A group of forty Christians martyred by fire at Rome; their individual names are not preserved.
The Forty Martyrs of Rome are a group of forty Christians remembered as having been put to death by fire at Rome. They are commemorated together on June 16. Their individual names have not been preserved, and they are honored collectively as a single company of witnesses.
Little beyond this bare commemoration survives. The group belongs to the early, pre-Nicene period of persecution in the city of Rome, but no detailed account of the circumstances of their suffering is available, and the record does not name an emperor, a year, or the particular events of their martyrdom.
These Forty Martyrs of Rome are distinct from the better-known Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, the Roman soldiers commemorated on March 9. The two groups share only the number forty and the title of martyr; they belong to different places and are remembered on different days.
Because the commemoration preserves neither names nor a narrative, this entry is an honest stub. Nothing further is asserted here beyond what the calendars record.
Stub; distinct from the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (Mar 9).