Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Usuardus, Bede, Ado, &c. Sarum, York, Hereford, and Durham Kalendars. Authority: — Mention in the Martyrologies.] jJN the persecution of Diocletian four brothers who held offices of trust at Rome were taken and ordered to offer sacrifice before an image of ^scuiapius. As they refused to do so, they were scourged with leaded whips till they died. Their bodies were cast to the dogs, but were saved by the Christians and buried on the Lavican Way. As their names had passed from recollection, and only the fact of their martyrdom remained, Pope Melchiades is said to have ordered them to be commemorated as the Quatuor Coronati, the “ Four Crowned Ones.” Pope Gregory I. mentions an old church with this dedication at Rome.

Pope Leo IV., in 841, translated to it their relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor] from the catacomb on the Lavican Way. Their names are said to have been revealed in a dream to somebody whose word commanded sufficient respect to be believed, and under those names, Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and Victorious, they are mentioned in the Roman martyrology.