Sts. Nereus & Achilleus

Two Roman soldiers of the imperial guard who, having been baptized, refused to continue in arms and accepted exile and beheading rather than persecute fellow Christians. Their bodies are venerated in the Roman basilica that bears their name, and their epitaph composed by Pope Damasus is among the most moving early Christian inscriptions.

According to the ancient Acta, Nereus and Achilleus served as praetorian soldiers assigned to the household of Flavia Domitilla, a noblewoman related to the emperor. Their conversion led them to lay down their weapons and counsel Domitilla herself toward a life of virginity consecrated to Christ. They were exiled with her to the island of Terracina and beheaded under Emperor Trajan.

Pope Damasus, the great fourth-century restorer of the Roman catacombs, composed their epitaph in verse, praising them as soldiers who exchanged the shield and sword for the cross. Their basilica on the Via Ardeatina, built over the catacomb of Domitilla, was restored in the sixteenth century by Cardinal Baronius and remains a place of pilgrimage, its ancient frescoes testifying to the reverence in which they have been held since the earliest centuries.