Saint Domnius (also known as Saint Dujam or Saint Duje, Saint Domnio, Saint Doimus, or Saint Domninus) was a
Bishop of Salona (today's
Solin
Solin (Latin and it, Salona; grc, Σαλώνα ) is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro.
Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the ca ...
) around the year 300, and is venerated as the patron of the nearby city of
Split in modern
Croatia. Salona was a large
Roman city serving as capital of the
Province of Dalmatia. Saint Domnius was martyred with seven other Christians in the persecutions of the Emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
. He was born in
Antioch, in modern-day
Turkey but historically in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, and beheaded in 304 at Salona.
He was more likely a martyr of the 4th century, but Christian tradition also states that he was one of the
Seventy Disciples of the 1st century.
[Benedictine Monks of St Augustine’s Abbey Ramsgate, ''The Book of saints: a dictionary of servants of God'' (Ramsgate: St. Augustine’s Abbey), 84.] This tradition holds that Domnio came to Rome with
Saint Peter and was then sent by Peter to evangelize Dalmatia, where he was martyred along with eight soldiers he had converted.
Veneration
His
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s were later moved to the
Cathedral of Saint Domnius in Split. When Salona was sacked by the
Avars and
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
in the 6th century, the population eventually moved to the nearby
Palace of Diocletian, enlarging the nearby city of
Split (''Spalatum''), and establishing it as the successor to Salona. Saint Domnius became the city's patron saint, and the city's
Cathedral of Saint Domnius was built in the mausoleum of Diocletian itself, the emperor who martyred him.
The
Basilica of St. John Lateran in
Rome claims to own some of Domnio's relics, since
Pope John IV, in the 7th century, had requested that relics of a martyr named Domnio be brought to Rome.
See also
*
Salona
*
Split
*
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
*
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
*
Diocletian's Palace
*
Cathedral of St. Duje in Split
The Cathedral of Saint Domnius ( hr, Katedrala Svetog Duje), known locally as the ''Sveti Dujam'' or colloquially ''Sveti Duje'', is the Catholic cathedral in Split, Croatia. The cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska, headed ...
References
External links
Patron Saints Index
304 deaths
People from Antioch
3rd-century bishops in Roman Dalmatia
4th-century bishops in Roman Dalmatia
Split, Croatia
4th-century Christian martyrs
Year of birth unknown
Bishops of Split
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