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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Name

Chrysanthus and Daria, chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, and companion martyrs

Saint ID

S00306

Number in BH

BHL 1787-1794

Reported Death Not Before

280

Reported Death Not After

285

Gender
Male
Female
Type of Saint
Martyrs, Married but sexually abstinent, Virgins, Lesser clergy , Soldiers
Related Evidence Records
IDTitle
E00367Gregory of Tours writes the Glory of the Martyrs (Liber in Gloria Martyrum), in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594. Overview entry.
E00537Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Martyrs (37), tells of the tomb and crypt of *Chrysanthus and Daria (chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, S00306) in their church in Rome; people who had gathered for the saints' festival there were buried in the crypt by an evil emperor and became martyrs themselves; much later a theft of silver vessels was prevented; Gregory mentions an inscription of pope Damasus at the shrine. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594.
E00626Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Martyrs (82), tells of a miracle through relics obtained in Rome by his deacon: the ship carrying the deacon to Marseille was saved from shipwreck when he lifted up the relics and invoked their saints by name; Gregory lists the relics as of unnamed *Apostles (S00084), *Paul (the Apostle, S00008), *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037), *Chrysanthus and Daria (chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, S00306), and *Iohannes and Paulus (brothers and eunuchs, martyrs of Rome under the emperor Julian, S00384). Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594.
E00637The Notitia ecclesiarum urbis Romae, a guide to saints' graves around Rome, lists those on the via Salaria nova, north-east of the city. Written in Latin in Rome, 625/649.
E02487The Latin Martyrdom of *Chrysanthus and Daria (chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, S00306) narrates Chrysanthus' education and asceticism; the conversion of the virgin Daria, whom he chastely marries; the tortures endured, miracles performed, and conversions triggered by the couple; the martyrdoms of the new converts, among them seventy soldiers, the prefect Claudius, and his two sons, Iason/Jason and Maurus, buried by their mother *Hilaria (all martyrs of Rome, S00526) in her garden on the via Salaria, where she herself is later buried and where a church is built; the martyrdoms of Chrysanthus and Daria in a pit on the via Salaria, where later a crowd of Christians, amongst whom the priests Diodorus and Maurinus/Marinianus, is buried alive, as mass is celebrated for the martyrs' feast. Written presumably in Rome, before the end of the 6th c.
E04916The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 12 August.
E05035The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 29 November.
E05036The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 30 November.
E05058The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 19 December.
E05059The 6th/7th c. recension of the Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as transmitted in 8th c. manuscripts, records the feasts of a number of saints on 20 December.
E05950Mosaic roundels on the barrel vaults of the Cappella Arcivescovile of Ravenna (northern Italy), with portrait busts of twelve apostles and twelve martyrs (six female, six male); created 494/520.
E06046Mosaics in the nave of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (northern Italy) depicting twenty-two female saints, preceded by the three Magi, processing towards the Virgin and Child, and twenty-six male saints, probably originally preceded by *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), processing towards Christ; created under Bishop Agnellus, 557/570.
E06568Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Chrysanthus (martyr of Rome with his chaste wife Daria, S00306), as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.
E06591The Latin Gelasian Sacramentary (or Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae), probably compiled around 750 near Paris using earlier material from Rome, records prayers to saints on their feast days in November.
E06659Aldhelm's verse On Virginity lists a range of saints as exemplary virgins, with some variations to the list found in the earlier prose version of the same treatise. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/710. Overview entry
E06788Latin papyrus preserved in Monza (northern Italy) listing the 'oils of the holy martyrs who in body rest in Rome' brought from Rome for Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, naming many Roman saints. Written at Monza or Rome, 590/604; preserved in its original copy.
E06880Pope Pelagius I, in a letter of 556/561, authorises the consecration of a monastic oratory dedicated to *Chrysanthus and Daria (chaste couple and martyrs of Rome, S00306) just outside Salerno (southern Italy). Written in Latin in Rome.
E06998The De Locis Sanctis, a guide to the graves of the martyrs around Rome, lists those on the via Salaria nova, north-east of the city. Written in Latin in Rome, 642/683.
E07516Very fragmentary Latin epitaph once considered as just possibly referring to a martyr whose name is lost, or *Chrysanthus (chaste man and martyr of Rome, S00306). Now lost, but seen in the Catacombs of Saint Saturninus on the via Salaria, Rome. Probably late 3rd/early 4th c. [provisional entry]
E07887The Itinerarium Malmesburiense, a guide to saints' graves around and within Rome, lists those outside porta Salaria (now called saint Silvester's gate) on the via Salaria, north-east of the city. Written in Latin in Rome, 642/683.