Abdon

Who they were

Abdon and his companion Sennen were Persian martyrs who died under the Emperor Decius, about the year 250, and are commemorated on 30 July. Their veneration goes back as far as the third century, though the later account of their lives contains several details the Catholic Encyclopedia regards as invented.

That account says a subdeacon named Quirinus buried them, and that in Constantine's time their bodies were moved to the Pontian cemetery on the road to Porto, near Rome. Several cities have claimed their relics, but the Bollandists held that they rest in Rome.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Persian martyr of the third century, honoured in Rome with his companion Sennen.

Connected on this site

• Abdon and Sennen Saint honoured together