(Mercury ), the name of a Christian resident at Rome to whom St. Paul sends greetings in his Epistle to the Romans. ( Romans 16:14 ) (A.D. 55.) Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen agree in attributing to him the work called The shepherd . It was never received into the canon, but yet was generally cited with respect only second to that which was paid to the authoritative books of the New Testament.