Nazarus, St

Nazarus, St.

a martyr of the first ages of the Church, was put to death at Milan, and is still celebrated in Brittany. Son of a superior Roman and pagan officer, and a Christian mother, whom the Church honors under the name of St. Perpetua, he adopted the maternal faith, renounced the employment of his father, and devoted himself to preaching. He was arrested at Milan with a young boy, named Celsus (vulgarly called Ceols), and put to death under some pretext not well known. Their bodies, buried in the environs of Milan, were found about 395 by St. Ambrose, bishop of that city, and carried to the Church of the Apostles, which this prelate had built. "Many relics of St. Nazarus are distributed," say fathers Richard and Giraud, "so that it can scarcely be told which are the true ones." The Church celebrates the fete of St. Nazarus and St. Celsus on the 28th of July. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Genesis s.v.