Passio Processus et Martinianus
Standard abbreviation: Pass. Proc. Mart.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 896
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Martyrdom of Blessed Peter the Apostle, by Pseudo-Linus, Passion of Paul; Golden Legend 89 (brief mention)
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Campbell, Amanda. “Passion of Processus and Martinianus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/passion-of-processus-and-martinianus/.
Created August 2022. Currents as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
After Simon Magus falls to the ground, Paul and Peter are placed in the custody of Paulinus, the Master of Offices, who locks them in the Mamertine prison. While there, many people come to the apostles for healing. Among them are Processus and Martinianus, two civil servants working for Paulinus. At this point Paul and Peter have been imprisoned for nine months. Processus and Martinianus tell them that Nero has forgotten them and they should leave the prison but first they must baptize the two Romans. Other visitors cry out for water. Peter prays and water flows from the hill (the prison is located on the Capitoline Hill). Processus and Martinianus and 47 other people are baptized that day.
Paul and Peter leave the prison and go down Via Appia to as far as the Appian Gate. Here Paul recedes from the narrative, and the focus remains on Peter for a retelling of the Quo vadis scene (a frequent episode in Petrine martyrdom accounts). Peter returns to Rome and is arrested.
Paulinus learns that Processus and Martinianus have been baptized. He calls the men to him and regales them for abandoning the abandoning the gods and rejecting their military oaths. Paulinus makes several attempts to convince them to reject Jesus but they refuse. He also places a statue of Jupiter and a tripod before them and orders them to burn incense to the gods, but they spit on the implements. The two men then undergo a series of tortures: strung on rack, beaten with staves, torches placed about their sides, beaten with scorpion-whips.
A noblewoman named Lucina (who appears in several Roman martyrdoms, including the Passion of Paul, where she recovers and buries bodies of executed martyrs) comforts and encourages them to remain strong. Suddenly, Paulinus loses sight in his left eye. Suspecting it is due to sorcery, he places the men in the Mamertine prison. Paulinus dies three days later and his son Pompinius calls for the prisoners’ execution.
Caesarius, the urban prefect, informs Nero and the emperor orders Processus and Martinianus to be killed. They are taken outside the city on the Via Aurelia and beheaded. Their bodies are left to be eaten by dogs, but Lucina gathers up the dismembered corpses, prepares them for burial, and places in a catacomb on her estate on the Via Aurelia. The day of their death is given as July 2. The location of this catacomb has not been identified; it is last mentioned at the end of the sixth century. The saints’ bodies were translated by Pope Paschal I (r. 817–824) to St. Peter’s Basilica, where they now rest under an altar dedicated to their veneration.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Caesarius, Jesus Christ, Jupiter, Lucina, Martinianus, Nero, Paul (apostle), Paulinus, Peter (apostle), Pompinius, Processus, Simon (Magus).
Geographical Locations: Appian Gate, Appian Road, Aqua Traiana, Capitoline Hill, Rome, Mamertine, Naumachia, Porta Appia, Septizodium, Via Aurelia, Via Nova.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Art and Iconography
Catacomb of Callixtus (Appian Way, Rome; ca. 4th cent.): includes a depiction of the water miracle of Peter.
Catacomb of Thecla (Ostian Road; ca. 4th cent.): located near the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Ostian Road, this catacomb receives its name because it may be the location of a church and tomb of Thecla mentioned at the end of some Greek manuscripts of the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Among the images in the fresco is a depiction of the water miracle of Peter.
Ivory Plaques with Apostle Scenes: an ivory panel from a fifth-century casket or relic box includes a depiction of the water miracle of Peter.
Jonah Sarcophagus (Museo Pio Cristiano, Vatican City; ca. 290 CE): includes a depiction of the water miracle of Peter.
Lamp with Water Miracle of Peter (ca. end 4th cent.).
Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus (Museo Nazionale Romano al Palazzo Massimo, Rome; 4th cent.): includes a depiction of the water miracle of Peter.
2.2 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
“Martyrdom of Processus and Martinianus (BHL 6947).” The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity (summary by Matthieu Pignot, with discussion and bibliography).
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Latin
3.1.1.1 Longer Version (BHL 6947); 125 known manuscripts (see Lanéry 217–18).
A Vatican, Vatican Archives, Arch. Cap. S. Pietro A.4, fols. 65v–67v (11th cent.) ~ IMAGES
C Montecassino, Archivio di Montecassino, 142 (11th cent.)
P Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Pal. lat. 846, fols. 106v–107v (10th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Q Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5299, fols. 26v–29v (9th cent.) ~ GALLICA
R Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Reg. lat. 523, fols. 214v–216v (ca. 1000) ~ IMAGES
S Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Reg. lat. 539, fols. 132v–134r (12th cent.) ~ IMAGES
V Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 1191, fols. 71v–73r (12th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Additional manuscripts:
Brussels, Bibliothèque des Bollandistes, 14, fols. 62r–63r (9th/10th cent.)
Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, 412, fols. 157v–160r (9th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. 32, fols. 1r–1v (9th cent.)
Montpellier, Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire, Section de Médecine, H 154, fols. 1r–1v (9th cent.)
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, lat. 357, fols. 150–152 (9th/10th cent.).
Bolland, Jean, et al., eds. Acta Sanctorum, Julii. Vol. 1. Antwerp: P. Jacobs, 1680 (edition from unidentified manuscript, pp. 303–304). 3rd ed. Paris: V. Palmé, 1867 (cols. 270–71).
Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Pius. Note agiografiche 9. Studi e testi 175. Rome: Tipografia Vaticana, 1902. Reprinted 1953 (edition based on ACPQRSV, pp. 47–52).
Mombritius, Boninus, ed. Sanctuarium seu Vitae sanctorum. Novam editionem curaverunt duo monachi Solesmenses. (Original edition Milan, 1478) 2 vols. Paris: 1910; repr. New York: Hildesheim, 1978 (edition based on an unidentified manuscript, vol. 2, pp. 403–404).
3.1.1.2 Shorter Version (BHL 6948)
Montpellier, Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire, Section de Médecine, 1 t. 4, fols. 12v–13r (12th cent.)
Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, 7, fol. 173v (13th cent.)
Dufourcq, Albert. Étude sur les ‘Gesta martyrum’ romains. 5 vols. Paris: Albert Fontemoing, 1900–1907. 2nd ed. Paris: De Boccard, 1988 (edition of the shorter version based on Vallicelliana 7, vol. 1, 328–29).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Lapidge, Michael. The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary. OECS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 (translation based on the edition by de’ Cavalieri, pp. 381–89).
3.3 General Works
Amore, Agostino. “Processo e Martiniano.” Cols. 1138–40 in vol. 10 of Bibliotheca Sanctorum. 13 vols. Rome: Istituto Giovanni XXIII nella Pontificia Università lateranense, 1961–1970.
Cabrol, Fernand, and Henri Leclercq. Dictionanaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie. 15 vols. in 30. Paris: Letouzey, 1907–1953 (discussion of the catacomb of Processus and Martinianus, vol. 14.2, cols. 1890–94).
Dufourcq, Albert. Étude sur les ‘Gesta martyrum’ romains. 5 vols. Paris: Albert Fontemoing, 1900–1907. 2nd ed. Paris: De Boccard, 1988 (vol. 1, pp. 170–71, 303–305, and 328–29).
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Leipzig: Mendelssohn, 1889–1903; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1959; reprinted by the same in 1972 (see vol. 2.1: 105–106, 110–11).
Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Pius. Note agiografiche 3. Studi e testi 22. Rome: Tipografia Vaticana, 1909 (pp. 35–39).
Lanéry, Cécile. “Hagiographie d’Italie (300–550). I. Les Passions latines composées en Italie.” Pages 15–369 in volume 5 of Hagiographies. Histoire internationale de la littérature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines à 1550. Edited by Guy Philippart. Corpus Christianorum. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010 (pp. 216–23).
Verrando, G. N. “Note sulle tradizioni agiografiche su Processo, Martiniano e Lucina.” Vetera Christianorum 24 (1987): 353–73.
__________. “Osservazioni sulla collocazione cronologica degli apocrifi Atti di Pietro dello Pseudo-Lino.” Vetera Christianorum 20 (1983): 391–426.