Nazarius and Celsus

Nazarius and Celsus are two early Christian martyrs whose cult is among the oldest in the church of Milan. Virtually nothing about their lives can be established from contemporary documents. The earliest reliable notice is the account of Paulinus the Deacon, secretary and biographer of Saint Ambrose, who states that in 395 Ambrose, seeking additional burial places for the remains of the faithful, discovered the bodies of Nazarius and Celsus in a garden outside the city. Ambrose had the relics translated with solemnity into the Basilica of the Apostles, later known as the Basilica of San Nazaro Maggiore (San Nazaro in Brolo). This translation, occurring in the same generation as Ambrose’s earlier discovery of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, firmly established the pair in Milanese liturgical memory. Their names appear in early martyrologies, and their feast was fixed on 28 July in the Roman Martyrology.

Later centuries supplied a full legendary biography, preserved in a Latin passio and popularized in medieval collections such as the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. In this tradition Nazarius is described as a Roman by birth. His father Africanus was a pagan (in some versions of Jewish origin) and his mother Perpetua a devout Christian who had him baptized by Pope Linus, the successor of Saint Peter. Formed in the faith from youth, Nazarius left Rome to preach the Gospel. During his travels he met a young boy named Celsus—accounts vary as to whether Celsus was entrusted to him by a Christian widow in Gaul or was simply a disciple he converted and instructed. The two became inseparable companions in missionary work.

The legend continues that Nazarius and Celsus preached in northern Italy and in Gaul, including at Cimiez near Nice, where they are said to have made many converts and to have suffered imprisonment. Returning at length to Milan, they were arrested during a persecution of Christians. Hagiographers commonly place the events under the emperor Nero in the first century, though no independent evidence supports so early a date. Refusing to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, both were condemned and beheaded. Their bodies were secretly buried by the faithful in a garden outside the city, where they remained until Ambrose’s discovery more than three centuries later. The passio is rich in conventional miracle stories and dialogues typical of late antique and medieval martyr acts, and modern historians regard it as a pious composition rather than a historical record. No ancient source records a precise year of birth or death for either martyr.

The historical residue is therefore limited but not negligible: by the late fourth century the church of Milan honored Nazarius and Celsus as local martyrs of an earlier age, and Ambrose’s translation created a lasting cult. Relics attributed to them were later distributed; churches dedicated to the pair arose in Milan, elsewhere in Lombardy, and in southern France, notably the former cathedral of Saints Nazaire and Celse at Carcassonne. Neither martyr is known to have held episcopal or papal office, to have belonged to a religious order, or to have left writings. They are commemorated jointly rather than as independent figures. Devotion has remained primarily liturgical and regional rather than tied to a wide range of specific patronages.