Latin inscription on a marble sarcophagus, commemorating *Simplicius and Faustinus (martyrs of Rome, S00886), probably on the occasion of the translation of their bodies from the suburban cemetery of Generosa (Ad sextum Philippi) to a church within the city. Written in Rome, c. 683.
Evidence ID
E08604
Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
☧
Martures · Simplicius et Faustinus
qui passi sunt in flumen Tibere · et posi
ti sunt in cimiterium Generoses · super
Filippi
'The martyrs Simplicius and Faustinus, who were martyred in the river Tiber and were buried in the cemetery of Generosa above Filippi.'
Text: Marucchi 1905.
Translation: David Lambert.
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - tomb/grave
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin
Cult building - independent (church)
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Source
This inscription is carved on a marble sarcophagus, which since at least the late 16th century has been kept in the sacristy of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome, where it is currently displayed mounted on a wall. The sarcophagus is 1.7 m long and 0.33 m high (Fink 1984, 247).The inscription was first published in the 1598 edition of the Roman Martyrology (p. 369), where it was transcribed by Caesar Baronius in his notes for 29 July, the feast day of Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix. The next publication was by Antonio Bosio in his Roma sotterranea; Bosio was the first to describe the sarcophagus on which the inscription appears (Bosio 1622, 122).
The quality of the inscription's lettering is poor, and its Latin is also distinctly irregular, both of which suggest a date later than the 6th century. As described by de Rossi (1877, 662), 'The letters are crude, and of a type that could belong to the end of the seventh century' ('Le lettere sono rozze e di tipo, che può convenire alla fine del secolo settimo'). Since the Liber pontificalis reports (E01678) that the bodies of Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix were translated from their original suburban shrine to a church within the walls of Rome in 683, scholars from Bosio onwards have identified this as the likely context for the inscription's creation (Bosio 1622, 122; de Rossi 1877, 662; Marucchi 1905, 75; Loreti and Martorelli 2008, 74).
The church founded by Leo, which according to the Liber pontificalis was dedicated to St Paul and situated next to (iuxta) the still-existing church of S. Bibiana is very poorly documented (for the little that is known about it, see Coates-Stephens 1997, 187). It had disappeared by the early modern period, although the date and circumstances remain obscure. The cult of Simplicius and his companions continued in the vicinity, since it is mentioned in medieval inscriptions recorded in S. Bibiana, for which see Bosio 1622, 585, or de Rossi 1866, 45. The sarcophagus was in S. Maria Maggiore by the time the inscription was published in 1598. It seems most likely that the move to S. Maria Maggiore, which is only a short distance from S. Bibiana, took place when Leo's church was demolished or fell into ruin.
Discussion
The Liber pontificalis states that Pope Leo II (682-683) founded a church dedicated to St Paul, adjacent to the church of S. Bibiana in Rome, and deposited there the bodies of the martyrs Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrix. The church was dedicated on 22 February 683 (E01678). The translation of the martyrs' remains from their original shrine outside the city is a relatively early instance of a trend that would became general in the 8th and 9th centuries.The previous shrine of Simplicius, Faustinus, and Beatrix was in a catacomb on the via Portuensis, the main road between Rome and Portus, several miles south-west of the city (in present-day Magliana). The cemetery was known as Ad sextum Philippi, literally 'At the sixth of Philip' (the reference is probably to a milestone on the via Portuensis, though other explanations have been suggested: see Loreti and Martorelli 2008, 75-6). This name is preserved in the martyrs' passio (E04650) and, in garbled form, in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (E04897), while the inscription has the phrase super Filippi – 'above' or possibly 'beyond' [Sextum] Philippi. The inscription alone preserves the cemetery's alternative name, the cemetery of Generosa (de Rossi 1877, 647). The fact that the inscription pays so much attention to the martyrs' original burial place is an indication that it dates from their translation or shortly afterwards (Marucchi 1905, 75): it would have had little relevance once Leo's church had become established as their shrine and their original burial site had been abandoned.
An obvious absence from the inscription is any reference to the third martyr of the group, Beatrix (more properly, Viatrix – see E07151). The inscription also does not refer to the translation or make any reference to Pope Leo. The remains of Beatrix were presumably placed in a separate sarcophagus, with a similar inscription. De Rossi suggested (1877, 662) that the translation itself, and Leo's role in it, would have been commemorated in a separate inscription.
In spite of its brevity, the inscription contains a significant detail regarding contemporary beliefs about the martyrdom of Simplicius and Faustinus, when it says that they were martyred in the River Tiber (passi sunt in flumen Tibere), which can only reasonably be understood as implying that they were drowned. This is also the most obvious reading of the Martyrdom of Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix (E04650), which states that they were sentenced to death and then thrown from a bridge with stones tied to their necks, but in the course of the middle ages the dominant version of their martyrdom, as represented in their later medieval iconography and in hagiographical sources like the 13th c. Golden Legend, became one in which they were beheaded and only thrown into the Tiber afterwards.
Bibliography
Editions:Martyrologium Romanum ad novam Kalendarii rationem et ecclesiasticae historiae veritatem restitutum, Gregorii XIII Pont. Max. iussu editum. Accesserunt notationes [...] auctore Caesare Baronio Sorano (Rome: Ex Typographia Vaticana, 1598), 369.
Bosio, A., Roma sotteranea (Rome: Appresso Guglielmo Facciotti, 1632), 122.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana. Tomo III. Tavole (Rome: Salvucci, 1877), tav. XLVII.
Marucchi, O., Le catacombe Romane, 2nd ed. (Rome: Desclée, Lefebvre & co., 1905), 74.
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1925), 396, no. 2000.
Further reading:
Coates-Stephens, R., "Dark Age Architecture in Rome," Proceedings of the British School at Rome 65 (1997), 177-232.
de Rossi, G.B., "I monumenti cristiani di Porto," Bullettino di archeologia cristiana 4 (1866), 37-54.
de Rossi, G.B., La Roma sotterranea cristiana. Tomo III (Rome: Salviucci, 1877).
Fink, J., "Probleme in der Generosa-Katakombe," Rivista di archeologia cristiana 60 (1984), 235-257.
Loreti, E.M., and Martorelli, R., "Sextum Philippi (ad), coemeterium," in: A. La Regina (ed.), Lexicon topographicum urbis Romae – Suburbium, vol. 5 (Rome: Quasar, 2008), 72-81.
Venditti, E., Le catacombe di Generosa alla Magliana (Rome, 1981).
Images
)
De Rossi's sketch of the inscription (La Roma sotterranea cristiana, vol. 3, tavola 47).
)
The sarcophagus on display in the sacristy of Sta Maria Maggiore (reproduced from Venditti 1981, 33).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
09/01/2026
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00886 | Simplicius, Faustinus, Viatrix/Beatrix, martyrs of Rome | Simplicius, Faustinus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08604 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08604