The brothers Nereus and Achilleus served Flavia Domitilla, a niece of Flavius Clemens and member of the imperial family of the Domitii. Nereus and Achilleus were baptised, together with Flavia and her mother Plautilla, by Saint Peter. They persuaded Domitilla to consecrate her virginity to God in consequence of which they were accused of being Christians. After confessing their faith they were banished to the island of Pontia. There they were condemned to be flogged after refusing to renounce their religion. Shortly afterwards they were taken to Terracina and hoisted on the rack and tormented with burning torches. Upon declaring that, having been baptised by the Apostle Peter no tortures could enduce they to sacrifice to idols, they were beheaded. Their bodies were taken to Rome by their disciple Auspicius who was Domitilla’s tutor, and were buried on the Via Ardeatina.
Flavia Domitilla received the veil of virginity from Pope Saint Clement. Accused of being a Christian by her betrothed Aurelian who was a a son of the consul Titus Aurelius, Domitian banished her to the island of Pontia where she suffered a long martyrdom in prison. After being taken to Terracina, she again confessed her faith and refused to be shaken from it, for which the judge ordered that the house where she lived be set on fire. Flavia completed her martyrdom together with her virgin foster sisters Theodora and Euphrosyna on the ninth of the nones of May (May 7th) during the reign of Trajan. Their bodies were found entire and were buried by the deacon Caesarius. On this day, the 12th of May, the relics of Nereus, Achilleus and Flavia were translated to the Basilica called the Fasciola, on the Via Appia.
Dom Prosper Gueranger:
So far in our Paschal Season the choir of Martyr-Virgins has not yet offered to Jesus its crown of roses and lilies. It does so today by presenting to Him the noble Flavia Domitilla — the fairest flower of Rome, that was cut down by the sword of martyrdom in the first age of the Christian Faith. It was under the persecution of Domitian — the same that condemned John the Evangelist to be burned alive in the caldron of boiling oil — that Flavia Domitilla was honoured with banishment and death for the sake of our Redeemer whom she had chosen as her Spouse. She was of the Imperial family, being a niece of Flavins Clemens who adorned the consular dignity by martyrdom. She was one of the Christians belonging to the court of the Emperor Domitian, who show us how rapidly the religion of the poor and humble made its way to the highest classes of Roman life. A few years previous to this, Saint Paul sent to the Christians of Philippi the greetings of the Christians of Nero’s palace (Philippians iv. 22). There is still extant, not far from Rome, on the Via Ardeatina, the magnificent subterraneous Cemetery which Flavia Domitilla ordered to be dug on her Praedium, and in which were buried the two martyrs, Nereus and Achilleus, whom the Church honours today together with the noble virgin who owes her crown to them.
Nereus and Achilleus were in Domitilla’s service. Hearing them one day speaking on the merit of virginity, she there and then bade farewell to all worldly pleasures, and aspired to the honour of being the Spouse of Christ. She received the veil of consecrated virgins from the hands of Pope Saint Clement: Nereus and Achilleus had been baptised by Saint Peter himself. What glorious reminiscences for one day! The bodies of these three saints reposed for several centuries in the Basilica called the Fasciola on the Via Appia, and we have a Homily which Saint Gregory the Great preached in this Church, on their Feast. The holy Pontiff dwelt on the vanity of this Earth’s good. He encouraged his audience to despise them by the example of the three martyrs whose relics lay under the very altar around which they were that day assembled. “These saints” said he, “before whose tomb we are now standing, trampled, with contempt of soul, on the world and its flowers. Life was then long, health was uninterrupted, riches were abundant, parents were blessed with many children. And yet, though the world was so flourishing in itself, it had long been a withered thing in their hearts.”
Later on, the Fasciola having been almost reduced to ruins by the disasters that had befallen Rome, the bodies of the three saints were translated in the thirteenth century to the Church of Saint Adrian in the Forum. There they remained till the close of the sixteenth century, when the great Baronius who had been raised to the Cardinalate with the Title of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, resolved to repair the church that was thus entrusted to his care. Through his munificence the naves were restored, the history of the three martyrs was painted on the walls, the marble pulpit, from which Saint Gregory preached the Homily was brought back, the Homily itself was graven from beginning to end on the back, and the Confession was enriched with mosaics and precious marbles, preparatory to its receiving the sacred relics of which it had been deprived for three hundred years.
Baronius felt that it was high time to put an end to the long exile of the holy martyrs whose honour was now made so specially dear to him. He organised a formal triumph for their return. Christian Rome excels in the art of blending together the forms of classic antiquity and the sentiments inspired by Faith. The chariot, bearing a superb canopy, under which lay the relics of the three martyrs, was first led to the Capitol. On reaching the top of the clivus Capitolinus the eye met two Inscriptions placed parallel with each other. On one, were these words: “To Saint Flavia Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, the Capitol, purified from the wicked worship of demons, and restored more perfectly than by Flavius Vespasian and Domitian, Emperors, kinsmen of the Christian Virgin.” On the other: “The Senate and People of Rome to Saint Flavia Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, who, by allowing herself to be put to death by fire for the Faith of Christ, brought greater glory to Rome, than did her kinsmen, the Emperors Flavius Vespasian and Domitian, when, at their own expense, they restored the Capitol, that had twice suffered from fire.”
The reliquaries of the martyrs were then put on an altar that had been erected near the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. After being venerated by the faithful, they were replaced on the chariot which descended by the opposite side of the Capitol. The procession soon reached the triumphal arch of Septimus Severus, on which were hung these two inscriptions: “To the holy Martyrs, Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the best of citizens, the Senate and People of Rome, for their having honoured the Roman name by their glorious death, and won peace for the Roman commonwealth by shedding their blood.” “To Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the invincible Martyrs of Christ Jesus, the Senate and People of Rome, for their having honoured the City by the noble testimony they bore to the Christian Faith.”
Following the Via Sacra, the procession was soon in front of the triumphal Arch of Titus, the monument of God’s victory over the deicide nation. On one side there were inscribed these words: “This triumphal Arch, formerly dedicated and raised to the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, for his having brought the rebellious Judea under the yoke of the Roman people, is now, by the Senate and People of Rome, more auspiciously dedicated and consecrated to Flavia Domitilla, kinswoman of the same Titus, for having, by her death, increased and furthered the Christian Religion.” On the other side of the Arch, there was the following inscription: “To Flavia Domitilla, Virgin and Martyr of Rome, kinswoman of the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasian, the Senate and People of Rome, for her having, by the shedding her blood and laying down her life for the Faith, rendered a more glorious homage to the death of Christ, than did the said Titus, when, by a divine inspiration, he destroyed Jerusalem, to avenge that same Death.”
Leaving on the left the Colosseum — the hallowed ground on which so many martyrs had fought the battle of Faith — they passed under the triumphal Arch of Constantine, which so eloquently speaks of the victory of Christianity, both in Rome and the Empire, and which still bears on it the name of the Flavia family, of which the first Christian Emperor was a member. The two following inscriptions were attached to the Arch. “To Flavia Domitilla, Nereus and Achilleus, the Senate and People of Rome. On this Sacred Way — on which so many Roman Emperors received triumphal honours for having brought various provinces into subjection to the Roman People — these Martyrs are receiving today a more glorious triumph, for that they conquered, by a greater courage, the conquerors themselves.” “To Flavia Domitilla, the Senate and People of Rome. Twelve Emperors, her kinsmen, conferred honour on the Flavia family and on Rome herself, by their deeds of fame; but she, by sacrificing all human honours and life itself, for Christ’s sake, rendered greater service to both family and City than they.”
The procession then continued its route along the Via Appia and at length reached the Basilica. Baronius, assisted by a great number of Cardinals, received the precious relics and took them with great respect to the Confession of the High Altar. Meanwhile, the Choir sang this Antiphon of the Pontifical” “Come in, ye Saints of God! for a dwelling has been prepared for you by the Lord. The faithful people have followed you on your way, that ye may intercede for them with the Majesty of the Lord. Alleluia!”
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How grand was the triumph which Rome gave to you, O holy martyrs, so many centuries after your glorious deaths! How true it is that there is no glory here on Earth which can bear comparison with that of the saints! Where are now those twelve Emperors, your kinsmen, O Domitilla? Who cares about their remains? Who even cherishes their memory? One of them was surnamed “the delight of mankind,” and now how many are there who never heard of his existence? Another, the last of the twelve, had the glory of proclaiming the victory won by the Cross, over the Roman Empire. Christian Rome honours and loves his name, but the homage of religious devotion is not given to him, but to you, O Domitilla, and to the two martyrs whose names are now associated with yours.
Who does not recognise the power of Jesus’ Resurrection, in the love and enthusiasm with which with a whole people welcome your holy relics, Martyrs of the Living God? [Seventeen] hundred years had elapsed, and yet your lifeless remains were greeted with a transport of joy as though you yourselves were there and living. It was because we Christians know that Jesus, who is the first-born of the dead, has risen from the grave and that you, also, are one day to rise glorious like Him. Therefore do the faithful honour, by anticipation, the immortality which, at a future period is to be given to your bodies, slain as they were for Jesus’ sake. They already see, by faith, the future brightness which is to be imparted to your flesh and, in all this, they are proclaiming the dignity which the Redemption has given to man, to whom death is now but a transition to true life, and the tomb but a resting place where the body is consigned, as seed to the earth, to be restored in a hundred-fold of richer beauty.
Happy they, who, as the prophecy says, have washed their robes, and have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb! But happier they, says holy Church, who, after being thus purified, have mingled their own blood with that of the Divine Victim, for, by so doing, they have filled up in their flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ. Hence, their intercession is powerful and we should address our prayers to them with love and confidence. Befriend us, then, O holy martyrs Nereus, Achilleus and Domitilla! Obtain for us an ardent love for our Risen Jesus,perseverance in the new life that He has gained for us, detachment from the things of this world, and a determined resolution to trample them beneath our feet, should they become a danger to our eternal salvation. Pray for us that we may be courageous in resisting our spiritual enemies, ever ready to defend our holy faith, and earnest in our endeavours to gain that kingdom, which is to be borne away by violence. Be you the Defenders of the holy Roman Church, which fervently celebrates your memory each year.
