Rome.
Their witness today
Even where the record is sparse, the witness of these brothers is clear: two men, bound by blood and by a deeper bond of faith, who chose Christ above their lives. In keeping their memory the Church prays, in the words of the day, that we may ever follow the feasts of these martyrs and feel the gifts of God’s protection through their intercession. They remind us that the early Church was knit together not only by teaching but by the shared courage of ordinary believers who loved Christ unto the end.
The Collect
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may ever follow the feasts of Thy holy Martyrs Primus and Felician: by whose suffrages may we feel the gifts of Thy protection. Through our Lord.
Fac nos, quæsumus, Dómine, sanctórum Mártyrum tuórum Primi et Feliciáni semper festa sectári: quorum suffrágiis protectiónis tuæ dona sentiámus. Per Dóminum.
Patronage
They are venerated among the early martyrs of Rome, and their relics were enshrined in the Roman basilica of Saint Stephen on the Caelian Hill.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar their feast is no longer kept on the universal calendar.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saints Primus and Felician?
Their feast is kept on 9 June in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Fourth Class feast.
Who were Saints Primus and Felician?
They were two brothers of Rome, honoured as martyrs who gave their lives for Christ during the persecutions of the early fourth century. Their relics were later enshrined within the city of Rome.
Why is little known about them?
They lived in an age of persecution from which few certain records survive, and the surviving account of their passion comes from a later time. The Church honours what is sure — that they were Roman martyrs venerated from an early date — without insisting on every legendary detail.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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