Abdon and Sennen

Saints

Abdon and Sennen
Saints Abdon and Sennen from a panel painted by Jaume Huguet
Martyrs
Born3rd century
Persia (modern-day Iran)
Diedc. 250
Rome
Venerated inCatholic Church
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Feast30 July
AttributesFur tunics; sword; Phrygian caps; two crowns; in a den of lions and bears[1]
Patronagechildren;[1] invoked for good harvest;[1] burying the dead, coopers, Pescia; Sahagún, León; Calasparra

Abdon and Sennen, variously written in early calendars and martyrologies Abdo, Abdus, and Sennes, Sennis, Zennen, are recognized by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church as Christian martyrs, with a feast day on 30 July.[2] In some places they have been honoured on 20 March, and the first Sunday of May.[3]

Nothing is known historically about Abdon and Sennen, and whether they can be verified. The Roman Martyrology indicates that they were martyred for their faith, and suggests they were buried on 30 July in the Cemetery of Pontianus on the Via Portuensis, outside Rome.[2] Their names were subsequently removed in the twentieth century from the list in the General Roman Calendar, which is commemorated liturgically worldwide,[4] but they may still be celebrated everywhere on their feast day unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day.[5] The rank of their celebration was given as "Simple" in the Tridentine calendar and remained such until the classification was changed to that of "Commemoration" in the General Roman Calendar of 1960.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference stpat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
  3. ^ Holweck, F. G., "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints", St. Louis, Missouri: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
  4. ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 132
  5. ^ General Instruction of the Roman Missal Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, 355 c