Nereus, St
Nereus, ST.
a martyr of the early Christian Church, was a eunuch and servant of St. Domitilla (q.v.). Refusing to abjure his faith, he was, with his mistress, banished by Domitian into a little isle on the coast of Terracina, called Pontia. Afterwards, amid the persecutions under Trajan, Nereus suffered martyrdom with his mistress. The ancient Church kept a festival in memory of these faithful ones, and St. Gregory the .Great thus alludes to the great solemnity: "These saints, before whose tomb we are assembled, despised 'the world and trampled it under their feet, when peace, plenty, riches, and health gave it charms." St. Nereus is commemorated in the Church of Rome May 12. See Butler, Lives of the Saints, 2:311, 312.
