Saints Nabor and Felix

Saints Nabor and Felix
Saints Nabor and Felix (foreground), with the Virgin Mary, Saint Francis, Saint Claire, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Mary Magdalene, and Saint Catherine. Orazio Samacchini, ca. 1570.
Martyrs
Born	3rd century Mauretania Caesariensis (modern-day Algeria)
Died	c. 303 Laus Pompeia, Italy
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Major shrine	Milan, Italy
Feast	July 12
Attributes	two young men in military attire; palms

Nabor and Felix (d. c. AD 303) were Christian martyrs thought to have been killed during the Great Persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian. A tomb in Milan is believed to contain their relics.

In the apocryphal "Acts of Saints Nabor and Felix" (which are imitated from the Acts of other martyrs (such as those of Saint Firmus and Saint Rusticus), the two are said to have been Roman soldiers from Mauretania Caesariensis serving under Maximian. They were condemned in Milan and executed by decapitation in Laus Pompeia (Lodi Vecchio).

A pair of saints "Nabor and Felix" were also said to have been martyred at Nicopolis in Lesser Armenia in AD 320 alongside SS "Januarius and Marinus". They may be distinct or may have been a merging of the story of the Italian saints with the local couple Januarius and Pelagia. The feast day of Januarius and Pelagia was observed on July 11 and that of the quartet on July 10.

In early 4th-century, their relics were translated, probably by the Bishop of Milan Maternus from their place of interment to a place outside the walls of Milan, placed a few hundred meters north of the present Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. A church (Basilica Naboriana) was built over their new tomb, as recorded by Paulinus of Milan in his life of Saint Ambrose. Tradition states that Savina of Milan died while praying at the tomb of Nabor and Felix. Saint Ambrose wrote a hymn about them.