Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and Nazarius

Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and Nazarius are saints of the Catholic Church, mentioned in the Martyrology of Bede and earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology for 12 June as four Roman martyrs who suffered death under Diocletian.

[1] It has been said that their names were taken from the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, in the Bern MS.,[2] where it says: Romæ, via Aurelia miliario V, Basiledis, Tribuli, Nagesi, Magdaletis, Zabini, Aureli, Cirini, Nabori, Nazari, Donatellæ, Secundæ.

The second name in the list, Tribulus, is derived from a place-name, Tripoli, as is evident from the Echternach MS., and those following it have also an African origin.

The group of three supposedly Roman saints, Cyrinus, Nabor, Nazarius, to which was later added Basilides, has in the "Sacramentarium Gelasianum"[3] its special form of invocation in the Canon of the Mass.

The 12 June celebration was in reality a conflation of three distinct commemorations on the same day: the burial of Saint Basilides, a Roman martyr, on the Via Aurelia, the transfer on the Via Appia of the relics of Saint Quirinus of Sescia, and the dedication of the Basilica of the Milanese martyrs Nabor and Nazarius on the Via Aurelia.