February 3.

SS. CELERINUS, D. C., CELERINA, IGNATIUS,
AND LAURENTINUS, MM.
(3RD CENT.)

[Roman and other Latin Martyrologies. Authorities:—The letters of S. Cyprian of Carthage, and S. Cornelius of Rome. A letter of S. Celerinus to the Confessor Lucian is inserted in some editions of the works of S. Cyprian.]

OF CELERINA, Ignatius, and Laurence nothing, except their names, is known, and even these would not have come down to us, but for their being mentioned as glorious martyrs by S. Cyprian, in a letter to their nephew, S. Celerinus. This Celerinus was first Reader, and then Deacon, in the Church of Carthage, and received orders from S. Cyprian. He was in Rome in the year 250, and confessed Christ there in the Decian persecution, spending nineteen days in chains; but to his great sorrow, his sister yielded to her fears, and was numbered among the lapsed. Afterwards Celerinus was unfortunately drawn away by Novatian into schism, but when he perceived that the schismatic sought his own advancement rather than the glory of God, he acknowledged his error, and returned to the communion of the Catholic Church.