The Seven Holy Brothers

The Roman Martyrology remembers on July 10 seven martyrs of Rome, Januarius, Felix, Philip, Silvanus, Alexander, Vitalis and Martial, who were buried in four different cemeteries along the roads leading out of the city. Their veneration is very ancient: they appear in the oldest Roman list of martyrs' feasts, and pilgrims of the early centuries visited their tombs.

An early tradition identifies them as the seven sons of Saint Felicity, a noble Christian widow of Rome, martyred in the second century under the Emperor Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius. According to the account, Felicity encouraged each of her sons to remain faithful as they were put to death one by one, and then gave her own life for Christ. Saint Gregory the Great praised her as "more than a martyr," because she died seven times in her sons before dying herself.

The brothers are honored in Rome near the catacombs where they were buried, and the story of their mother's courage has long been told to encourage Christian parents. Saint Felicity of Rome is remembered on November 23.