Abdon and Sennen

Abdon and Sennen († 250 AD) were two Persian martyrs under the Emperor Decius.

Life

Abdon and Sennen were after legendary Acts of the Martyrs noble Persians ( subreguli = subject kings, ie higher nobles ) who were brought handcuffed because of the burial of martyrs during the persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius (reigned 249-251 ) to Rome. They submitted various tortures to dissuade from Christianity, but they remained true to their faith and were beheaded in the amphitheater with a sword of gladiators. Their bodies should be buried by a subdeacon Quirinus secretly in his house and transferred during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great in the Coemeterium of Pontian, near Rome. There they were worshiped at least since the 4th century ( mentioning their funeral already the chronograph of 354 ). Therefore it can be assumed that they were actually martyrs, but the details of her tale of woe unhistorical. Her grave in the Pontianuskatakombe was equipped in the 5th or 6th century with a fresco painting preserved, on which they are the crown of Jesus preserving depicted in oriental dress. A well built basilica was consecrated early about them. The two Popes Hadrian I and Nicholas I. had it rebuilt this church. Part of her relics was transferred to the Benedictine monastery at Arles- sur-Tech in the Diocese of Perpignan ( France); but the relevant reports were not completed until the 10th century.

In the German -speaking world, the former monastery church in Ringelsheim wearing her patronage. Furthermore, the double patronage of the village church in Frankfurt - Bornheim is known of today's Protestant St. John's Church.

The feast day of Abdon and Sennen in the Catholic Church is July 30th. They are, among others, as the patrons of the children and gardeners as well as the Diocese of Perpignan. In pictures appear with Phrygian cap, crown and sword.