medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
We know about this saint solely from St. Dionysius of Alexandria's letter about the Alexandrian martyrs under Decius as quoted by Eusebius (_HE_ 6. 41; this saint at paragraph 21). Whereas in the original Greek his name is given as Nemesion, he appears as Nemesius in Rufinus' Latin translation and it was from there that he entered the series of ninth-century martyrologies ancestral to the Roman Martyrology. Here's what Dionysius says (in McGiffert's nineteenth-century translation; online at <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm>):
"21. But a certain Nemesion, who also was an Egyptian, was accused as an
associate of robbers; but when he had cleared himself before the
centurion of this charge most foreign to the truth, he was informed
against as a Christian, and taken in bonds before the governor. And the
most unrighteous magistrate inflicted on him tortures and scourgings
double those which he executed on the robbers, and then burned him
between the robbers, thus honoring the blessed man by the likeness to
Christ."
Given that the Decius' principate began in 249 and ended with his death in June of 251, someone martyred in his persecution cannot have died in 307. Although in the ordinary reckoning Decius' persecution began with an edict promulgated in January 250, St. Dionysius tells us that the persecution in Alexandria began a year earlier. Nemesion/Nemesius, who appears towards the end of Dionysius' account (which may not be entirely chronological in its ordering), will have died in 249 or in 250 or possibly even in 251.
In the martyrologies the dates of commemoration of these saints of Alexandria have always been arbitrarily chosen. Florus of Lyon gave all of them a single, lengthy entry under 20. February. St. Ado of Vienne broke that elogium up, entering individuals and small groups under different days. The day he chose for this Nemesius (there are of course other saints so named) was 19. December and in this he was followed by Usuard and, until its revision of 2001, by the Roman Martyrology. In the current RM our Nemesius is commemorated on 10. September, having there replaced Nemesius, Felix, Lucius, and others named and unnamed, martyrs and confessors of Roman Africa (which latter did not include Egypt) known from the correspondence of St. Cyprian of Carthage to have suffered in the mines under Decius.
Best,
John Dillon
On 12/19/14, Matt Heintzelman wrote:
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> “Saint Nemesius, Roman Catholic saint of Alexandria in Egypt, became a martyr in 307AD. He was brought to court accused of being a thief (through slander), and was later acquitted. Later, in a persecution during the time of the emperor Decius, was denounced as a Christian to a judge Aemilianus. The judge ordered him racked with intense tortures, and burned, alongside accused thieves.” (Wikipedia, under entry for a different Nemesius)
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