Biography
Getulius
About Getulius
Getulius is remembered in an older Roman Martyrology as a martyr commemorated on June 10. The notice places his witness along the Via Salaria and names Caerealis, Amantius, and Primitivus with him. Its account describes imprisonment, fire, and death by blows, followed by burial through a woman named Symphorosa. Those details belong to a received martyr story; the notice is not a contemporary record of Getulius's life or trial.
A later *Passio* links Getulius to a burial site near Ponte Sfondato on the Via Salaria. Michael Lapidge's study identifies a local cemetery and church associated with his cult, while suggesting that the *Passio* itself may have been written as late as the early eighth century. Such a date would put the elaborate narrative far from the period in which it places Getulius. The cult site is a stronger historical anchor than the detailed sequence of tortures.
Another transmitted martyr narrative calls Symphorosa his wife and Amantius his brother. These kinships can be described as tradition, but are not secure family records. The surviving evidence does not establish Getulius's birth, a precise year of death, or the exact form of his execution. A short profile can preserve his name, older June 10 commemoration, associated cult location, and the limits of the later stories without filling those gaps.
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