With the death of Jesus and the work of the Apostles, Christianity spread in Rome and throughout the world because of its witness of fervour, charity and brotherly love towards all. The civil authorities and the people themselves, distrustful at first, soon proved hostile to the new religion because it rejected the worship of the emperor and the adoration of pagan deities. Christians were accused of disloyalty to their country, atheism, hatred of mankind, hidden crimes and of being the cause of plagues and natural disasters. As a result, the Christian religion was outlawed and persecuted.
The earliest records of documented Christian life in the Comino Valley date from the years 389-408 and inform us of a pilgrimage atinate organised every 14 January at the tomb of Saint Felix of Nola. This confirms the presence of a flourishing local Church that, together with Aquino, was among the first in southern Latium to welcome the new religion. Proof of this is the foundation on its territory of the Benedictine monasteries of San Nazario, San Mauro, San Valentino, San Benedetto in Clia, San Salvatore in Agnone and the Abbey of the Trinity. Brother James of Atina the most illustrious clergyman, was appointed bishop of Bisaccia in the second half of the 13th century.
Peter Deacon
Between 1128 and 1120 he was exiled to Atina Peter Deacon, scholar and librarian of Monte Cassino, guilty of siding with the deposed Abbot Oderisio. Drawing on documents and popular legends, the illustrious Benedictine composed an interesting history of the Church and the Atinthian saints, rich in symbolic and hagiographic elements in line with the literature of the time.
According to Peter Deacon The first Christian traces in Val di Comino are to be found in the passage of St Peter's bound for Rome. While in Atina he met Marco Galileo, a countryman of his, whom he converted and later appointed the first bishop of Atina.
As the Gospel spread, persecutions increased. In these years, in addition to St Mark, the Atinates were killed Passicrate, Nicandro, Marciano, Daria e Julian. In the course of the fifth and ninth persecutions, the following were also killed Dear (29 April) and Prudentius (1 April), both bishops of Atina.
