A pair of saints "Nabor and Felix" were also said to have been martyred at Nicopolis in Lesser Armenia in AD320 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.[1][n 1] The feast day of Januarius and Pelagia was observed on July 11[2] and that of the quartet on July 10.[1]
Veneration
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.
In 1258 their relics were moved to the church of Saint Francis of Assisi that was erected in place of the Basilica Naboriana. On 14-16 April 1798, shortly before the demolition of the church of Saint Francis of Assisi, their relics were translated in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. Their relics are placed today in an ancient sarcophagus in the right nave of Sant'Ambrogio Basilica along with the relics of Saint Maternus and of Saint Valeria.[6]
Feast day
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes Nabor and Felix as martyrsaints, inserting them, under the date of 12 July, in the Roman Martyrology, its official list of saints.[7] They were also included in the General Roman Calendar from before the 12th century.[8] with a feast day that was reduced to a commemoration when Saint John Gualbert was added to the calendar in 1595. The 1969 revision removed mention of Nabor and Felix from the General Roman Calendar, but the rules in the Roman Missal published in the same year authorizes celebration of their Mass on their feast day everywhere, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day.[9]
↑Marinus being the male form of the Greek name Pelagios and gender bending being a common theme among the many saints conflated with St Pelagia the Harlot.
