E03255: The Life of *Pastor (priest and martyr of Rome, S01842) is written in Latin, presumably in Rome, at an uncertain date, by the 12th-13th c. at the latest. The Life narrates that Pastor, priest and disciple of the apostle Paul together with *Timotheus (presumably the disciple of Paul, S00466), is the dedicatee of a church (titulus pastoris) near the vicus Laterici in Rome built by the senator Pudens, where he is buried. He took care of the burial of several saints, among whom the virgins *Praxedes and Pudentiana (martyrs of Rome, S00591 and S00142), whose life he also wrote.

Life of Pastor (BHL 6470d)

Summary:

Pastor comes from a distinguished Roman family; he becomes Christian and is instructed together with Timotheus by the apostle Paul, and ordained a priest. He suffers greatly under the emperor Antoninus. He is humble and truly bears the name Pastor, as he takes care of Christians at night, instructing them and comforting them in a time of persecution. He also takes care of the poor.

A church (ecclesia) is dedicated to his name in the vicus Laterici by the senator Pudens, the father of the holy virgins Praxedes and Pudentiana, that is called titulus Pastoris up to this day.

Pastor steals and buries the bodies of several saints, relying on the help of Pudentiana and Praxedes, whom he then buries with honours and whose life he put into writing. He dedicates his whole life to God and is a remarkable example to his fellow Christians in Rome. He dies on the 7th day before the Calends of August [= 26 July]. His body is buried in the aforementioned titulus where God bestows many favours up to this day.

Text: Delehaye 1936, 264-266. Summary: M. Pignot.