Today, July 2, is the memorial of Saint Martinian and Saint Processus.
Martinian and Processus were pagans and imperial soldiers assigned as the prison officers of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the Mamertine Prison. The two soldiers were dedicated to their jobs, watching their Christian prisoners with due diligence. They could not help but hear the preaching of the prisoners, who day and night talked about Jesus Christ. Because of this, Martinian and Processus’s curiosity about Jesus turned into complete faith in the One True God.
As if to complete the baptism of these two jail guards, a spring appeared miraculously inside the jail. It is said that Peter himself baptized them with the water from the miracle spring.
Martinian and Processus’ boss Paulinus was furious about this development that he pressured the duo into giving up their faith in Jesus. Martinian and Processus refused, confirmed their belief in God, and even spat at Jupiter’s statue.
Emperor Nero, upon learning of this, ordered that they be arrested, tortured, and beheaded. After their martyrdom, a sympathizer called Lucina buried them in her own cemetery.
Pope St. Paschal I had their bones moved to a chapel in the old basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Their relics are now in an urn under the altar dedicated to their in St. Peter’s.