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Was the 1st century Domnius an historical identity?
Was the 4th century Domnius an historical identity?
Or was Domnius an invention of Christians in a later century?

According to the Passion, Domnius, a native Syrian from Antioch, was sent to Salona by St. Peter the Apostle immediately after St. Titus had been there. The latter’s mission is mentioned in St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy (4.11). At the same time as Domnius Pancratius was dispatched to Sicily, Apollinaris went to Ravenna and Marcus — to Aquileia. Domnius successfully preached in Dalmatia and erected here the first church which he dedicated to genetrix Dei (Mother of God). Disturbed by his progress pagan priests accused Domnius before prefectus urbis Maurilius, lamenting that he was seducing people to overthrow cults of pagan gods. The prefect had him imprisoned and tortured. As all his strict measures failed to make Domnius reject the Christian faith Maurilius tried to bribe him, but the saint was adamant and determined to be a martyr. Meanwhile Salonitan Christians supporting the holy prisoner raised a revolt and many of them were executed by the order of the prefect. At this point the Passion turns to St. Domnius’s miraculous power and reports that the prefect along with some prominent citizens of Salona had to approach Domnius asking him to raise from the dead a son of a certain noble widow. Condemning Maurilius’s hypocrisy Domnius worked this miracle. Consequently the number of converts into Christianity increased further. Annoyed pagan priests bribed Maurilius and even threatened him to be punished according to the Roman legislation. Finally, as the Passion goes, Maurilius promulgated the law that sentenced Domnius to death, and the saintly bishop was beheaded.

The story of St. Domnius is very simple and recognizable but the background of the Passion is very dim. It caused many questions. First, when did the martyrdom actually take place? Second, when was the Passion compiled? And third, when was the cult of St. Domnius tied with St. Peter, i. e. to what time the tradition of apostolic foundation can be ascribed?

When did the rise in the trade of relics and the bones of martyrs first commence?

According to Charles Freeman it was the later 4th century.

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Bones-Dust- ... 0300184301
Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe

BOOK REVIEW:
http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2011/0 ... -holy-dust

Medieval Christians profoundly believed that relics shaped their lives and after-lives. They prayed for the help of saints or martyrs, travelled to holy places on pilgrimage or donated to local shrines. Miracles happened: the sick were cured, enemies thwarted, the dead returned to life. Charles Freeman’s Holy Bones, Holy Dust makes clear there was nothing moribund or lifeless about the morbid artefacts which became the focus of relic cults. They were ghoulishly inspirational and continue to perplex historians as much as they illuminate medieval society and the nature of Christian spirituality. Holy Bones, Holy Dust offers a readable and ambitious panoramic history of medieval society, politics and religion, defined by the impetus of relics, saints’ cults and miraculous interventions occurring between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Reformation.

Relics proliferated across the Catholic West and the Orthodox East in various forms. They were possessions, garments or objects connected with saints, martyrs or biblical heroes. The most sought-after were body parts, ranging from intact corpses, severed heads and limbs, to detritus: fingernails, hair, blood. They were displayed in increasingly ornate reliquaries and processed through towns and cities on saints’ days or at times of crisis. Thousands travelled to pilgrimage centres like Rome, Jerusalem or Constantinople to seek remission of sins by viewing relics or holy sites. The landscape could be sacred: certain waters might display healing properties and become places of devotion too. If Freeman’s account sometimes threatens to overwhelm in its litany of reliquaries and shrines dispersed across Europe it reflects the arcane dynamics of the phenomenon which inspired the devout. Charlemagne and Philip II acquired many relics and the crusading relic-collector Louis IX became a saint himself. Bishops, clerics and ordinary people competed to make their favoured shrines pre-eminent in their localities. Cultivating visiting pilgrims presented opportunities for commercial prosperity and relics offered sanctity for parish and community, but cults also encouraged accusations of fraud or religious heterodoxy.