Martyrs Marinus Martha, and their Children at Rome
Also known as Marinus · Martha · Audifax · Habakkuk · and companions
A noble Christian family of Persia — the parents Marinus and Martha with their sons Audifax and Habakkuk — who came to Rome to venerate the tombs of the apostles, served the imprisoned faithful, and were martyred with many others under Claudius.
Feast Day
July 6
Draft
Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.
The Holy Martyrs Marinus, Martha, Audifax, and Habakkuk, at Rome
Life
Marinus, Martha, Audifax, and Habakkuk were a single family venerated together as martyrs of the early Church at Rome. According to their tradition the parents, Marinus (also given as Marius or Maris) and Martha, with their two sons Audifax and Habakkuk (also spelled Abachum), came from Persia to Rome in the third century. The synaxarion and Western hagiographic accounts recall that they came on pilgrimage and, while at Rome, sympathized with the Christian faithful then suffering, gathering and burying the bodies of the martyrs.
Their suffering is placed during the reign of the emperor Claudius II (268-270), and the family is commemorated as one undifferentiated group of household martyrs. The accounts name a number of others martyred at Rome together with them.
Contributions & Legacy
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Account of the Martyrdom
By tradition the family was put to death at Rome under Claudius II. According to the surviving accounts, Marinus and his two sons, Audifax and Habakkuk, were beheaded on the Via Cornelia, and their bodies were afterward burned. Martha is said to have been killed separately at a place named Nympha (Nymphae Catabassi); tradition relates that she was cast into a well.
The Orthodox synaxarion records that they did not suffer alone: among those martyred with them at Rome were Valentinus the Presbyter, Asterius, and many others. Western martyrologies note that the legendary account places the deaths around the year 270, while observing that no general persecution of Christians is otherwise documented for that exact period — a recognized inconsistency in the surviving narrative.
Relics & Shrines
Relics of the martyrs are recorded as being held at Pruem Abbey and in various churches at Rome. Their commemoration entered the Roman Martyrology, where their feast is kept on 19 January, with their burial recorded on 20 January; the Orthodox calendar commemorates them on 6 July.
Veneration
The family is venerated as martyrs in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. As saints whose martyrdom is placed before the Council of Chalcedon, they belong to the period of the undivided Church, which accounts for their shared commemoration across traditions.
